[Typh Shrine] To Sin by Silence (Justyne, Aíolos)

SATURDAY, 4 AUGUST 2001, 10:09 AM

“To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men.”
― Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The tree stood firm and grew strong. @Linnet Willowsong @Justyne Jaracas

Aíolos Logothétis marvelled at the constancy of Linnet Willowsong, young Madin Discipulus, in the face of such a terrible fate. Whether by accident or design, the poor girl had reacted to the poison that had been administered to her in the twilight of June by morphing fully, completely, and (thus far) irreversibly. But the tree form that she took was healthy and hale, and quite beautiful besides. The British Ministry of Magic had taken their turn trying to reverse what they saw as an intentional and harmful Transfiguration, to no avail. The arcane and ancient magics of the Elementals did not mix well with wand magic, and so they had assumed that the girl was, effectively, "dead." This in turn led to the accusation of murder falling on the head of another Hogwarts student, Conway, one who had adamantly proclaimed his innocence. Eventually Linnet's tree had been taken away to be cared for by her "family" - in fact, to be taken to the Elemental Complex where the other Madins could keep an eye on her and assist in her care.

Shaking his head in a mixture of wonder, pity, and confusion, Aíolos somewhat reluctantly turned and walked away from the morphed tree, his step quickening when he remembered that he was due to speak with his Harbinger at some point this morning. Times were more fluid and free than fixed and expected among the Typh elementals, so his request to Harbinger Jaracas had been loosely worded and her reply had been affirmative but unspecific. It was most likely that he would find her in the "seat" of their power, the marble-decorated grove in the Typh Shrine of the central Council complex.

The problem was two-fold. Firstly, the Council still did not want to reveal the existence of Elementals to the rest of wizardkind, much less the rest of the world. So to explain that Willowsong was not actually dead would mean explaining what she had done - morphed - and that was opening a can of worms that most Elementals simply didn't want to deal with. More importantly, the Council had decided they weren't going to deal with it. Thus, to most of the world, Willowsong was dead and Conway was a murderer. Secondly, if Conway really was innocent, whether because the poisoning was accidental or because he had been framed or mistaken for the culprit, his being punished for a severity of crime that wasn't accurate was a perversion of justice.

And that was where Aíolos' thoughts were as he entered the shrine-propre and selected an oak bench on the east side of the central "altar", taking a few moments to collect his thoughts and then await the arrival of his Harbinger so that he might discuss his concerns in greater detail. He did not expect to change her mind or the mind of the other Harbingers; rather, he was hoping she would explain their reasoning more fully, and perhaps reassure him with the Council's plans to correct the injustice in time.

Justyne had been in the middle of a particularly captivating chapter in a book about incantations when she suddenly remembered.

Right.

She sighed heavily and closed the book, placing it back on an easily accessible part of the bookshelf, slight pulled out, so that she may revisit it later when she had the time to do so. She had read it hundreds of times but found that every time she came back to it, she understood more and more. Her intellectual hunger had no bounds, Justyne had realized this at a young age. It was only expected after all, as a Typh elemental, she wanted so much more, as much as her mind could handle and to surpass it. It was also expected that as a Typh elemental, Justyne could not be trusted to keep track of time. Like the air, her mind created goals but no deadlines. But, it was still unlike her to forget things like this, years of practice had perfected her ability to always be prepared. Years at St. Mungos had sharpened her sense of time, her ability to schedule and compartmentalize her day at a moments notice.

It did not matter. As a Typh elemental himself, Aíolos was aware of the meaning of time in their world. She was curious as to why he had contacted her in the first place. But in true Typh form, his words were vague and nondescript, and likewise she responded in an ambiguous way. Did he think she would have refused him had she felt the subject was too menial? Possibly. However, it was unlikely. Even if she would have wanted to, it was part of her duty to the Inverness Council and nothing could get in the way of her sense of responsibility when it came to her work at the Council. She could think of a few different reasons why he may have contacted her but it was not that unusual for an acolyte, or anyone of the Inverness council to seek a meeting with a Harbinger.

It would have been appropriate for Justyne to have waited for Aíolos at the Typh Shrine of the central Council complex, after all she had audiences there. But as luck would have it, by the time she had reached the Shrine, a considerable distance from her favorite library on the Council grounds, he was already sitting there, waiting for her. 

“Aíolos Logothétis, to what do I owe this pleasure?” Justyne asked with a small, polite smile, taking her seat in the Shrine and awaiting an explanation for this sudden need to speak with her privately. “It’s been some time since we last met, I hope you’ve been well,” she added. Justyne was naturally social and while she did not expect this to simply be a social call, she did hope that it was a conversation that could be had with the pleasantries of a friendly conversation.   

"As always, it's good to see you, Harbinger," Aíolos inclined his head respectfully. At 55 years of age, he was actually an elder to the 36-year-old woman before him, but the talented Justyne Jaracas was the granddaughter of the previous Typh Harbinger, Señora Yalanea Jaracas, who had been the very person who came to his family home in Greece in the summer of 1960 and told his family that he (and she) were Elementals. Justyne had not only the talent but the birthright to hold the position and nobody, least of all Aíolos, contested the fact.

"I have in fact been most well, other than the thoughts that trouble me about our most recent acquisition - the morphed Madin Advocate, Linnet Willowsong." He swallowed and added, "Forgive me for getting right to the point, but my concerns make it difficult to engage in casual conversation because they weigh so heavily on me. And you know us Typhs... we don't like being weighed down," he tried to joke in spite of his words. Having this type of conversation was especially difficult because this would be the second time in the span of a year that he had pulled aside a Harbinger to express his concerns about an opinion of the Council. In this case it was an active decision of the Council and that made it harder.

"I seek some clarification on the Council's reasoning, for my own peace of mind if not for the sake of moral justification," Aíolos went on. "By our actions as a community we have condemned possibly an innocent man, or possibly a man guilty of only poisoning, not true murder. I understand the need to keep ourselves hidden from the public eye still, I truly do... but at the same time, how can we sit idly by with the man's trial approaching and not take some sort of step to correct the error?"

Justyne could not help but grimace at the mention of the name –Linnet Willowsong. It had been in the very back of her mind, the idea that this had something to do with that particular incident but she had not immediately assumed that it would be the sole reason for his visit. She suddenly realized why he had summoned her with vague intentions; this was a subject that she would not have immediately entertained. And rightly so, the entire situation had been a difficult one. The decision had not happened overnight, and while she had come to the consensus that the decision made was the best course of action, Justyne also knew that there was much left unaccounted for.

She smiled slightly at his mention of being weighed down. Justyne, too, did not like the feeling of something weighing heavily upon her which was why she had convinced her mind to move on from the subject. Or, any displeasing subject for that matter. It had been years of practice before she was able to do that. As a Healer, concern was a necessary part of her everyday life. She had thought about Conway, she had considered the situation, but it was the Elementals that took priority in her mind. That, at least, had not been a difficult conclusion to come to. “I appreciate your honesty,” she began slowly, carefully savoring every word as she prepared her answer. The last thing she wanted was to sound unaffected but she wanted to be careful to not sound regretful as well. The Elemental Council stood together, regardless if the decision did not bend in their moral favor.

“It was a difficult decision for the council; all matters were taken into consideration,” she began, “unfortunately, in a situation of this variety, it was as they say ‘the less of two evils’, sometimes we must protect ourselves, put ourselves first as it were, and this was the best decision that the Council was able to reach,” she continued. As she had expected, the answer was vague and inconclusive. Part of her hoped that he would nod, smile, and walk away, ignoring the slight insecurity evident in her voice. But as she looked at the man in front of her, she could already hear him protest. 

@Taed sorry for the super late reply! hope to hear a response soon ^^

(My turn for a late reply. And boy was it hard to move my mind back four and a half months of playtime! xD)

The answer was as one might have expected. Vague, inconclusive, as hard to grasp at as the wind itself. Aíolos had honestly not thought that Harbinger Jaracas would say anything else, nor that his inquiries would be anything she hadn't heard before and that it would suddenly change her mind. Like Aíolos - perhaps even more so - the Harbinger was bound to the decision of the Council, her fellow Harbingers.

But the injustice was still tugging at Aíolos' heartstrings and no matter how much he understood in his head that this was the best thing for the greater number of people, his emotional response was still probably all too apparent on his face. Aíolos was as open and honest and expressive in his "business" life as he was in his personal life. Right now he, no doubt, still had a look of obvious protest on his face.

"There's truly nothing else we can contribute? Even if it's a white lie to add to the existing white lies?" Aíolos pleaded, and then abruptly before the Harbinger could even respond, he re-schooled his face and shook his head with a more mature mournfulness. "No, of course not. That's rather a foolish question for an Acolyte to be asking. I beg your pardon, Harbinger." His acceptance of the fact didn't abolish his guilt, nor did he intend to fool Justyne into thinking so. She knew, hopefully, that he would still disagree with this ruling on a personal level, but would still abide by it at a professional level. He was, if nothing else, loyal to the Council.

Or was he anymore? This wasn't the first time he had harboured thoughts of strong contention. The world around them, both the magical and the non-magical, was changing far more rapidly than anyone had expected, while the Elemental Council remained stagnant and unmoving. How ironic that it was a Demin elemental who had first expressed the thought to Aíolos.

What was the right path for Aíolos to take, after all?

“If it were up to you, what would you have done? It is obviously something that bothers you—otherwise; you would not have made the journey this way to ask me if there was anything else that could be done. Can you propose a solution that would have benefitted everyone involved, even the lives of your fellow Elementals?” she asked, she was not particularly annoyed and did not feel challenged but rather was genuinely curious in what he had to say. Justyne may have been a stubborn woman but she was not emotionless.  The decision had been met with very distinct responses, and Justyne wondered if this would be the beginning of a rebellion, or a reformation of centuries of cryptic rules and strict regulations. His suggestion could offer her insight on what the general consensus was, give her a feel for the general environment of the community.

She knew that when someone had something to say, even if it were the opposite of what she believed, it was best to listen first. Not because tolerance was an important part of everyday communication, rather, because after all these years, the Elementals were not the same anymore, their interests, their allegiances, and what they were willing to fight for or give up had changed dramatically. She had never doubted Aíolos’ allegiance to the council; he had demonstrated it since the beginning of his training. However, there had even been times when the Elemental Council, those who were in charge of upholding the true values of being part of the Elemental Order would often have to remind themselves to stay neutral. No matter how many years of experience, it was difficult for even someone like Justyne to be completely detached.

“Acolyte, I can understand that your motives are…genuine, at best. However, I must also remind you that as an Elemental, your duty is to remain neutral and to uphold the values of the elemental order. Our duty is to keep the Elementals safe; the life of one man cannot be compared to the loss of our community,” she said sternly, “The Council took all of this into consideration, and came to the same conclusion; these are trying times for all Elementals, while taking time to reflect on your thoughts is very important, I truly hope that you come to terms with our ruling and learn to trust our judgment. We take our responsibilities in the Council very seriously, the safety of our community foremost in our mind,” she paused, observing his reaction, “Surely you do not mean to say that we’ve misjudged the situation due to a personal agenda?”

The last thing she wanted was to encourage doubt, and wanted to see where the Alcolyte’s mind was. Justyne knew that Aíolos had been loyal to the Council in the beginning, but she was beginning to doubt the strength of his loyalty now. Would he be a reason for concern?