[ Sam goes on, and Geralt keeps working. By the time Geralt grants an answer, they've flipped the table's surface over one more time. He starts laying the iron that reinforces the underside. ]
So is he. [ The remark is contemplative more than anything. Goro is playing a dangerous game, for one who hardly fits in among the common folk. He has their good will for now. But humans are humans. They turn quickly on those too different, once their use has passed. The question is whether war will explode long before he loses his grip on what he's started. Geralt is inclined to think it will. This world is one spark away from destruction. In that, Goro is not wrong.
He hands Sam a turnscrew and takes the other one without a word. He works on the opposite end of the table. It will get worse. It'll get worse no matter what. What he doesn't like is Goro interfering in exactly the manner the territories have been hoping. The Dimming has already left Geralt wary: how long before the summoned are no longer gently encouraged to help but actively coerced to? How long before inaction itself is seen as an act of treason by the nations that have offered them shelter? How long before the summoned turn on each other for exactly these reasons? He's already seen shades of that in Estinien.
He sighs. He has thoughts on all of this. He doesn't know if it's what Sam wants to hear, but he says it, anyway. ]
You can't stop the tide, Sam. You can only warn people it's coming. [ He slots another screw into place. He knows hiding behind walls of safety is not the solution. He's learned that much. But nor will standing in front of an oncoming hurricane save anyone, either. The answer, he thinks, lies in making sure those in Solvunn know that the summoned in the Free Cities, save for one, don't stand behind any of the discontent. ] Solvunn needs to know he acts alone. Every territory is just waiting for us to begin choosing sides. If they believe enough of us have thrown our weight behind one cause or another...
[ Goro can take his little caravan across the border, if he wants. Tensions between the three regions are nothing new. The Free Cities' disdain for magic is nothing new. These things would've come to a head eventually with or without Goro. But the summoned. The summoned are new. He isn't sure what'll happen if the nations misconstrue those summoned in the Free Cities as equally willing to enter the conflict, rather than the actions of one rogue four-armed troll—and he doesn't want to find out. ]
no subject
So is he. [ The remark is contemplative more than anything. Goro is playing a dangerous game, for one who hardly fits in among the common folk. He has their good will for now. But humans are humans. They turn quickly on those too different, once their use has passed. The question is whether war will explode long before he loses his grip on what he's started. Geralt is inclined to think it will. This world is one spark away from destruction. In that, Goro is not wrong.
He hands Sam a turnscrew and takes the other one without a word. He works on the opposite end of the table. It will get worse. It'll get worse no matter what. What he doesn't like is Goro interfering in exactly the manner the territories have been hoping. The Dimming has already left Geralt wary: how long before the summoned are no longer gently encouraged to help but actively coerced to? How long before inaction itself is seen as an act of treason by the nations that have offered them shelter? How long before the summoned turn on each other for exactly these reasons? He's already seen shades of that in Estinien.
He sighs. He has thoughts on all of this. He doesn't know if it's what Sam wants to hear, but he says it, anyway. ]
You can't stop the tide, Sam. You can only warn people it's coming. [ He slots another screw into place. He knows hiding behind walls of safety is not the solution. He's learned that much. But nor will standing in front of an oncoming hurricane save anyone, either. The answer, he thinks, lies in making sure those in Solvunn know that the summoned in the Free Cities, save for one, don't stand behind any of the discontent. ] Solvunn needs to know he acts alone. Every territory is just waiting for us to begin choosing sides. If they believe enough of us have thrown our weight behind one cause or another...
[ Goro can take his little caravan across the border, if he wants. Tensions between the three regions are nothing new. The Free Cities' disdain for magic is nothing new. These things would've come to a head eventually with or without Goro. But the summoned. The summoned are new. He isn't sure what'll happen if the nations misconstrue those summoned in the Free Cities as equally willing to enter the conflict, rather than the actions of one rogue four-armed troll—and he doesn't want to find out. ]