Page 52 of Raven's Dawn

“Sorry, baby, but I’m with Warren on that one,” Laila said.

“That’s funny, because I can clearly remember several occasions where you screamed ‘fuck the pigs’ as we drove past cops,” Jeremy said.

She shook her head. “We’ve had this conversation before. The way things were back home, that’s what I would like to see Earth look like. Like it did before we died. I’m with Connor and Naomi that we need to burn it down and rebuild it, but that isn’t to say that there shouldn’t be some type of governing entity built in the ashes. The modern definition of the government, especially cops, yeah. We need to dismantle it all. But there has to be some type of authority thereafter. Whether it’s a jury of peers, or elected officials, there has to be something.”

“All we had was an army back home,” Jeremy said. “And that was plenty.”

“That’s when we lived in a world of Fae who never had a religion or lived under capitalism.” Connor shook his head. “Not a world where people have been indoctrinated into patriarchal bullshit for eons. There has to be something outside of the army to protect people from each other.”

“Not if countries aren’t fighting with each other over dumb shit like religion and land and oil. Then the army isn’t wasted and can actually serve the people by protecting them from each other,” Jeremy said.

“Yeah, sorry man,” Naomi said. “But you’re thinking about a perfect world. Just because that worked once doesn’t mean it’d work on Earth. You should remember this from experience. Morduaine worked with just an army. Matriaza didn’t. Don’t you remember the hell it was when you and Véa took over?”

“That’s my point,” Laila said. “Communism is great in theory. On a realistic level, I’m more of a socialist. Which I think you would be too, if you hadn’t lived through the cold war, Warren. You hear socialism and think dictatorship. Even though we agree on a moral level, that buzz word makes you cringe.”

Squinting over them, listening to them bicker and bicker some more, I cocked my head to the side. This conversation didn’t seem too hypothetical. It seemed like they were genuinely discussing what type of government Earth should have one day.

“You guys are serious,” I said, looking between them. “You’re going to overthrow the government.”

“No,” all four of them said in unison.

Convincing.

“But we were gone for a long time,” Laila said.

“And no, we’re not happy with the way the world looks now,” Jeremy said.

“We’re going to live forever,” Connor said.

“And we plan to do so on a better world than the one you call home.” Naomi leaned against the winged wolf behind her. “Over time, we’ll fix as much of the broken shit as we can.”

Her eyes were sincere, her voice no different. The same went for the others.

But I wasn’t sure I believed them.

They didn’t talk about these things philosophically the way most discussed politics. They talked about it as if they knew. Knew what was wrong, knew what was right, and knew how to fix it all.

It was their plan. Whether they would admit it or not, they planned to abolish the systems back home and rebuild them from scratch. And why wouldn’t they?

I still wasn’t sure I understood most of their story, but I knew that this was their world. They built it. They created the souls that lived upon it. And I didn’t know much about how the world looked five thousand years ago when they were in power, but I knew from what I read in the Fae holy books that their systems had worked.

So who was I to object?

What would they do if I did?

That was a silly question. Laila made it clear that, when I disagreed with her, she’d like me to voice it.

The real question was why. Why had she given me and Graham eternal life? Why had they invited us into that circle? Why was she granting eternity to people?

Iliantha was more than a thousand years old. Véa had given her eternity before she died. Yet, all these years later, Iliantha was still indebted to her. Even if Laila didn’t act on it, or take advantage of it, the respect Iliantha gave her was clear.

Would the same be expected of us? Would we be expected to help them in whatever political endeavors they were planning? Was that why she agreed to give us eternity?

While I went through that rapid train of thought, Laila’s eyes settled on me. Ever so slightly, her brows pinched together. Not in annoyance or anger, but maybe offense.

“Well, fuck me.” A woman’s voice, followed by a sound I could only describe as a giggle. It came from atop that wall. “How long has it been now, do gràs?” She spat that word, as though it tasted bitter on her tongue. “A decade, at least.”

Caeda, I had to assume.