February Catch All

[whatisright]

Who: Justice (whatisright) & Various
What: February Catch-All
When: Throughout February
Where: Various places
Warning(s): None yet, will add if necessary.

Individual prompts in comments. If you want one, go ahead and make your own, or PM this journal or PP smurfsmuggler.

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[bruxisms]

[ he is silent again for a long moment. ]

It would seem that my youngest brother has awoken. When last we saw one another in Westeros, we did... not part on good terms.

[ to put it mildly, at the very least. his hands were clean, and yet...

and yet he could not help but feel that nagging twinge of guilt. ]

[whatisright]

[Alright, it's going to be matters of justice on top of squishy confusing human issues. But this isn't the first time Justice has advised mortals when justice becomes personal, so this is still in familiar territory.]

I see. What happened?

[bruxisms]

I told you how I was the rightful king of Westeros, by law, did I not?

[ he had never asked for such a thing, yet it had fallen to him through no fault of his own. his elder brother had a poor wife chosen for him and her three children were abominations born of incest. ]

My younger brother thought that he would make a better king than I, for little reason. He raised his banners against me, when by all the laws of gods and men, he should have supported me.

[ there is more, but he takes a moment to pause. his brother's choice still weighed heavily on him, as did his fate. ]

[whatisright]

You did. [Justice confirms that Stannis told him that much, but as he continues his story, Justice leans back and the furrow in his brow deepens in thought. Justice recognizes the importance of smooth transitions of power--mortals need organization to support the weak and innocent from those that would do them harm--but he also recognizes how important it is that the power transition to the right ruler. The wrong one can perform greater injustice than chaos ever could.

But even so, he has little patience for wars of royal inheritance at the best of times. It takes a matter that should be decided by the just and wise and it turns it into a matter of who can kill the most innocent soldiers.]

I suspect there is more to this matter.

[Justice senses some doubt in Stannis, and if he has learned nothing else about his roommate, it is that he believes in law above anything else. If the matter were as simple as his younger brother attempting to violently break the law and then failing, Justice doubts his counsel would be required.]

[bruxisms]

There is.

[ Stannis was certainly not well-liked among the nobility, and ofttimes that bothered him little. be that as it may, a lack of allies among those with the armies had posed something of a problem, and had led to drastic measures more often than not. ]

We met for a parlay, though I was certain little would be accomplished, and I was right. Instead of doing his duty, my brother merely wished to jape, mocking me, repeating clear falsehoods, and offering me a peach of all things. Why would a man offer another a peach? I never could figure out the reason for the gesture...

[ a sigh. ]

The next day, he was found dead. Murdered by those who were meant to guard them.

[ or so they say. that thought cannot help but nag at him. still, he knows that his hands were clean.

and yet...

his hands were clean, and even if they hadn't been... the punishment for treason must be death. that is the law. ]

[whatisright]

[The furrow in his brow deepens. Yes, he senses a lot of conflict and doubt in Stannis, and not all of it necessarily has to do with Justice. Spirits have no family, and thus Justice can't speak from experience, but he knows that humans have intense relationships with their own families. Perhaps they are not always positive relationships, but they are intense nonetheless, and it is difficult to find one that doesn't have at least a little love and care in it.]

Were the guards under your command or his?

[It seems that Stannis is most conflicted about his brother's death. The justness of his death, and perhaps Stannis' responsibility in it, can only be understood by knowing the circumstances.]

[bruxisms]

His. They say that one even loved him, though he mocked her when her face was turned. She had been the one to deliver the fatal blow.

[ or so the rumours had said. still, it did little to ease him, or his mind, even as he reminds himself that his hands are clean ]

Traitors keep the company of traitors, it would seem. Be that as it may, I did love him, and never wished to see him dead, only to do his duty, as I had always done for our elder brother.

[ Robert, who had never truly loved him. who he had followed into treason. ]

I still dream of his death at times, that of my younger brother. Yet I always wake, and my hands are clean.

[ though they did not always feel so. ]

[whatisright]

I cannot speak to the justice of his death without knowing more of its circumstances, but regardless, it seems as though you had no involvement, nor did you have foreknowledge and means to prevent it. Unless I have not heard everything, you bear no responsibility for his death.

You know this, and yet you still feel guilt. Why?

[This is definitely getting into territory that Justice does not feel qualified to talk about, but Stannis is his friend so he's going to try to do it anyway.]

There is no injustice in grieving your brother's passing, regardless of what he did. Nor is there injustice in loving him still.

[bruxisms]

[ he knows that. despite the dreams, despite what Davos might have said about Melisandre's involvement, and yet... ]

The punishment for treason in Westeros has always been death. Must always be death. Even if my hands were clean, he would still have had to die for his treason if he had not yielded... He would have had me dead for his treason.

[ so in the end it had made little difference. ]

There is something else as well.

[ something that he'd attempted not to think of, yet would not leave his mind. though the "Stannis Baratheon" of the other Westeros was not him, could not be him, he still could not help but think of his errors, as painful as they were. ]

[whatisright]

You feel guilty for what you would have done, had someone else not killed him first?

[Justice is just trying to clarify. Justice has a lot to do with guilt, yes, but it is not inextricable from guilt. Sometimes people feel guilty for reasons that aren't really just or unjust, and it's hard for him to intuit that.

He leans forward. Stannis has his full attention.]

Tell me what else there is.