“We have a lot of men and women to care for, and he wasn’t honest with his mental state,” Conley reminded him. “If we’d known how displeased he was, we would’ve done anything to resolve the situation. How’s he doing in DC?”
“Well, you know Ella wasn’t happy about his transfer there. Pierson’s not a regular Juris Knight. The entire Order of the Fallen Knights is aware of his incredible reputation. She was adamant that she was willing to do anything to allow him to relax and relieve his stress, but she’s smart enough to know he’s not going to be content to stay there. He needs to recharge his batteries, and she’s scared to put him in a position where he feels unfulfilled. The minute he’s ready to return to Vegas where he belongs, she’s going to transfer him. That’s why she’ll only give him easy cases, and he’s already made note of that. Ella’s concerned he’s regretting his decision,” Arvandus told them. “Pierson mentioned none of that to me. He appeared in good spirits, and he’s using his time wisely.”
Conley was whipping through the pages as fast as he’d seen Pierson move through folders. The Reverent Knight and Juris Knight were both quick readers and retained everything.
“What’ve you learned?” Drystan asked.
“This is essentially a proposal to create a liaison who serves as the spokesperson for the Juris Knights. It lays out a standard for fallen knights to work from as they prepare files. What Pierson’s suggesting is that we select someone to bridge the gap between fallen knights and Juris. The person would first organize the Juris Knights to put together a complete and thorough criterion to be adopted by every office. Then, they’d travel from office to office, guiding classes of fallen knights through not just the steps but the reasoning behind them.”
“Wedohave a standard,” Roman pointed out.
“It’s not mandated,” Arvandus replied. “Neither one of us has room in our schedule to act as a liaison, and neither do our RKs. We’ve talked for decades about creating a Juris Knight leader who would be our equal.”
“But that idea fell to the side as Mitchell Brooks worked his way through the ranks,” Drystan said. “Pierson is unparalleled in intelligence, comprehension of existing laws, and every Juris Knight refers to his files when they work their own cases. But from the beginning, he’s isolated himself from his peers and for reasons none of us understand, he refuses to socialize in any form with fallen knights. He should be the leader, but I can’t select someone the others barely know and who hasn’t gained their trust. Pierson has yet to attend a single annual gathering. Mitchell’s caseload is nearly as thick as Pierson’s now, and while he lacks the remarkable recall, he’s built a wonderful working relationship with every Juris Knight. With their legendary antagonism, how can we pick either man? It’d be drawing a line in the sand, and I’m not going to pit them any further against each other.”
“Yet, if you suggest we get someone in here to work with them to fix it, both will deflect or, in the case of Mitchell, deny that he has any adversarial feelings for Pierson,” Roman responded. “It’s left us with an ever-growing divide, not only within Juris but between them and the fallen knights. Each year, we resurrect more recruits and while that number is small, it increases the number of people the four of us are responsible for. Pierson’s definitely found a weakness within the system that requires a fix.”
“I point-blank asked him if he was volunteering for this position as liaison and he demurred,” Arvandus remarked. “He put in weeks of work to give us statistics on numbers of files sent back, which offices have the most issues, and every other pitfall we’ve been worrying over for decades, but wants to pass it on to someone we choose to move forward with his plan.”
“Too bad,” Drystan decided. “His schedule is free enough to allow him to easily travel about. It’d force him to interact with every Juris Knight, which is something he desperately needs and would be good for the entire bunch. I’m not at the point where I’m willing to give him a different title or move him up to the level of Venerable, but if he can get this off the ground, it’s something we need to look at very critically.”
“Even if Pierson moves forward with this and creates some tentative relationships with the other Juris Knights, if you create a new position for him, there may be some backlash as Mitchell has always acted as a ringleader for them. He’s the one who volunteers them as a team at the annual retreat. When we do group activities, he’s always nominated as their coach or whatever,” Arvandus pointed out.
“Have Pierson work with every office but Vegas. He already knows the way things are done around here, and if we can keep him from Mitchell, we’re reducing his stress,” Conley instructed. “Once he’s gotten to know the Juris Knights, he can establish the standard for all of them to adopt, including Vegas. You two can pass that information through to the Juris Knights here. Then, I want Pierson traveling from office to office to implement everything and teach our fallen knights why it’s important to give Juris what they want. With the light caseload Ella’s giving him, he can pace himself and still have time to get in the relaxation he requires. If at any point, he’s ready to return to Vegas or if he surprises us by asking to make this a permanent component of his job, we’ll re-evaluate. This should also be worked into the recruit training at the Ascension Center. Pierson can teach them what they need to know.”
“I feel like you’re comfortable with him in the role of ruling the Juris Knights,” Drystan commented to the man he’d loved since he was seventeen.
“Mitchell’s the one they want to be friends with, and if Pierson didn’t exist, it’d be automatic to put him at the top. But that’s not reality. Pierson is the best Juris Knight ever resurrected, and the only other person to graduate with perfect scores was me,” Conley remarked. “The reality is, he should’ve automatically been considered for something like that way before Mitchell worked his way up the ranks.”
Roman’s brows drew together. “You think we failed him after graduation?”
“No, he needed to learn the ropes, and I know how overwhelming it can be to graduate and go immediately into the role of leader. It’s daunting, and I would’ve preferred for him to skip that experience. But after he’d built his reputation, we should’ve paid more attention to him. Perhaps he’s burned out because he’s feeling undervalued,” Conley answered.
“Mitchell has the natural confidence of a leader, though. If we’re thinking of creating this new role in the future, we can’t allow another Juris Knight to also feel undervalued,” Drystan pointed out. “He’s always taken new recruits under his wing and enjoys helping. Just because he lacks Pierson’s memory doesn’t mean we can discount his talents.”
“We have two Venerable Knights, why not make both men Master Juris Knights?” Arvandus asked.
Roman’s dark brow lifted. “Because we’ve yet to solve the puzzle of why the two have so much animosity and how to fix it. The last thing we need is two Master Juris Knights locking horns constantly.”
“It’s going to be an issue anyway. If we make Pierson the Master Juris Knight, we put him in a position of power over Mitchell. That might ignite their feud further,” Arvandus commented.
“The only solution that exists for now is to make Pierson the temporary liaison to smooth out the process between Juris and the fallen knights. We’ll see how well he functions in a supervisory capacity and how his peers react to him. It either fails or succeeds, but we won’t know if we don’t try. Pierson’s right to have identified this problem, and it’s past time we correct it. We don’t need to decide today on whether we ever have a Master Juris Knight or a pair of them. We’ll set that aside and revisit it when we’ve got a better idea of how it’ll impact the future,” Drystan said.
“He’ll balk at the suggestion that he volunteer, so we make it an order,” Conley advised. “That way he’ll focus on doing his best instead of any displaced guilt about undertaking the role of his own accord.”
“Excellent. I’m excited about how this is going to work out,” Arvandus remarked, his smile broad.
“You’re envisioning someone else listening to fallen knights bitch about their files being returned,” Roman accused.
“Guilty as charged.”
Drystan shook his head and promised himself to read through Pierson’s binder before nightfall. While he was all for making his fallen knights working more effectively, what was always most important was their happiness. It was his hope that they’d unlock that for Pierson, and he’d make it back to Vegas in under twelve months.
Chapter 18
Pierson was both excited and concerned as he stuck his plate in the dishwasher. After banging it closed, he hit the start button. With quick motions,he swiped down the counters and the table where’d he eaten his dinner. Not only was he normally a neat person, but for several weeks he’d shared his evenings with someone else, and for reasons he couldn’t fathom, Pierson wanted to make a good impression on Mitchell.
With no idea how they’d come to this point where Pierson had accepted that Mitchell would be there, he wasn’t annoyed at the idea. Like the job he’d been ordered to do that afternoon, Pierson grew energized at the prospect of Mitchell’s imminent arrival, but he refused to think any further on what his feelings meant. For over a century, he’d engaged in reckless fantasies that mainly showed up in his dreams.