Page 25 of The Ruler
“Yes. Only one in every ten graduates is elected to the council.”
“And what are the five areas you must excel in?” he asked.
I counted on my fingers. “Generosity, selflessness, the ability to resist temptation, stamina to stay focused for long hours and consume and understand large amounts of information with complicated details.” I raised the fifth finger on my right hand. “And lastly empathy, because we have to be natural defenders of the weak and stay true to our word.”
“Yeah, but how do you test that in a child?” he asked again.
“There are different ways.”
“Okay, so give me an example. How did they test yourempathy?” He raised his eyebrow mockingly and spoke the last word with sarcasm.
“Sometimes tests are constructed, other times natural dilemmas occur in their lives where true character shines through. A child under evaluation won’t know about it.”
“You didn’t answer my question. How did they test you?”
“One of the situations in my case file was one that happened when I was twelve. My family unit decided to have a large party with musicians, food, and dancing but I’d already been invited to a birthday party by a girl from my class and I’d accepted before knowing about the larger party. Everyone told me just to cancel the birthday party but the girl was new in town and I knew she didn’t have many friends yet.” I bit my lip, still remembering how torn I’d felt. “I wanted to party with my family and friends but I kept imagining the new girl feeling let down if I broke my promise to her. I couldn’t do it, and in the end I went to her birthday while everyone partied at my house.”
“That’s stupid,” Khan said firmly.
I gave him an annoyed glance. “No, it’s not. It’s a sign of solidarity, empathy, and integrity, and those are all fine values.”
“Bullshit,” Khan said and climbed onto his bed, pulling back his covers with hard movements. “What you’re describing isinflexibility. People who are inflexible are the worst. Once they make up their mind they’re locked in and refuse to change their minds even when it’s fucking obvious they’re wrong about something.”
“That’s not the same thing at all!” I exclaimed.
“If it was me I would have found a solution. Maybe she could have moved her party and come with you to the bigger party instead.”
I gave him a pointed stare. “I’m not like you; I don’t order people around and make them change their birthday parties so I can join other more interesting things. And it just emphasizes why it’s a good thing councilwomen aren’t motivated by power.”
“Why is that a good thing? Power is wonderful.”
“Let me see if I can explain this to you.” I held up my hands and formed a pyramid by placing my thumbs and index fingers against each other. “Here in the Northlands you have a hierarchy where the masses on the bottom work to make life easier for the few on top, not least you,their ruler.” I was thinkingdictator, but knew he preferred ruler so I went with that.
“Uh-huh,” he confirmed. “Which is why power is the greatest.”
“In the Motherlands, we like to say that we have a flat hierarchy, but truth be told it’s probably more like a reversed pyramid where the few on the bottom serve to make life easier for the masses on top.”
“That makes no sense.” He wrinkled his nose in disgust. “And I’m not just talking about your fucking council, but your whole society.”
“What do you mean?” I asked and picked up a tooth cleaner from my bag. The small device was the size of a large rice grain and worked its way around my mouth, cleaning and polishing each tooth.
“Why should the lazy person have as much as the one who works hard?” Khan noted. “There needs to be an incitement for people to want to work. A capitalistic society makes much more sense.”
“To you!” I said and got under the cover on the sofa. “But how can you be happy in your big Manor if children are starving in the streets?”
“No child is starving in the Northlands,” Khan argued, stretching his long legs and arranging his pillows to be more comfortable. “They grow up in schools that feed them plenty. We want big strong men, not small weaklings like…” He stopped himself before repeating the usual insult to the men in the Motherlands.
The room was large and it wasn’t ideal to speak across it, but Khan and I had a tendency to get into long arguments; and since both of us wanted the last words we had continued our discussions into the wee hours before.
“I’m happy to hear that no child is starving, but what happens when those children grow up?” I asked and propped myself on my elbow.
“They get a job,” he replied matter-of-factly.
“And do all jobs pay the same?”
“No, of course not. It’s supply and demand.”
“I see – so some people are paid very little and live a life in poverty while others have more than they need.”
