Intermission 8 Page 29
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“I joined the Imperial Guard as soon as I was old enough.”
“I didn’t come from a wealthy or important family, so I started out as an ordinary private.”
“Patrolling the rough parts of the city, marching for days to escort nobles to distant towns, mucking out stables…”
“I did whatever they asked me to.”
“But I had high aspirations. And a plan to reach them.”
“Anyone can make a living with the Guard if they’re good in a fight, and I was very good.”
“But to actually advance beyond sergeant, you needed connections.”
“And I had my Saffron.”
“It would be a whole other story to tell you about how I convinced her I was worth marrying.”
“The short version is that we wanted the same things out of life, we knew we could get them if we worked together…”
“And we were in love.”
“And she was brilliant.”
“Her family was only modestly wealthy, but she’d gone to a good school, and she was friends with Guard officers, palace aides, you name it.”
“I was still a private when we were married, but as early as the wedding she began to lay the groundwork.”
“By the time we cut the cake, I’d been given the assignment that would put me on the path to the Emperor’s side.”
“The goblin relocation task force.”
“Goblin relocation”? Oh, that is not a good sign.
Uh oh… I don’t like where this is going.
… you had hair then. (is possibly what Ricki thinks. 😀 At least I hope she would, because it is also a direct quote of the great councilwoman in Lilo and Stitch, when she talks to Cobra Bubbles. 😀 I love that movie!)
Yup, nepotism is the key to success. In fiction as well as life. No matter how hard you work or how talented you are, there is a hard limit on how high you can rise. At a certain point, you’re just not <i>one of them</i>, see? <a href=”https://afreeleftblog.blogspot.com/2016/06/i-have-left-labour-party-few-words.html”>It’s all ingroup and outgroup dynamics, and they don’t react well to traitors who leave the fold like Kamau.</a>