And there's no way in hell or heaven that this could be justified as right. Even if the others would justify it as right, at least she won't. Luckily Suzy had asked her opinion and not others.
" What happened and what is happening with your lineage is wrong. Utterly, completely wrong. What next?" Nazia asked, ready to fight for the witches if that's what Suzy wants.
" Nothing." Suzy replied leaving Nazia speechless.
"What do you mean by 'nothing'? They have hurted your species, they will hurt you all again. So, why nothing? Don't you want to avenge your species? Don't you want to avenge your people?" Nazia couldn't help but ask.
" Nazia, to deal with any matter, there are two approaches, the direct approach and the indirect approach. When the situation is dire and demands a call of action, then we use the direct approach, which ninety percent times includes either violence or diplomacy. Not to mention, there are high chances that none of the parties would gain anything.
But when the situation is normal and you still want to change something wrong happening in your place, area of society then you go with the indirect approach, which includes the shocked reaction of the people at first, the straight and strict denial, the rage and anger which could be violent and harmful at times.
The bargaining so that both the presenting parties would come to a conclusion of peace treaty while gaining and losing something from each other, the depression of people for not reaching anywhere with the quest or for not getting the favoured outcome, the normal testing of the new rule, new law or whatever it would be among a few group of people to know about the consequences and the final outcome and then my friend that matter would be accepted whole-heartedly by everyone.
How about I explain it with an example, let's say you want a fruit.
Now the direct approach says you go find the fruit market, fruit seller, pay the money, buy the fruit, come back home and enjoy it.
But you want fruit, but you don't have money. You don't want to steal either because that's against your ethics. You don't want to hurt the fruit seller either because you are weaker than him.
So now what, you went to the fruit seller, told him your condition and wondered what he would do. At first he was in shock, then he directly refused to give you anything without money and told you to leave immediately.
But you refused to go as your eyes were fixed on the fruit which made him angry and he used violence on you to throw you far, far away. You were hurt but you wanted the fruit. So, you approached him again. He followed the same process again and again. Making you sit at the nearby place.
But when he saw it was almost evening time and soon he had to go back home. So with a defeated sigh he asked you to come, then he tried to strike a deal with you, but you had nothing to offer to the table, making him angry again and telling you to leave again.
He kept swearing and cursing you, making you sad and almost depressed. You felt like you didn't have any sense of self, or any pride left as you got insulted by a fruit seller for one fruit. Your resolve starts to break, which the fruit seller, but still you try to see through the end of this and remain seated while staring at the fruit.
The fruit seller saw this and wondered what's so good about this fruit. It's just a damn fruit. So in the end he decided to test it out, by offering you a little piece of it which made you happy and you relished it. Making a fruit seller realise that it's just a fruit and that one fruit would make no big difference to his profession or the statistics of profit or loss .
So, with that acceptance he offered you the complete fruit earning a wide, sweet smile from you. You blessed him, come back home and enjoy the fruit. " Suzy explained while making a cute gesture with her fingers showcasing a happy ending, making Nazia smile.
"But I could have just come back home, got the money and paid it to the seller. Why go through all the troubles in the first place?" Nazia wondered about earning a smile from Suzy.
"Because you are a fruit merchant and are looking for a person with deep values to give him the greatest order in history. You can give it to the richest merchant of the town, you can give it to any minister's relatives.
But you are looking for someone who is honest, humble, down-to-earth and barely survives on his own, yet carries the courage to help others. So, the next day you didn't just pay him money, but even gave him the order changing his life forever." Suzy said, shocking Nazia.
"Now, what does this mean?" Nazia asked bewildered.
" It means, we overlook many things with the direct approach as only the result matters to us. But with an indirect approach we got to know a lot more about our opponent than anything else.
We got to know whether he is reliable, worthy of being trusted or not. We got to know whether he can bring the change we want for us, with us or not. We got to know whether he is the man of principle or just some greedy dog. Not insulting the cute, sweet creatures though. As dogs are nowhere near as greedy as humans.
So, we get to know whether we are placing our bets on the right person or not.
For example, the fruit-seller tried to shoo you away countless times, but he didn't snatch your right to sit and stare at the fruit. He might hurt you a little, but he refrained himself from hurting you severely despite being in rage. When he sees you sitting in front of him from afternoon to the evening, he even offers you a piece of fruit, showcasing his morales.
So, it's important to see and know your opponent especially when it's an indirect approach." Suzy said.
"Okay. But what's with 'the life changing order'? " Nazia asked.
" It means you would offer something in return. As we witches are willing to offer protection and fight during the wars. Even if you wouldn't have been a merchant, you would still have repaid his good deed with something and it won't be just money.
You might have brought him breakfast or a bottle of water or cookies or something as a gratitude. Besides he would have earned a loyal customer if nothing less. Don't you agree?
So, in simple terms it would benefit him as well. Either directly or indirectly." Suzy said, making Nazia nod.
"Alright! Alright! That's too much information for the day. Let's just sleep. Or are you hungry, your highness!" Nazia asked, completely forgetting that they haven't eaten anything yet.
"Naah, the nation is barely making it past the next day. We shouldn't indulge ourselves in three meals either. Let's cut out on one meal, everyday and donate however much we can." Suzy said, earning a nod from Nazia,who brought the ingredients she would be needing to cook one course of meal and place them aside. She will donate them to someone tomorrow in the market.
~~
With the rise of sun, The Alpha Team bid their farewell to their supreme commander and begin their quest to find the solution of the drought.
Derek wished them the best.
Sebastian was leading the team while Dylan was taking care of the rear end, taking care of the team. Aedion, Harry and Sam took charge of hunting. Arnav, Quasim and Emanuel took charge of cooking. Dorian, Rev and Alex took charge of finding the place for night stay and tent arrangement. Sebastian, Ethan and Ermaan took charge of finding the quickest route to the nearest kingdom,Stizza, in hope that they might find something which would bring relief from the drought.
After all, they were asked to find a way to get rid of the drought. But to get rid of drought they need water and Ersia don't have any source of water left. River Sarayu and River Saraswati were the mainstream source of water in Ersia. But river Sarayu is nothing more than a single stream which expands ten fold during the rainy season. As for river Saraswati, then the legend says that the river was on the verge of drying up. Maybe it had dried up completely.
Leaving people of Ersia with nothing but to rely on the rain, which won't fall anytime soon. As it's still spring in Ersia, after which summer comes and after that the season of rain will approach Ersia. But Ersian will die miserably till then, with the lack of water and shortage of food.