Equality is not equity
Wells Used
Alex
and Jai'den
were their names and preparing for their first international Holo-com
was their game."Are you sure you set it up right?" Asked Alex, the assistant to Isonomia's new leading ferret.
Jai'den glared at the administrator in a friendly manor that suggest that, because the were friends, he was not going to kill him, but that did not mean he wouldn't mame him... "Yeah. Quite sure. Winston said you just have to press the button and touch the device."
Alex sat back down at the small round table next to his desk that they had allocated to the device. Winston had made a few decorative improvements to the device, adding a little stand and some simple decorative embossing which did little for its practical features or its aesthetics. Placing his hand atop it again, he shouted. "Winston?! I say, Winston? Are, you, theeere? Can you heeeaaaar us?"
"This isn't a seance man, cut it out with 'the voice'."
"Alright then, YOU do it..." Suddenly a ferret appeared in-front of them and they both jumped.
"'ello! Yuh, me cun 'ere yuh, yuh don't need tuh shout. Hehe."
"Oh good. We had begun to worry that..."
"Yuh do need tuh touch de device dough. Me cannat see yuh reet naw..."
The two men shared a sheepish glance before both leaning forward to place their hands on the device again. "Sorry about that Winston, we are still getting use to this."
The ferret chuckled. "Nooooooh worries, mun. Et takes a lital gettin' used to."
"Will Gennadiya be joining us?"
"Maby latta, Alex. Me gat some business me wud like tuh cova wid yuh first."
It had been well over a ten-trial now since Winston had officially taken over the leadership of Isonomia and the promise of the Holo-com had been a sorely anticipated event as Alex assured him that it was going to be very difficult to manage things to begin with if Winston was not at the HQ. All the same, he lived in Sweetsong and that would not, if he had any choice in the matter, change.
"How did the glasswork go? You manage to make them lenses?" The ferret gasped before disappearing and then reappearing a few moment latter with an odd pair of goggled on his head. "Noh, me only really get de ones we made togetha still. Me keep makin' dem wanky." He tapped the goggles. "Bot me put
ta'ge'da
meh prototype wid de ones yuh made an' added a firm metal strap." It had taken him quite a bit of time to get the leans coupling to fit but with a little strength and a lot of perseverance, it had come together.The two me shared yet another look. There was no denying the small fellow's ingenuity... they were after all, communicating using it right now, but there was also no denying his oddity. "Ummm... good."
"Yeah mun, dem's awesome!.. But dats nat wat we called tuh discuss, sarry." He whipped them off and placed them down beside himself. "Yuh gat de device. Me es sending one tuh Becan, de Orda af Adunih already gat dere's and we cun discuss with Genn latta were else we want tuh send dem. 'ow are tings goin' at dat end?"
Alex riffled through some papers, temporarily disappearing as he took his hand off the device. "Oh! yes..." He placed a hand back on the device as he started turning the pages with his one free hand. "It really would be better if I didn't have to hold the device all the time..." He stopped suddenly, realising that he had verbalised that thought instead of keeping into deep inside his head. "...But, sorry, I mean to say, these are very good devices. I'll try to remember to use them properly." He smiled awkwardly. He had not known the ferret long and despite Faith's favour for him, he was still a little unsure why she chose him. "So yes, the food and funds from the Saiore food kitchen have been logged now and incorporated into our permanent rota. The orphanage has confirmed completion of the repairs - thank you very much Winston - and we have reached out to the order to thank them for their assistance with the Pirate Relief Efforts."
Winston smiled, happy to see at least a few things were going well. "An de soup kitchens are sometin' dat Isonomia cun keep runnin'?"
The administrator nodded sharply. "Oh yes, this kind of thing is well established already. As long as donations continue, the food will continue. For now, we have left the
Soup Cauldron
in Faldrass, but once we know more about where the needs is greatest, we will talk about re-deploying it." He sighed, a little regret touching his features. "Faith was always much better at gathering information. This is something we will miss very much as an organisation." His words were pragmatic as he stated this simple fact.The ferret pulled a thoughtful face for a moment as he looked to Shinwa. "Leave dat one with meh, Alex... Actually, tell yuh wat, send tuh me any requests far infarmashun dat yuh come acrass... Anyting' dt Faith might 'ave dealt with in dat regard... Send et tuh me an' me will see wat me cun doh." He continued to eye Shinwa thoughtfully. The butler remained completely unreadable.
He flicked a few pages... "I have a complete list of the Wells that Faith left the organisations. It's rather long so I took the liberty of sending you a copy. You should have received that?"
Winston nodded emphatically. "Mun alive! Me had fargatten how many dere were, bot yeah, me 'ave dis list. Where is dem reet naw?"
"Oh, they are being held safely here in Rharn, in the Lab, so you simply let us know and we can send to you whatever you need."
"Tanks, dat's perfect. And Jai'den, 'ave yuh seen moch progress wid de odda guilds ova dere?"
Jai'den shook his head. The task of trying to get a city full of guilds to even MEET one another was hard enough, let alone getting them to agree to something. "No, not yet. But I have a list of names that we need to chase."
"Gud, tanks, dat might be gud enough far naw, ef yuh cun send dat ova, dat wud be grand."
The second assistant nodded.
"That just leaves the matter of the charter."
The ferret nodded. It was something that had been causing him a lot of concern. Isonomia was a large and very flat organisation and he didn't have a clue where he fit into it, how to run it or how it could grow without someone like Faith at the helm of something so open and freeform. Both Alex and Jai'den had invested a lot of their time helping him with this, explaining how things worked right now and what Faith did to ensure it all ran smoothly. "Yeah, de charta. Me 'ave been readin' wat yuh gave meh an' wen yuh explain wat Faith used tuh doh, et all makes sense... Kinda. Bot me jost cannat doh dat. Faith did tings dat seem a little bit like logistical magic tuh meh an'... well... me nat 'ere an' de soona we deal wid dat issue, de betta far everyone."
The two men nodded. There was still something quite solemn about such conversations, but for as bad as Winston might be at large organisations, he was great at people and so he made sure to keep the balance between sad and pragmatic at the right level, to allow things to proceed, without upsetting people.
"OK..." Began Alex, the one that was being leant on most heavily by the new leadership for the organisation-wide affairs. "...I have taken on a lot of the trial-to-trial logistics, as you requested and Jai'den here has been tackling the infrastructural and trade-demand concerns."
The Ferret nodded as
Shinwa
, standing beside him, took notes and offered up prompts from their previous planning sessions. Shinwa had gladly accepted the mantle of ensuring everything was organised at Winston's side."But there are a few things we will need to make decisions on, soon, but these can wait until the Food Kitchens, Wells and our relationship with The Order of Adunih have been addressed."
"Great! Me wus talkin' with Shinwa after our last discussion an' me tink yuh are right, Alex. Tuh make ting's simpla to manage in Faith's absence, we shud establish some kind af farmal structure, dat cun serve tuh give people direcshan an' remove de needs far meh tuh be takin' an soh much af an active role en keepin' tings in-line."
The two men nodded again, there was no doubting that Winston was barely a shadow of Faith where running things was concerned and while she had left everything in a good state to run itself for a while, that would change as time passed.
"Me wus tinkin' af a mare farmal membaship an' sometin' af a structchad form af role an' recagnishan in de charta?"
Alex shifted uncomfortably in his seat a little as he decided how to respond. The ferret simply waited for his advisor to decide what he wanted to say.
"So, the thing is. Isonomia was built on the principle that status was unimportant. That you contribute, anything you can and in return you are supported... not more or less than anyone else because you are 'in charge'." He smiled politely. "I don't think F..." He stopped himself a little to late... It was not his desire to use Faith's name as a weapon against the freshly appointed leader of their cause, but she was still the first and last thing anyone thought of when working on these things.
"Et's OK, Alex."
The man smiled apologetically. "...It's not what I believe Isonomia has been founded upon, to establish 'ranks'..."
Jai'den tried to suppress his expression as he considered that he was glad HE was not the one saying this...
"Yuh right. Me know dat Faith felt very strangly about dees tings. Et's why she farmed Isonomia, right? But as she an' I both agreed an several occashans... Equality es not equity..." He didn't avoid using Faith precise words as he quoted the sentiment and it resounded with the two men as was intended. "Dere most always be equal appatunity tuh achieve, but dat does nat 'ave tuh mean absolute equality of outcomes." He was now using his own words as he convinced the men, not that they were wrong, but that he agree with them.
"Notin' we do shud eva prevent peepal havin' appartunities... Bot tde appatunities open tuh someone dat 'as been workin' at a ting far 10 arcs are naturally different den dem available tuh someone only jost startin' out..."
He let that settle for a bit, to allow the idea to form in their minds. "An' ef we don't set out wat we tink de path fram yuh first trial tuh yuh last... we will foreva be fightin' miscancepshan."
"So you are suggesting we should have ranks and roles for the settlements and members of Isonomia?" Asked the crafter with a little concern in his voice.
"Noh-noh. Sarry. Wat me mean is dat we... Isonomia es an agent af an' far change. Far gud. We don't enfarce a place ar a persan do ting's ONE way, but we act as a support netwark, dat provides appatunities tuh allow uddas tuh flourish wid dere own independence. We might set ting's we DON'T accept, bot dis es already true... Slavery... Oppreshan... But we cunnat spread Isonomia acrass all af Idalos ef we don't even know, who tuh talk to in Yaralon.
'oo
yuh should arganise educashan wid? 'oo deals wid internashional diplomacy? 'oo do we send one af dees 'olo-com's to an' why?"He chuckled. "Me don't know de ansas tuh dese quesahuns, but ef we want to tackle oppression across all af Idalas, we need to be united."
This time Jai'den thumped the table. "Damn straight!"
His counterpart, a little more reserved in his nature, smiled gladly. They were lofty statements, to come in near trial one and throw around phrases like 'world peace', perhaps something they might never actually achieve... but in this, if nothing else, he heard Faith in the Cadouri's words. "OK. You have me on-board... Sorry."
"No way, mun. Yuh tell me wen yuh disagree wid me, always. De only way to reach agreement is through discushun widdout fear af judgement." He grinned.
"Well then... Shall we work out some of the details now?" He proposed rhetorically, as he grabbed a fresh pad of paper. It was then that the three colleagues proceeded to discuss everything 'Isonomia', the new charter taking shape, the new nature of what it meant to be a member and how they would all be involved...
