To Artuer

Artuer 3

They made me king, my son. Rather, I accepted. A difficult decision this was for me, as I was hesitant to take it on. This is a role that I would otherwise dismiss with as much grace as wind passing over trees.

I find the role of kingship and any such station to be unnecessary and dangerous. Dangerous because he who claims it, if a good man or one with reasonable faculties, is at all times the pupil of the people’s collective eye, the beacon of their thoughts, and the author of their liberties. What livelihood they have is at all times indebted to him. By the same ritual, he is also indebted to them, responsible for meeting the demands of their every need, acting as mediator for their collective disagreements, and is subject to mutiny if he should fail, or if any should be so bold as to tire of him, especially those at his wings and in his circle.

I find it unnecessary, because I have found that a chief, or a wise man, or wise woman, a trusted elder of some sort who can meet the needs of leadership when called for, is better. Someone who can be the strong arm of the people when they grow weak. A balancer, my son. Not someone who has the power to turn the tides of the people’s thoughts and well-being at a whim. Not someone who could make it law to stay put out of mere preference, rather than protection as a good king might choose to do.

How lovely would it be if a kingdom stayed together, because the people valued one another and the culture therein?

Other dangers I foresee are that the man responsible to be king, might have to sacrifice the man for the station, rather than the station being an extension of the man. And if that responsibility requires more from that man than he can give, or does not nourish his own needs enough to give him the strength to nurture the responsibility, that man may lose himself in his efforts. Worse still, is the temptation to be cruel or the hedonist, using the throne to exact whatever vengeance one desires, or to force the inhabitants of one’s kingdom to submit to one’s every desire.

Such is the nature of the king who made my kingship necessary. For there was no one strong enough or worthy enough to take the throne of Dinsun. And so another king, cruel and the hedonist, sought to take it for himself, and enslave the people of Dinsun.

I arrived at the right time, for this man, Arenon Tathecon, murdered the former Dinsun king and was on his way to claim what remained. The people were afraid, my son, and would not have a mere chief or wise man. They would only have a king. And so, with a heavy breath, I became that king. I am that king.