Haku, king of all dragons

Zamor accompanied Haku to the edge of the lake, where the dragon dived into the water and started wiping the blood off his face. The lizardman had to admit that he was happy with that: Haku was scary normally already, but covered in blood like that, even if it was just the blood of an animal, it was downright terrifying. He waited patiently for Haku to finish: after all, they weren't in a hurry, since many things could happen in half an hour.

After a few minutes, Haku re-emerged from the water with cleaner face and claws; he looked at himself in the lake to check where there were clots of blood and removed them using his fingernails. When he was finished and no longer looking like a serial killer fresh off the scene of the crime, he stepped completely out of the water and scrambled to shake it off, whereupon he approached Zamor with a stern look on his face. The lizardman knew it was time to speak. "What did you want to tell me?"

Haku let out a deep snort, as he used to do when he was about to start a difficult conversation. "The time has come. You have to take the lead. You can't hold back anymore"

Zamor's expression didn't change, but his body visibly trembled. "Still with this story? I already told you I don't intend to do it"

"This time it's different" Haku said. "It's not about you, it's about your people. We are in an emergency situation, and we can't have divisions right now. We need a leader, and now"

Zamor didn't understand the reason for such urgency. It was possible that the dragon was just trying to scare him, but he doubted it. "Why? There is no more emergency. We have the cure..."

"No, Zamor! I already told you, that's not a cure! It's just a temporary solution! It can prevent people from dying, but the disease will remain!" Haku interrupted him. "This disease is designed to occupy the same body over and over again, so I seriously doubt your bodies will be able to build up defenses against it. It's true, by counteracting the symptoms we can avoid further deaths… but everyone who come in contact with an infected person will become ill, even those who had previously become ill. There are only two ways to stop an epidemic: either enough people die that it can no longer spread, or enough people develop defenses against it and stop it from spreading. All diseases that don't kill or against which the body doesn't develop defenses, such as colds and fevers, periodically return. And in a closed system like this oasis, this disease will practically never go away. If we had a real cure the situation would be different, but if we have to wait for the disease to go away by itself then it is basically impossible for it to disappear. If we want to eradicate it, then we will have to take drastic measures"

Zamor clenched his fists. The hope he had had until a few moments before had just been shattered. He'd assumed the emergency was over, but apparently it wasn't. He wasn't a healer and didn't understand much about diseases, but he felt that Haku wasn't talking nonsense. "What do you mean by… drastic measures?"

"In a nutshell, total quarantine" Haku answered. "All infected people will have to be isolated, and even after they have recovered they will have to be categorically forbidden to leave their homes and have any contact with other people. We will have to bar their doors and windows and bring them food without having any physical contact. Those people will have to remain isolated as long as someone else in the whole village shows symptoms. Only when at least a month has passed since the last sick person then we can allow people to leave the house. Also we will have to put stricter bans on hunting to prevent it happens again, and to do that we'll need to establish penalties and create a justice system. We'll also need to filter the water we drink to make sure it's not contaminated… and there's a lot of other things we'll need to do that I haven't mentioned yet. If we waste time discussing each time we have to make one of these choices, which many in the Council might describe as amoral, then the disease will never go away. Of course, no one will die, but it will be basically impossible for everyone to live a life worthy of this name. How will they be able to go to work if they constantly risk starting to spit blood? How will they be able to have relationships with people of the opposite sex if they are afraid of being infected? People would live in fear. If we want to prevent this from happening, we will have to be quick, decisive and inflexible. We will have to have someone who makes the decisions for everyone. We'll have to have a leader"

Zamor bit his lip. The prospect of calling for a full quarantine was frightening and certainly wasn't going to help people's mood. But the prospect of living forever in fear of disease… that was even worse. Indeed, he himself felt uneasy at the thought that with each contact with another person he risked getting sick. And he knew that the symptoms of the disease could be made non-lethal; but what if a person, perhaps because he was already in poor health, died? In that case everyone would have thought that even with all those methods of making it non-fatal, the disease could still kill, and the fear would have been even greater. Everyone in the village would turn into hermits, avoiding each other forever.

Seeing him so doubtful, Haku tried to assert his point of view again: "Zamor, you can't stand back anymore, not this time. These people need someone to guide them, just like they needed someone to guide them in the desert. I know you don't want this burden, but you must do what's best for your people, not yourself. You have me on your side and the people adore you, you have no reason to fear defeat: as soon as we return to the Council Hall, officially proclaim your intentions to everyone else. Those who will support you can stay, those who will reject you... I'll handle them. They won't even know what hit them. One nod from you, and all your opponents will never see the sun again"

"And what are we going to tell to the people?" Zamor opined. "How do you think they will react? People don't like those who take power by force"

"Yes, they like them, if they take it in the right way" Haku replied. "It will suffice for us to say that your opponents planned to use the disease to stage a coup. Tzegorn practically asked me to give him my blood, which is a lethal weapon, and I have already done some investigations and I know that many Council members have built up a private militia. This, combined with the testimony of the Council members loyal to you and above all with the fact that it will be you, the liberating hero, who tells that to the people, will ensure that everyone will believe you. Of course, surely there will be some suspicious... but after you successfully deal with the epidemic and provide everyone with a lasting food source by approving my project, all suspicions will be forgotten and those who still suspect will avoid to talk about it aloud. If people receive enough benefits they believe anyone, even a murderer. It's the nature of you newcomers"

Zamor shook his head and sighed. "If you hadn't been born a dragon, surely you would have become someone of importance, like a grand vizier or a royal adviser… and after that you would have ended up getting rid of the king and taking the throne" he said. "Why me? Why do you want me to commit such acts? If you are so convinced that a leader is necessary, why don't you take the lead?"

"Because I can't, that's why!" Haku snapped, tired of everyone asking him that same question.

Zamor raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? Do you want me to do something you don't want to do yourself? Then Yuko is right when he says..."

"I didn't say that I don't want, but that I can't! If I could take control, I would, but I can't!" Haku exclaimed looking the lizardman straight in the eyes. "Tell me, Zamor, why do you think I'm here now? You know very well that I don't give a damn about you or these people. I could have left you alone the day after I freed myself from the arena and I would have had no remorse. So why I'm here, and I'm working continuesly to make this community work? You haven't started to think I've developed empathy or even friendship for you, have you?"

Zamor wasn't hurt by those words: he wasn't a fool and he had never doubted even for a second that Haku didn't care about him despite everything they had done together. Rescuing the beastmen from captivity and bringing them to live in the Thul Oasis had only been side effects of another very specific purpose. "Because you want to allow your family to have a normal life" he answered, remembering what Haku had repeated to him several times over the course of those months.

"That's right! The only damn reason I brought you and your rabble here was because I want my brothers and sisters to get to know people, make friends, and not be looked down upon wherever they go! And the only way I can accomplish this is to build a community from scratch and teach them not to fear dragons!" Haku exclaimed. "But if I now take power by force, then everything I've done so far will have been for nothing! I will only be seen as an usurper, a tyrant, and everyone will be convinced that dragons are cruel! Make a coup for a dragon isn't as simple as for a newcomer like you! The people of this village already look at me and my family with quite suspicion, how do you think they will react if I use threats or even murder to make them do what I want? I will do nothing but confirm their fears! So no, even if I really want to, I can't be the leader! Even if I were elected by the Council members honestly, no one would trust me! Not now that I've just started changing their mentality, and when your people are still anchored in what the stories and tales say about my kind! You, on the other hand, don't have these problems. You are loved by the people and you are one of them, if you take power in the way I have advised you no one will hate you or see you as a usurper, in fact, they may even cheer you on! I'm a dragon, you're a newcomer: I can't do certain things, you can! That's how it works!"

Zamor remained silent. He couldn't say he shared Haku's reasons and methods, but he understood them. In fact, his vision of the situation had been too personal: thinking carefully about what the dragon's real reasons were, everything made sense. For Haku, the only thing that mattered was his family's happiness, he didn't care what he wanted. So it was only natural that he held back from taking control even though it was probably what he wanted given his irritability when things didn't go his way. Giving importance to others and not to himself was practically the same thing he had asked Zamor to do. "What if I were to carry out this coup? Don't you think people might be afraid of you if you, as you proposed, kill all my opponents?"

Haku shook his head. "In that case I'd just be a hit man doing the bidding of the real leader. At best people will think I'm really good at killing, which they already think. In three days no one will talk about it anymore. And when you've solidified your position making people love you, I could even become the sword with which you wiped out your enemies. I won't be the hero of the story, but I will at least be a good sidekick"

It actually made sense. The logic was pretty convoluted and not at all moral, but it made sense. Zamor looked down, then let out a weary breath. "I understand your reasons, and I know how important it is to you… but I can't do it. Because just as you are pursuing an ideal for your family, I too am pursuing an ideal for my people" he said. "I want the days of suffering for my people to be over. I want everyone to live peacefully and as equals. I want at all costs to avoid the birth of a new Carrion. I cannot, therefore, set a bad example and transform myself into a tyrant who eliminates those who disagree with him. I would become what I swore to my people to destroy. I can take the lead for some time as I did in the desert, but only if everyone agrees, and not permanently. I can't do that, just like you can't take over the community. We're both protecting what we hold dear, and both of our hands are tied"

Haku didn't think those reasons were very valid, but before he could argue a thought crossed his mind. "Wait... what did you just say?"

"Huh?" Zamor was confused by the dragon's sudden change of mood. "I said both of our hands..."

"No, no, before that!" Haku stopped him. "You said you can take over... if everyone agrees... and not permanently..."

Zamor didn't understand what the dragon was saying, but suddenly he had an epiphany. His eyes widened like two bowls. "I have an idea" they both said in unison.