There's a faint, sad smile on Ashitaka's face as he nods.] Yes. That was it.
[He's been thinking about this almost constantly since he'd been captured, if not in the forefront of his mind then tangled up somewhere in his subconscious. Since he had seen Xici die, torn apart on a cellular level as she simply ceased to be in the stream of time, he had taken it as a sobering message of what they all faced if they failed. Upon his meeting with Kebechet, seeing that they knew everything about him and where he was from (and knew more about what he was going to do with his life than even he did), he had realized he'd already failed without noticing it. If they knew him, they could destroy him; it was as simple as that.
But they didn't. Why?
76 brings up good points, more fleshed-out versions of fragments that Ashitaka had considered himself, over these last few days.]
They still send people against us, however. Soldiers which seem more than willing to kill. [They'd faced off against them in Gallipoli, both while in Lone Pine and when escaping from it. Of course, one of those agents had captured Ashitaka rather than killing him, but perhaps their orders had changed.] They try to create eternal peace by intervening in wars. In this, they must compromise something.
[He is silent for a moment longer, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling.]
I... [He reconsiders how to approach this.] We have known that, if they discovered our identities, they could erase us as they did Xici. But Kebechet showed me that they already knew who I was. Not only that, but everything I had already done - everything that I would do. [He frowns, his brow knitting together in consternation.] I... asked if it meant the end of me, but Kebechet said that to erase a single person was something they were forbidden to do.
[He feeds another piece of firewood to the fire.] I caution myself in believing what I was told, but they said it was the Windhoek Accord that stopped this. I... have heard that name before. Xici mentioned it, though she did not say what it was.
no subject
There's a faint, sad smile on Ashitaka's face as he nods.] Yes. That was it.
[He's been thinking about this almost constantly since he'd been captured, if not in the forefront of his mind then tangled up somewhere in his subconscious. Since he had seen Xici die, torn apart on a cellular level as she simply ceased to be in the stream of time, he had taken it as a sobering message of what they all faced if they failed. Upon his meeting with Kebechet, seeing that they knew everything about him and where he was from (and knew more about what he was going to do with his life than even he did), he had realized he'd already failed without noticing it. If they knew him, they could destroy him; it was as simple as that.
But they didn't. Why?
76 brings up good points, more fleshed-out versions of fragments that Ashitaka had considered himself, over these last few days.]
They still send people against us, however. Soldiers which seem more than willing to kill. [They'd faced off against them in Gallipoli, both while in Lone Pine and when escaping from it. Of course, one of those agents had captured Ashitaka rather than killing him, but perhaps their orders had changed.] They try to create eternal peace by intervening in wars. In this, they must compromise something.
[He is silent for a moment longer, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling.]
I... [He reconsiders how to approach this.] We have known that, if they discovered our identities, they could erase us as they did Xici. But Kebechet showed me that they already knew who I was. Not only that, but everything I had already done - everything that I would do. [He frowns, his brow knitting together in consternation.] I... asked if it meant the end of me, but Kebechet said that to erase a single person was something they were forbidden to do.
[He feeds another piece of firewood to the fire.] I caution myself in believing what I was told, but they said it was the Windhoek Accord that stopped this. I... have heard that name before. Xici mentioned it, though she did not say what it was.
[Perhaps Ashitaka should have asked more.]