Internal Agitations|Sensatiamens, Sensatia

[Kender Bard]

Thelon sat down in his chair. He had finished writing the first draft of the petition and wanted to give his mind and hands a break. Taking a deep breath, he started to reach for the brandy again before pushing it away. No point in diverting more of his mental resources to keeping himself steady against the intoxication. Instead he just tilted his head back and rubbed the bridge of his nose, wondering why life had suddenly decided to become so troublesome, everywhere in the world.

I miss the peace, he thought mournfully, getting up abruptly and striding to look upon his mantle where some trinkets lay. One of them was a battered bookmark of sorts, a frayed, bleached silk ribbon with only bits and pieces of gold thread that had been used to pick out a flowing script. Thelon picked it up and ran the silk between his thumb and forefinger, drawing comfort from the old touchstone. Knowledge is power, power is survival, survival is life. It was an old saying of his bloodline, equating roughly to the idea that knowledge was the key to all life.

"Father," he breathed. "I could use your knowledge now. How did you keep the Minds afloat? They loved you so, and you never had anything more troublesome than the occassional upstart. You kept the Minds whole even divided. Yet here I gather my people under layer upon layer of protections, and still trouble finds its way to my doorstep." He shut his eyes and thought of the mistakes he had made since ascending to Leadership, one after the other. Slowly he leaned forward and lay his head against the wall, and drew a ragged breath.

The sound of shattering glass broke the melancholy and snapped him back to his senses. He spun around and headed to the sunny reading room, where most of his books where held; a personal library, that had the most windows in the house. A brick was in the middle of the room. Thelon's eyes were drawn to it, causing him to boil over with anger unbridled. THen he lifted his eyes and saw the big... big mob just a brick's throw away, and the heat of anger turned to ice in his gut.

He swore to his god for what felt like the millionth time of the day.

[Kender Bard]

"Come out of your damn mansion!" one of the Minds in the mob snarls. There's a chorus of agreement, threats shouted about what would happen if Thelon didn't come out, one of which was that he would be smoked out from the local Fires...

Swallowing, Thelon teleported a few feet until he was outside, and before the mob. "What's this about?"

"We are tired of you dictating how to live our lives," someone shouted. "We want our freedoms back!"

There was a shouted agreement all around.

Thelon frowned at the people. "I do what I do to keep all of us safe, and so Sensatia can prosper."

"You do it because you're a power monger!" someone growled. "The most powerful Mind is the most manipulative!"

"He won't be the most powerful long..."

Thelon took a step back; he could sense the crowd was beginning to grow into an uglier mood, even though all the Minds gathered had their shields up in a collective arrangement to block even him from scanning thoughts, unless he were to put considerable - and visible - effort into trying. He didn't think it was worth it.

"This is about the pregnancy mandates, and the marriage lottery isn't it?" Thelon asked, starting to hold up his hands in a gesture of peace. "I do not understand why anyone would object to being given substantial benefits on top of the joy of being a parent."

"Take your joyful parenthood and shove it up your ass, Master!"

He ignored the comment and continued. "As for the marriage policy, well, it hasn't even been tried out yet. Nobody here knows whether it would be good or bad; at least give it a chance, and if it is a disaster the entire thing could be revoked!"

"Could be, might, maybe," a Fire near the front spat. "You're full of shifty answers, Thelon. How about a straight one for once? Are you here to help your people or to help yourself?"

"My people," Thelon said evenly, growing angry himself. "Which is why I installed the lottery in the first place!"

He hadn't realized what he said wrong, just that it was the very epitome of wrongness apparently. The crowd broke, and now the mob showed its true fierceness. Another brick came flying at him, and Thelon brought up a barrier to deflect it easily. It was all the Minds that began to attack him, battering on his shield, insistent, relentless. Thelon was the most powerful of Minds, and yet even the mightiest of creatures can be brought down by a swarm of bees, angry, buzzing, stinging... stinging... Thelon's mind exploded into fires of agony as his barriers were ripped down mercilessly on the onslaught.

His mind retreated into itself, the mental equivalent of curling into the fetal position, so he would no longer feel the pinpricks of his people hammering on his conciousness. He didn't even feel the ground when something slammed into his skull.

[Devon]

Xavier having spotted the large mob outside of Thelon's house intensely watched what was happening. When the bricks were thrown the mind did his best to push through the crowd and make it to Thelon. Finally bursting out of the mob, Xavier throws a barrier around himself and Thelon. Picking Thelon up Xavier touches his signs together and quickly teleports to his own home.

[Kender Bard]

Thelon didn't take long to come back around to conciousness. When he did, it was abrupt. His eyes snapped open and he jumped, scrambling back to his feet and looking around with wild-eyed fright, mental barriers snapped up so fast and rigidly, it was almost audible on a psychic level. "Whatwhatwhat?!"

Shaking, he took a breath and looked at Xavier in confusion. "What the HELL just happened? Where is everyone? Where am I?"

[Devon]

"The mob is still outside of your home, I hope they haven't noticed I brought you to my home instead. Lay down Thelon..you need to rest right now." Xavier gets up and goes to get a glass of water and a wet cloth to put on Thelon's head.

"Here, we can think on what to do while you settle down."

[Kender Bard]

Thelon takes the cloth and pulls it off, resisting the urge to fling it. "How can I lay down? My own people have assaulted me, Xavier." There's bitterness in his voice, and the Mind has to turn away and blink rapidly to keep his vision from swimming. Muttering more to himself, he adds huskily, "How could I have been so blind to the populace? How did I let things spiral out of control so badly?" He scrunches his eyes and fights against the rising pain throbbing behind his eyes. "And how do I fix it? Can I fix it?"

[Devon]

Xavier grabs Thelon and forces him back down, placing the cloth on his head again. "A broken arm can be set with a splint, a broken fence can be mended. Sensatia can be fixed Thelon, but it won't be fixed if the leader is too weak to stand. Settle down and we'll think on this Thelon."

[Kender Bard]

Thelon grumbled more inaudibly but sat down this time, looking out a window bleakly. After a long pause, he groaned softly, "Soahc, please tell me this is all a bad dream." He leaned forward to rest his head in his hands. "I'm glad my family wasn't home at least. I trust you know what they're all mad about..."

[Devon]

" The marriage lottery and the breeding. Seems it stemmed from that. Honestly I had a feeling the people wouldn't have completely taken to those ideas, but I didn't think they'd react like this. They must be really stressed to have let it progress to this step."

[Kender Bard]

"If you knew that it wasn't going to be a good idea, why did you say that it should be okay for me to go ahead with it?!" Thelon sighed in agitation, half glaring at Xavier. He wasn't really mad at him. How could he be? Xavier had just saved his life. But he had too much stress to speak politely.

[Devon]

Xavier sighs and rubs his forehead. "Its just the way the idea was proposed to the people. It should have been sugar coated for them, but doesn't matter much right about now. In a few days after you've rested I think we should try and talk to the people. Hopefully they would have calmed down by then. Do you want me to contact your family in the mean time?"

[Kender Bard]

Thelon nods, swallowing. "Yes, but make it clear that under no circumstances do I want Tres and Libre here. They're to stay in Fira until further notice. If my wife gives you complaint, just come back." He hesitated, then added, "Thank you, Xavier. You're a true friend."

[Devon]

Xavier smiles with a small nod and prepares to teleport off. "From one friend to another, you'll always have my help if you need it." After finishing his thought Xavier teleports off to Naurorod.

[Northen Light36]

Tavin's mental voice calls to Thelon, though the other Mind is keeping his voice as 'quiet' as he can. ~Uh, Thelon? I have a extremely worried/annoyed sister in law with me right now. Can you tell me where you are so I can bring her to you, let her reassure herself you're all right then get her home again without anything being burnt down?~

[Kender Bard]

Thelon sighed heavily. He had hoped she would stay home, or at least be forced to, but had forgotten about Tavin. Oh well, there was nothing to do about it now. ~I'm in Xavier's home.~ He flashed a mental image to Tavin as a frame of reference, the room he was in at that moment.