Pausing momentarily, I say, "A country is a place where a bunch of different people gather together to build a future for them all."
Laughing, she says, "How childish."
Slightly peeved, I say, "I don't see how what I said was wrong?"
"It was a very idealistic way to phrase such an answer. Exactly what I would expect from a dreamer like you."
"If you know so much, tell me what a country is to you."
"Orb, have you ever been married?"
"Of course not."
"Do you ever want to be married?"
"N-No."
Smiling Cultúir says, "Well then, let me enlighten you on what it is. Marriage is a union where two strangers who know each other come together to bind themselves to each other for mutual benefit.
Some do it for resources, some do it for protection, some do it for sex, some do it for security, some do it for dominance, some for genetic advantage, and some do it for love. As long as they or some party over them receive benefit it will work.
In the past, sex and protection used to be the norm. Some say it is because marriage began as a way for providers to know the children they provide to are theirs; others say it is because we were divinely obligated to.
Understanding another beastkin's flaws and strengths, understanding some things need to be worked on, and some things that can't be changed. You accept them for who they are and love them regardless, and together, all the things you can do are multiplied, allowing you to benefit even more than you thought.
It is an ever-moving, ever-growing relationship that requires massive amounts of time and effort, but in the end, to many, the benefit it gives them is enough.
However, this relationship has a single pillar on which it relies on; Trust.
It requires all parties involved to trust each other because on some level, these people are given a part of your life that you no longer have control of.
The time and effort or even resources you have given to this person will never be given back, and regardless of the presence of an emotional bond or not, that loss will sting.
In a marriage, you work to maintain trust above all other things, but if damaged, the chaos that ensues cannot be controlled.
This person hurt me; but why would they after everything I have given them?; I hate them; is their a reason for this?; that's illogical; am I that insiginicant?; my life has been an utter waste; they apologized maybe they can change; this uneaseness has never vanished; right now while I can't see them are they betraying me again are they hurting me; this pain, this suffering I can't handle it anymore.
And just like that, the marriage ends, but the suffering doesn't. Lost love festers into hate, which spreads like a virus, infecting every part of that person's life, and now all others must face the distrust this one person caused.
Maybe the hurt ones will love again and build themselves up, but that will take even more time, and that's only if they are lucky as they could easily lose all hope and refuse to ever give another person that level of trust.
That is a marriage, and Orb, a country is a marriage between every single citizen. You must trust your countrymen, you must understand your countrymen, you must be patient with your countrymen, you must stand by your countrymen, you must work with your countrymen, and you must trust that your countrymen won't betray you.
But love is a zero sum game, and not everyone can care and respect others in this world. So you choose those you care about based on blood, ideals, personality, or even strength, and choose to stay and care for those people. Regardless of whether you do that or not you are in a form of marriage with your countrymen. Their actions affect you. Their selfishness can cause the collapse of your life, their anger can drag you into battles, their stupidity can deprive you of efficient systems, and their immorality can allow evil to thrive, which comes for those you care about.
This continues and continues until the trust you have placed in them fades, and the marriage crumbles. But not all marriages end in divorce at not immediately.
You simply withdraw yourself from the rest, yet you can't leave without destroying all you have built, and so you try to get them to change, and when they don't, the hatred grows, it mutates. You have plenty of valid grievances at first, but the fact that they go answered makes them change more and more until it becomes nothing but an illogical hatred and fear of the others. You enter into a state worse than divorce, you become part of a loveless marriage, where all parties start looking for reasons to remove the other from it.
But if, for any reason, the remaining benefit is perturbed, the beings you no longer see as anything resembling beastkin are now simply objects that stand between you and your goals. So you fight, kill and steal from each other, breaking everything down into nothingness. And that's what the beastkin did, that's what we all did. Grievances turned to discrimination and then to genocide.
We were all innocent in bringing ourselves to this place, yet we were all complicit in not ending things, and in that chaos where our soil was damaged I made a choice to help those I care for the most. I don't feel even the tiniest bit of remorse over what I did to the Fanalis for all these decades. Because the only reason they see me as a villain is because I got to hurt them before they could enact the same on me. That is simply the end state of a gathering of a bunch of people who only tolerate each other so they can survive. And in your little country, your dream kingdom the same is bound to happen.
Blood and soil are used to try and minimise this effect, but your little mishmash kingdom of a bunch of strangers doesn't have the same leeway. You truly make me laugh Orb, as the very idea of your kingdom is foolish. Installing almost 50,000 beastkin into a population of 7,000 is laughable. So, as you fall and are crushed under the weight of bureaucracy that will follow such a transition, I will sit here and laugh as the bodies pile up in your new homeland.
But you have never thought of that, have you? Children often think of themselves as indestructible, revolutionaries who will pave a new way, but in the end you are simply the same as all those who have come before you, and the fact you think of yourself to even be slightly different is proof of your unending arrogance and stupidty."
Φ As Cúltuir finishes her rant, she looks at the green hair of the boy in front of her. Looking at her, he says, "Don't worry, not once have I thought of myself as a super special being who stands above others."
"Lies won't refute your actions. To even attempt what you are doing is proof of all I have said."
With a dumbfounded look, Orb says, "You're not going crazy from old age, are you?"
Getting up and shaking with black hair, he says, "I need to get a doctor to treat you right now."
Stomping her foot, Cultúir says, "Don't mock me!"
"I wasn't mocking you, I just thought you where being serious."
Looking at his hands, Orb says, "I know I am not special; in fact, there is a good chance this life of mine wasn't ever assigned worth. But it doesn't matter as I know that good people have gathered around me, and two great men have passed down their strength, knowledge and love to me. So I will continue trying hard."
"As if 'trying hard' will get you anywhere. That's what everyone thinks at first, but they all still end in failure of destruction. I heard from the witch that none of the superpowers from the third human-beastkin war still stand. Even the greats who united humanity again all fell eventually, and so will you."
"Probably."
"Probably? If you can admit that, why are you even wasting everyone's time, you fool. Trying to form a marriage between so many parties is an endlessly complex web, and the fact that you keep trying can mean you're nothing more than a lunatic."
"Something being endlessly complex doesn't mean it's impossible. No matter how large a number is, it is still finite, it will always be closer to us than to the infinite. So I will try my best till the day I die. But you're still right in that I might fail and that my idea might just be impossible. Still, all I can do is try and pass down what I did so those that come after me can learn from what I do.
Even if it is just a little bit, I will unravel a knot in the endless web that we all face. Because both you and I stand on top of the shoulders of giants. So I plan to keep that going into the future."
Cultúir grits her teeth at Orb's words and clenches her fist, and then says, "It's a stupid dream one that always ends with the ones you wish to speak to closing their ears and burying their heads in the ground."
"Good thing life on this planet created countless ways to communicate with each other, and besides, Orbs are good at making people get see how amazing they are."
She giggles a bit and says, "Fine then. Do whatever you want."
Sneaking through the cage handles, Orb with a giant smile on his face, says, "You look ready to receive a hug!"
"Huh?"
Walking up closer to her, Orb stares at all of the bear parts of Cultúir and says with a degenerate look, "Come on, as fellow living beings, let's hug and share our happiness with each other!"
"I know those eyes, or ancients warn of you perverts, who enjoy animals!"
"I would have you know I enjoy all bodies whether dead or alvie. So come on, let's hug, and let's get a feel for each other. I am very soft, I promise!"
Glaring at him, Cultúir says, "Try me and I will kill you." All of the happiness she had just felt vanished, and a fury even more intense than anything she had said the entire day.
Freezing up, Orb says with white hair, "Fine then, I just have to work up to it."
"No chance in this lifetime."
"Then I just got to make sure we go to them same place after death."
"I doubt any god would allow me to go anywhere like that after death."
"Well then, you should at least try and be good, and the first step in that is keeping your promises."
Orb gestures to someone when outside of the cage, and then moments later, Maple walks in front of the cage with a notebook and a pencil in hand. Then she says, "Hi, Cultúir."
"Maple, what are you doing here?"
"You didn't think you would get out of teaching me how to rule just because you're a criminal now?"
Cultúir is stunned for a few moments, then giggles a bit, saying, "I do like the idea of having a dumb, naïve mind to beat each day. So I will, at the very least, keep this promise, Maple."
Sitting down with her legs crossed, Maple says, "Try your best. I will see through any nonsense and take what I need."
Orb smiles a bit and walks away, and as he does, Cultúir says, "In my room, you can use Beast blood battle arts to move the floor around, and if you do, you'll find a book with some helpful information on how things operate."
Orb runs forward, and as he does, he shouts, "THANK YOU!"