“Then it wasn’t that strong to begin with. Pain is the best teacher. Whether he learns his lesson is of no interest to me.”

“Shall we walk, Your Grace?”

She glanced in Kosandion’s direction, took a slightly deeper breath, and slowly started down the path. Her nephew continued to study the trees. Caldenia drew even with Kosandion, and as she passed him, he turned and started walking, keeping her pace. They strolled down the beautiful path without saying a word. I followed a few steps behind.

Birds sang in the branches. A fish splashed in the pond.

Gertrude Hunt let me know that Resven and two members of his staff left the inn via the portal. Resven had been glued to Kosandion since they’d arrived. This was the first time he’d left the inn. Tony was by the portal, probably waiting for the chancellor’s return.

“Have you heard of Sees Lathen, Dina?” Kosandion asked.

It was amusing how nobody expected me to do my homework. “Many thousands of years ago it was a galactic Empire. It survived for generations, ruled by a single family, but eventually it fractured in two. One half gave rise to the Seven Star Dominion and the other to the Six Star Supremacy.”

“You are well informed,” Kosandion said. “It was a difference of ideology. The Dominion favors a constitutional monarchy with an elected government that shapes its laws and a royal head of state who presides over the executive branch. While the Supremacy favors…”

He let it drift.

“Tyranny,” Caldenia said dryly. “A civilized version of an autocratic government where the ruler’s power is absolute in theory and constrained by political considerations in practice.”

“How does that work with the collective consciousness?” I asked.

“Very well, actually,” Caldenia said. “The ugly truth about democracy is that it breeds anxiety. The responsibility for the government is shifted onto the body of the citizenry, who often lack the awareness and knowledge necessary to make informed decisions. They are tasked with electing their officials, they stress over it, they fall into despair when their side loses and act like their lives are over, and then when the government they elected inevitably does something they don’t want, they feel betrayed. There is no constancy in leadership, the policies vary wildly from one administration to the next, and one never knows where the nation shall be in ten years’ time. It is chaos.”

Nice try. “Democracy protects the rights of an individual. Tyranny protects only the select few and not very well.”

“Tyranny provides stability and rules. Follow the rules, and you will be safe,” she said.

“At the cost of personal freedoms,” I said.

“You would be surprised how many beings will gladly trade their freedom for safety.”

“Not me,” I told her.