Good question Marian. I thought they were clashing over some actual issue, but we arent always the best judges of our work. I leave it to you to decide.
The conversation, from Castor’s POV, goes like this:
“No,” said Ariston. “You are the great-grandson of Lucien; the son of Leon and Venetia; the brother of Inara. All four are people who have devoted their lives to peace and to doing good. Unless some unknown quantity seriously screwed you up, or you were just born psycho, you can’t possibly be on the side of the devil. What does he have on you? What is he blackmailing you with?”
I shrugged. Ariston wasn’t stupid; he could figure out the truth.
“Kaya’s family,” I said. “He’s holding them hostage. We don't know where, but he’ll torture and kill them unless we give him what he wants.”
“I figured it must be something like that,” said Ariston. “So you’re going to condemn my world to be at the mercy of this genocidal maniac to save your fiancee’s family?”
“Of course not. We’ll trick him out of it.”
“And what was your grand plan for doing that?”
“We figured we’d have to play it by ear.”
Ariston looked contemptuous. “So you had no plan.”
I scowled at him. “Some things can’t be planned ahead. Much would depend on Lucien. I figured there was no way a man like him would help evil, even if he’s been in a coma for twenty years and has lost some of his memory. So he’d be on our side and we’d figure out something together.”
Ariston snorted. “Like you’d even get the chance to be alone with Lucien long enough to plan anything. You have no idea of the magnitude of evil we’re dealing with here. You’re just a foolish boy who’s in way over his head.”
He must have read something in my face, because his own face changed. He took a menacing step toward me. I stood my ground and looked back at him impassively.
He stared into my eyes. “You aren’t afraid of me,” he said softly. “You know I could crush you like a bug and you aren’t afraid. You aren’t afraid either of the most terrifying evil ever to have been unleashed on my world. Only someone very stupid would not be afraid in this suituation and these circumstances. You aren’t stupid. You have something up your sleeve. What are your powers?”
“Like you, I can traverse universes. That’s the only power that has kicked in so far.”
“What are your powers?” he repeated insistently, stepping even closer to me so that we were nearly nose to nose. Except that his nose was a little higher than mine.
I ignored his aristocratic nose and looked him squarely in the eye. “I can traverse universes. What more do you want? How many nineteen-year-olds do you know who can traverse universes? Ever heard of not being greedy and expecting the world? Or the universe, as the case may be?”
Ariston stepped back as if to try to make himself look less of a threat to me. Yeah, good luck with that. I’d trust Cleopatra’s asp before I’d trust Ariston’s ass.
When he spoke again, it was in the mild tone of one trying to reason with a recalcitrant child. “Castor, I know you don’t trust me and I sure as hell don't totally trust you. But you know I want to save my world. Since the girl you love comes from that world, I have to believe that you share my goals. If you tell me what your powers are, we can best plan how to use our combined powers to defeat him. You owe my world that.”
“I can traverse universes,” I repeated implacably. “That’s what we have to work with, princeling. I owe you and your world nothing, Your Entitled Highness. Ever heard of hubris? Julius Caesar, Napoleon, Macbeth, and Midas hadn't either.”
Ariston made a gesture of defeat, something that I suspected His Royal High Horse had to do very rarely. “Okay. If your powers are so deadly you can’t even tell me what they are, then fine. I can work with you as long as we’re on the same page, even if we’re on different paragraphs.
***
That’s the exchange. Both are good men, and powerful beings. They later become close friends but right now they barely know each other and Castor is afraid to trust anyone with the truth of what powers he has, especially Ariston, who he knows is hiding huge secrets, just as Castor is.
So what do you think? Do they sound like theyre just swaggering and posturing?