Quoted By:
<span class="mu-b">”What exactly are the “three evils”, Brun?”</span>
<span class="mu-r">”Not all evils are evil, Akule, You know this. The little evil is our word for accidents. The evil that is done by animals, nature, children- and the unwary. This is the little evil. We demand payment for damaged property or lost time, or a sincere apology for a slighted friend, or public work if the evil harmed the public. All punishments must fit the crime. The second evil is true evil- the intentional, directed evil. Done against a stranger or a victim, an act of hate. Rape, theft, deceit, usury, sabotage... this is evil that is punished in the manner of which it was done. Lustful eyes are put out, thievish hands are cut off, broken vows are answered with broken bones.”</span>
<span class="mu-b">”Our culture would consider that barbaric.”</span>
<span class="mu-r">”Evil is barbaric. If the punishment to cruelty is not cruelty, then what else could be a fitting punishment? Is the guilty party not deserving of the same cruelty they inflicted on the innocent? To treat the guilty better then the innocent, as your <span class="mu-i">culture</span> does, is a gross injustice. It is the greatest evil.”</span>
<span class="mu-b">”Injustice?”</span>
<span class="mu-r">”No... Another word. ...Betrayal.”</span>
<span class="mu-b">”I have never heard on of your people speak this word.”</span>
<span class="mu-r">”That word we <span class="mu-i">do not</span> use in this language, Akule. It is taboo. It is the unspeakable. Betrayal is the worst evil of all; it is the only evil that strikes twice. The first is when the evil is committed, and then the second? When the injured realizes they have been betrayed. Surely my wife would not cheat on me with another man, there must be a misunderstanding, we've been together for so long. Surely our trusted priest would not lie to us and steal from us, he is a respected holy man. To know that someone you believe in and love so closely used that trust for themselves is the sharpest knife, pulled and twisted, worse then a stranger and worst then an act of the Gods. Trust broken is the worst evil of all. Do you understand?”</span>
<span class="mu-b">”I do.”</span>
As the time goes on, the season changes. It begins to get cold, and then snow. The pleasant though dry alpine climate quickly changes to freezing cold as windstorms and rain freezes the compound. Communications between the different tribes of the reservation stop as people begin to hole up for the winter.
