Ryan squinted as he turned back to look at the statue, "Huh?"

 

 

 

The statue leaned forward, "It has been a long time since anyone stood up against the injustices of the church. Who better than one who has suffered and lost as much as you? It isn't enough to just stand up to them, however. I needed to know how far you'd go to do the right thing." The statue straightened up, "Of your own free will."

 

Ryan looked around then back at the statue, "Why not just TELL them to change? Why play these head games?"

 

The statue asked, "Do you have any children?"

 

Ryan paused for a second, "Point taken."

 

The statue settled back down on its throne. It spoke loud and clear to all the crowd to heard, "Let my words be taken to every church of mine and be heard by every follower who claims to be faithful. If there are any changes to church law that Reed, the chosen of the All-father wishes to make, then any change he makes is my word and shall be taken as law."

 

Ryan gaped, "Wait wait wait! HOLD IT! You can't-"

 

There was a flash as the gathering clouds started to dissipate. The statue returned to normal. There was an 'oof' sound as the king was unfrozen and fully collapsed to the stage. His guards rushed to help pick him up as Ryan finished speaking.

 

"-just give me..." Ryan whimpered, "that much power." Then face palmed.

 

The king got to his feet and eyed Ryan. He quietly walked over to stand behind him, "You..." He took a deep breath then let it out his nose, "Are you okay?"

 

Ryan kept his face covered with his hand as he slowly shook his head, "Nope. Not at all. I don't want this. I don't want this responsibility."

 

The King slowly put a hand on Ryan's shoulder, "Would you believe me if I said, I know exactly how to feel?" Ryan looked up at the king. The King noticed for the first time how OLD Ryan's eyes looked. Eyes that had seen far too much. This was the moment where King Uther, for the first time, truly came to accept that Ryan was decades older than he appeared.

 

Looking back at the King, Ryan thought much the same thing, "Yes. Yes, I would."

 

There was a long silence before the king said, "You know, technically you haven't undone the excommunication yet."

 

Ryan nodded slowly, "Yeah." He took a deep breath then turn around to look at Freya, then at the crowd. He looked skyward for a while before he just said loudly, "Everyone, stop bowing. It's creeping me out. I work for a living and I sure as heck ain't worth a bow." The crowd finally lifted their heads. The dwarves were much slower about it than the visiting humans, "Respect is something you earn, it isn't claimed, and by the gods I have done nothing this day worthy of a flicker of respect."

 

Ryan turned to Freya who was just starting to lift her head, "Ah... look." He knelt down to look at her eye to eye, "Freya? Uh..." He scratched the back of his neck as he tried to compose his thoughts, "Do you have any brothers and sisters?" She nodded.

 

"Do you ever get angry with them?" She nodded again.

 

"Ever say or do something because you were hurt, but later you regret saying it?"

 

Freya looked out to the crowd and at her family. Her brothers and sisters with gathered around their mother who held them protectively. Her father had his hand on his wife's shoulder while looking back at Freya. As they locked eyes, he lifted his chin then nodded once with confidence.

 

"Yes." Freya turned back to Ryan, "Mama always makes us say we're sorry afterwords."

 

Ryan let out a bark of laughter. He looked skyward, "Yeah. Mama-" He cleared his throat, "Mamas are smart like that."

 

Freya glanced around nervously, but remained focused on Ryan, "Can we do that?"

 

Ryan looked back at Freya, "Do what?"

 

She shrugged and looked at the ground, "Just say we're sorry?"

 

Ryan cleared his throat, "I don't- *cough* I don't know if-" He looked away, then back down at the little girl. She looked back with big eyes, holding the rainbow swirled rubber ball in her hands like she was praying. Ryan just stared, "Oh you just don't fight fair, do you?"

 

Freya looked confused, "Huh?"

 

Ryan closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "I hate the words 'I'm sorry'. Saying 'I'm sorry' always seemed sort of selfish to me. It always struck me as demanding. I have said I am sorry, you must forgive me and can no longer be hurt or angry with me." Ryan placed a hand over Freya's, "I don't like hearing it and don't like saying it." He gave a one shoulder shrug, "I guess maybe it's because I don't really understand it."

 

Freya thought for a bit, "Mama said I was supposed to say I'm sorry when someone is hurt and you wish they weren't."

 

Ryan gave her hands a pat before letting go, "For me, I'm sorry always meant, 'I'll pretend you are right just to shut you up.'" He shrugged with both shoulders this time, "It feels insulting to me, so I don't say it to avoid insulting others." He looked skyward, "A sort of 'treat others as you wish to be treated', kinda thing."

 

Freya looked over at the statue then back at Ryan, "I don't know why you're hurt. I don't understand what you were talking about, or why the statue was angry." She narrowed her eyes and squared her jaw, trying to look tough, but failing utterly, "I just know when I needed help the most, when I needed someone to answer my prayers,  you were there." Her expression softened, "I wish you weren't hurt, but I don't know how to make it right." She looked at the stage beneath her feet, "That's why I say I'm sorry, because I don't know how to help." She let her shoulders sag in defeat.

 

"And it hurts."

 

Ryan stared down at Freya and swallowed, trying not to get any more choked up. He took a moment to compose himself, "Hmmm. Well, in that case, here's what you do." He grabbed her hands again, "You smile and say you forgive me." He squeezed tightly and gave her hands a little shake, "Because I am so, so, SO sorry." He let out a shuttering breath and spoke in a manner that was clearly directed more towards himself than Freya, "And I promise this will never happen again."

 

Freya nodded and smiled nervously, "I'm sorry too."

 

Ryan smiled and stood tall, "So... umm... New church rule!" He looked about, "People who have been excommunicated can be... uh... re-communicated? If the person who did the excommunication in the first place apologizes." He glanced at the King, "Thoughts?"

 

Uther sounded a little choked up himself as he replied,  "Sounds-" He coughed into his fist and cleared his throat, "Ahem." The King lifted his chin and nodded once before speaking with authority, "That sounds like a good first decree to me."

 

Ryan turned back to the crowd, "I'm sorry for excommunicating the village."

 

The crowd of dwarves let out a collective sigh of relief. Several hugged one another. The high priest did nothing. He just stared at the statue. Ryan noticed this and frowned slightly. He gave Freya's hands a final squeeze, then walked over to the dwarf who had the expression that said his entire reason for living had just crumbled into shale before his very eyes, "Uh... look. I'm-"

 

The priest cut him off. He spoke more like he was trying to organize his thoughts than explain anything, "All these years I thought I was doing his will. I followed the rules. I meditated on his teachings. I tried every day to be the best servant I could be." He turned to look in Ryan's direction, but didn't appear to actually 'see' him, "And I just found out my god was angry with us... angry with ME... all this time."

 

Ryan slapped the priest in the shoulder making him jump, "We all make mistakes."

 

The priest regarded Ryan with a blank expression, "I was there."

 

Ryan squinted as he tried to follow the conversation, , "huh?"

 

"I wasn't the high priest, but I was there, so many years ago when your mother was excommunicated. I agreed with the decision. I told the high priest that she was in violation of the church law and she needed to be cast out. I told him the crime was not in doubt and that what the judgement must be was clear. He asked if there was some other way, some past ruling that he could use as an excuse to find another way and I told him, 'No. This is the human's problem now'." His eyes wandered about without seeing anything, "I am the one who pushed him to rule as he did." He looked up at the statue with a look of utter anguish, "And I was wrong. I only angered my god. How?"

 

Ryan shrugged and spoke in an unsympathetic tone, "You didn't think for yourself, but instead blindly followed the crowd?" Ryan looked up at the statue, "Or... maybe you never considered the possibility that you'd be held accountable for your actions since you were only following the rules? I mean, how could the laws put down by your fellow dwarves ever be self-serving?"

 

Ryan shrugged as he raised his eyebrows up high, "As much as we might want to go along to get along, in the end, there are some acts that are just wrong. You can't say, 'I was just following orders.' or 'If I didn't do it, someone else would, so it might as well be me.' Sometimes we have to think for ourselves and say, 'No.' even if doing so sucks." Ryan smirked as if remembering something ironic, "A sign you are on the wrong path is when you question something nobody is allowed to question and nobody knows why you do it. If the answer is as obvious as they claim, why can't anyone explain it to you?" He shook his head sadly, "And no, 'because this book says so' isn't an answer. There might be a reason it is in the book, but if nobody knows why, maybe you need to stop what you are doing before you cross a line from which there is no turning back."

 

The high priest just nodded, apparently completely, mentally spent. Ryan started to turn away, then turned back, "Oh. You aren't allowed to harm yourself either through action or inaction, nor are you allowed to put yourself in situations where you are likely to die."

 

The high priest looked at Ryan in confusion, "What?"

 

Ryan shrugged, "Sorry. You got the look of someone who's gonna decide that the only honorable choice is to kill himself or some shit." Ryan lightly hit the High priest in the shoulder, "No self-deletion. If you want punishment, learn to live with what you've done." Ryan sighed and muttered to himself, "Trust me. Harder than it looks."

 

Ryan walked back over to the king. Everyone was sort of milling about in an aimless fashion. At this point, the event had become directionless and nobody really knew what they should do next. The King looked down at Ryan, "So what now?"

 

Ryan shook his head slowly and gave the king a rueful laugh, "Haven't I done enough? Look. I... I'm just going to go somewhere and lie down." He looked out over the crowd, "I wasn't really thinking of Jerry Springering my problems upon everyone today and I have caused more than enough." He looked at the King, "Could you take over?" He turned and started walking off stage without waiting for a reply.

 

 

 

"I need to think."