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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3659363" data-attributes="member: 3448">Abigail entered and informed the Council that Lord Davion had arrived.  The Council adjourned to one of the thronerooms to meet with him-- they would not use the regular meeting room until Lord Silverleaves informed them that he had removed the psionic effect, and Lord Davion was more likely to prefer excessive formality to insufficient.Lord Davion bowed deeply as he approached the throne.  “You wished to see me, your grace?”“Indeed, and our thanks for your prompt attendance.  We have several questions for you.  First, I know that your son is serving as one of our generals.  How would you assess his abilities?”Lord Davion thought about the question carefully.  “I am proud of what my son has accomplished in the short time of his life.  Though he has chosen to embrace his Noldar parentage rather than his human ancestry, he is still very young.  He is a good general, although not yet a great one.  It remains to be seen if he can learn the hardest lesson of command.”“What would you say the hardest lesson of command is, Lord Davion?” asked Dame Brionna.“The hardest lesson that all good commanders learn is that they must spend their men’s lives that others need not spend theirs.  It is one thing to learn to plan a battle so that you will lose the least number of troops possible.  It is a much more difficult task to learn to send your troops to their deaths, knowing that is what you do, so that they can save a civilian population, or even the lives of other troops.  My son has no shortage of courage, and he is devoted to the principles of the Lord of Light, but many try so hard to avoid making certain difficult choices that they end up making worse ones.  As I said, it remains to be seen whether he will learn that lesson.”“How is your son at the aspects of being a general that do not directly involve strategy?”“He is an excellent administrator, your grace.  He maintains his troops in a high state of readiness and strikes a very good balance between avoiding waste and making prudent preparations for the future.”“Thank you.  That assessment will be very helpful as we consider him for certain other tasks.”  Alistair paused as he considered how to raise one of the main reasons they had summoned Lord Davion.  “We know that you command Gateways’s field army currently.  What other command experience do you have?”“I’ve commanded forces both large and small, both in the time of my service to Aufaugauthal’arim, then as a commander of mercenaries, and then here.”“How would you assess your own capabilities as a commander?”In measured tones, careful to not make any overstatements, Lord Davion said, “I am a good field commander, a competent administrator, a good strategist, although not nearly as good as the Bleeding Lady.”Recognizing that as the title of one of the greatest Noldar generals, Alistair probed a little further.  “Are you familiar with our current field marshals?  How would you say that you compare to their abilities?”“Ah, when compared to human officers…  Only one of your field marshals will ever be better than me-- Lord Brightspan.  He needs to mature more, develop his patience and his finesse, to surpass me, but in time he will.  At the present, Field Marshal Broadfields is your best commander, but he will not improve and is below my abilities.  His mind is sharp and able, but I can see it begin to harden and to slow.  When I first noticed it, I spoke to a redactor and to my chaplain about whether they could heal him, but they said that it is an effect of aging, and that while aging can be slowed with great magics, it cannot be reversed.  And he is so young-- scarcely into his seventh decade!  For all that humans shine brightly, you pay a heavy price by burning so fast.”“Indeed.  Many humans have made terrible choices because they fear aging.  But you must try not to view Field Marshal Broadfields as overly young.  By human standards, he has already lived a good life and his death is not yet at hand.”“I understand, your grace, but it is difficult.  I am fond of Lord Broadfields.  I served with him at one battle.  And I can see in his aging my wife’s fate, and that of my children who have chosen to follow their mother’s ancestry.”“You said you expect the field marshal to decline,” said Dame Brionna.  “Through the normal process of aging, or faster?”“The healers say that some human minds go stiff and then decline rapidly, while others diminish more gradually.  Lord Broadfields will be in the first category.  Within ten years, the decline will begin in earnest.  When it comes, it will be rapid.  He will lose his abilities and may even lose his ability to recognize his friends and families.”  Lord Davion paused.  “It troubles me even to think of it.”Dame Brionna made a note to have Lord Broadfields watched carefully.  They would need to act quickly when the decline comes.</blockquote>

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