The Dark Arts of Charisma

The language was foreign to his ears and spoken too eloquently, as the wordsmith weaved his craft, that Gonyaul was unable to keep up with even the little he could make out. He stopped trying and yielded to simply soaking in the experience as would a cloth taking on water. His sense and sensibility were on high alert. While it seemed a majority of the crowd was following the inertia of the oration, Gonyaul was immune to its charismatic influence.

He had been warned by his Elders the damage that could be done when a person in power was high in charisma and low in character. Some of the most atrocious events in history were a byproduct of decent people fooled into horrible actions by leadership that could twist the truth, plant confusion, and manipulate attention to focus on fears.

One thing he did deduce was that Helians were going to be used as 'escape goats'. Gonyaul never did understand the phrase 'escape goats'; having misunderstood it was actually supposed to be 'scapegoats'. He had experience with goats and knew how adept there were at escaping; however, what did that have to do with blaming other people. Maybe one day it would make sense.

Gonyaul felt concern for Voah and any other Helian which may find there way to the city. This was even extended to the woman near the speaker that was obviously not a native; however, it was very possible she wasn't Helian and was safe from this disdain he conceded. This worry was not applied to himself though, for he did not consider himself a Helian, he was a Vaux. Unfortunately he was still aware that others may not see the distinction the way he did.

As the funeral pyre was lit, and the flames cast those nearest to it in a light that could easily be described as 'demonic', a roar of approval for the direction of the speech shook the ground and made Gonyaul's heart hurt.

He came to the realization that finding Voah in this mess was not going to happen. There was nothing he was going to be able to do in this moment and decided it was time to go. Though it was crowded, he began to make his way to the very edge. Once free to move again unobstructed, he took one last glance back to the square and then began heading off.

It was time to hide ... time to disappear. He would have to keep his eyes open for Voah from obscurity.