Tales of Destiny (Threads gaiden): Bearing Destiny 3 (of 6).
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26470/...-destiny-3
Yrsillar Wrote:“No, you see by wording the advice thusly, you avoid the implication that you know better than your superior, and are instead merely offering an observation for them to use as they wish. This is important, especially if one is not personally close enough to be more frank, or if the statement needs to be made in public.”
“But if they are wrong, then should it not be made known?” Rixiong complained.
They sat in one of the lecture halls, during its empty hours, books and scrolls open across the long desks which curved around the amphithere. These were free for disciple use when lessons were not going on, but in Rixiong’s experience, disciples rarely did so.
“No, not in a public venue, and certainly not if you are not trying to challenge their authority,” Ran Fen replied, jabbing her inkbrush toward him. She was dressed in the airy silks and jewels now, with so much cloth and lace that he thought she looked rather lost in it. “Gah…. Does a wolf challenge its pack leader's decisions in the middle of a chase?”
He wrinkled his nose in consternation. “No,” he reluctantly allowed. “But standing around talking is not the same thing as the heat of a hunt!”
“You may not think so, but it is. The Empire moves its goods, its armies, its laws, on people who ‘stand around and talk’,” Ran Fen replied frostily. “You may dislike it, but when you so bluntly contradict someone in public you are challenging them in their position. If they fail to slap you down they are showing a crippling weakness to their other subordinates. If you wish to do so, by all means, but do not do so in ignorance!”
….He did understand that. Wolves were not the best example of what she spoke of, but he did understand dominance and submission displays, even if he found the form of them his fellow humans practiced very strange.
Well, he supposed that also explained some of the more outlandish clothing he’d seen too.
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26470/...-destiny-3