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"Are you saying that you'd like the practice of ransoming to make a comeback?" said Hector.

'I do not know. Maybe. The problem is that so many of our enemies desire genocide. On a moral level, I feel it is difficult to justify a ransom when the captive in question might very well go on to kill thousands more civilians in the future. But that type of thinking, too, leads down a dangerous path of escalation and extremism.'

"You seem surprisingly moderate," said Hector. "For such a high-ranking member of the Vanguard, I would've expected you to be... firmer in your convictions."

'Is that disappointment I hear in your tone?'

"Not in the least. If anything, it's a relief to know that you're thinking deeply about these things instead of just assuming you're always justified in everything that you do."

'I feel as though you may be alluding to one or more of my peers.'

Was he? Well, maybe he was. That hadn't been his intention, but now that he was thinking about it, he'd heard quite a bit about the extremist side of the Vanguard from Garovel and many of the reapers within the Rainlords. Hell, some of those reapers probably could've been considered fairly extremist themselves, still.

He didn't dare bring up the Rainlords, though. "I worry about extremism within the Vanguard. You're supposed to be paragons of virtue that the whole world can look to and admire. I understand that's a big responsibility for you--and a tough balance to maintain--but when you stop trying to live up to that ideal, we all suffer for it. Everyone."

Okay, this didn't feel quite right. And yet, it also did. It felt exactly right, somehow. Half of these words seemed like they shouldn't have even been coming out of his mouth, but in his heart, they didn't feel wrong at all.

It was confusing--but also not.

'I agree with you in principle,' said Xander, 'but if I may take the counter position for the sake of argument, then I feel that even extremism has its place. At times, extremism is the only thing that can move the cultural needle in any direction. The passion that it summons out of people, the calls to action--these are things that moderates like us struggle to achieve. For better or for worse, it is not moderates who enact change in the world. But we are the ones who end up trying to find a new equilibrium once the extremists have finally settled down or been dealt with.'