“What’s this then?” Elthán nodded towards the papers Ellen had been reading.
“These?” Ellen put her palm over the papers, her face lighting up with a pleased smile. “These give me good news. For almost ten years, I’ve been gradually working towards getting general acceptance from the Lianthem and their families – as well as the general population – for a change in the way we choose members of the Lianthem. From looking at other places that have succeeded in regime change, I concluded that all sorts of things need to be in place if it’s going to be successful.”
“Oh dear, this sounds like the start of one of those Pedro and Father Augustine homilies.”
Ellen grinned. “You’d like me to stop talking?”
“Absolutely not! Tell me what the ingredients of this regime change are.”
“Education, confidence, institutional systems, baby steps, acceptance.”
Elthán sat back with a sigh. “I’m listening – and I’ll try not to fall asleep. Don’t be too terse or I can’t wrap my brain around it. Whom do we educate?”
“We live in a modern world and for society to benefit from what that modern world offers it’s vital everyone has the opportunity to participate in education – in fact, we need to have education in the sense of formal schooling – it needs to be seen as really important and something that people take for granted. Being educated gives people more confidence to participate because there are no mysteries to skills: people know how to acquire skills and can acquire the skills that they want. It’s necessary to have educational institutions – systems in place that people can use to become educated. It’s also necessary to have institutions that let people participate in the ways they want to. So. Among Skyseekers there have been two traditional classes. An elite class – that’s one institution, and let’s call it a working class. To break down that class structure there have to be mechanisms for people to cross the divide and – even – one day, to have no divide. So, there has to be acceptance of the system. And there has to be confidence among society in general that they can move from one class to another class. So, I’ve been nudging people into these sorts of changes for years.”
Elthán sighed and stood up. “It’s all too complicated for me. But I can hear Pedro in you. You really are his protege.”
“And proud I am to be his protege – and Müther’s – she’s been a huge influence.”
“Is all of that in the papers you’re reading?” Elthán indicated the papers under Ellen’s hands with a lift of her chin
“For a while I’ve been nudging the Lianthem to let everyone have a vote – in consideration of the proposal for an airport ―”
“A ludicrous idea!”
Ellen’s eyes smiled. “So, it’s meant lots of discussions on why and how, which has revealed prejudices and power plays. Meanwhile, we’ve trialled having community representatives on various Lianthem working groups and, overall, that’s been successful. Now we’ve got a system in place so that anyone who wants to can comment on the proposal and challenge the Lianthem, and have that challenge taken seriously by an independent judge. And we’ve got a system in place about who can be eligible to vote.”
“Okay. But why is this paper suddenly good news?”
“Because the Chancellor has twigged why I’ve been pushing the idea of the airport around and she’s come on board with my strategy.”
“Do you mean she didn’t guess from the beginning?”
“No.”
“Müther?”
“Of course she did but she just supported the baby steps without frightening people with the consequences of each step.”
“That’s very manipulative of you both.”
“Machiavellian is the English word for it.”
“And how does the Chancellor feel about being – Machie – whatever that word is?”
“Machiavellian.” Ellen picked up the papers. “This is her treatise of how she feels. She’s obviously spoken to Müther about it all. She says …” Ellen held up her hands with two crooked fingers to indicate quote marks, “I cannot push back against the winds of change so I have decided to help put the systems in place.”
Elthán shook her head. “Politics!” Her tone was rueful. “It was never my strong point. I leave it all to you and will sleep peacefully at night knowing your head is buzzing with our futures. My advice to you now, though, is that you think a little less about those futures and a bit more about how you are going to get back on your feet.”
“I’ll put it on my to-do list.”
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