Chapter 177: Balance
'This is nice...' thought Vahn, sporting a smile as he sat at the head of a long and luxurious wooden banquet table covered in crimson and gold cloth and a tremendous variety of food. More importantly, the table was surrounded by nearly every person he cared about and then some, each happily conversing and forming plans about their future conquests while he sat with Kunou on his lap and Shiroyuki curled up beneath his throne-like chair.
"So, are there no limits on the types of requests that can be fulfilled...?" asked Korra, conversing with Rias and Venelana regarding Vahn's private Consultation and Help Agency.
"There are obviously some limitations..." responded Rias, sporting a self-assured and playful smile as she clarified, "Though circumstances might require it at times, Vahn and the rest of us aren't especially fond of killing. So, if someone came to us with an assassination request, we would likely modify the terms to protect a specific group or person. From there, if the person they wished to be assassinated came to cause trouble, they really only have themselves to blame."
"But isn't all life sacred...?" asked Korra, adopting a slight frown as she contended, "If you have the power to take life, you have the leeway to show mercy. Those who receive it might never repent, but it's better to have them imprisoned to reflect on their actions."
Inserting himself into the discussion, Vahn argued, "Life is sacred, but freedom is even more so. You need only look at those born without it to understand life has no meaning if you're unable to think, act, and make decisions for yourself. To those with grand ambitions, good or bad, they would rather die than accept the mercy you speak of. And imprisonment only makes sense if you have the means to redeem or rehabilitate those locked away. Otherwise, you're wasting time, personnel, and resources to prolong suffering or have people sit around thinking..."
Piggybacking off Vahn's words, Rias clarified, "What Vahn is trying to say is that if the person in question is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release, it's a greater mercy to end their suffering. Because once they are unable to make decisions for themselves, a person's life is functionally over."
"If it helps, imagine yourself in a situation where you've been condemned to spend the remainder of your life confined to a single room, deprived of your power as the Avatar and the possibility of escape," chimed Venelana, asserting, "Rather than repent, it's more likely that you would go stir crazy or succumb to hopelessness..."
"Mmn...when you put it that way, it would definitely suck..." conceded Korra, crossing her arms under her breasts and tilting her head back in introspection. She had been taught all her life that killing was wrong, but if the outcome was the criminal spending the rest of their life imprisoned without the possibility of release...death seemed like a mercy.
"You're not mistaken in thinking that you should avoid killing whenever possible..." appended Vahn, looking down and fluffing Kunou's ears and hair as he reasoned, "But if the person in question lives by depriving the freedoms and lives of others, holding yourself back on account that you might kill them is senseless. Because if they manage to escape, you will feel responsible for everyone they harm from that moment on..."
"You do have to be careful, though," stated Venelana, clarifying, "People, particularly the masses, are superstitious and irrational creatures. Those in positions of power and authority will inevitably use that to misrepresent your actions to advance an agenda or prevent you from gaining popularity and possibly undermining them."
"Yeah...I know exactly what you mean..." sighed Korra, visibly deflating as she recalled her recent experiences with the leaders of Republic City and the media. Virtually everything she said or did was taken out of context or blown out of proportion, leaving her wishing she could sit down with each person in the city to explain her position without their views being painted by rumors and what they read in the newspaper...