Lupi 04 - Night Season

into a dark hump riding his back. His neck was long and muscular and as flexible as a snake. He held his head roughly level with his shoulders.
    That head was triangular, the snout almost delicate. Mobile frills like those depicted by Chinese artists decorated his eye ridges, ear holes, and jaw like black lace. In the soft glow of the mage light, the scales on his face shifted through a dozen shades of red.
    When Mika stopped, his lipstick-colored head was about five feet away—and he was looking straight at her. It took effort to avoid looking directly in the large, moist eyes with their double lids. Fairness puzzles me. Humans think of it often, but they change the meaning of the word with nearly every thought. Sometimes “unfair” means wrong. Sometimes it mean unwelcome. Fair can mean receiving what is agreed upon, but fairness is at issue even when there are no agreements. Such as now. You had not agreed to avoid attacking your mate, had you?
    â€œUh—no. But he’s lacking a foot. It isn’t fair to attack someone who’s impaired.”
    One-footed or two, he is your superior, physically. He would win any fight between you.
    â€œNo, he wouldn’t, because he wouldn’t hit back. That makes it unfair to hit him in the first place.”
    The great eyes blinked slowly. Do humans consider it unfair to attack one who refuses to fight back? That is insane. In such a case, only those who refused to fight would win fights, which is clearly not true.
    â€œI guess…” Moral questions were not her strong point. What would Father Michaels say? “I guess fairness is like justice, but more personal. People have different ideas about what’s fair and what isn’t, because it’s personal.”
    Fairness is a subjective construction of justice?
    â€œNo,” Cullen said suddenly. “Fairness is moral equity or balance. Unfairness is moral debt. That’s why it seems subjective—morality’s a slippery bugger. A child might think it’s unfair that he has to do his homework when his friends are outside playing. He doesn’t yet understand the morality of discipline. And, of course, some adults have no more moral understanding than a child. They’ll cry ‘unfair’ when they don’t get what they want.”
    Ah.
    Silence fell, both mental and physical. The dragon neither moved nor blinked. Cynna could smell him faintly—a scent like cinnamon, hot sand, and musk. She fancied she could even feel the warmth of his breath. She thought of Dis and demons and a terrible, wondrous flight on dragonback. Her heart beat quickly.
    At last Mika looked at Cullen. During one conversation, we agreed that morality is a being’s mental construction of right behavior.
    â€œWe did.”
    Human morality is a morass of contradictions with teeth ever pointed inward, gnawing at itself. Debt, however, is a reasonable concept, one shared by most sentients. I shall consider fairness in that light. Your mate believed she would incur a debt if she knocked you to the ground, so she chose not to follow her wishes.
    â€œThat’s pretty much it,” Cullen agreed, slanting Cynna an amused glance.
    Given the human preoccupation with and confusion over morality, fairness must be a complex construction, subjectively variable. It is susceptible to bargaining ?
    â€œTo some extent.”
    What bargain do you wish to offer me?
    â€œThree persons from Edge have arrived here, and—”
    Edge? Where is—ah, I see. You refer to Dsighliai.
    â€œPerhaps I do,” Cullen said dryly. “I think Edge is the English translation.”
    Your mate is thinking she will go to Edge. How would she do this?
    â€œThey want Cynna to return with them, and apparently know how to open a gate to do that. Are you familiar with Edge?”
    Do you bargain for knowledge?
    â€œMaybe I will, later. Right now…” He glanced at Cynna. “The Edge people want to erect a shield before we discuss terms. One of them, a gnome, says he knows a shield spell that he can’t perform himself, so I’m supposed to help. I’m gathering components tonight. You’ve shed some scales since you arrived.”
    Silence. It wasn’t promising.
    Cullen persevered. “Cynna is a strong Finder. She could locate any scales you’ve shed and we could gather them for you. In exchange for that service, you could give us a percentage—say