Jon listened to the young man's words but was struck with shock at his description of the war up until this point.
"Lax?..."
Jon repeated the word as if he could not have heard the truth of it. This young man, this heir to the Khalidorian throne was supposed to be different. The son, different from the father, better. He was supposed to be kinder, more understanding, just and fair. Yet if what Roth had said was true what merit could there be in that description?
"Lax?"
Jon repeated incredulously. He was angry and justly so. That which Roth saw as lax was in short nothing less than the complete and utter destruction of Jon's immediate family. The murders of both his brothers, the torture and death of his father, the rape and murder of his mother and young sister. That savagery, that brutality was anything but lax.
"How long have you been in The North? How little of this conflict have you seen if that's what you think? Do you even know what atrocities your father has committed to begin this madness? You expect me to believe you are aware of the bloodshed, the brutality that has been thrust on my family and my people when you look around at murdered children, brutalized women and families in chains and say this is lax."
Jon looked at the young man. There was an intelligence there, an intelligence that far surpassed his years. Yet there was an arrogance there also. An arrogance born of confidence and forced self reliance. Jon knew that look for it was one he once shared. Growing up Jon had always pushed himself to be independent, to rely on no one but himself. Because of that he cast aside helping hands and was often thought of as arrogant or over confident. The choices of a boy but Jon was no longer a boy, he was a man and men were held to higher standards.