For the first time in his life, the Wau had requested to convene the Council of the Order.
It was within his power; he could have done so at any time but had respected the presumably busy schedules of his peers who, just like him, watched over a small part of the countless problems within Human Society and its emanations. He had only seen his counterparts once before, at his induction—a lengthy, rather technical meeting explaining the capabilities of his provisions (the Armor, the Dark Unit, the Sanctum, transhuman injections) and the philosophy of the Order: safeguarding Humanity's welfare.
At the end of the hallway in his section of the Sanctum, a door opened onto a seat designed specifically for him and a large, semicircular room. In holographic projections, his brothers appeared one by one, too numerous to all be displayed at once (those highlighted were the ones whose heads moved slightly, detected by the AIs).
Within less than two minutes, the first had already appeared. After seventeen minutes, the average time it took a Wau to reach the most distant points of the HS, the Council announced that everyone was present.
The Wau wondered if he could have made it in less than seventeen minutes himself. Probably not in every situation. They are stronger and more deserving than me. I am a disappointment. On the screens, they all looked identical.
One of them spoke: "Dear brother, we have responded to your summons."
The Wau described his recent failures and the possibility that the Transients might now know the location of the Sanctum. He concluded his report with these words:
"I no longer feel worthy of wearing the Armor. I propose that you exclude me from the Order of the Wau."
A heavy silence followed, then another—or perhaps it was the same one—spoke in an ancient, possibly feminine voice:
"We have no means to exclude one of our brothers. This is not provided for in our Order."
"To be more precise, we are experiencing a normal situation," added another voice, quicker, less noble in phrasing.
"Once the Armor is bestowed, it cannot be reclaimed," declared a third voice, female again, deep and serious. "That is the way it is."
"Brother, you repeatedly used the word 'failure.' It requires more than a man and more than a god to judge a failure. What you perceive as failure," continued the one with quick phrasing, "may not actually be one. There is no complete failure. The selection process of the Order is so rigorous that most successful candidates have never experienced failure, and considerable time passes before any form of failure emerges. Experiencing failure is formative and necessary. We consider it essential. There are no hierarchical ranks in our Order, but we have something we call the Compass."
"The Compass? I've never heard of it," admitted the Wau.
"We speak of the Compass only to those who discover it. The Compass guides us in our mission," explained an older voice, belonging to a brother hidden behind the others. "It consists of six cardinal points, revealed only when experienced. The South represents failure. Other points will be revealed to you as you experience them."
"Wait, have you all completed the entire Compass?"
"No. Some die before achieving it. No one has ever fully completed the Compass—that is not its purpose."
"But you've just mentioned the South in front of everyone!"
"Everyone here has discovered the South. You are the last among us to experience failure," he warmly concluded.
This revelation astonished the Wau.
"The Order of Wau owes nothing to anyone. We answer to no one. And charity well understood begins at home. This doesn't mean we use the Order's resources for our power, but if we neglect ourselves, we lose the essential tool of our mission: ourselves. The Armor is rare, but so are you. You will encounter many crises. You will not resolve all of them. You will sometimes fail. Often."
"Failure is the inevitable fate of excellence," said a voice from the back, "for excellence always seeks to surpass itself and inevitably meets its limit."
"Sometimes even victory is a problem."
"Our mere existence is problematic," added a deep, masculine voice. "The Wau have given rise to the Anti-Wau."
"The Anti-Wau?" Cassandre questioned.
"Someone who becomes Wau," swiftly interrupted another brother, "cannot relinquish the Armor. However, they can indeed cease to perform their duties. They may abandon the life and mission of a Wau, living any life they choose. Yet, they can always return. Once a Wau, always a Wau—until death."
"And if a Wau decides to wage war against humanity or the Order?" asked Cassandre.
"We will confront them, but we will not reclaim the Armor."
"Then I remain a Wau," she concluded.
"Brother," said the first speaker, "we do not take the term 'Brother' lightly. We are an Order and a family. When you fail, we do not blame you. We support you. We lift you up. We encourage you. We love you. We stand united. You belong to us."
"Thank you for your solidarity."
Under different circumstances, had the integrated AIs not drained her consciousness entirely, she might have cried. But the mission quickly took precedence again.
"I have a request. At my induction, you told me my jurisdiction ended at the After. Yet I must go there to question someone."
"If it is absolutely necessary, and there is no other way..." began a voice.
"...and if you can find a way to enter without using irreversible Theseism..."
"...then you may go."
"I planned to use the Dark Unit to gain entry."
"Interesting. You see, dear Brother, you're already providing us a way to go further. We have absolute faith in you. You have never disappointed us, nor will you ever. You are not alone. You never will be."
The Wau stood and bowed gratefully.
"I have taken enough of your time. Thank you to the Order for choosing me."