> > Pel's predicament once again reminded me of something the Psychic Samurai told Liu Xi once, and one of her core beliefs: Killing should be a last resort, because when your enemy is dead, they learn nothing. > > Pel might counter by saying "Don't leave your enemies alive to learn from their mistakes and try again better."

Chiaki uses more fear than violence to achieve her objectives. Most of her enemies don't want her to come back.

> > The same holds true in this case. If she would have had the Thonaggarians executed, they wouldn't learn a thing, and she would feel just as bad. > > I think Pel may have seen where she might have ended up if she hadn't been exiled. She'd have been one of the invaders of Caph, leading the fight against Vaahir.

Noted.

> Well actually, given the role she played in saving Kiivan, she'd probably have been on the winning side. > > > It also led me to wonder: What would Shazana think of the Psychic Samurai anyhow? Chiaki is charismatic and has some good insight. But perhaps Shazana might discount her worth because a) Chiaki has never seen real battle by Thonaggarian standards, and b) the Samurai does just about anything to avoid a fight. > > Pel would appreciate her combat dicipline but think her passive appraoch to be inefficent. She wouldn't discount her, since she is clearly effective, but she would probably underestimate her.

As Chiaki would point out, words can often harm an opponent more than steel. As proof she would offer up the many, many fights she managed to avoid by convincing her opponent that no matter who wins, they still lose.

And you might also note that's why she's afraid of Vendredi - because he suffered all the consequences already (i.e. he was already dead), so he's not afraid of anything. The act of negotiation requires that you either have something the other party wants, or something the other party doesn't want to happen. In the case of Vendredi, Chiaki has neither, meaning either a fight, or her death, is inevitable in an encounter. So the smartest thing she can do is avoid all contact with him.