Too Swift the Time has Flown [Abalia, Yugiri]

"My ideals are my own, and they are ones I would not desire others follow. I would much rather a successor who is willing to fight for her own ideals, follow her own moral principles. Hers are perfectly upstanding, values that I respect, if not ones that I share in entirety."

Of course, Yugiri was entirely correct. Abalia had lost a great deal of faith in her greater ideals, in her ambitions. But she had not lost faith in herself. It was simply an issue that she had allowed the two to become the same thing.

"If I sought a successor who was simply another version of myself, I think that would simply mean I had not learned anything at all. I am not what the Gotei needs, so I would not think to force myself upon them even after I have gone."

"I suppose that's about right."

Though Yugiri did see a use for a woman as sternly pragmatic as Abalia, a woman that got things done although in such a vicious manner. More fitting for the previous Gotei Thirteen though, Yugiri could almost imagine her among the first lot of captains were it not for her lack of power but the presence was of the same magnitude she thought.

"Well, not so many are so content to hand over their hard work and see it potentially dismantled or changed in new ways. I suppose that's praisworthy in a sense."

"I believe my work is simply the foundation for the next Captain Commander's, as my father's was before me, and as Captain Kagayaku's will be for her own successor. There has been a tendency, I have found, to focus on the legacy of each Captain Commander, to measure them against one another and judge them by their merits."

Abalia did, admittedly, wonder how history would remember her. Not because she cared for her reputation, but because she understood that a great deal of what she had done had not been particularly kind or good. What efforts would history remember the most? Well, she hardly knew the answer to a question like that.

"So long as things continue on well, I would not be bothered if I became a footnote in the Gotei's history. Two years is not such a long tenure, after all."

"You're right. It's not a long tenure, and I doubt any Captain Commander will have one as long as Genryusai Yamamoto ever again."

Maybe that was just her pessimistic view of the whole thing but things had somersaulted so far out of control with all of the Soul Society's developments since the first captain commander's death and then came the captain after captain of the Gotei's incarnations.

"Anyway, it's not things to be concerned about. I barely think about what's said about me anymore since I lost my status, I'm sure no one of the Shihoin will remember me either with enough time passing."

"I have some faith in Captain Kagayaku. If there is any candidate that I could envision holding the position for a very long while, it would be her. Then again, I would have said the same of myself."

It wasn't a statement of any lack of faith in Murasaki, of course. Abalia simply knew that the realities of life and the world were not nearly so predictable. She wouldn't make any assumptions about how the girl's life might go.

"Soul Society's history is long enough that I suspect everything at the moment will be forgotten. You are correct, it is hardly something to worry ourselves about. There is far more merit in simply doing what we can."

"We get old and tired."

She did feel the need to correct Abalia, a reminscing moment where she felt reminded of when she was the one who was far more in tune with the nature of the nobility and she thought of Abalia as an ignorant upstart from the Rukongai who didn't know how anything worked here or the deeper history of the Soul Society.

"I'm sure the noble families will continue document this time as much as they have recorded up until this point. Maintaining the history is quite an important duty, I'd hope the loss of power did not take away from those duties each one had."

Yugiri shrugged to further demonstrate her apathy about those people and things, it was a lot more selfish how she lived now. A sad thing really that she was at her worst when she was selfless and dedicated wholly to others, and that she felt at her best when she was selfish and thought less of giving up parts of her own satisfaction to be some kind of martyr.

Anyway, there were things to discuss. She still wanted to meet Rio after this and so she carried on with this little small talk until she thought it was a good time to be on her way.

"Have a good retirement, Kyoraku."