Finid's Heartfelt Sermon

Aloli

"You've likely heard a lot of people shout quotes from books," Finid begins while standing next to a shrine of Damariel. "I am going to give you quotes from life." With her hand on the hilt of a Delosian bastard sword, she continues in her soft drawl, "Life. Right does not always prevail. Sometimes good people get hurt. Sometimes we lose those we love. Sometimes we face nearly impossible odds and feel like we are hopeless to do anything."

Finid glances at those gathered. "Sometimes you are faced with difficult choices where you feel like you are damned if you do, damned if you don't, and don't know how to avoid being damned except by not acting..which is an action in and of itself." Her lone visible yellow-green eye is filled with cool resolve. "These are things we face in our daily lives. I'm not going to pretty it up or try to make things as a lot better than they are."

Finid says in her soft drawl, "Hell, even now we face threats that will end more than just us as individuals." She nods at you, Cinnamae, and Zima. "The threats we stare at will shake us up. Father, Lord Damariel, faced those as well. He faced the fact that He, the Unbound Lord and known for Truth had information withheld from even Him. He faced the fact that the sweet paradise He promised us was something He couldn't in good conscience. Why not?" She asks. "Because at any moment Varian, the 'Creator' could and may just as easily destroy it as He has done His other Creation." Then with an even more strident tone, she continues, "Many would turn their gazes and close their eyes. Who after all wants to face life when it can be so bleak?"

Aloli accidentally begins to tear up so she silently pulls up a shadowy veiled hood of elusion to shelter her face.

"Because it is beautiful as well. For all the bleakness that can be, there is also great joy. There is the joy of seeing Pages learn," Finid nods her head. "There is the joy in those who want to learn," she nods at Cinnamae and Trarenar. "There is joy in those who love," she nods at you. "Most of all, there is joy in life itself."

Cinnamae glances towards the rising sun, before letting her eyes return to Finid.

"WE LIVE!!" Finid voice thunders throughout the area. "And for that, He is willing to fight."

Knight Finid Gallant, the Wild Rose says, "WE are willing to fight!"

(Sermon)

"We live in uncertain times," Finid solemnly admits, her gaze sweeping to land briefly upon each face - including your own - assembled here. Folding her hands behind her back, she sets forward into a slow step, joining those she would preach to as an equal. "We live in a world that could at any time be consumed by a spurned and cowardly Creator," she states, her words clipped as they flee her mouth. "As if oblivion were not enough of a threat, Shadow would design to make matters worse - as ever they do." Leaving the gravity of her words to linger momentarily, Finid allows silence to reign. "Damariel would see us fight back."

"Through Truth He will encourage us to live honest lives, free of deception and the consequences thereof," Finid announces, her hands splaying to her sides. Motes of light begin to gather themselves in her wake as she makes her way through the assembled, the motes curling upon the air as if inspecting the presences nearby. "And so, we will do what we must to ensure Truth is brought to the surface."

The motes of light quiver, darkening in hue to a yet-illuminating silvery orange as Finid drops her hands. "Through Valor He teaches us to have the strength to face down that which threatens us, our loved ones, and those we protect - unflinchingly and without remorse," she informs you and those around you, her tone dropping to make way for an unquestionable hint of fervor. "We will do exactly that, no matter the cost."

The ruddy motes flare then in a brilliant display, bright and pure as Finid sweeps her hand in recognition of those around her "And through Spirit He provides to us a common cause we may rally around, the pursuit of life enduring, and a lasting legacy," she emphatically decrees. Focus is drawn back to Finid as she waves a hand that dismisses the motes of light from existence. "No person, nor God, can assure you that we will survive and endure with total certainty," she remarks, more quietly than before as the sobering statement is made. "But His Truth, His path, will lead us either to victory at best, or to a life lived without regret at worst; this is the closest thing to an assurance we may ever get. This is Truth." Allowing these words to be her last, she draws the sermon to a close.