Role

Chapter 16

It has been too many years since I last spoke to you my Lady Captain, last
saw you. For that, I can blame only myself. The winds pushed me towards a
path far from the ocean, where the fresh water of streams and rivers is a
lifetime from the salted waters of the open sea. A place of stone protected
from the elements. But still, I felt it in our halls, the gentle breath of
the coming storm on my skin, always present but so often kept at bay. And now
I have been thrown into a true storm, having become the Elder Prophet of the
Fortress, tasked with guiding spirits young and old, those wild and still
forming, those set dead in their ways.

I did not think I would ever be in such a position, truthfully, was content
even to help from the background. Or so I thought. How mistaken I was.
Because my heart again races, smiles bringing even more lines to my face, as
I interact with the young of Thera, help them prepare for their lives in the
midst of so much turmoil.

Still, I aim to be the calm before, hoping to instill in my young charges,
and even those more set in their ways, a sense that preparation might well
help turn the tide against the most ominous of storms.

And though the storms themselves are chaotic in nature, there is a true sense
of order found in attempting to prepare for them. And even in the harshest of
storms, a calm can be experienced within, the eye of the storm a place one
can truly see things for what they are, where one can use a moment of
solitude to find the strength to carry on, no matter what the winds might
bring, where the winds might blow.