Role

Chapter 2

Demotion, perhaps disgrace? No, not disgrace. Well, maybe not. The office
of the Vindicator demands perfection, and Odrirg made a mistake. The Lord
Drunsthol actually took the same action of demoting him to the Empress' city
as Odrirg had suggested happen to the Provost.

The relative quiet of duty in that city has given him quite a bit of time
for self-reflection that he had not previously had the time for, and he has
come to a few realizations.

The first realization he came to was that going down the road of rationalizing
his mistake by thinking that it was a small mistake and that no Mortal is
perfect would be a useless excercise in self-pity. And he nolonger has any
room for that in his life. Sure, it was a small mistake, one that many have
made in the past. But that does not alleviate the seriousness of a Vindicator
having broken two laws.

If anything, his demotion, as well as the demotion of Daemar, has gone a very
far way towards re-enforcing Odrirg's belief in the System and the Spire,
because it is proof that the System works.

The second realization that he came to was one of his own self-worth. Before,
in his life, he had very little time from all of his duties to think further
than the next marker on the path to his Goal. This enforced reduction in
stature to the watch of a very quiet city has given him time to look back
over his life, and he has come to understand that it is *NOT* un-due hubris
for him to know how important he is to the Spire, to Thera, and to his Goal.
He may now be just a Magistrate of Seantryn Modan, but damnit he is still
the same Odrirg, and that counts for more than some of his enemies, and even
allies, would like to believe.

The above two realizations have struck Odrirg to the core, really, and have
combined, along with a realization that he is no-longer a YOUNG dwarf by
any stretch, in him to bring a certain Calm to his personality that perhaps
was scarce before.

Oh, he still gets pissed off really easily, but now the form of his anger is
as likely to take the form of a cold, calculating, deliberate rage as his
usual hot, mind-oblitterating frenzy that he has grown accustomed to. Already
he has had the chance to see the effects of this upon others, and he sees
that this cold rage can be just as effective as his hot frenzy.

His final realization came when he understood that he was not going to let
this obstacle drive him into melancholy like the First obstacle (his knees)
did.

He truelly does not know whether the path he was on to his Goal is closed to
him forever, forcing him to forge a new path, or if he will be able in time to
find his way back to that path.

And he has resolved that he is going to take full advantage of this time of
doubt, until his path before him is again clear to the Horizon, to strengthen
the Spire. Many people would doubt a fallen Vindicator and Magistrate of
a backwater city on the edge of Thera could do much to Strengthen the Spire,
but Odrirg knows different.

He sees this as an opportunity to show all these young whippers in the Spire
just how Magistrating is done, damnit. And they are all going to become
better for his example.

While the Future is often in flux and doubt, there is one thing that Odrirg
knows that can not be denied. With