Role

Chapter 2

It has been said that "Time is the justice that examines all offenders". The sun and moon
in their eternal dance, the seasons so swiftly passing, years ending, time moves forward.
I reflect now upon the past several hundred years, how things have changed and what
has remained. I am a Knight-Priest with the favor of my Goddess. I am Marshall of the
Fortress of Light. I am Isendor Ravencrown. I am the product of my own self-examination.

It is my own will that causes me to evolve. I strive to become better, to walk the straight
path of purity with unwavering steps. I am stronger than I ever have been. To say that I
have grown by the force of my own will, would be true. Yet it is clear that my will has been
strengthened by forces far greater than myself. Desire, duty, hope, and the Goddess Baerinika
who is perhaps the culmination of these in my life, manifested in love.

Long have I lived apart from my kinsman, apart from the green and golden pathways of Darsylon.
I was banished long ago for forsaking my duties to find Lalleya and for my words and actions
toward the prince. In my eyes, the death of Lalleya proved my actions just, and all these years
later I still believe that. Though as seasons have come and gone, my anger toward Danellaran,
my hatred toward her killers, and my sorrows have all diminished. They fade away as a flower
in the winter wind. Even my loneliness fades as I find companionship with my brothers and
sisters within the Fortress. To fight alongside Iltanthal, to converse with Padwei, to watch
Jaisel grow strong...these often guard me from my inclination toward solitude.

As I have grown, as I have lived hundreds of years bearing my grief alone, I feel as though
I may finally put these things to rest. Lalleya was the love of my youth, and my love for her
was pure and strong, but I am no longer young...and she is no longer here.

My heart, my very life, the essence of my joy, belongs now to another.