We Shall Previal

((This is the speech my priestess of Elune made at the Teldrassil memorial. I post it here for posterity – I’ll just lose it if I don’t put it somewhere. XD

My friends, I must begin by thanking you for joining us in this bleak time. My name is Anapholentia and I am a priestess of Elune.

We are here to honor those who have fallen and to give what hope and healing we can to those who remain.

We have healed the physical wounds of the survivors but there are wounds so deep that even Elune herself cannot mend them entirely.

We all bear the scars of a hundred battles, a thousand deaths, a million life changing moments.

Such is life on this world, tortured for so long by the throes of war.

Yet in all the destruction, we have not become inured to the pain of loss.

It is the spark of light within us – though we wade through rivers of blood, though we wage war again and again, though we suffer to the limits of our wills, a life lost still gives us grief.

At this moment, my heart feels as charred as the limbs of Teldrassil.

But like the seed of a tree after a forest fire has erased an ancient forest, we shall overcome this.

Though the destruction of Teldrassil and the loss of so many innocent lives was a devestating blow to all of us, it was not the darkest day in our history.

This is not the first World Tree to be destroyed; these were not the first of our people to die at the hands of the powerful or the mad.

We shall remember and honor those who lives have passed on. But we shall not give in to despair.

We shall endure. We shall rebuild. We shall live, and in living honor the memories of our loved ones by remembering what is important:

Love is stronger than hate, as light burns away darkness.

My friends, we shall prevail.

May Elune guide your path.