http://godimgood.livejournal.com/ (![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
godimgood.livejournal.com) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
trans_channel2009-09-24 12:03 am
godimgood.livejournal.com) wrote in trans_channel2009-09-24 12:03 am
Entry tags:
A Complaint to His Successors
Of late I have found myself in the company of many great warriors. I cannot say this lightly, as I have been to war myself, have served a knight loyally as he toured the tournaments, and both times, and more times, I have found myself surrounded by such people; indeed, some are acclaimed to be, nay surely are, the greatest warriors of my time. And yet I call the people whom I find myself surrounded by great warriors.
These people, I have struggled to understand. They come from lands, from times beyond my humble means of comprehension. They have weapons and powers utterly alien to me. Some of these people, indeed, profess to be other than human. There are children, and those little more than children, and women. All have great learning, all have great confidence and bearing. Few profess to nobility or unusual good fortune.
It is enough to set a man to his knees with dizziness. But I cannot rest, for I find myself unable to find the tranquility to do so.
We have fought, already, side by side, twice. Once was in defense of our lives, or perhaps, as I have been told, the liberty of our very souls. There, we experienced unity, a strength any general would be proud of, and we persevered. Have we experienced contention? Of course, when numbers such as we have risen to are gathered, such things are natural, understandable. But no violence has risen so far, gathered such strength that I ever feared division. That was one thing I had not thought to fear here, and oh was I foolish for that.
We are so far from our homes, our families, our friends. Some are luckier than others, though whether it is those whose loved ones are safe away elsewhere or those who have them here, I know not. But there is a lack here, an inarguable one which tears at my heart, and that is the lack of home. It is a lack which I suspect that every person aboard this acursed ship has experienced, is experiencing now, still. It is a hole in the heart, a bleeding, gaping wound which cannot be healed.
Painful though it is, it is our one uniting trait, and though it does tear at the every fiber that keeps men strong, I had hoped that such as it is, it might keep us united. Such holes rend, they destroy. It is only with companionship, and trust, that a person can even dream of surviving their pain. The agony, the very blood which weeps from our souls, ought have kept us together, unified, strong in our pursuit of freedom and home, had we one inch of the courage and willpower I had assumed capable of every body here.
It did not.
I weep with regret for how very wrong I was.
I cannot profess to understand what has taken place. In my knowledge, justice is set forth by a select, studied few, determined by their knowledge of the rules of our kingdom, which have been determined by years, generations of royal blood raised and born in God's holy wisdom to rule us. There are no peers to decide, and thus there is little argument for what fate has decreed the sinner's fate.
There is law. And God knows it is not always right, but there are ways and ways of protest, and those ways are not through bloodshed or riot.
I have stood before the masses of my peers, my fellow citizens, my friends, perhaps even my family, in the defense of a man who did no wrong other than dream. I have stripped myself bare of every inch of my soul, spreading it as a blanket at their feet, praying that they not attack a great man already unjustly condemned. I have then continued standing in his defense, ready and waiting for their attack, willing to accept whatever blows they might give me that there be that much more resistance between such a knight and his death.
I have dissented, I have broken law and feared for the lives of myself and my companions both, for the lives of my children and wife I might have left behind, but I stood strong. I understand that passion, just as I understand the passion with which the guards defended their charge.
Just as I stood in defiance, so have I stood in compliance. I have served my country all of my life, and several times I have laid down not my soul but my life before the clutches of the enemy, ready and willing to sacrifice for my king, whether it be my blood or that of the man facing me, or both.
I have been both betrayer and defender, and as I have always stood most firm in my beliefs, I cannot find fault with either action.
Great warriors, though I know little of this argument, I know too well both sides of it, and I protest most strongly to it. I have been told that we are great people who have been gathered here, a select and chosen few. If such a cast cannot find means ulterior to that of bloodshed, if they cannot see the wrong of such treatment toward their own comrades, then I am glad, for all of your majesty, for your inventions, your superior healing, your knowledge, your skill, I am glad that I will not live to see your days and take them as my own.
These people, I have struggled to understand. They come from lands, from times beyond my humble means of comprehension. They have weapons and powers utterly alien to me. Some of these people, indeed, profess to be other than human. There are children, and those little more than children, and women. All have great learning, all have great confidence and bearing. Few profess to nobility or unusual good fortune.
It is enough to set a man to his knees with dizziness. But I cannot rest, for I find myself unable to find the tranquility to do so.
We have fought, already, side by side, twice. Once was in defense of our lives, or perhaps, as I have been told, the liberty of our very souls. There, we experienced unity, a strength any general would be proud of, and we persevered. Have we experienced contention? Of course, when numbers such as we have risen to are gathered, such things are natural, understandable. But no violence has risen so far, gathered such strength that I ever feared division. That was one thing I had not thought to fear here, and oh was I foolish for that.
We are so far from our homes, our families, our friends. Some are luckier than others, though whether it is those whose loved ones are safe away elsewhere or those who have them here, I know not. But there is a lack here, an inarguable one which tears at my heart, and that is the lack of home. It is a lack which I suspect that every person aboard this acursed ship has experienced, is experiencing now, still. It is a hole in the heart, a bleeding, gaping wound which cannot be healed.
Painful though it is, it is our one uniting trait, and though it does tear at the every fiber that keeps men strong, I had hoped that such as it is, it might keep us united. Such holes rend, they destroy. It is only with companionship, and trust, that a person can even dream of surviving their pain. The agony, the very blood which weeps from our souls, ought have kept us together, unified, strong in our pursuit of freedom and home, had we one inch of the courage and willpower I had assumed capable of every body here.
It did not.
I weep with regret for how very wrong I was.
I cannot profess to understand what has taken place. In my knowledge, justice is set forth by a select, studied few, determined by their knowledge of the rules of our kingdom, which have been determined by years, generations of royal blood raised and born in God's holy wisdom to rule us. There are no peers to decide, and thus there is little argument for what fate has decreed the sinner's fate.
There is law. And God knows it is not always right, but there are ways and ways of protest, and those ways are not through bloodshed or riot.
I have stood before the masses of my peers, my fellow citizens, my friends, perhaps even my family, in the defense of a man who did no wrong other than dream. I have stripped myself bare of every inch of my soul, spreading it as a blanket at their feet, praying that they not attack a great man already unjustly condemned. I have then continued standing in his defense, ready and waiting for their attack, willing to accept whatever blows they might give me that there be that much more resistance between such a knight and his death.
I have dissented, I have broken law and feared for the lives of myself and my companions both, for the lives of my children and wife I might have left behind, but I stood strong. I understand that passion, just as I understand the passion with which the guards defended their charge.
Just as I stood in defiance, so have I stood in compliance. I have served my country all of my life, and several times I have laid down not my soul but my life before the clutches of the enemy, ready and willing to sacrifice for my king, whether it be my blood or that of the man facing me, or both.
I have been both betrayer and defender, and as I have always stood most firm in my beliefs, I cannot find fault with either action.
Great warriors, though I know little of this argument, I know too well both sides of it, and I protest most strongly to it. I have been told that we are great people who have been gathered here, a select and chosen few. If such a cast cannot find means ulterior to that of bloodshed, if they cannot see the wrong of such treatment toward their own comrades, then I am glad, for all of your majesty, for your inventions, your superior healing, your knowledge, your skill, I am glad that I will not live to see your days and take them as my own.