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[howandwhy99]

Father Benedict patted the sweat from his brow.

Father Ben: “Perhaps an archer with an arrow shot you and laughed? If that is the case, you are lucky to be alive. Maybe that is why they sent you from the Front? Do you remember having a wound or new scar from the experience?”

“Do you remember the names of the elves you were with?”

“You also mention Fae as having more than one form. Are Elves or Fey shapeshifters? Are you? There were rumors supposedly in Harling of shapeshifters taking on other's forms. One of the attacks on Keep Margrave is said to possibly have been done by a shapeshifter. Why even our noble Darius had his good name besmirched from an imposter in Harling. From rumors we have heard, these shapeshifters are of evil ilk.”

“As for why the Hommletites explore the moathouse as you call it, I would hope their motivation is simply one of wanderlust and not this greed for coin as you say. Gold and silver metals are valuable in the human lands. Many other metals are minted for use as currency. (Ben takes out a copper, a lead, and a steel coin) These are the most common currency in Margrave. You can see the markings on either side. They are the embossment giving legitimacy to coin. But its real value lies within the metal itself. For example, this steel coin can be smelted with others to create goods like the armor and steel so many of us wear. But it is greed for metals and also gems, which drives many men to their deaths. While useful for commerce, these monies are but a trifle when compared to the real virtues in life.”

“This leads me to your central confusion. Prayers need not be supplication at all, but still a form of worship. Prayers can be out of respect, honor, obedience, and more, not just appeals to the divine for one's wants. Unlike yourself most creatures and humans are not conceived wholly from their Gods or Goddesses. They are born from the coupling of their natural mothers and fathers. While children are taught to love and honor their parents, prayer is different. First off, not all Divine all deserving of worship. We venerate those who have noble bearing and goodly intention. Those who seek to ensure the safety of Men. Many stories are told of how each one made the world and the cosmos around it. My particular order does not deal in the debates of which is true and which is false. Instead we ask followers to venerate all the goodly Gods, so they might protect us from harm. The war to the East is one example of this. Many powerful creatures exist and it is only with courage and faith that we face them. Our own parents can protect us only so much, but Gods like Thor can do much more. So our veneration is not out of fear, but because the Gods and Goddesses ease our fear by protecting us from succumbing to these horrors.”

“A few other points you raised: First, the circlet is a meditation focus. You concentrate on its unity of form. With practice your soul can be strengthened in its desire to stay uniform with the world around it. This is why I gave you the pendant. It is not a marriage gift. We were never married. Nor annulled.”

“Secondly, the men and women of some villages are thin because of the lack of food to feed all peoples. Food is never other people for humans. Nor dwarves. And I believe not Elves either. Those who eat creatures who can speak are called "cannibals". It is a heathen act and not looked upon kindly. It is tied with murder, which we teach as a great disruption to the harmony of life. Neither act is condoned by those of Goodly Faith.”

“And lastly, trust is a topic which would be better talked about in length, and perhaps in private. You see, to travel with us, to take watch, to fight at our side, and to partake in our company you must be trustworthy. It is always difficult to tell one’s motivations. But by observing each other’s actions we learn what these might be. A uniformity of action instills trust that your actions will remain the same in the future - that you will not change sides in mid battle - that you will not divulge us to enemies - that you do not kill and eat us while we sleep. Part of trusting is faith in others not causing you harm, as you would also have trust in us. All of which has little to do with your skin and hair.”

Rose: “Perhaps I am unsure of what happened, I didn't feel an injury either before or after, but I may simply have been healed and knocked out before I could feel anything. But in my dreams the laughter seemed to come from everywhere, as did the screams. More than one plea for mercy was cut off before it could finish.”

“Elven names and fae names are different. Among one another elves have a naming system similar to the fae. In our languages such names are much shorter. It is only among the humans that elves use very shortened names like rose to identify themselves. I could tell you the elven name of the company, but I did not know their human name.”

“Fae are shapechangers but I have only ever seen them in the light in elven lands in their black skinned form. I know they have others but I don't know what they are. The elves and fae have a very...different relationship. You see, depending on the stories you listen to mother has only ever been denied her will either once or twice. The story always begins with Fae wanderlust. They sought out what is new and unknown. To the fae the unknown is something to be embraced not feared. And they came across human lands in their wanderings. The fae were changed somehow upon their contact with human lands. They could see the souls of the dead watching them from the sky as they wandered at night; some said they could even feel them during the day. In fae lands there is only eyeless night, mother assures that. It is a great secret among their people what occurred but when they returned to mother they were the creatures you now know as elves. Change of theirs spread like an infection among the fae. Their forms became locked. They began to age. They retained knowledge of the past. It is said that even stepfather was infected. Some say either he left mother or was cast out by her with the other tainted ones. Some say he was not tainted but used this to distract her while he left her. She ordered all of the tainted ones killed. And there was war. For three days the fae and the elves fought. Until the humans arrived. Tales say it was only a caravan. Looking for a shortcut through the forest. Tales say none survived as the intruders were attacked on sight for simply being present. The fae are never ones to let food go to waste. So they ate what was present. It was said that when the first fae tasted of human flash his gasp of surprise and delight froze the battlefield, and that the land is still in winter to this day. This new distraction made the fae forgot all about the war, as is their nature. And the elves devised a way to keep them distracted using the humans. Thus the Runners of the Black Flame were created to keep the fae distracted with their new taste. Since the fae have little memory, the taste is new and delicious with each meal. If the tales are true then mother has since found a way to protect her children from the corruption of this land. Still the human meat has become an addiction to them. The fae and the elves do not get along. But they tolerate one another. Apparently the fae still have something the elves need. I imagine it's the magic the elves so desperately crave. In the fae lands magic is in the air and the water and the lands. Here it is weak. The elves have developed a way to find the magics they crave like a hungry man smells food. With my upbringing I could not, I am like the desert rat, I do not crave the water that the other desert creatures need so badly, I have enough within me to last for as long as I like.”

“The monies are still very confusing. It’s a quality of the fae. Monies get you things you want. But the fae never truly want. If they desire something, then they either take it or they forget about it and desire something else.”

“I still do not understand these small bits of metal. The earth gives you all you could wish for. She provides food and shelter. You can rest within her like a child in the womb of its mother. So why then do you take her bones, and burn and twist them beat upon them until she screams and is no longer the rock you once knew but a this strange metal substance, with no connection to the mother who gave it to you? You coat yourselves in them for convenience. You use tin cups to drink from when you have two hands. The only metal I have seen that I understand is at the farm. For a farmer the metal he uses to till the earth is his way of showing reverence. He uses metal because the bone of the earth would blunt all other materials. He makes soft beds for the earth to nurture and by the end of the day he himself is as much a child of the earth as any plant. All this other metal it seems to be apathy. A metal cup is easier to use than a wooden one and it lasts longer. Never mind how the earth and the stones were tortured to get it. Never mind you are taking what in only a few thousand years could be soil for growth and forever taking it from the earth's grasp with no intention of returning the gift. It seems to drive men mad. They quest for it. They hunt for it. They kill and die for it. And for what? To gain more matel to be more convenient and start the cycle over again. Why not simply do away with all of it and save the lives and the wasted efforts?”

“But what is strange is that your gods allow this to occur. Though it was far from perfect there is something to be said for a power that is absolute in her domain. Mother's will is never unknown or questioned. It is the law of the fae. All obey it for to cease to obey it is to cease to be. Among here your gods are confused. How can many gods have created the world in different ways? Is not doing so a lie? Do they ask you who may or may not have created the world unless it was this god or this god or these goddesses? It would seem that it would hardly be showing proper respect to a god if they say they did one thing but another god disagrees, I mean which side do you choose? By venerating all of the creators aren't you calling them all liars to some degree?”

“But what do you use to determine a gods intentions? Mother is supremely lawful in that she is the law among her people and such will is inviolate. She is also supremely chaotic in that he laws change with her whims. She is good in that she sees to the continuation of her people. She gives them pleasures and rapture like none known in mortal works. Those that are chosen to sacrifice themselves to mother are reluctant at first but do so willingly once in her presence. She is said to be glorious and that her sacrifices experience a feeling that no words can express. Her beauty overwhelms them and that for any creature so perfect as she to choose one so miserable is an honor beyond imagining. Their bodies are impure shells and they kill themselves in the hopes of leaving their stains behind with the body. And she consumes them, they become one with the godhead, even if they are and she purifies them as she consumes them. And before they die and after death they experience a grace that no mortal could understand and become something greater than themselves. She protects her children and keeps them from harm as often as she encourages them to harm one another. And Mother is evil. She encourages pain and suffering and capriciousness. She allows her children to fight and kill without cause or gain. She sends her servants into the human lands to steal children and leave monsters called changelings that will destroy the parents in its place. Her sacrifices are often tortured mercilessly out of boredom. In the fae lands humans do not fear death. Death is a friend to be welcomed. They fear life, and the fae can keep creatures alive for AGES.”

“You mention the war to the east. It troubles me though. IF the gods can do more then why do they not? It is said that we fight a god that seeks to destroy all that exists. Would this not be a matter better resolved among the gods themselves, why bring mortals into it at all? IF they protect and care for us, why do they not simply fight directly with their own abilities rather than using their servants as channels?”

“I do not understand why you do not eat your dead. The dead become the soil over time. The soil grows the food. Why not simply eat them as they are and save time? What good does burial do to a dead body? It’s perfectly good and can be readily eaten by the hungry, it seems cruel to allow them to starve because the current form is unacceptable and you wish to wait for a more acceptable one. Your dead are of no use to you at all it seems.”

Ben blinked and shook his head overwhelmed. Grog looked bored, as did a few of the others. Dram had been following closely however.