On Trust

“Trust is a funny thing, Jerilyn.  It can’t be given away, it can only be earned, and that’s not easily done.  My parents trusted little, due, perhaps, to the Seeress’s interference, though it would be unfair to lay all the blame at her feet.  I’ve tried to learn from their mistakes and be more trusting, but when I have, I’ve questioned whether it’s been worth the cost.  You know, if I hadn’t been betrayed, I’d have been in the Towerof Renk when the Cataclysm came and I might have saved some of the people, but it wasn’t meant to be.  Now it is just you and I in this new world, old friend, alone with our memories of what has been and wishes for what might be.  And soon, when the Herald’s curse takes you, even that will pass,.”   The Wizard of the Blue Lagoon

On the Maiden

“The Devotees’ worship of the Maiden bore little resemblance to the revelry of the Elder Days, Jerilyn, but how could it?  The Stones were gone, the earth song silent and the Maiden now lived in fabled Ardilun.  They knew the Maiden, but the Lady and the Crone were strangers and the Earth Mother was an ancient, hollow name.  They took the traditions I gave them and those that the priestesses brought back from Ardilun and forged new traditions, new ways to celebrate Her.”    Kandol Elf Lord