literature

no.11-memory

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Literature Text

The reavers were quiet, the night more of an absence than a reality. What few stars could be glimpsed through the clouds seem alone and fearful. Under dim skies, I sat in my house cart, spending my attention on minor tasks. I could not sleep, camped amongst the reavers, in their huddled piles.
One nearest me arose, and bowed, inquiring in a voice strangely pleasant
“Sage, the sun has long-fled the field of heaven, why do you not rest?”
Replacing the scroll in it's shelf, I replied, unsettled by his elegance.. “Though swords are sheathed and blood unspilled, your presence does not sooth one such as I.”
There was a ripple of laughter, though not a one of the hunched forms moved.
“We are offensive to the sage. Quiet your hearts brothers, and sheath your minds.”
The scent of blood and frenzy drained from the air and I nodded acknowledgement.
“You have my gratitude. One who is used to serenity finds the company of warriors upsetting.”
I pause, the reaver's speech held a quality of meter strange in one so rough.
“You have my curiosity as well. Your voice tells me you have spent time at court, A thought that slips the grasp of logic.”
Silence falls, I wait with polite mien for his response.
“In younger days I spent my time, a courtier to the house of J'an. I made errors, over-stepped the bounds of propriety. But Sage, these memories are a weakness now. I have been made a vessel, hollow, to be filled with rage and cunning, and spilled upon the enemy.”
I began to speak and, for the first time he shows a lack of manners,interrupting. “Sage I beg you, do not speak to me. I must remain an empty vessel, I have no room for elegance or manners.”
I obeyed his wishes, and in silence pondered. What might a courtier have done, to fall so far. Though I listened I never again heard a scrap of elegance amidst the speech of the reavers. I never found him again, but he left a poem, written in ash on the roughest of paper.

Above, clouds gather.
The dessert remembers water,
aching for the rain.
So this was inspired by Beowulf actually.
I should writ down and codify all my wuxia type stuff, make them consistent.
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