Berra — Holding A Torch
????, Storm Season, Disorder Week
Context
Storm Season, Disorder Week, Wildday. On the road, Berra is out of Rune points and unable to sanctify an area in which to pray. [[[s02:session-25|Session 25]]]
Events
Lord, I’ve let you down.
I’m sorry. I… I didn’t know how to do otherwise.
And I’d have counted that a good way to die, if I’d done it against the Impala Riders. If they’d got close. And this was more important. They were spirits. Ghosts.
But now I can’t talk to you, Lord. I can’t give you your due. I’m sorry.
It was a good thing. To fight properly, and do my duty. But now I can’t pray properly.
But I’m here anyway. I’ll do the dances, and tell the sword its duties, and I know what to say and do. Even if it’s empty, I should do it.
“Sword, your name is Torch, because you are a light, and a guide. So when you are in battle you must be at the forefront, even if the one who bears you falls back. You must show and help, and be a path to step on, between the changing things. The sword always separates, and so you must cut away illusion. You are Death to all, and Death to lies.
One day you will have a spirit living in you, and it will act swiftly and clearly. You must be the edges for it, and the eyes, and never show it a thing that is not.
You must be what your Lord needed, when he was alone, and help to choose paths that are true. You must be what your followers need, a thing to follow.
These are twelve cuts you can make that can kill a man. You are a tool for separating the body and the spirit, so they never meet again.
If I hold you up as a Truth Rune, I make the sign of Death also. If I hold up Death, you are its guide and mine.
This is my blood, which you have drawn. To hold you right, I must be willing to sacrifice.
There was no way I could do my duty now if I did not do it in battle. So to have reached this moment when I failed was better than failing before. When you show the way, remember that. In the moment, do what is right. Then prepare again to do what is right. You go now with me to make that preparation.
Blood and oil are on you. This is your anointing. We are alone, as he was. We will do what we must do, and we will return. This is your task.
This is your task because your name is Torch.”
