211 lines
4.7 KiB
TeX
211 lines
4.7 KiB
TeX
\herosection{The Sage}{chapters/2026.03.03-TheSage/image/the-sage.jpg}
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\DROPCAP{../../dropcap_c/dropD.png}areth stitched the word on after midnight.
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SAGE.
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He worked the needle through wool \\
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in the trembling lamplight.
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Each autumn, \\
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the village kept its ancient custom: \\
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for one week at the Fall Festival, \\
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everyone named themselves what they wished to be.\\
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Bakers became admirals.\\
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Tailors tried on prophet.\\
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Children stitched magnificent ambitions onto their sleeves \\
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and danced through the streets.
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Then, on the eighth night, \\
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everyone burned the titles \\
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in a grand bonfire by the sea.
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He had never taken part.
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Dareth had always known what he was: \\
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a dockworker, \\
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smelling of rope and brine, \\
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hands hardened by cargo and tide.\\
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He had felt no need to pretend otherwise.
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But last winter his brother had endured \\
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a long, grim illness.
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Months of coughing.\\
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Fever that would not break.\\
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Nights propped upright just to breathe.\\
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Their small savings drained away.\\
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Work missed.\\
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Jobs lost.\\
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Meals thinned.\\
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Hope rising and falling like a cruel tide.
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And then he died.
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For months afterward, \\
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Dareth lay awake staring into the dark, \\
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replaying it all.
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Why the illness? \\
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Why the length of it? \\
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Why the suffering? \\
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If there was some hidden logic to the world, \\
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he meant to find it.
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If he understood why things worked the way they did, \\
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perhaps there was something he could have done.\\
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Something he had failed to see.
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That was why, \\
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this year, \\
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he stitched the word.\\
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For one week, \\
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instead of a dockworker, \\
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he would be a Sage.
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The first day brought snickers.\\
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By the second, questions.
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By the third, \\
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people were speaking to him in lowered tones.\\
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A fisherman \\
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unsure whether to risk deeper waters.\\
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A young woman \\
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uncertain about a proposal.\\
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A horse groomer \\
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asking why diligence never seemed to prosper him.
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He listened carefully.\\
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He asked questions back.\\
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He tried to imagine what a wise man might say:
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``What do you already know?''
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To his surprise, \\
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they left steadier than they had arrived.
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Which encouraged him — \\
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in an unsettling way.
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Perhaps there was something to this.\\
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Perhaps he had always been meant \\
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for more than rope and cargo.
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By the seventh night, \\
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when others tossed their stitched words \\
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into the bonfire, \\
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he stood at the edge of the square \\
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and did not move.
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When someone called him ``Sage,'' he answered, \\
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``At your service.''
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Then the stranger arrived.
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There was nothing remarkable about him, \\
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and yet when he looked at someone, \\
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it felt as though their innermost thoughts fell quiet.
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``You are the sage,'' the stranger said.
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``At least I want to be.''
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They stood watching the tide press against stone.
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``And what price are you willing to pay for Wisdom?'' \\
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the stranger asked.
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``Comfort,'' he answered quickly. \\
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``Leisure.\\
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Sleep.\\
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I would give them gladly.''
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The stranger shook his head.
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``That is the price of mere ambition.\\
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Wisdom has a far higher price.''
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A flicker of irritation crossed Dareth's face. \\
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``Then what is the price?''
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Before the stranger could answer, \\
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shouting broke across the quay.
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A young laborer slipped while securing a line.\\
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His head struck the edge of the dock.\\
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The crack echoed, \\
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and he slid into the water tangled in ropes.
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Men rushed, \\
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dove in, \\
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and pulled him out.
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Too late.
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His wife ran to the quay, sobbing. \\
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``Why? Why?''
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``Ask the Sage,'' someone said ruefully.
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Dareth felt his chest tighten.
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This was what he had wanted — \\
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the unveiling of hidden logic,\\
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the explanation \\
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that would make suffering bearable.
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He could speak of negligence.\\
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Of caution.\\
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Of lessons to be learned.\\
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He could shape the event \\
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into something that resembled order.
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The stranger's words echoed in his heart.
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What price are you willing to pay?
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He understood.
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To say ``I have no answer'' \\
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would cost him the name.
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To stand in the incomprehensible \\
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would strip him of the identity \\
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he had begun to inhabit.
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He swallowed.
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``I do not know why this happened,'' he said.
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A murmur passed through the crowd.
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He continued, more quietly, \\
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``We can mend our lines.\\
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We can watch our footing.\\
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Some things are ours to repair.\\
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But why one person is lost and another spared — \\
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I do not know.''
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Later, \\
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by the dark water, \\
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Dareth found the stranger again.
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``I wanted Wisdom to explain my brother's suffering,'' he said.
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``And if it did?'' the stranger asked gently. \\
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``Would it change anything?''
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He had no answer.
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``Wisdom,'' the stranger said, \\
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``is not the key to some hidden mechanism.\\
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It is the courage to remain faithful \\
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when the mechanism does not reveal itself.''
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At dawn the stranger was gone.
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Dareth took his coat and cut the word free, \\
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stitch by stitch.\\
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Then he folded it carefully \\
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and placed it in a drawer.
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