Editing Site 3: Diamond Hearth (section)

==Duty==

“Why do you hate me?” asked the ghost of Xing Lai.  He regarded [[Leaf Shakes the Wind]] with a tilt of his head.  “I have done nothing to you.”

“I don’t hate you.  But your presence in Creation is improper.  You should have rejoined the cycle.”

“How is it improper to do one’s duty?” Xing Lai gestured to the cave mouth behind him with his translucent spear.  “After my death, no one else was willing to guard this cave.  I wounded the beast gravely, but it is not dead.  If I leave, more will die.”

“You truly care what happens to the living?”

The ghost laughed loudly, throwing back his head.  It was the most human sound Leaf Shakes the Wind had heard yet in Diamond Hearth.

“How could I not care what happens to the living?  I took on this duty in life to protect the people of this city, though the beast had slain two other dragonblooded warriors before me.  And now, the living are all that sustain me.  Or they were, until you arrived.”  

Xing Lai's eyes moved to the overturned bowls of blood behind Leaf Shakes the Wind.  “Do you think I somehow coerced those from the people here?  I can’t step more than a dozen feet from the spot where I stand now.  They offer their Essence to me because they know why I am here, and they honor me for it.  Who are you to judge that honor as improper?”

“I am the Dagger of Heaven.  I protect the people from that which cannot stand the light of the day.”

“If that is truly so, then your business is not with me.”

"I suppose it isn't."

Leaf Shakes the Wind stepped past the ghost and into the cave behind him.


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''From here on, I’m going to try writing some of my entries in Draconic.  [[Bones Like Jade]] gave me a small book made of crystal which allows me to write or speak words in Old Realm and have them translated.  It helps, but still the language is strange on my tongue and my brush does not flow naturally when I write.  If I’m to keep this up, I may have to be frugal with my words.''

''There’s something wrong with Rivers.  His reasons for leaving Rathess were half-truths at best, but I can tell by the look in his eyes that he wouldn’t, or perhaps couldn’t, put words to what’s bothering him, no matter how I confronted him.  His health is getting worse as well, which for Rivers means it’s very, very bad.  The climate here in Diamond Hearth can’t be helping either;  I can feel the cold even through my [[Panoply of the Sun|armor]].  Living here is like living on the bones of the world after the flesh has long rotted away…''

-- From the journal of Leaf Shakes the Wind, Night Caste spymaster

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[[Heaven's Mandate]]