Llorana: Focus

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[ 11] Llorana: Focus
Fri Jan 14 23:47:38 2011
To: Shalonesti Shalonesti_kingdom ( Kwars )
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The parchment was deceptively simple in what it proclaimed but she knew
that beneath it all, it wasn't so.  Not at all. 

She'd been approached by a royal page, asked a question, to which she had
hesitated even though she knew the answer.  It was yes.  Of course it was
yes.  It was the timing, perhaps, that caught her a little off guard. 

Some people were made for war, some people were bred to it.  For some, that
held them, was their purpose.  This would be hers.  It had chosen her, in
many ways.  She liked to think she had not been intended for such things but
the deeper she trudged back through her life, the clearer it became.  Always
striving for adventure, never satisfied until she'd met her match and
overcome it.  Finding trouble or being found by it.  Thinking these thoughts
no more than a few hours ago, it was as if someone had known. 
Thus her fingers had hestiated with quill poised over the page, already
stamped with two official looking seals; one of Sha'falas and one of Kyorl.
She didn't understand why, even now thinking back on it.  If she knew her
path with such certainty, then why? 

Why hesitate? 

The question ate at her until she could no longer sit still and was drawn
from her meditations to meet old Jarri with sword to hand. 

The older elf, perhaps respecting the emotional boundries she had thrown up,
met her with quiet understanding and before long, the ringing sound of sword
play filled the Grove of Song. 

She burned it out of her, slowly but surely.  Muscles aching, lean body
coated with sweat, a dozen bruises decorating various parts of her where
Jarri hadn't spared her an inch.  Her hair had come free of its braids just
enough to lend a look of greater dishevelment. 

"You are young yet" Jarriantias intoned softly when they were done, when the
haunt had calmed, "As so many others are.  Remember this when you are alone,
when you work alongside your fellow Kyorl and when you take to the field of
battle.  Your personal feelings are not as important as the task.  Remain
focused."

It was good advice.  She did know better.  It was hard - the hardest thing
she had ever had to do yet perhaps - but she knew it was necessary.  The
question then was; How did one become that hard without sacrificing who they
were? 

She knew that was what old Jarri wanted her to figure out.  There were no
upfront answers.  Each Kyorl made their own path or fell upon it. 

A shake of her head set the difficult question to the background for the
moment and after sheathing her sword, she grabbed up a towel and headed out
of the groves, not quite able to muster her usual cheer but all the better
for the exercise. 

She would be back with her elven squad in no time, but she had a distinct
feeling that the field of battle would be a great deal changed from what she
had experienced before the Mountain.