What price a prayer? The remnants of his week spent in fevered hallucinations still lingered in a chill that had settled into his skin and a tremble in his hands that no amount of rest seemed able to recover. They were frustrations, among a list of many that itched beneath his skin, twisting his mood from dark to darker, and he had retreated from the company of others. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he had never returned to them, after waking in his den in the Glade. He had chosen a more solitary path since then, choosing isolation over the perceived anger of those he had let down.
It had given him time to think, if it had done nothing else. Time tosulk brood and ask himself questions, to replay conversations and wonder if things would have changed if he had done things differently.
He had carved a large apple into a small lantern, with a grinning face and a cat's whiskers etched into the red skin, standing stark and pale next to the holes for eyes and laughing mouth. Of course he had sought Ludo's Woods for his offering...
And so he had not found them, the first lesson of navigating the Greatwood lost amidst his emotional turmoil. He had, instead, found his way to another Shrine, and so he had set the small candle stub upon the altar, lighting it and placing the apple atop it so the light flickered out merrily amidst the twilight shadows that cloaked the Woods. Isuma reep!ed cheerful curiosity as she bounced after the dancing sparks of light that moved across the ground, and Jigano sat and folded his hands his knees, bowing his head hesitantly. The last time he had called he had received no answer. Perhaps this would be another such failed attempt...
But that's what faith was, wasn't it? If the gods answered every time, it wouldn't require trust in the unseen.
"Ludo," he said softly, "my soul is sorely in need of guidance, if you're willing to speak with me."
It had given him time to think, if it had done nothing else. Time to
He had carved a large apple into a small lantern, with a grinning face and a cat's whiskers etched into the red skin, standing stark and pale next to the holes for eyes and laughing mouth. Of course he had sought Ludo's Woods for his offering...
And so he had not found them, the first lesson of navigating the Greatwood lost amidst his emotional turmoil. He had, instead, found his way to another Shrine, and so he had set the small candle stub upon the altar, lighting it and placing the apple atop it so the light flickered out merrily amidst the twilight shadows that cloaked the Woods. Isuma reep!ed cheerful curiosity as she bounced after the dancing sparks of light that moved across the ground, and Jigano sat and folded his hands his knees, bowing his head hesitantly. The last time he had called he had received no answer. Perhaps this would be another such failed attempt...
But that's what faith was, wasn't it? If the gods answered every time, it wouldn't require trust in the unseen.
"Ludo," he said softly, "my soul is sorely in need of guidance, if you're willing to speak with me."
