in tenebris est veritas.
“Do not put words into my mouth. It does not harm the forest to selectively cut a few old-growth trees. It does not offend me that humans seek to escape war. I have not objected to hut-building, or hunting, or settling in harmony with the forest. But you continue to speak of crop fields, and the politics of faraway settlements, and people who will not change their way of life.” Frustration is evident in their gesticulating hands, but the hunting knife at their side is long abandoned. However poor their people skills, Chaele has picked up on Darkeye’s attempts at tact and is attempting to teach him what they know.
“And do not speak to me of ridiculous notions of strength and survival. Every predator and herbivore and scavenger and plant exists because of their interactions with each other, not some misguided sense of domination. That is a human idea, with no basis in ecology.”
Their next words do inspire a moment’s hesitation, not to spare his feelings but to wonder if it would make their disagreement irreconcilable. But ultimately they cannot hold their tongue. “I can and I do consider human life to be equal to grasses and everything else. It is vanity to suggest otherwise, to settle inside of crumbling walls and describe oneself as better or more worthy of survival. And just as deer must be culled when their population rises, so too will be humans who take more than they give from the forest.”
“And do not speak to me of ridiculous notions of strength and survival. Every predator and herbivore and scavenger and plant exists because of their interactions with each other, not some misguided sense of domination. That is a human idea, with no basis in ecology.”
Their next words do inspire a moment’s hesitation, not to spare his feelings but to wonder if it would make their disagreement irreconcilable. But ultimately they cannot hold their tongue. “I can and I do consider human life to be equal to grasses and everything else. It is vanity to suggest otherwise, to settle inside of crumbling walls and describe oneself as better or more worthy of survival. And just as deer must be culled when their population rises, so too will be humans who take more than they give from the forest.”
