One day, during a discussion with Be'pock, we came to talk about Supplice.
With his permission, I will repeat to you what he told me then, for I think it would make a fine tale for this beautiful evening.
I gave this tale a name: "The Way of the Sage".
“Sorrow, this Zoraï Sage, what sorrow did he suffer from? He had never openly complained about it. Worse, he repressed all his ordeals behind an impassive mask. But deep down he knew what he had to overcome, at least in part. It wasn't just kami miracles that had changed him, it was his own volition. It was a tireless work of self-control, a permanent self-discipline based on those imposed on him by his faith and his people, considering that a discipline allows more to grow and gain experience points. It was sometimes tiring, even discouraging, so he would gather himself, look at the stars, and meditate. Here is what he dreamed of.
He gazed at the sky beyond the Canopy. He gazed at the sky at night, when the biggest ball of light was not shining on the Bark. Then Supplice's eyes and soul would wander among the stars.
- "What if every homin was like a shard of luminous amber? What if every homin had a light inside, his truth. Not the neighbor's! No, his own! A unique star, not like any other."
- "Of course, each light generates a shadow of its own. Of course, none of these stars can alone illuminate our world. I know this, I have discovered it within myself and from my brothers. Yet together they can create constellations, and these constellations can guide the lost traveler."
- "I have seen so many homins with their sun and their shadow. I didn't always agree with them, nor did they agree with me, but I knew they weren't lying within themselves. I know. I lived that. Sage, I've been called, but sagely, there have been times when I've doubted my truth, because sometimes when a cloud passes, or another light bursts in, doubt sets in. So why would I judge other homins, even those who fight me?"
- "I am content to be a guide in the night, but the traveler is the other. And as I too travel, I also look at the lights of others, because they can inspire me to go further. Together we will form a beautiful constellation."
This is Sorrow's secret wish and dream gift for this festive occasion. Let's be like the stars, little lights always present, even at night!
Be'pock, where did you get that story?
And he told me in detail his adventure:
“I was a young beginner in the acting profession, when my teacher told me that the Sage Supplice needed someone to help him clean his apartment. She insisted that it was a good opportunity to study the Zorai soul. The old Sage's apartment was as plain as a hermit's cell, but those amber cubes used for his lessons were piling up and needed a little organization so they wouldn't fall apart and scatter all over the room. At the end of the tidying up, I discovered a jeweled ornament lying in the corner. It was a tiara, and I handed it to Sorrow. He looked at it for a brief moment, then gave it back to me and said : "Keep it in memory of me." Since then, I have preciously preserved it. Since it is made of amber, this jewel had memorized stanzas of his life like the one I quoted you earlier. Another one that I could tell you is more intimate and concerns his deep soul. I know he won't mind if I reveal a little of this part, as he believes that any experience lived must be shared to reveal a path to follow or avoid so that a better way may emerge through any jungle to be traversed.
- "I don't like fights, orotund festivities, and all those demonstrations that move my brothers. I like the silence of solitude. I like to sit at the foot of a tree, often a batao, and observe all that exists. I like the light that reveals what the night hides, but I do not like to be dazzled by a blinding light that obscures even more than the night."
- "So, when everything is quiet around me, I look at myself feeling and thinking, to better know who and how I am. I imagine myself at the center of my thinking and reflect my emotions on the inner side of my kwai, to better understand them and thus better use them."
Know, however, that these are only my interpretations of what I understood from what Sorrow had engraved in his diadem, which itself recorded only an interpretation of a Sage's state of mind at a given time.
