[i]Table of Contents of "For What It's Worth": [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/257262707/0/0][/url][/i] [i]Previously: [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/257261414/0/0][/url][/i] [i]Life is a farce, but no less reality. Escape is always next door, should you find yourself there. Had you been inside the helm, well, it went something like this:[/i] Ikora laid path a for my response. Her aura always warmed me as kin, albeit I never wished to disturb her. Thankful, I obliged. [i]"I feel like I'm knockin on heaven's door, and my hands are never clean, despite what the devil says."[/i] Digging asunder my thoughts, I unearthed skeletons of the past. [i]"I've pointed too many times at the dark. My light as a blade to who stand there, where I can't see. Seeking truth so dutifully in desperation, is a double-edge that cuts quick and bleeds deeper."[/i] [i]"I am the most stubborn of deciphers, every error in the dark is now what fortifies me where I am today, defiantly patient." "I may leave any time I wish, come and go as the Traveler does.. ..but here.. ..this planet.. ..is my home.. the Mother Earth; all creatures, my kin." "As surely the Earth turns and green grows, I see, with time, which fruit is bountiful.. ..and which trees are outright rotten." "When you find yourself between a rock and a hard-place, the very place I stand my ground.. you might as well be underneath the hammers that forged them." "Be like water, and you will know every crevice- become it, eroding all obstacles! Seek their cold hearts, and sieze every opportunity! Fill everything with solution, and rise as the fog that blinds them! A cloud, a traveling ever onward- oh, the sights you may see! Rain over them, and strike true!" "Many precedent betrayals to myself only wrought destruction at my doorstep. It is simpler to halt temptation of others. I bide, not to see them squirm, but to know what struggles they wish to conquer, and the lengths they take to get there."[/i] [i]"The Drifter asked me, personally, if I was going to trust him, with little context, and an ultimatum. If that word ever left my mouth, I'd hope you too, would ask questions."[/i] [i]"I couldn't tell him then, that I did."[/i] [spoiler][i]Everything is comprimised.[/i][/spoiler] [i]"What truth I digest, keeps me up at night."[/i] [i]"With one foot on the gas, and one foot in the grave, none of us are truely saints, even XIV.. ..but we thrive to keep it all going, as a whole.." "And [b]I'll be damned[/b] if brining him back was a bad decision.. but I didn't know I'd ever see him alive again." "He is free to roam on his own terms, again. He sought to find a friend, who he thought was lost. What controls the Vex will never have that luxury, so long as they stand against us.. [b]..they'll just be target practice.[/b]"[/i] [i]"Uldren damned all, hoping to find his sister, to bring her back. He was warped, controlled by a mind-flayer that rot his mind in to nefarious deeds. He was a hard man, seeking the best interests for his people. While guided by The Queen, a brilliant woman, he understood where he was wrong." "Uldren was desperate in hearing a call of duty, lead by false confidence! The betrayers will use this against us, too!" "Those that blindly follow chain themselves to an anchor, to have something to hold on to. An anchor needs only one link to break, by any means, before the ship loses what holds the rest from being lost. If the ship comes under fire, every link will be brought down with it."[/i] [i]"Be warned, doers of evil.. ..for those that know the truth.. ..come with all colors, as a true pheonix!" "You can't kill this bird!"[/i] Zavala's arms were folded, listening intently. He stared right through me, assuming I was drunk. The masked guardian from before had planted a seat, and got popcorn, passing it to anyone who was behind him. I continued, [i]"Some of us starve, some of us go mad. None of those stop to ask why they have sustenance, only that they made it to another day."[/i] [i]"The unkind, just as many lost in the fray, would throw wool over the eyes of the weak and feeble to lead them as lambs to their own feast."[/i] [i]"No one ever talks about the day the shepards staff became a rifle.."[/i] [i]"..because a sheeps' gotta eat."[/i] [i]"A good shepard can fish, too."[/i] [i]"I am no shepard, for I am a hunter, but I can't stomach the thought of throwing anyone to the lions alone, so I put myself up front and center, for peace and prosperity." "Those that share their only loaf of bread, in times of need, are who inherit the earth, while rulers rise and fall in their forsaken hubris." "May your family be fed forever." [/i] [i]"Times is hard.. ..and nothin's ever easy."[/i] [i]"The fangs of our enemies rot from insatiable desire; to consume this sweet justice."[/i] A guardian standing behind ol' Chains froze in his tracks, only for a moment, before resuming to shovel candy in his mouth. [i]"It is our fellowship that longs for kin. Every step of the way, may there be another in our wake, as we all seek to pursue happiness."[/i] [i]"To know where justice is warranted, To know peace of mind, for giveness of generations that will stand here, together; as a whole people."[/i] [i]"When we finally leave this life, may we know serenity."[/i] I hold my chest, and clutch Wesley, my ghost. [i]"The rhetoric stops here."[/i] [i]"I've got all the secrets I need, this is too many, this is a bad joke."[/i] [b][i][u]TL;DR[/u][/i][/b] [spoiler] [url=https://youtu.be/g6nOD1tYPz4][/url] [/spoiler] [i]"Forgive me."[/i] The bluff I made in jest was a direct visual re-direct of my cold company, dead as a rock. [i]It couldn't hurt, not now, just another prop for the Festival.[/i] I about choked on my words, and turned to spit over the wall, meaning every word of what I said. [i]They still didn't seem to notice he was dead.[/i] I wouldn't risk someone taking him away from me right now [i][b]..for nothing.[/b][/i] [i]I was silent, as much as I was spooked..[/i] The silver seed, perched contently on my head, was inhaling everything like a dormant sponge. [i]"Don't start a band."[/i], I finalized. Ikora tilted her head in query, and drank from her mug over a saucer, closing her eyes; breathing in the aromas of autumn's eves ..then the pumpkins came out. [i]"This is truely something,[/i] [i]why did you pick today, of all days?"[/i], she asked, indulging in her pumkin coffee, [i]"Let the speaker rest, and pick up that guitar."[/i] [i]..to be continued[/i] π π π π π π π π π [i]Next, in this series: [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forum/Post/257262736/0/0][/url][/i]