I need a moment to wring some of the sleaze outta my soul. Not you, Iris, you’re fine, it’s just the sheer fuckery of it. “I can’t.” Ruda slumped down in her chair, tipping her hat forward to cover her eyes. Obviously that’s a big problem but if there’s proof Justinian is behind it, hasn’t he just nailed himself to the wall?” “Why isn’t that good? I mean, now he’s gone and let loose dozens of the fuckers. “Okay, I don’t get it either,” Iris said in some annoyance. The cults are beginning to turn on him, and after Veilgrad Triss and the boys have what they need to prove he’s behind the chaos monsters.” “He’s changed the terms of engagement.” Teal’s voice was barely above a whisper, her eyes fixed on a distant point beyond the fireplace. “So, I assume that means I missed somethin’, aye? I never claimed t’be the savvy type, politically speakin’.” “Eh, it sounded a right nice speech t’me,” Maureen admitted. “That brilliant, evil son of a bitch,” Ruda said, hurling the transcript of the Archpope’s sermon down on Ravana’s dining table. Have faith that all will be well-and in so doing, go forth together and make it so.” “Have faith, brothers, sisters, friends, fellow members of this human family. He raised his hands in an uplifting gesture, both benediction and incitement. It is when the bonds between us are attacked that they strengthen.” It is when we are tested that we raise ourselves up to persevere. It is the darkest times which show us the brightest light within our hearts. Have faith in the gods, in paladins, in thrones, in all those things you count upon-for even if they have responded imperfectly, it is through the support of our faith that they may be empowered to rise to the threat. Instead, I will caution you all not to abandon faith. “I will not minimize the threat we face, nor excuse those who have failed when they should have protected us. Faith, friends, is the power to band together and triumph. For by acting upon faith, by proceeding upon assumptions that have been broken, we remake the world around us until it falls back into line with what we have faith that is should be. And this, friends, is the true power of faith: its capacity to triumph over reality itself. The role of faith is that we may continue to believe, even in the face of evidence that what we believe in has failed. “No, friends, we must not despair because our faith has not protected us. For what would be the point of that? What is life without opportunities to strive, to grow wiser and stronger? And how could we do so if we were never challenged-and not only challenged, but specifically beyond what our faith can bear? The universe is chaotic, and it is not given to us to live in perfect bliss. “In life there are no certainties even the gods do not promise us that. But even in the midst of renewed crisis, I caution you: do not abandon faith. We might speak of our government with its armies, which in city after city has been powerless to stand against threat after threat. We may speak of the gods and their mortal agents which we thought to protect us from crises such as this. I understand, sisters and brothers, how your faith has been betrayed. “And never is the importance of faith clearer than when it disappoints us. No arcane magnification charm was applied to the ancient wood Justinian needed nothing but the Cathedral’s acoustics and his own trained diaphragm to make himself heard in the back row, even now, when he lowered his voice for emphasis. He paused, gripping the sides of his lectern for a moment. Every interaction each of us has with another person is a thread of faith, and it is of the countless thousands of these threads that the web of our lives is made.” Faith that our governments will protect and provide as we need them to. Faith that those who sell our food, our clothing, our tools, have not shortchanged us. We have faith that our friends and loved ones will not abandon us. I will remind you all in this most desperate hour, my friends, that faith goes far beyond religion. “Faith, most often spoken of as a religious sacrament. “The word is often invoked in this temple, and countless like it,” Justinian continued, his mellifluous voice filling the sanctuary to its farthest corners with its perfect, sonorous gravity. In a way, they had, for all that a dense crowd might be even more vulnerable to attack shelter was more than physical, and just as the Archpope now said to the assembled throng, it was in precisely such times that people sought the comfort of faith. The sanctuary of the Grand Cathedral was as packed as it had ever been, despite the Empire-wide state of emergency and warnings for all citizens to take shelter. “Above all, in such times, we must have faith.”
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