The Heirs

Chapter 22- Dying Nature

so, we’ll go no more a roving
   so late into the night,
though the heart be still as loving,
   and the moon be still as bright.
for the sword outwears its sheath,
   and the soul wears out the breast,
and the heart must pause to breathe,
   and love itself have rest.
-

‘𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝐾ℎ𝑖𝑎𝑛,
𝐴𝑚 𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑑𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑦 ‘𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟’? 𝐼𝑡 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒- 𝐼'𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑃𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑- 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼’𝑚 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒.

𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢- 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑦, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑁𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑎 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢- 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝑜 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛’𝑡 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑜. 𝐽𝑒𝑚 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑆𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑒’𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚-

𝑂ℎ. 𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦. 𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟. 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑓𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑦- 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑤𝑜, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑑𝑛’𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦, 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠, 𝐼 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑝 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑- 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝐼 𝑠𝑎𝑤 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑒.
𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑’𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑚 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑎 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑.
𝐴𝑛𝑦𝑤𝑎𝑦, 𝐼’𝑚 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓𝑓 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝐼’𝑚 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓- 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑝 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑓𝑓 𝑎𝑡 𝑎 𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼’𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑚, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠𝑛’𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡.
𝐼 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦.