Beauty and the Beast

"Will you marry me?" The words, so simple and few, yet so powerful, echo in my mind as I look on the young man before me. The light from the great Flame makes my shadow dance over his face, but the flickering licks of fire can’t even compare to the glow in his eyes. That brilliant sparkling glow of joy and sincerity. A display of love and trust so powerful, it knocks even me of balance. I stand there, dumbfounded, at a complete loss of words, and I think back on how this could happen to me.

It was ever so long ago. But the sun then is the same as the sun now, and I vividly recall the boiling heat and stinging rays bearing down upon me as I trudged through the Skarch desert. I was seeking the enlightenment offered by Drachou the guardian, and on his biddance I trudged through the Skarch, seeking the hand of the Vernal Goddess Tzaraziko. One by one, I would bring the sandojin before the city, and use them to build up a statue of lady Tzaraziko. It was during one of the blessed breaks from trudging through the desert I let myself have that I met him the first time. His small frame stood near the flame, a look of confusion and uncertainy painted upon his gentle features, and something about him stirred something in my stone-heart. Perhaps it was due to how much of myself I saw in him. A young furrikin warrior without direction or guidance. He was lost, and like so many others, he needed my help. So I spoke to him, took him under my wing. I taught him of my work, of my search for enlightenment and understanding, and he listened. And he stuck to my side. As I forged on in the desert, he would support me merely with his presence. And when I finally managed to achieve the enlightenment I sought, he was there with me. He knew me before, and after my change.

Just how much he has affected my life, I do not know, but I believe it to be far more than I care to admit. Before I saw enlightenment within the flame I lived for one thing, and one thing only, myself. But now that I wear this belt, things seem different. If it was his love that made me love him in return, or the gift of drachou that made me receptive to his love, I will never know, and perhaps it truly does not matter. Enlightenment does never work the way you believe it will, as it will always be that very moment when your view of the world is shaken, and you enter a new personal paradigm. It was my search for enlightenment that bore fruit. That fruit was the seed of our relationship.

I gaze down again upon his small, lithe frame. He is a kin, like me, and he is a warrior, like me. But those two matters alone do not make him alike me. When I look into his eyes, what I see is his strength, and his strength is my strength. It is a strength not in physical prowess, which I once thought to be the sole source of value in this world, but the strength found in morality and intellect. And it is that strength that allowed me to accept his proposal. This strength ensured me of the truthfulness of his words. This is happening to me because he loves me. It is an emotion I will never fully understand, but I know that it gave me the greatest gift any person can ask for. Beauty can never tame the Beast that I am, but Beauty can breathe new life in the Beast.