Trafika Europe 6 - Arabesque
the scarecrow
Offerings. She said with a diviner’s tongue: “The pains of heroes are the calamity of hypochondriacs.” “And the sympathy of noblemen is the calamity of heroes.” “I thought that the sympathy of the nobles was always a balsam.” “A balsam for the masses and for foreigners but a fatal blow to the hearts of the elite men commoners refer to as heroes.” “Are you sure about this or do you merely suspect it?” “Actually, this is the normal course of events, my lady. We have typically grown accustomed to finding people gloating whenever calamities strike our homes.”
“Enemies’ gloating for the judicious man today is a treasure that will help him on the morrow.” “The matter would be easy, my lady, if this gloating was that of enemies. The gloating of boon companions, my lady, leaves an aftertaste in the throat bitterer than colocynth.” “But this is also the Law of things.” “You’re right, but I don’t know why we acknowledge all the laws, accepting even the harshest of them, and yet disparage the Law that makes yesterday’s boon companion the first to deliver a blow when calamity strikes.” “This is the wisdom of the Spirit World.” “But this is a cruel wisdom, my lady; it is a wisdom crueler
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