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Li failed to see the point the old man was making. "Okay then, so this adventurer lady is quite special in that she had the power to shape history. But that alone does not tell me what exactly she has to do with this place. I am not questioning the usefulness of your knowledge, old man, just trying to understand it better."

"Ah, lad, I would be hard pressed to explain it to ye," said Old Thane. "It is just a feeling. There is no mention of Lira that holds not some great significance somewhere. I should imagine it so here, but I\'ve no evidence to give ye, no claims forged solid under peer discourse and experimentation as the Arcanists do." 

"I see." Li could parse what the old man was trying to say. This adventurer, this Lira, was so renowned, so special, that any tales about her had to have had some kind of merit to them. Something important. Thus, that there were stories of her passing into this area for her final adventure would surely mean something.

Though, of course, this was like believing in folk tale. There might have been something to do about her here. There might not. Lira had not been alive for over a century as far as Li could tell, and most of her records were purged. It was a wild attempt to try and link her solidly to anything in the present. 

Asala evidently thought the same, as she spoke, "I\'ve a deep fondness for the tales of heroes and myths of yore, and I am familiar with the rumors of Lira\'s final adventure – after all, the last venture of a character that shone so splendidly through the annals of history would naturally be wreathed in wondering whisper.

But whispers are merely that – fragments of thoughts half-formed, of events half-recorded, seen by many yet written by none. Tis my thought that perhaps demons are at the root of this…this Desolation, yes." She scribbled down on her tablet. "Yes, that shalt be an apt name for this barren land. I shall call it so."

"I can understand where you are coming from. When I glimpsed into Tyr\'s heart, I could see that the advance of demonkind outside the mountains pressured his rule," said Li. "But this kind of environment is one I do not associate with demonkind."

"Hm, is it that though hath deep expertise about demons?" said Asala with raised brow. 

"And what of it?" 

"Ah, nothing to me." Asala put her clay stylus to her lips as she peered at Li with curiosity. "I would be quite curious of one well versed of the demons, for their lands alone do mine sisters record little to naught of. Hospitality does not dwell within them in great spades."

"Would not surprise me," said Sheela as she leered her feline, red tinted eyes at the fire crackling in the Vukanovi. "This ash - if it came from demons. Demons only hurt and destroy. Only make suffer and pain. Take and steal."

"And that is why we stand against them," said Mercer with gusto, sitting up straight. "We march west to fight against their horror and evil as the great warriors of the past have done so before us."

Vilga grimaced, rubbing her muscled, trunk-like arm with a surprisingly dainty gesture. "When I still fought in the dueling pits, I fought a demon once. Captured demon. Horrible thing. I could see in its eyes the desire to maim and dominate. Nothing else. When I caved its ribs in, the hate that glowered at me was enough to keep my next three nights sleepless for fear of some dreadful curse beyond the grave."

"Typical for creatures that are born not of the Light, but of the unfeeling dark," said Mason. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a locket with its head fashioned into a six-pointed sun – the symbol of the religion of Light. He clutched it in his hand. 

"You believe in the Light?" said Li as he took note of the locket. "I am not pressuring you to answer as a seer for another faith. I simply want to know."

Mason contemplated the question before shrugging. "Once, I did. My father was a priest of the Light, and he taught my brother and I much of its warmth and blessings. Of the lands of golden wheat and eternal sun promised in the life beyond this one to all those devoted." 

He pocketed the locket again. "But he was also the one to leave us on supposed pilgrimage when coin ran dry. I would like to believe that so long as I fight, and that I fight for good that I can be proud of, I will have lived a life worthy of the gods and spirits and anyone else higher up and peering down upon me." 

"A good philosophy," said Li. "I encourage you to stick to it." 

"My beliefs do not challenge you?" asked Mason tentatively.

"Not at all." Li paused. "Have you or your brother ever gone to Ivo and the druids for learning?"

Both brothers shook their heads with some embarrassment, for it was a requirement for being in the fold of the Farmer\'s Guild. Ivo insisted on it, though Li was not too strict on enforcing it.

"Then I will explain. The faith I wish to spread is not so much faith at all. It is simply an understanding that you and everyone else walking upon this world is part of it. Responsible for it. The druids learn this by attuning themselves with nature, understanding the beauty of its breathing, of its every ebb and flow.

We are beholden to the earth beneath us just as much as we are beholden to each other. In that way, your ideal of living a life for the good of others is not one I will reject. No, I would welcome it instead. I do not demand absolute obedience to me or any rigid, unchanging doctrine. Think for yourselves to do what is best."

Li saw Mason and Mercer nod at Li, and he paused for a moment, wondering whether he should continue. To bring this up now. 

At the end of it all, Li wanted a world that was stable and at peace with itself and with all the lives upon it. Was that truly possible? He wondered that plenty himself. There would always be divides between people. Differences. And differences meant conflict. He wanted those conflicts to fade away with his faith as a mediating force, but at what point was he to demand obedience? To use force to arbitrarily decide who was right and who was wrong?

And how would he even begin to approach differences across not just people, but beings? Especially between all the mortal races and demons. For Li knew from interacting with Zagan that demonkind was not a monolith. They had their ways, but they had conflict and strife among themselves. 

Demons had spent a thousand years wreaking havoc upon mortal races for it was hard wired in their natures to hunger for negative emotions. It would seem they would be fundamentally incompatible with any sort of mutual understanding between themselves and others. And yet, Li felt he owed it to Zagan\'s service to grant demonkind a chance in his eternal garden. 

"But I will say now that what you believe is good may not always be right. That is why I wish you to think for yourselves. To ever change your judgement to the world that changes always around you," said Li. "For I am not going west with the intent to destroy the demons. I am going to help. To restore order. Certainly, those that oppose me thoroughly, I will deal with, but a demon\'s life is still life. I will aim to preserve their kind, to grant them a chance."