Viatorus' correction of his statement gets a few good-natured laughs and encouraging nods. He gets it! The family is ready to foster that mindset in their own ways. Even Lawrence nods, if more reserved in his enthusiasm than the rest. The kid's on the right track, he can commend that.
But Isidor...
"Who gives a shit about that?" Lawrence asks her, then scoffs. This woman is horrible and so are her ideas.
Hardtman, though, seems to think otherwise. He places his palms on the table and calmly says, "Our guest does, or she wouldn't have asked. And if it's important to our guest, then it's important to us. Let's show some grace and answer her honestly."
It shames Lawrence, if only enough to make him look at his once more empty plate in frustrated thought. If anything, his father defending Isidor probably isn't going to make him like her any more, but at least for now he bites his tongue.
Hardtman continues on unperturbed. "It's a hard question to answer, Ms. Durant, I won't lie. My answer might not be the answer that would change your mind if you were in my situation, but I can at least tell you my own story." He takes a deep drink of his water before he begins, which he's in no rush to do.
"My grandfather was born in a place on our world called the Arathi Highlands. The Kingdom of Arathor dates back to the beginning of humanity thousands of years ago. It's where we first discovered magic, where we made our first allies, and where the seven human kingdoms began. Being an Arathi human was – is – a great honor. But one day when he was a young, successful man my grandfather was presented with an opportunity to be gifted a small parcel of land in Westfall if he would take himself and his trade down there. Of course this was decades before the droughts hit, back when Westfall was a fertile but more dangerous place. It was a good offer back then, and not an easy choice to make. He had to sit down and really weigh his options.
"On the one hand, he could stay true to his roots and honor his ancestors and the ancient lands they were buried in... On the other, he was a freshly-married man with a child on the way, and it was his duty to do everything he could to secure a prosperous future for his family. In the end, he thought he found a way to do both. He looked back at the history of Arathi and realized it was the starting point of humanity... But that humanity had only become a great race because of its willingness to forge its own paths. Brave men and women set out from the highlands with no proof of their destinations – only hope for their futures. Eventually, over many generations, those people formed kingdoms which stretched across the entire world... The Kingdom of Arathor was everywhere, he realized – not only in the lands of her people or the people of her lands, but in their new lands, too, and all the people who lived in them. Our blood was in our veins, but also in our art, our culture, our trade, and our thoughts. Who we were became what we did, and what we did changed the world.
"When I was a young boy my grandfather told me that he learned a great many things when he made his final choice. Throughout my childhood and until I became a young man looking to forge a future for myself he taught me those lessons. And one of them was this: Your past only exists to create your future. Every choice a man – or a woman – makes in his or her life, they make it for a day they haven't yet lived. Sometimes they make choices for days they know they won't live to see. A thousand years ago a group of humans left their only safe-haven for the far-off mysteries of the unknown world, hoping only to be safe for one more day. A hundred years ago a man left his homeland in search of prosperity for his child who was soon to be born. A few months back a man and his family left their world behind for a mysterious new place, where now they work the land in hopes that in the seasons to come something good will grow. All of them are the same story, Isidor. The story of my blood is of risk, and change, and hope for the future, and it's told just by me being here today. It's the story of my children's blood now, and their children, too. No matter what any of us do, the blood of the first Arathi people will always be a part of us. Even when our stories are long forgotten, what ties me to my ancestors is that I've existed at all. It means they've succeeded in some tiny way.
"If I became a worgen tomorrow that could never take away what gives my blood its meaning. Nothing can change my sixty years as a Westfall man, or turn me into anything but the grandson of an Arathi man, or disappear a thousand years of Arathi men and women that lived and died as part of my story. As long as I was, I am."
He reaches for his glass once more and takes a long, long drink then. When he sets his empty cup on the table once more he very quietly chuckles, humbled and embarrassed at having said so much. "And what I am is very thirsty, because I don't think I've spoken that much at once in years."
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2017-04-14 03:12 am (UTC)But Isidor...
"Who gives a shit about that?" Lawrence asks her, then scoffs. This woman is horrible and so are her ideas.
Hardtman, though, seems to think otherwise. He places his palms on the table and calmly says, "Our guest does, or she wouldn't have asked. And if it's important to our guest, then it's important to us. Let's show some grace and answer her honestly."
It shames Lawrence, if only enough to make him look at his once more empty plate in frustrated thought. If anything, his father defending Isidor probably isn't going to make him like her any more, but at least for now he bites his tongue.
Hardtman continues on unperturbed. "It's a hard question to answer, Ms. Durant, I won't lie. My answer might not be the answer that would change your mind if you were in my situation, but I can at least tell you my own story." He takes a deep drink of his water before he begins, which he's in no rush to do.
"My grandfather was born in a place on our world called the Arathi Highlands. The Kingdom of Arathor dates back to the beginning of humanity thousands of years ago. It's where we first discovered magic, where we made our first allies, and where the seven human kingdoms began. Being an Arathi human was – is – a great honor. But one day when he was a young, successful man my grandfather was presented with an opportunity to be gifted a small parcel of land in Westfall if he would take himself and his trade down there. Of course this was decades before the droughts hit, back when Westfall was a fertile but more dangerous place. It was a good offer back then, and not an easy choice to make. He had to sit down and really weigh his options.
"On the one hand, he could stay true to his roots and honor his ancestors and the ancient lands they were buried in... On the other, he was a freshly-married man with a child on the way, and it was his duty to do everything he could to secure a prosperous future for his family. In the end, he thought he found a way to do both. He looked back at the history of Arathi and realized it was the starting point of humanity... But that humanity had only become a great race because of its willingness to forge its own paths. Brave men and women set out from the highlands with no proof of their destinations – only hope for their futures. Eventually, over many generations, those people formed kingdoms which stretched across the entire world... The Kingdom of Arathor was everywhere, he realized – not only in the lands of her people or the people of her lands, but in their new lands, too, and all the people who lived in them. Our blood was in our veins, but also in our art, our culture, our trade, and our thoughts. Who we were became what we did, and what we did changed the world.
"When I was a young boy my grandfather told me that he learned a great many things when he made his final choice. Throughout my childhood and until I became a young man looking to forge a future for myself he taught me those lessons. And one of them was this: Your past only exists to create your future. Every choice a man – or a woman – makes in his or her life, they make it for a day they haven't yet lived. Sometimes they make choices for days they know they won't live to see. A thousand years ago a group of humans left their only safe-haven for the far-off mysteries of the unknown world, hoping only to be safe for one more day. A hundred years ago a man left his homeland in search of prosperity for his child who was soon to be born. A few months back a man and his family left their world behind for a mysterious new place, where now they work the land in hopes that in the seasons to come something good will grow. All of them are the same story, Isidor. The story of my blood is of risk, and change, and hope for the future, and it's told just by me being here today. It's the story of my children's blood now, and their children, too. No matter what any of us do, the blood of the first Arathi people will always be a part of us. Even when our stories are long forgotten, what ties me to my ancestors is that I've existed at all. It means they've succeeded in some tiny way.
"If I became a worgen tomorrow that could never take away what gives my blood its meaning. Nothing can change my sixty years as a Westfall man, or turn me into anything but the grandson of an Arathi man, or disappear a thousand years of Arathi men and women that lived and died as part of my story. As long as I was, I am."
He reaches for his glass once more and takes a long, long drink then. When he sets his empty cup on the table once more he very quietly chuckles, humbled and embarrassed at having said so much. "And what I am is very thirsty, because I don't think I've spoken that much at once in years."