We reveled in the taverns and danced under the moonlight… we were so carefree back then and our lives were so simple. The blissful ignorance of youth. We gave little thought to the world we inhabited. Certainly, it was naivety; we could not fathom that there could be anything different. The world was the world, how could it ever change?
I don’t remember when we started to notice. It was little things at first… so easy to overlook at the time. Then our idyllic lives started to change, and we began to realize that the cultivators of the world had disappeared. Something wasn’t right and we knew that, but still we persisted. Even though the spirits that tended to this dream had vanished we said things like “We still have each other!” because we thought that’s all it would take. We believed it so intensely.
A number of decades passed, the stagnation of the world took its toll on all of us. Slowly those that had persisted no longer could and so they too disappeared. I remember feeling the type of depression that comes from realizing I didn’t appreciate my youth while I still had it. Everywhere I looked I saw the ghosts of the past. I, like many others, longed to return to those old days.
Those of us that remained of the old times, we became so desperate to find our way back. “Let us bring back the world of our youth!” we said as we eagerly accepted roles that put us over other Aislings, authority that never before existed. Empty authority given by the new spirits that now watched over this world.
These new spirits knew nothing of the way things were before. I don’t have judgements for those that choose to follow them, but it was starkly apparent that these spirits couldn’t even fathom the world we wanted to bring back.
It was around then that I came to realize something those older and much wiser than me had understood a long time ago…the days of my youth were gone. No matter how many rewards that were dangled to feign interest, no matter how many Aislings both in front of and behind the curtain gained titles and influenced the direction of Temuair, no matter how badly any of us wanted it. It didn’t matter. Time inevitably marches forward.
During the darkest days I looked to the Stars of Hy-Brasyl and thought that if this all disappeared under the waves once more it would be a mercy. This is not the Temuair I first fell in love with, and it will never be that again. Only a fool could look at the world now and think that it could.
There is, however, a level of perspective I have come to embrace in old age. Despite my misgivings about the direction of Temuair, I do know that there is still good to be found here.
There are times when I will speak to a bright spark, listen to someone present a heartfelt sermon, or read the wise writings of someone hoping to make their mark on this world… these are the candles in the darkness that push back my darkest and most cynical tendencies. It is a remembrance of my youth, seen through the eyes of eager and gifted Aislings that exist today. I am in awe of you all who continue to shine brightly here in Temuair.
In the midst of so much disappointment, corruption, and self-importance… if Temuair can still continue to ignite these sparks of light then it is worth enduring. And I am glad for it.
If your candle is new and burning for the first time or has been reignited recently, then I encourage you wholeheartedly to carry the torch forward. Build the Temuair that you wish to see; this dream is only what you make of it. Embrace the time you have now and live life to its fullest for one day everything you know will be gone. If you have lived that life properly then you too shall be cursed with the beautiful legacy of a youth you can’t return to.