"I am very honored to once again welcome a true priestess. Devote of Nymeia and kind enough to give us her time and her words this day. Lady Eva you have all of our ears and attention."
![[Image: EdfQz8a.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/EdfQz8a.jpg)
Eva Zelorius advances to the boulder, pressing her hand to it, then to her forehead, lips, ear, and chest each in turn. Â A ritual of some sort. Â She then turns to face the people, looking around for several seconds and then takes a deep breath.
"I come to speak a parable of the Spinner... mine own matron deity and the one whom speaks to me the most clearly.. Â It has been told in many ways but this is how I have heard it told..."
Eva bows her head then speaks slowly, "A child sat at the foot of his grandmother's rocking chair as she worked her embroidery. Â He was full of energy and questions, having just returned from his play time..."
"The woman was elderly and well underway in a project she had been working on for many evenings. Â And he had watched her but something this very evening prompted him to ask. Â 'What is it that you are doing, Grandmother?' Â And she smiles and patted the boy's face gently and told him that she was making something beautiful for him."
"The next day, he noted as he played with his blocks beneath her rocking chair that several threads and yarns dangled haphazardly from the underside of the hoop she held in her hands, and he asked again, 'What are you making?'"
"Again, she replied that she was making something beautiful for him. Â Dubious, he reached up and touched one of the strings that dangled beneath. Â 'It doesn't look very beautiful, Gramma!' he remarked. Â The elder woman only smiled at his curiosity and inquisitiveness."
"The third afternoon, the young lad came in from playing and sat beneath his grandmother's rocking chair. Â There were even more yarns and knots and the underside of the hoop was a mess of threads, many cut short, others tied off and knotted. Â 'Grandmother,' he spoke up, 'that doesn't look beautiful at all. Â It looks quite ugly!' Â The elder woman only smiled."
"My precious, precious child... Â it is done. Â And it is yours to cherish. Â But you are gazing upon the thing from the wrong direction.' Â And with that she lifted him upon her knee so that she might see the tapestry she had been working on. Â A beautiful sunset over the fields and oceans and forests. Â A thousand thousand colours splayed out before the pair. Â And it was beautiful."
Eva pauses for a moment, then gives a nod of her head before continuing, "Too often it is easy to complain about life, or about things not being the way we would like. Â For we are like that child, looking upon something similar that has been woven - for us - and not recognize the true beauty of it simply because of perspective."
"What I would challenge each of you to do this sun, and each sun thereafter... is to find the beauty in Nymeia's ever-woven tapestry, even in the places where it may appear marred or ugly. Â Alas, none know better than I that threads must be knotted or cut sometimes... but there is a beauty in Her pattern, if we choose to perceive it.."
"Thank you for bringing all of these colorful threads to this place in Her pattern this eve, Miss Jancis. Â And thank all of you for bringing vibrance and colour to the tapestry."
Eva smiles warmly, presses her lips to her hand, and then hand to the stone, before she steps away once more.
![[Image: KdnfZpI.jpg]](http://i.imgur.com/KdnfZpI.jpg)
Smiles also echoed from the pilgrims that listened to her story, growing more vibrant as the story ended, even one obnoxious guard, moping in a bored manner up on the slope started paying attention with interest. The group applauded happily. Eva bows her head modestly before taking her place again.
![[Image: hpThOka.png]](http://i.imgur.com/hpThOka.png)
