originally posted by Melanie Trumbull
"Traitor's Knot," chapter V, subheading "Sword."
Page 172 in the trade-size paperback edition.
Arithon follows Davien's directive to scrutinize Alithiel's original purpose, from its Paravian origins.
"…the sword Alithiel had been wrought by Paravians, who had been Ath's living gift to the world to redeem the contention engendered by the drake spawn.
[Hence, Alithiel's impact upon Khadrim, COTW.]
"They had battled, not to kill, but to hold open the gateway to love and awaken the awareness of healing intelligence.
"…the old races had forged twelve swords at Isaer, and fashioned their metal with the primal forces to evoke an exalted beginning. Alithiel had been instilled with an aware presence… Her presence incited the breath of new dawn and the innocence of fresh invention.
"The blade was the contained seed of creative peace. The bearer who wielded her conjured strength could draw the line across time and space that opened the way for forgiveness. Her stroke, handled under initiate awareness, would cut free the constricting, old patterns and unbind the pain of the past. The sword shaped the key to open the mind:
that the flow of water could nourish;
fire could burn the residual debris and spark rebirth;
and earth element, finally and fully, might bind change into manifest being.
"Arithon bent his dark head and wept, for such a healing beauty abandoned to anguish. The sword on his knees was an instrument of change, razor-sharpened to slice through fear, hate, and blind violence born out of ignorance."
If anybody has desperate need of the above, it is Lysaer…
originally posted by Judy
Have you read Stormed Fortress, yet? Any discussion of Alithiel needs that book.