Tulizar wrote:I'm one of those people who simply do not have faith. Actually I seem to question my beliefs which seem pretty faithless. I wonder how any man can, without doubt, proclaim there is a God who will one day welcome him into an after life of bliss; yet I envy that man because he knows this is true. If I knew that I'd be content. Foamfolllower carries TC through a river of Magma because he doesn't doubt Covenant's powers and ability to save the Land. He is willing to die because he knows he is right. That affects me because it is not only an uplifting scene of selflessness, but it reminds me of something that eludes me.
"Faith is the essence of things hoped for and the presence of things not seen".
If that doesn't describe Foamfollower's faith in Covenant, nothing else does.
But if you don't have faith, and desire it, doesn't SRD point the way?
"Foamfollower," he muttered, climbing out of his bed, "you've been thinking again." But he felt the intensity of Foamfollower's gaze. "All right. So you're right. Tell me, just where the hell do you get hope?"
Slowly, the Giant rose to his feet. He towered over Covenant until his head nearly touched the ceiling. "From faith."
"You've been dealing with humans too long-you're getting hasty. 'Faith' is too short a word. What do you mean?"
Foamfollower began picking his way among the flowers. "I mean the Lords. Consider, Covenant. Faith is a way of living. They have dedicated themselves wholly to the services of the Land. And they have sworn the Oath of Peace committed themselves to serve the great goal of their lives in only certain ways, to choose death rather than submit to the destruction of passion which blinded High Lord Kevin and brought the Desecration. Come, can you believe that Lord Mhoram will ever despair? That is the essence of the Oath of Peace. He will never despair, nor ever do what despair commands - murder, desecrate, destroy. And he will never falter, because his Lordship, his service to the Land, will sustain him. Service enables service."
"That's not the same thing as hope." With the Giant, Covenant moved out of Manhome to stand in, the sunny fiat. The bright light made him duck his head, and as he did so he noticed again the moss stains which charted his robe. Abruptly, he looked back into the cave. There the greenery was arranged among the columbines to resemble moss lines on white samite.
He stifled a groan. As if he were articulating a principle, he said, "All you need to avoid despair is irremediable stupidity or unlimited stubbornness."
"No," insisted Foamfollower. "The Lords are not stupid. Look at the Land." He gestured broadly with his arm as if he expected Covenant to view the whole country from border to border.
Covenant's gaze did not go so far. But he looked blinking beyond the green flat toward the Plains. He heard the distant whistles of the Bloodguard call to the Ranyhyn, and the nickering answer. He noticed the fond wonder of the Winhomes who came out of the cave because they were too eager to wait in Manhome until the Ranyhyn appeared. After a moment, he said, "In other words, hope comes from the power of what you serve, not from yourself. Hellfire, Giant - you forget who I am."
"Do I?"
"Anyway, what makes you such an expert on hope? I don't see that you've got anything to despair about."
"No?" The Giant's lips smiled, but his eyes were hard under his buttressed brows, and his forehead's scar shone vividly. "Do you forget that I have learned to hate? Do- But let that pass. How if I tell you that I serve you? I, Saltheart Foamfollower, Giant of Seareach and legate of my people?"
Covenant heard echoes in the question, like the distant wrack of timbers barely perceived through a high, silent wind, and he recoiled. "Don't talk like a damned mystic. Say something I can understand."
Foamfollower reached down to touch Covenant's chest with one heavy finger, as if he marked a spot on Covenant's mapped robe. "Unbeliever, you hold the fate of the Land in your hands. Soulcrusher moves against the Lords at the very time when our dreams of Home have been renewed. Must I explain that you have the power to save us, or orphan us until we share whatever doom awaits the Land?"
"Hellfire!" Covenant snapped. "How many times have I told you that I'm a leper? It's all a mistake. Foul's playing tricks on us."
The Giant responded simply and quietly. "Then are you so surprised to learn that I have been thinking about hope?"
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