"Yes, that truth is what keeps me searching." Everything fades away at some point. Even those ancient ruins wreathed in unknowable magic have crumbled statues and cracks in the walls within. There are holes in the ceiling, tree roots snaking through stone as nature takes over in the absence of people. That is just the way of the world. Most of her people wish to stay static, to cling to a past they don't even really know, because to do what their ancestors did gives a sense of stability. Ellana doesn't want that. She'd rather have the freedom to explore and come to her own conclusions; to walk forward with her head held high and no hands of the past gripping at her clothes, trying to drag her back.
She looks at her fellow Dalish, especially those who reject everything for tradition, and she knows that they're as far apart as she is from those ancient elves. Selfishness may be a failing, but it's one that she'll now own to, when once it felt like such a sting; an insult. It made her such a bad person to put her wants above those of the clan. But now she sees the truth. To the clan, she's nothing more than one more body to count among the elves, to keep their numbers up as they teach each new generation to live in ignorance of the world around them. Keep to the old ways, shun anything new, scare the shems away, and teach your children to do the same. And for what? To live in isolation and boredom with a hatred of anything different in your heart.
"I look back at those stories now, and I wonder how changed they are from the original. It's all well and good to teach lessons through tales, but if so many parts are changed to do it, then the original tale ceases to exist. And the past is just as lost as it once was." Ellana heaves a sigh, shaking her head. "I am going to publish facts. I'm going to say what the ruin looked like and what happened while I was there. I'll probably add context, like 'oh, there was a sun mosaic here and that's the symbol of one of our gods,' but I'm not going to come up with a bunch of new stories to fill in the gaps. It will just muddy the waters more than they already are."
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She looks at her fellow Dalish, especially those who reject everything for tradition, and she knows that they're as far apart as she is from those ancient elves. Selfishness may be a failing, but it's one that she'll now own to, when once it felt like such a sting; an insult. It made her such a bad person to put her wants above those of the clan. But now she sees the truth. To the clan, she's nothing more than one more body to count among the elves, to keep their numbers up as they teach each new generation to live in ignorance of the world around them. Keep to the old ways, shun anything new, scare the shems away, and teach your children to do the same. And for what? To live in isolation and boredom with a hatred of anything different in your heart.
"I look back at those stories now, and I wonder how changed they are from the original. It's all well and good to teach lessons through tales, but if so many parts are changed to do it, then the original tale ceases to exist. And the past is just as lost as it once was." Ellana heaves a sigh, shaking her head. "I am going to publish facts. I'm going to say what the ruin looked like and what happened while I was there. I'll probably add context, like 'oh, there was a sun mosaic here and that's the symbol of one of our gods,' but I'm not going to come up with a bunch of new stories to fill in the gaps. It will just muddy the waters more than they already are."