My child upon the Ember Path,

You have dwelt long in the Nether, and so fire is no stranger to you. It has licked at your boots, seared the air you breathe, and threatened to consume all you hold. Yet until now you have known it only as a hazard.  Flame is not a thing to be endured, fought, or avoided. Now you begin to see it as we who serve this realm see it: not as a foe, but as a teacher.

Understand this, young flame: Fire is the most honest of all things.  It takes what it is given and makes no disguise of its hunger. Wood, stone, or flesh - all are reduced to their truth in the refining fires of the Nether.  Many find this fearful, for they look only at what is lost. But we who walk the Ember Path look deeper. The ash is not nothingness. It is remembrance. Fire consumes, yes, but in consuming it bears witness, and what it leaves behind testifies that something once burned.

So too is it with the hearts of the Netharnans.  Our mother teaches that our lives, too, are fires to be stoked.  We flare with passion.  We burn with rage.  We scorch the world with our dedication.  And when trials come, do not fear them.  When your soul burns in Netharna’s name, soon too will the trials become a fuel for your work.  Without new trials, your fuel will fade.  Some burn brightly and bring light, but their flame cannot last.  Some burn low and bring longevity, but their light is difficult to find.  Neither path is right or wrong, they both bring glory to Netharna.  In any ending, they leave their trace in the ash of memory.  This is why the faithful do not shrink from loss, for in loss we are given testimony.  In loss we are given proof that a flame once lived, and in its living, warmed others.

You have asked me what it means to live under Netharna.  I tell you that to begin is to have passion.  The flame that doesn’t burn is not fit to produce ash.  I tell you to burn with truth, do not hide what the Flame reveals.  I say to give light, whether it be dim for a long time or a bright flash.  Finally, accept that you cannot burn forever, and trust that even in your ending, the ashes of your life will be sacred to our people.

Do not be afraid, then, of fire’s hunger. Be afraid only of never letting your flame go out before it burns.

Walk steadily, child, and do not stray from the Ember Path.

In Holy Flame,
Eshryn Brightash, Watcher of the Ember Path