what to wear when…putting away old weapons and sharpening new ones. mercilessness and madness may be the best swords but compassion is the best shield. compassion is the armor that a person must wear closest to her skin, the metal scales sleek and cool against goose-pimpled flesh. compassion protects her from her enemies by encouraging pity instead of rage. hatred rusts and clatters; mercy glints and guards. compassion is a shining shelter in which to survive the daily wars that a woman must fight. oh, she knows her way around a weapon - knows its weight in her hand, know how it feels to slide a blade into a man, how it first is strangled by sinews but eventually pushes through like butter, knows her footwork well and true - but never slips it from her sheath, choosing to conquer her enemies instead with the thick, battered shield of compassion. to have a stocked armory is a soldier’s task; to know which arms to bear when is knight’s. (in response to this.)
post 57 of an infinity-part series



