Ekarion the Ageless

## The Wandering Healer

"All things end with time. How you accept that truth, and when you fight it anyway, is what determines your worth."

## Short Stories

### Fey Craftsmanship: Immortal Lessons

Ekarion sat at the work bench provided by the Fey at his request. Originally he had wondered what memories to impart to the crystal that lay before him on the desk but after just a single day of receiving the "hospitality" of the fair folk his decision was essentially made for him. Technically he was allowed to work as he wished and left unmolested by the Court of the Dread Monsoon but he was not particularly surprised that the Fey of such an unpleasant court would not be the best hosts. Subtle digs at his age, the nearness of his impending death, even terribly blatant offers to stave off his fate had irritated Ekarion enough to make his task both useful to the Duke as he had agreed AND make a point at the same time. It took him almost a week to sift through his memories to find the life that he sought as it was one of his very first but in the end he was successful. He held in his hand a crystal containing one of his most important experiences, ready to be shared.

He stood, the first time that he had moved in almost a week, and lifted the crystal in his hand. When he had first started it had looked like a piece of unworked quartz but now it glowed and shifted in multicolored hues. Before Ekarion had a chance to find a functionary and inform them he was ready to add his offering he was approached by one of the lesser Fey that made up the members of the court. The creature quickly reached out and snatched the crystal from Ekarion and haughtily addressed him, "So you think this bauble is worth adding to our Dread Lords plan? This pathetic piece of craft? I'm sure I could have done more in one half the time!"

Ekarion smiled politely at him, "You should be careful. That contains an old memory, one that I think your Lord will find interesting and valuable."

"Bah, what value could a mayflies memory be really worth?" He held the crystal up to the light and squinted into it, "There's little to be learned by watchi..."

"Ah yes, you've started to see what it contains now. You can probably barely hear me. Well now you get to experience it first hand. I wouldn't have offered it to you but you just grabbed it without giving me a chance to tell you the contents. It's a memory from one of my first lives, possibly my very first. It contains the dread I felt when I realized for the first time that no matter how Immortal I was, no matter how hard I fought or what I spent eventually I would die and stop existing. Even Gods and Outer planes have a lifespan. It was crushing realizing that even though death could not force me to end that eventually the very fabric of the Plane I stood on would unravel and nothing would be left. I'd ask if you could even imagine it but well, you don't have to. I'd lived for thousands of years in that body and several lives before that one but it was the first time I felt it down to my bones. That even a creature like me, had a finite span. It was devastating but I'd had a long time to realize it. I wonder if anything of you will be left when you internalize the lesson."

Ekarion clapped the frozen Fey on the shoulder, "Well when you get done give that to your Duke. I'm sure HE at least has the will to understand the lesson even if you don't and a genuine offering of Existential Dread seems like it's in line with his Court." With that the old man walked off, his commitment completed and at least one lesson passed on.