☀️ Arselia and Akonia

She kneels before the statue of Arselia. "Abbot... Good morning..." she says, not taking her eyes off the statue. Then, she looks up and meets his gaze. "Or, as you might say, somewhere and sometime... Bruno-shinpu. Ohayo," she continues, giving the greeting a few seconds to sink in. "I've thought about your words. To jump from a hot air balloon after cutting my veins... it might not be so bad. You might think you've offended me, or perhaps you simply gave me an unemotional piece of advice. But in my culture, warriors who have lost their honor disembowel themselves with a ceremonial sword, and for far less. Those who don't are cowards and deserve such condemnation that they will regret being alive. How does that sound to you?... I'm not a warrior, but I have the means to do it. And yet..." her gaze falls to her own feet again. "As you can see, today I'm without my 'bodyguard.' And I refuse to believe that mutual understanding between people is impossible. At this moment, you see before you everything that I am. This is my national dress. This is my gohei. If I were to mark it with notches for every evil it has banished, it would probably have crumbled to dust. These are my talismans. I use them to bind evil hand and foot. These are my masks. I agree, they don't look very good, even for our people, their form is not easy to accept. But they have their function, and they have saved more lives than I can count. This is... a bell. You might find it strange, but its sound soothes the human soul in its most difficult moments. I have nothing more to show you, and my path doesn't require anything more." After a pause, she continues: "I came to you for another reason. You said that the natural order of things, the divine plan of Anush, and harmony in its diversity are important to you. I believe that these are not just words, but I still need to hear it from you. Please tell me... is there any intolerance hidden behind them... or towards anyone different from the usual image of your parishioner? And I'm not talking about 'abominations' - neither akonitic nor celestial."