Transcribed and recorded, Day 342 - Year 13 - 4th Age.
People of Lismore... As you are undoubtedly aware of, our war against Doncoutle and his forces has at last come back to our homeland. Recently, we have been struck by a series of calculated attacks, one of which I fell prey to, myself.
Two of our citizens have died in these attacks, and many more were injured. The fallen... my bodyguard Hazaan, and Serene Casin of Phoenix. They will be remembered as heroes who rose to our defense in the face of great adversity and made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be saved.
I want to take a moment to talk about the two.
I have known Hazaan since I was a child. He was an important part of my life, my knight in shining armor. I took him for granted as a young child, I did not appreciate how much he did for me. And never did I apologize. Not even as a grown woman. Yet he stuck by my side, kind and dutiful as he was, and never once complained.
He never hesitated. He gave me his life. He gave many people his life. Thanks to him, the damage done to our granary was minimal. While no food will be distributed out of the granary for some time, we will engage the distribution of free food rations until everything is back in working order. No Lismorean shall go hungry, and thanks to Hazaan's selfless sacrifice, we will be at full capacity in the near future.
Serene, I did not know so well. We were not close, yet I mourn her loss greatly. She lived in the Phoenix caves, mother of my best friend, one of the most renowned tailors in Lismore. She was no warrior; she was like the rest of us, a woman living in the day, working to make ends meet. Yet like Hazaan, she knew her duty. Like Hazaan, she stepped up in the face of an overwhelming force, a beacon of defiant light to wash away the darkness, no matter the cost. She too, gave her life so others could live. She too, stood up and fought so that we may live another day.
They both showed our enemy that no matter what they do, we will never give up. They told them that they can never win. They told them, that they can never make us afraid. They fought for what they believe in -- us.
And that is truly the heart of Lismore: us, Her people. We may not be large compared to other empires. We may not even be visible on the map, for all the other empires could know. But there is one thing that makes us stand out from all the other powers out there, that makes us stronger than any kind of magic or army, or anything else that could be thrown at us.
That is our tenacity! Our hope for a better world! Our kindness! ... Our pride. Our people!
People of Lismore, we are no strangers to adversity. We have faced beasts the size of mountains and we prevailed; We fought armies of ten thousand men and we prevailed; We have stood up to gods, and we have prevailed!
I think I speak for all of us when I say that I will be damned if we will fall to the whims of a coward who dares not even show his face! A coward whose power relies on fear and oppression!
Hazaan did not stand for it! Serene did not stand for it! Nor shall we. We, my beloved Lismore, are a mighty people! We are a mighty empire! We will not be terrorized into submission! We will stand together against this foe! We will not bend down to this coward and his lackeys!
And so I speak to assure you, our people! And so I speak to warn all those who would do us harm: We are Lismore, and we will never break!
