Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine.
_-oO0Oo-_
Will you? Won't you? Stay a while with me. You don't need to talk, just stay a while up here. You seem to understand. Wide eyed and innocent, in a fundamental way. Yet you see all, understand all. Can you hear me?
Down there, the crowds are settling, finally settling. Like the birds who have found new trees to spend the night in, after so many trees fell victim to today's battle. This day has been a long one, even by my standards. Dawn seems so very long ago. But now, the day has come and gone, and the darkness that is steadily replacing dusk is a new darkness. This darkness is a blanket, not a threat. The dark and dank days which threw their long, oppressive shadows over every ray of sunshine, every tiny spark of hope, seem to have been chased away today.
The fight was a costly one, but the reward is night in which the darkness is once again sincere. This darkness comforts those who fought and shelters them from the hardships, losses and rebuilding they will still need to face. All that will still be there when the darkness lifts tomorrow morning, that is inevitable. But it is not for now.
For now, for those who fought today, who both won and lost, rest and refuge is all that is needed. They won the battle, defeated the darkness, but they lost as well. They lost friends, family, dreams and innocence. The children grew up, the grown-ups grew old. Like the birds in the trees still standing, their needs are simple now: shelter and comfort. Towers and bedrooms have been destroyed, walls have crumbled. They have had to relocate, find other places to sleep, but that is all right, they want to be together anyway. The Great Hall is packed, they take comfort in the fact that they are together.
I am like the trees: parts of me are gone, but I can still offer shelter, protection. I can feel them down there, finding comfort in each other, in the night, in the fact that they are still alive. They may be wounded, they may be changed, but they are, above all, alive. It thrums through them, it thrums through me. Life. The knowledge of it is heady. They have fought for it, earned it. They have regained the chance to live their life in whatever way they want to. To live life to the fullest. For themselves, but also for all those who gave their life today. They do not speak of it, there is no need. All feel it, all know it. They cannot truly speak of it yet, of any of it, it is too fresh. Minds filled with conflicting emotions war in exhausted bodies.
I feel their feelings as if they are my own, and in a way, they are. I too am thankful that the darkness has been lifted, that the corruptive magic within my walls will no longer have free reign. I am hopeful that I will once again be able to direct my powers towards more positive pursuits. I was created to encourage, to guide the young minds of our world towards adulthood. To shelter from harm, a harm harboured within, was never my purpose. And although I did an admirable job, if I may say so myself, I am glad it is over. I am weary. I have withstood centuries, but this past year has been taxing on me, as it has been on my charges. But just as they will heal and live, I know that I will too.
I will mend, and be mended. My walls will be rebuilt, my interior righted and repaired. My halls will once again be filled with young minds, eager for magic, for life and love. But all that is not for tonight. Tonight, my task is simple: shelter. I will provide shelter for those who are weary after the fight. I will provide physical shelter from the rapidly cooling night, but I will also provide shelter from the proverbial storm; shelter from all that is yet to come. Tonight, none of that matters for the weary ones seeking shelter in my halls.
But I am weary too, so will you stay a while? Up here, on my highest tower, high above those you belong with. Will you stay a while? You do not need to speak. Just your presence provides comfort. You remind me that there will always be good in the world. You are pure of heart, and nothing can change that. You have been tested, tortured and tormented. You, who seem so frail, are stronger than even I imagined. Your purity has not been corrupted, the light inside you has not been dimmed.
I marvel at you, at the fact that you can still hear me after all you have been through. But here you are, keeping an old castle company. You are not worried your friends will miss you; they are, even now, used to you disappearing on them, your 'odd antics'. You know there will be a place for you when descend my stairs and join them.
So will you stay a while longer? Only a little while longer, because night is now upon us, and your namesake shines brightly, illuminating you, transforming your hair into strands of pure silver. But as she shines, the temperature drops, and the day has been long and wearing on your frail body. The cold will wreak havoc on you, if you stay outside for too long.
So stay with me a while, but only a little while longer, before you descend me to join your friends and let me give you comfort, as you now comfort me.