It is when Eliot chooses to die rather than yield that he becomes the sum of his soul, when his future is dimmed by the darkness before him.
To reach out to his enemy is his fate, and when his ancient heart sings the song of the galloglas, the dispossessed warrior of old, he becomes the creature of wonder, the unbending heart of death, and his hands are vengeance and blood and unstoppable fury. And to this end he marches free and deadly, his enemies fading before him and his song soars free.
It is when Eliot strides to battle that the blood of the berserker roars through his veins. When he seeks to right wrongs and wears the bear-shirt of his ancestors, shape-strong, and his hands are spear and arrow and death, dark as the raven's wing and deadlier than the snow in the oncoming storm. He is stone and frost and ageless, shaping his destiny like the caverns of the wind.
It is when Eliot needs to protect those he holds dear that he becomes A-ni-ya-ya, the great wolf of his clan, and his hair is like the blood-sun and his warrior heart sings to the enemy of his people.
Listen! Now I have come to step over your soul! he cries, and his voice is thunder in the mountains and The People, the Tsalagihi Ayili chant his name and his family is well and whole.
He is but a warrior for the working day. But his heart is good and his soul is a song of love, and without him, they would be nothing, and the world would be poorer for it.
Finis
Author's note:
This bugged me on my drive home from work until I wrote it, so here it is. I'm a historian. So sue me.
'Tsalagihi Ayili' is the name the Cherokee nation has for itself, and seeing Christian Kane has Cherokee ancestry, it is only fitting that Eliot does too.