Kolon sat at the dying embers of his breakfast fire and thought about his King. Kolon respected the King, but among the elders and guild masters Kolon was alone. The King was so steeped in the old ways that he didn't see any room for change. Most of the masters and elders didn't know what they thought, some wanted to usurp the Kings power. But Kolon knew, there is a time to change, or die. All of the ways of the mountain will wilt away if the people won't change. War was an abomination, an apostasy, but it was necessary. What if The People went to war. It now seemed it was the time to consider that. But it would take moving the mountain itself to change The People on that point.

Kolon cleaned up his camp, and hoisted up his backpack. He started on the last leg of his journey just as the sun sent a few rays over the horizon. The walk was short, but being uphill, it would take at least a half hour. As he approached the hut he could see the sitting figure of the King. At the door he knelt, saying, "My Lord, and My King."

"Kolon, you know that is unnecessary." said a voice coming out of the hut.

"I am coming to see you as a King, not as a friend."

"And you are not a friend, Kolon?"

"I am, my King."

As Kolon entered the dark hut, he stared awestruck; he was taken aback. Before him sat the former king, arrayed with jeweled crown, and purple robe interlaced with gold and silver threads. "Your majesty." he said as he knelt and put his face to the ground.

"Get up." said Rylar.

"But, sire, I was startled. You appeared as your father."

"Does my father still inspire such awe? I still rest in his shadow."

"Sire, he knew the way you were, and chose you because of it."

"I know, but I still doubt. It seems that the people don't respect my authority."

"Many merely held in their disrespect toward your father."

"It seems though, that we need someone with a stronger personality to rule us at a time like this. How can a race of pacifists survive when attacked by such people as these. I'm afraid I'll just sit back, and let us be destroyed. It seems logical to defend ourselves, but that goes against all that we live for.

"'There is a sun for each new day'" said Kolon carefully.

"You can quote the wise men, Kolon, but how do we know this is the sun?"

"Be careful, such comments could be construed as a weakness."

"And would they be right?"

Kolon was starting to get frustrated. "Only you can answer that."

"My friend, you know how I feel about the traditions. I hold to them strongly, passionately. I don't let go of them easily."

Kolon thought for a moment, "Sire I don't quote the wise men without reason. You need to consider a change." Kolon was holding his breath. He knew he was pushing the king, but if he didn't push, today's meeting would accomplish nothing and he would lose momentum.

Rylar thought for a moment, "I am not an indecisive man," he said slowly, "I have considered the need to defend our mountain. We cannot sit and let them take our land." Kolon breathed a sigh of relief. "But Kolon, our problem is how to convince the people."

"That, my King, is what we will decide today."

"First we need to convince the elders and masters that we need to defend our mountain." said the king.

"Don't worry about that sire, we won't need to convince them. Let me take care of that.".

Rylar the King sat still as stone, regaled in his royal crown and robe, on his golden chair upon the stone dais, under the silk canopy, within the amphitheater cut into the side of the mountain waiting. In the canopy above was a hole, situated directly above the Kings chair, which precisely at noon the sun would shine through, sending off in all directions the brilliance of the sun from the King.

At precisely five minutes to twelve the Elders and Masters were ushered quietly into the amphitheater by the Kings sons (the only court or servants of the King). Kolon stood among his peers. They waited for the King to speak. At exactly twelve noon the sun shone through the hole and his robe, sparkling, lit up the room nearly blinding the men. At that moment, the King started his speech.

"My friends and humble servants, at this very hour our free and peaceful mountain is in danger of being destroyed forever. Evil men within the valley below are plotting to destroy our land, kill the men, and ravage the women, and take our children away to be slaves forever. We are in dire need to defend, and protect this wonderful mountain.

"Do not sit idly by, and think that we are protected by our good and gentle nature. Those valley demons are depending on our pacifism as the key element in their plan.

"As we all know, centuries ago our ancestors left the valley for the sanctuary of the mountain. They sought a safe haven, a refuge from the violence of all the nations. Those people in the valley are our ancestors also; but their history branched off in a different direction than ours.

"What we forget, is that our people fought a great battle before leaving their valley home. Do not think that our pacifism is greater than theirs; for most of our greatest wise men came from that first generation, and all of our doctrines of peace came from them.

"Now we must discuss the means of preparing our people, first with the wisdom to defend ourselves, and next with the means." The King sat and stared sternly at his people. Stunned, they quietly considered his words.

After several moments of silence one man slowly and quietly stepped forward. After a moment of standing with his head bowed, he spoke in a whisper, but clearly, "Rylar… sire," his subtle slur was quite effective, "we appreciate your arguments for your case, they are quite persuasive. We are almost convinced by your ingenious methods. We hear your words with sadness. We find it hard to bring our hearts to move against another land. This goes so much against the words that have been planted in our hearts.

"As the wise men said, 'Aggression is the way of the weak.' and, 'Look to the lamb, O King and learn his gentle ways.'

Kolon was hesitant to step forward. He was hoping that at least one other person would be brave enough to come to their aid. He also knew that this Elos was a wise old man, and crafty in his ways. Kolon didn't want to be trapped by Elos and his subtle talk.

Kolon knew that the King would be silent, for it was the proper etiquette, for the King to present his case and wait for all of the leaders to complete their arguments. Only then would the King make his judgment.

Although the King had the final say, it was tradition to go with the strong majority of opinion. Kolon didn't want to step on too many traditions at one time. The King needed more people to agree with his case, and these men seemed to be hesitant to speak boldly on the issue, even though they were taken aback by the Kings boldness, and use of parlor tricks.

Finally, after what seemed to be an interminable silence someone stood up. Since she was so young, Kalin spoke quietly, and with great respect. "Most honored masters and elders, our most gracious King Rylar. "She would not forget the proper address. "I was not aware that I felt so passionately about the opinions of elder Elos. My impressions are my own, not the Kings, not Elder Elos's, mine.

"My King, I am troubled that you would consider proposing any possibility that we would take up arms. We are a people who for centuries have survived on the principles of peace. We are a strongly ordered society. Our principles of justice and economics far surpass any other known system. It would seem a travesty that we would go against any of our laws, but to go against our pacifism could destroy the core of our hearts. Please tell me how our society could survive if we do this.

"Now to balance out my argument, I think I need to make one observation. I can see that one of the main reasons we have never had to prove our pacifism is that our mountain is virtually impossible to attack. If you could assure me of the certainty of this attack. I might consider that our fate is as you have described it. I might then consider defending our mountain, although the thought is still abhorrent to me. Either way, our society will be destroyed; to be eaten within, or crushed without.

"As for me I would rather die with hope in my hand. As the wise man said, 'Does not the sheep bleat when the wolf is near.'

The silence lasted longer than before, but it weighed much heavier.

Finally more people decided to step forward. As each spoke their argument they felt compelled to speak of their feelings of abhorrence to violence, but most of them were willing to admit that it was foolish to give up their mountain, that they might even have to fight.

The arguments were emotionally charging. The amphitheater was buzzing with individual arguments. No one noticed when the King stood up. He stood calmly, quietly, patiently waiting for them to calm down, to notice him. Gradually they noticed the King, and quieted down.

The King knew that the sentiment had gone his way. He knew that he didn't need to give an eloquent argument to convince The People of the need to fight. He decided to spend his words on one last argument for The Peace of The People.

"Many years ago in the dark years of our past our people lived deep in the darkness of the valley. The darkness dwelt within their hearts. A few of them, a mixture of all races, of all classes, saw inside their hearts. The darkness was blacker than they could comprehend. They ached for light.

"Within a forgotten scroll dwelt a seed for the light. These few people found that scroll, and the promise of the light. They knew that they needed to plant that seed within them. They knew that it would take time for the seed to grow. It wasn't safe to stay in the valley, so they collected themselves to journey to the mountain.

"The rulers in the valley were a weak people. They were afraid that the news that some people did not agree with them would infect others. The people of the light fought a great battle, and many died. Those who survived traveled a great journey north. They circled to the northern end of the mountains, then traveled south. They then entered the mountains from the west. The way to the mountains from the east is treacherous, but as we know there are ways.

"These many years the people of the valley have thought that we were long gone, but we have sat above and watched them. We have watched carefully over them. Their ways have proved to continually be as dark as they were many centuries ago. We foolishly felt safe.

"Our land is built on many years of careful adherence to the laws of the scroll. We will not throw away the ways of our land without deep prayer.

"Although the scroll does not have any laws about non aggression, we have been at peace for so many years that we cannot comprehend laying our hands on anyone for any reason. It is a good way to live. We should not throw away our peace lightly. If we do not take care, if we do not cling tenaciously to the gracious ways of peace we will be lost forever. No matter the outcome of a confrontation with these people of the valley, we will die. All we fought for will be gone forever. The seed of the scroll which lives in our hearts will die and our ancestors will have failed.

"I am not advocating that we do not prepare to defend ourselves. I am warning us of imprudence. What we must do, is to prepare and equip ourselves to defend and protect our land. Each of you must go back to your people and use your resources to prepare us for our defense.