The Fall and Rise and Fall and Rise of Lirne Valarion

The first time you fall to the wolves: it is as if something deep within you simply says, “No”.

It doesn't say it with your own voice. Nor even the voice of your father nor mother, which could be expected. No. It is a deeper, distant command that requires you to stand up again. You represent too much to fall here and now; you are too proud to be ended in a forgotten wood by simple scavengers; you have too much greatness within you to tap in crucibles such as this. And indeed: that golden candle in your soul not only refuses to go out, but is suddenly fueled into a roaring living flame! Your strength returns, by the power of whatever old resovoir is in you, and you rise to your feet.

The second time you fall: it is different.

Not from inside you does the strength come to rise up again. Those ancient resevoirs do not have the resources to rekindle you so much and so quickly. As you fade, the mists gather about you, as greedy as the wolves encircling your troupe. As your candlle flickers, like a moth to a flame, something finds you. Not a presence; barely more a notion; just a mote of unrelenting purity of spirit in the face of loss, annihilation, and evil. That tiny golden light at your core shines like a lighthouse to ships lost in misty seas, and something sails out to you to find a safe familiar harbor. It is the most imperceptible of moments but its impact is profound: buttressed by this unidentified resolve once more, your spirit flares to life once more, and you rise once more.