Requiem: A parable

[hardwired.livejournal.com]

The hungry ones lived in a stark monastery. It was quiet, peaceful,
tempered by the angry lashing of those yet to find some peace. Very
little passed the gates, save for stone-cutters with their pillars of
Obsidian, repairing the feeding pendulums that were snapped from time
to time.
The students (in truth, all were students) made their way down the
hill. A river flowed towards the bottom of the valley. Pure water,
clean. It was this place where they cleaned their feeding bowls.

The road was hard, rocky. Many a time a student would fall, hurting
themselves. Such damage could not easily be repaired. There was not
enough to make such things easy. The life was hard, but the Students
learned to be nimble of foot, and to keep their pain low.
The two students were washing their bowls in the river when they
noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One student scooped it up in his
hand and set it upon the bank gently. He gave a small murmur as the
stinger in the tail embedded itself into his palm. The wound turned
scarlet. The poison distressed him, and would take time to heal.

Without pause, he resumed, washing his bowl carefully. The scorpion,
following it's own mind, fell into the river once more.

With no pause, the Student swept his hand in to bring to scorpion out.
No murmur, but the stinger lashed out again. Another wound. Without
complaint he laid it down carefully and continued to wash his bowl,
gingerly holding his hand.

The Scorpion did fall again and was swept away. His companion spoke
"Leave it be." But he did not. His hand moved swiftly and saved the
scorpion again. And for his efforts, he was stung once more. Only this
time, did the scorpion go on it's way.

The hand distended, and became scarred with the poison. This would
require vitae to heal, of which there was none. They continued to wash
their bowls in silence, the stark red of what small amount of vitae
they had taken swept down the river.

The other student turned to the damaged one and spoke softly:
"Takashi, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know it's
nature is to sting?"

"Because," Takashi replied, "to save it is my nature."