Greetings good gentles all...

As I prepare to unpack from the event I am drawn to a small book with gold and green decoration and a simple gold tassel. The book, the one procured for His Grace Duke Jade, so that he and the fighters he faced Sunday on that field of such great honor, could inscribe their words of honor to a very special lady.

I am minded to share the words here, for those who missed the Invocation of the Lists or who perhaps may have missed the event.

By way of setting the story let me offer this first - with sad heart I searched for a way to honor a lady who had touched the lives of so many people and who was not long for this mortal coil. Having asked Their Majesty's counsel on a suitable way to honor her They suggested His Grace, as he was fighting the By's for the tournament. I approached him in his camp after dark to beg this boon. Without second thought he asked where she was, how far away she was, and if he could see her. We traveled the short distance to the hospital where her family and friends were gathering. I shall never forget this incredibly noble man as he approached her bedside, took her hand in his and swore to swing his blade in her name upon An Tir's Honor's field the next day. He made promise to her to fight 100 fights in her honor. And while the lady could not respond to him or his words I knew in my heart that she could hear him.

We returned to the site, a quiet drive, where he apologized for being so quiet. I didn't know how to respond, still being struck by the noble virtue of this man. He explained that he was looking within himself, being "thankful" for this opportunity of reminder about what it was to be a Knight. I didn't know what to say.

Serena passed in the early morning hours. When His Grace came to my camp to collect the book and a favor to wear upon the field I shared the news with him. He steeled himself to the task at hand.

It will be a long time before any of us gathered upon the field forget the emotion or spirit that swept through those gathered as he read these words:

I watched throughout the course of the day as His Grace fought each of his fights for the lady he'd only once met, each time offering silent gesture to the sky before his blade sang its song. In the evening we met again, to turn over the book (which shall be given to the lady's family).

I will long remember his joy in reporting that he'd not fought 100 fights that day but instead nearly 120.

I knew Serena as friend, as a member of my House (the Great Fire Goddess)
and as a member of the September Crown autocrat team (she was instrumental in the making of the site tokens.) Her loss will be hard felt but her spirit will live forever in the memory of this most incredible gesture by a very valorous man.

A final note I add, an observation made by my lord husband as we prepared for the tasks at hand Sunday morning; "How much the irony that there could be no fires at the event where our fire-goddess could not be."