The Face of Adversity: Diamond Dust’s New Direction

[Fenri]

Fenri was faced with an impossible choice.

Was it the first time? Not at all.

Diamond Dust’s institution stood for centuries operating out of the southernmost continent f Vescrutia, stretching its influence from one place to the next by offering support for some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.

The people called upon them in no less than dire times. Mired with drought, plagued by famine, under siege unjustly, the work of the organization spanned generations and continents with a single directive:

Let the meek inherit the world.

The centuries have seen Diamond Dust change leadership like seasons, each age a new perspective of the same world they want to see. Fenri upheld the mission of the organization for 50 years with pride, reverent of those who came before him and humbled by the opportunity to show those after him a better world than the one he entered. Unfortunately, time and time again he learned Vescrutia rarely made their mission an easy one, seldom allowed them an easy mission, and never gave anything without taking in return.

Fenri sat in his chamber in the back of the basement, far beyond the dojo where Lana trained the members in Tinjutsu, corridors beyond the barrel storage David meticulously curated, behind a door that nobody every opened but Fenri himself. He gave everything to the world, it was one of the few things he kept to himself, private from rest of the world.

Within this singular chamber, Fenri kept what few keepsakes he held onto over his travels. Family heirlooms, a few pieces of art gifted to him from wards of his travels, pictures of some of the people he met along the way, memories of moments he wouldn't dare try to replicate. For all that his stoic demeanor built him into a cold, calculating leader to most, commanding and coordinating the forces of Diamond Dust with barely a whisper, within this chamber were stark reminders of why Fenri, not the leader of Diamond Dust, but Fenri himself wakes up to do what he does every day.

Today, Fenri quietly invited his management team, his lieutenant commanders in with him. He couldn't face himself alone after yielding to the invitation of the B'halian Empire.

The room's walls were adorned with ornate picture frames hosting the various images and art pieces he'd amassed in his travels. Between them and scattered throughout the room display cases held various jewelry, instruments of many sort, items that chronicled Fenri's journey as the Frozen Moon of Diamond Dust and honored the trials of the Moons who preceded him.

He faced a specific display case that sat in the middle of the room. It sat under a single light suspended in midair with a simple Arbiter shining directly down on it.

Fenri stared into the case, looking over every golden berry that grew from the modest sized decorative pot growing within it. Its stems were still verdant green, the skin of the berries carried a frosted sheen, glistening in the soft light that sustained them. The soil was thick and black, packed with nutrients and covered with a thin layer of silvery gravel on top. Being joined by a single person now, Fenri spoke to them with his back turned, quietly.

"I can feel the questions building on your heart. You should ask them, lest they grow resentment in the fields of your heart."