One month later


    Greetings.


    What devilry is this?


    What is your name?


    My name is Claudius. This is very disturbing. Must we talk like this?


    I’m deaf, and you don’t know Benelim Sign Language. onsider this neutral ground.


    I don’t get you. You’re a Godshard, yet you act like a Benelim with your hand motions.


    See, this is what I don’t understand. Why do you hate the Benelim so much? What have they ever done to you?


    The Benelim betrayed us. They left us to die centuries ago.


    The Benelim had problems of their own. Their forces were similarly decimated by those twisted monsters.


    Why didn’t they tell us? Why didn’t they check up on us? Most importantly, when the daemons came later, what was their excuse then? Where were the Gods when we needed them? They all abandoned us! My family barely survived. I have only one traceable ancestor because the slaughter was so complete. The daemons killed most of my family, enslaving the few they didn’t murder.


    Where were your Benelim then? My story echoes countless others. Ask around if you don’t believe me. You can write it off as bigotry all you want, but the holier than thou attitude the Benelim have is sickening. They aren’t any better, yet they lord their superiority over us. How is that fair? Why should they be forgiven when they clearly don’t forgive us? They hate us, they look down on us. Time and time again it seems the Benelim abandon us exactly when we need them the most. We’ve had to work things out on our own. The only salvation coming from the Godshards.Does that answer your question?


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    That is all fair, and I can’t blame you for most of it.


    That’s the first time I’ve heard anyone on the Benelim’s side say that.


    , The only side I’m on is the one of peace. I have a counterpoint though, how does any of what you said justify your hatred of my mother?


    The deer?


    She is still a Benelim, a type known as an Animite. She is just as intelligent and capable as anyone else. You say the Benelim hate you and look down on you, yet here you are acting hateful to my mother. Call her an animal, looking down on her. She has nothing to do with any of the problems you brought up.


    , Why do you care so much about the Benelim anyway? To the point where you would defend them over your own species?


    I was abandoned by the humans for my deafness. It was the Benelim who were more accepting when humans were not. I would have died if it wasn’t for the ‘deer’, as you put it.  Does that answer your question?


    Why do you care what I think? You’re a mighty Godshard, you do your own thing anyways. I’m just some plebeian, a “hateful” one, as you’d probably put it.


    I’ve lived in both worlds, here and in the Golden Wood. Do you know what I’ve seen?  We aren’t so different. I’ve seen nobility and virtue and a down to earth spirit in both realms. But I’ve also seen hatred, bigotry, people hating and fearing what they don’t understand. The slights that both races have are from things that happened centuries ago. There was a time when both human and Benelim lived together in harmony, like two siblings. I believe such days can return, if we could just let go of the past, both sides!


    Please, your Benelim would never do that.


    Never say never. I am a Godshard, there is much I can see that normal eyes cannot. Even if I wasn’t, I can read a lot from a person from their body language and their lips, which comes with the territory of being deaf. I can’t and won’t tell people what to do. But if humanity truly respects the Godshards.Perhaps you can think about it?Thank you for your time and for opening up about it. It’s respectable.