"Thank you, brother Zato, for your inspiring words." Valetni said, barely audible to the people in the back. He coughed several times.
"Today, we have won a great victory. You all survived, you should be proud, not everyone else could." Valetni paused, reconsidering as he noticed what effect his words were having on the hellguard. He changed tact rather quickly, he did not wish to be the victim of a lynching resulting from any implied disparagement towards the dead.
"Today is also a day for memories," He began somewhat hastily, coughing as he did so. "Today will be remembered for many reasons, but mainly I hope it will be remembered by you all; as a very special day, a special day in which you shared some time with others; in order to pay your last respects; and to say both mentally and physically; a sad and fond farewell to your fallen brothers and sisters." He cleared his throat as he continued to improvise, already far off track from what he planned to say.
"Are we all not members of the great swarm, and thus all equal?" He postulated. "Of course, some are more equal than others, but on the whole, every life is important, and the loss of even one is a tragedy." He continued. "Well, I mean, if you know them that is, if some random mudfarmer in the middle of nowhere died, it wouldn't be a tragedy, now would it?" Valetni said. "I mean, if a thousand of said mudfarmers died, in some country on the other side of the world, now, that'd just be a statistic, am I right?" Valetni asked hypothetically. "I mean, would any of us even notice? Well, I suppose if the deaths of said mudfarmers were to create an economic ripple that would in some way affect us, we'd notice, but probably not the underlying cause, which would be the mudfarmers." Valetni stopped, looking puzzled for a moment.
"I digress," He stopped as another bout of coughing racked his frame, one hand around his middle and the other leaning heavily on the cane. He straightened after several moments.
"Where was I..." He said loudly enough to be heard in the first few rows. "Ah yes, when the time comes that the great goddess in the sky, someone I would hope that most of you assembled before me have a friend in, Yes, when it comes time that the great goddess Buzzia takes you to the place that is the best," Valetni shook a finger in a vaguely upward direction. "When you are laid to rest...well, that means you're dead." He stopped, furrowing his brow.
"Well, the dead don't feel any pain. Or at least, we don't think they do, I mean, that's what the scriptures tell us, so that must be right, right?" He thoughtfully began tapping his cane on the ground. "I can't think of any method, scientific method that is, of determining whether or not the dead feel pain. I mean, they certainly don't respond to stimuli, but that's just the body, for all we know the soul, or the psyche, or whatever constitutes that spark of intelligent life is in eternal torment, I mean, it's not like anyone has died and come back, right?" He waited a moment for a response, and when none came, continued.
"What I'm trying to say here, is be glad you're not dead. See, these fellows here, they dead." Valetni gestured towards the bodies of the fallen, coughing once more, this time to clear his throat. "See, they probably had some good lives, I don't know most of them, so I can't vouch for the validity of that statement, but, see, well, they're dead, and you aren't." Valetni said with conviction. "See, they can't do anything anymore, because they're dead. You can, be thankful for that, and don't squander the gift of continued life that they purchased for you with the coin of their own." Valetni punctuated his point with a finger wag.
"As I was saying, most people don't matter." He tapped his cane against the floor. "But these people, they do matter, and they matter to all of you." He looked out over the crowd, making eye contact with as many of the Hellguard as he could without overextending his delay.
"I'm sure you'll miss them, and you'll be sad." He began. "I mean, I won't be, but I didn't know them, but I think we all know the pain of loss." He again glanced out over the crowd.
"Whether it's a brother, a father, a mother, a sister, an aunt, an uncle, a grandparent, a husband, or a comrade in arms, it hurts." He clenched his free hand into a fist. "But we must harden ourselves against the pain, the pain is weakness leaving the body. You may feel as if a little bit of yourself died here with them, and unless a part of you actually did die, like uh, what's her name, the one with one arm?"
He paused for a second, to see if any answer was forthcoming before forging onward. "But, that part of you that died, metaphorically, not literally, that part of you that died, that was the weak part of you. You are now stronger. You have lived, and you have lost, but you are still living. Remember that, no one can take that away from you. They can take away your life, your freedom, and everyone you care about, but they can never take your experiences, both good and bad, happy and sad." Valetni tucked his cane into the crook of his arm, before pounding his fist into the palm of his now free hand to underline his message. A moment passed, he looked around at the crowd, wondering if they wanted anything more from him.
"So, uh, praise Buzziah." He finished somewhat lamely, before doubling over in another fit of coughing. This was, without a doubt, the most words he had ever spoken in one time, and certainly not before as many people as this.
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