Every master a king

"When you know the fourfoil in all its seasons root and leaf and flower, by sight and scent and seed, then you may learn its true name, knowing its being: which is more than its use."--Ogion the Silent, A Wizard of EarthseaThe important part, when you are hanging by the neck from a tree in the woods, is that you tied the rope knots yourself. You bound yourself here. You will be reborn in this place, of this place, one with this place. You will be Real. There are other paths to power. Power from other people, from connections high and low. I don't know you well: you first may have pledged to tend a forest, or run a city block, or defend an oath to honor or glory. Ideas and places are interchangeable--the important bit is that you know the weight and cost of every inch of where you stand. Here I am. This is Mine. I ken the flowers, every house, all the implications, all the days past. I am resolute, I am committed.Resolve makes me a pebble that will not break. Commitment shows itself in…