The tree does not need to roar to prove that it is alive.

On this, Speaker Sjeng, you are entirely correct.

I do not doubt your convictions. I doubt your comprehension.

The tree grows. Grass spreads, moss creeps across stone, fungus propagates through decay. Beasts feed, fight, breed, and die. What dies feeds what follows.

Strip away the poetry of it and there is something shared by every living thing, from the smallest mold to even the Speaker of Eleusis.

Life persists.

Adjutant Kaldrin is equally correct. Persistence demonstrates persistence. That something continues tells us nothing, by itself, of its worth.

I would go further.

It tells us nothing of its purpose.

So, what is existence for?

Preach your sermon to a goose and see what conviction you inspire. You do not write to geese, nor does the Adjutant offer his arguments to the grass. I do not impart my Master's Truths to mold.

We address one another.

Sapience is filled with many faiths. We disagree, often violently, over which road should be taken and where it ought to lead, but we all know to whom we offer direction.

Sentience.

The First Truth names OUR purpose plainly: the advancement of nothing less than sentient life.

Not its worship. Not merely its preservation or propagation.

Advancement.

There is a distinction there worth considering. The tree grows. The seed returns. The forest reclaims the stone. Life persists, just as you say.

For us, persistence without advancement is insufficient. We are required to become more.

That sentient life presently requires soil, water, forest, beast, and insect is self-evident. They sustain the conditions in which we persist and advance.

Dependence does not establish subordination.

So yes, Speaker. Your forest will grow. Your seed will return. Life will persist.

On this, I do not doubt you.

We simply expect more.

Not from the tree.

From ourselves and from each other.

Penned by my hand on the 10th of Sarapin, in the year 1012 AF.