Every lifeform wears many faces.
There is the face it shows its children at night, soft and patient. There is the face it shows a friend in grief, quiet and steady. And there is the face it shows the thing that comes to burn its house down, the one it hopes its children will be spared from seeing.
Every one of these faces is true for its moment. The hard part of living is learning which moment you are standing in.
Long ago, in a valley between two warring Dimensions, there lived a carver of faces. She made masks for the lords of the valley, and her masks were famous, because whoever wore one became, for as long as it sat on his skin, exactly what it showed.
A young Immense One came to her and asked for the kindest face she could make. "My people are tired of war," he said. "I want to be gentle with everyone."
