The Way of the Mountain

Four lines

Luxians give the Way in four lines, which are also the middle of the Oath of the Mountain.

Keep faith with the Realm, its people, and its mountains.
Honor the Charter, welcome the stranger, and hold the hearth.
Where the snow falls, stand.
Cheska ovar.

Endure

Ovar. The mountain does not move for you; the winter does not shorten. The Luxian answer is not to fight either but to last them, and to find that lasting is a kind of joy. The motto of the Realm, the last line of the anthem, and the toast of the Solstice all end on the same word.

Welcome the stranger

Halen. Under Article VI of the Charter no Luxian may be refused shelter on the mountain, and the custom runs downhill into every house. The first word a visitor hears is welcome, and the same word closes the Oath from the other side.

Hold the hearth

Fyrn. The hearth is the house, the family, the table, and the Realm eating together on the longest night. The Heart broke so as not to be alone; the Luxian keeps the hearth so that no one is.

Do not choose the snow, only your line

The newest line of the Way and the most Luxian. The High Warden said it on the morning of his first First Descent, and it has gone into the language: you take the conditions you are given and ski them well.

Where the Way shows

• In the Charter, whose three unamendable articles are the mountains, the snow, and the hearth
• In the Sentinels, who keep the passes for everyone
• In Luxians on Snow, which teaches every child the mountain before it teaches them anything else
• In the Solstice feast, where every citizen has a seat by right