"The Web of Friendship" ((Inuyoko Mass #20))

"The Web of Friendship"

by Inuyoko

Originally read in deoch 215 on the 30th sun of the 8th moon.

((10/30/2025))

Hello, everyone. My name is Inuyoko T’Alveni. I am a Priestess of this Shrine, and a member of its clergy since deoch 53. Last double-moon, we had an amazing time crafting creative sandwiches together. Perhaps in the running for my favorite Mass I’ve given yet. Today, like the moon reflects the light of the sun, I feel the recent discussion of friendship beaming down upon me within these halls, and I would like to touch upon it myself amongst other things.

While I was unfortunately unable to attend, I was graciously given a transcript of Lydien’s Mass, and had a chance to read it over. Such a poignant and inspiring conversation it was, I feel the necessity to heap praise upon you all for your contributions to it. I don’t simply want to regurgitate your own points back to you about trust, familiarity, comfort, criticism, though I agree with it all. No, what I’m feeling today is a sentiment of not taking things for granted. Both in a positive and a negative way. 

I speak a lot about the dualism of the spark and our nature, and that often comes into play as much amongst those who we hold dear as it does the general populace. It is not unexpected to meet a new person who we don’t connect to. Or perhaps even someone who we find downright abrasive. But when we find someone who we do connect to, an intricate web is formed. Much like a spider weaves her web in different patterns based on her environment and emotional state, our relationships can take forms that are chaotic or harmonious. I am not ascribing a positivity or negative to either of those states, but they mean different things. A harmonious webbing can only be fostered in relative safety and stability. Or perhaps one might say in sterility. Relationships between those who we share work with for example may take this form. And though it looks pretty, its symmetry and perfection is easily disturbed, and is by extension that deviation is more pronounced. 

But a deeper relationship is inevitably going to weave a more chaotic pattern. This has the advantage of appealing to our innate love of novelty and complexity. And there’s a certain comfort in knowing that if you steer off the path, or lose your way in the thread, you’re simply on another journey. When we are able to step back and look at the web we’ve weaved, we may not be able to recall what each path meant, but we still see the whole picture, representing two people, yet it is one unique entity – simultaneously part of and separate from them.

And so it is with our friends and family. Yet the painful truth is that our Trinity, and our place in its center also holds a space in this allegory. Much like a spelunker will tear through a beautiful web in a cave with nary a second thought, our complex web, though strong, is not invulnerable to destruction. Whether it is stoked by the breakdown of our compassion on one side, or the cold and indifferent touch of death on the other, at some point our flame will inevitably consume the web we’ve built. 

And then we’re left with a choice. Do we try to recreate the web exactly as it was? Or do we move on, and like the spider herself build a new, totally unique web? And should we dwell on its loss, or appreciate the beauty that exists in transience? It is perhaps a question we each have to ask for ourselves. I know that I feel the pangs of sadness when I think about the webs I’ve lost already, but I am determined to maintain focus on the ones that are still being woven every sun with you all.