“Some of you will already know, even as you listen to this speech, exactly what it is you want to do with your lives. Some of you will have jobs lined up – big, powerful jobs, from which you can help to guide the course of our futures. But there will be many of you – probably most of you – with no idea what wonderful and incredible things you want to set your life towards. And when everyone around you has their plans already made, their life already set out, and you don’t, it can be easy to feel overlooked, or inferior – and eventually, to accept that that’s the way things are, and let your dreams fade into others’ shadows.

It is to all of those people that I wish to tell a story, the story of Sweeping Tides. She was born into a family of politicians and corporate powerhouses; surrounded from her first breath by an inheritance of ambition. Yet all she ever wanted was to create; to furnish her artistry, and produce humble, yet inspiring works. Her family, of course, looked down on such a hobby.

But Sweep was not disturbed; she ventured all the way into the auspices of the Cartographers' Guild to advance her craft. And there she met with figures so much larger than her family had ever dreamt to be; bent the ear of powers so much greater than any Sailor. And none of them looked down on her. They stood by her, as equals; appreciated her and her art for the glimpse of truth and honesty they offered. In an important sense, her quiet, peaceful desire to make, and to inspire and simply be appreciated for being herself, took her further than anyone else in her family.

So do not be dissuaded, my friends, if you watch your classmates cross the finish line before you are even certain which race to swim. Being true to yourself will take you further in life than any ambition; and knowing your truth takes time and care. Whether you make your sprint now or in half a lifetime, the crowd will cheer all the same – and I among them!”

Graduation Speech, National Academy of the Eternal Skies.