[Gravedigger sits in the middle of a large hall with disco lights flashing overhead. He marks himself a lonely figure, his legs folded and cross beneath him.]

“Planning the perfect wedding is by no means an easy feat. The Church is just one tiny piece of a much larger puzzle.

After all, most of your guests don’t attend the wedding for the nuptials. They attend the wedding for the reception.”

[He looks around the empty hall with a smile.]

“That’s the thing, isn’t it? A guest has a very singular mindset. They’re oblivious to the work that goes into planning something of such importance to a minute detail. Their thoughts belong only to the party and their drunken appetite for entertainment. They reap all the benefits and rewards but apply none of the effort. Their presence is all it takes to make the function viable.

However, without their presence, that party is hardly that, is it? You can’t have a party with no guests, just like you can’t have a wedding without a bride and a groom.”

[Standing up, the faint background music comes to a halt and the lights stop.]

“The same can be said of your Midnight Owls, Malakai. This large party of guests that you have are following you from pillar to post for the good time you provide, leeching off your hard work, success and effort. These owls of yours, they’re guests at your party. They’re able to reap the rewards of everything you do, and the only requirement for them is to be there when you need them.

After all, there’s no Midnight Owls without…. Owls, is there? There’s no party without guests.”

[The lights come back on – not the disco lights but the original room lights.]

“And when the party stops, when the music dies and the lights come back on, what happens then?

Because there will be a time when the party stops, Malakai. There will be a time when your guests go home and they no longer consider themselves entertained at your gatherings.

There will be a moment when you find yourself stood alone in a hall, just like this, wondering where the life and soul of the party went.”

[He sighs.]

“In a matter of weeks, I invite you to be a guest at my party. I know that’s not necessarily how you play, but I hope you accept the invitation. When yours comes to an end and the owls leave your side, which is inevitable, I hope that what you see at my reception is enough to inform you, comfort you and hold you when the end seems near.

There is no party without guests.

But you don’t always need a party, Malakai. Sometimes a party of one is enough.”

[Gravedigger walks away.]