September has always been (Nueva) Castallon month for me. Because angst and action aside, Castallon itself was born from the image of Mary.
And aside from being Mary's birth month, September is also dedicated to her as Our Lady of Sorrows.
Our Lady of Sorrows (which is the inspiration behind Inang Señora, Our Lady of Castallon) is very dear to me. It is the image of a mother gazing upon the one she loves the most, yet is powerless to spare him from suffering. It is probably the world’s oldest form of grief... at siguro, isa na rin sa pinakapamilyar sa ating lahat.
Kaya rin my stories return again and again to love and grief; I do not know how to write faithfully of one without arriving at the other. I am a firm believer that to love truthfully is to consent (often unconsciously) to loss---because when we truly love, we hand over a piece of ourselves with no promise of its safekeeping.
So when you say, “All roads lead to Castallon,” I couldn't say I disagree :) because if everything is built upon love, then it should, always, lead to sorrow.