Kudshayn needs cooler temperatures and drier air. Methods for achieving one or both of these:
1) Fans, either hand-powered or electrical. Pros: very easy to get. Cons: they don’t really cool the air, just make you feel a little bit better.
2) Hang damp curtains and let the water evaporate. Pros: cools the air. Cons: only by a little, and it makes the air more humid.
3) Ship in ice from Svaltan. Pros: makes the air much cooler. Cons: expensive, messy when it melts, and we’d need to keep on shipping it in, since there is no good room for storing that quantity of ice at Stokesley.
4) Contact one of the companies that manufactures ice and buy some from them. Pros: same as above. Cons: same as above, except probably a little cheaper.
5) Find out how the ships that bring meat from places like Otholé keep it from going bad. Pros: if it can keep meat from spoiling, it must be cold enough for Kudshayn, and we would presumably need only one machine. Cons: I don’t know where to get one, and it’s probably very expensive.
Tablet XII: “The Worms Tablet”
translated by Kudshayn
Word1 went out among all the people.2 They had seen the Light of the World vanish and return; they heard now how this came to pass. They heard of the courage of Samšin, the kindness of Nahri, the cleverness of Imalkit, the sacrifice of Ektabr, who dwelt forevermore in the underworld.
Samšin lay beneath the light of the ghost.3 Samšin slept in the silver light. Samšin lay through the night and dreamed.
She dreamt of a tree to the south, green and growing. Beneath the tree lived a mass of worms, a tangled and writhing knot, gnawing at the roots of the tree. She dreamt of a river to the south, blue and swift. At the headwaters of the river lived a mass of worms, a tangled and writhing knot, fouling the waters of the river. She dreamt of a mountain to the south, golden and tall. At the base of the mountain lived a mass of worms, a tangled and writhing knot, shaking the foundations of the mountain.4
Samšin woke, troubled. She gathered her sisters together and said, “I have had a dream. I saw worms to the south, gnawing at the roots of a tree, fouling the waters of a river, shaking the foundations of a mountain. Imalkit, go and see what you can learn of this.” Imalkit cupped her wings about her body and obeyed.
Samšin was still troubled. She said, “We have regained the Light of the World, but we still do not know how it was lost. We do not know if it will happen again. Nahri, go to our people and tell them to come to me, so that we may take counsel and plan.” Nahri cupped her wings about her body and obeyed.5
The people came together at the place called Crescent Lake. Samšin organized them according to their skills, according to their age. She established deference and courtesy6 among them. Some of the people protested, saying, “It has never been this way before.” Samšin said, “Before, we dwelt always under the Light of the World. But when it was lost, who among you fought the star demons? Who descended to the underworld to bring it back? Who faced torments among the dead; who fought the khashetta? Who bargained with the Crown of the Abyss to return the Maker of Above and Below to the sky?” They cupped their wings about their bodies and were silent.
Imalkit returned while the chief among them were in council. She said, “I have been to the south, to the land of the worms of my sister’s dream. There are creatures there, like and yet unlike people, called the āmu, created by the Foundation of All to crawl upon the earth.”
Samšin said, “You have not said all. What do you keep back?”
Imalkit said, “These creatures know that we are favoured by the Maker of Above and Below. They know they were considered unworthy by the Three, and so jealousy eats away at their hearts.”
Samšin said, “You have not said all. What do you keep back?”
Imalkit said, “There is a mountain in their lands that vomits forth fire and ash.”
Samšin said, “You have not said all. What do you keep back?”
Imalkit said, “These creatures dug into the depths of the mountain until it grew enraged. It was this mountain that ate7 the Light of the World, sending it down to be caged by the Crown of the Abyss.”
When they heard this, the members of the council fell into an uproar. They did not know what to do about these creatures to the south. Many among them were afraid, and many more were angry, condemning them to the underworld for their crime. For many days they argued.
Tayyit emerged as a leader among them, who had been a sheltering wing to the four when they were young. She said, “Let us send messengers to these creatures. Let us tell them of your deeds in retrieving the Light of the World, of the price your brother Ektabr paid to bring it back. Let them marvel at your skill and your power. They will fear us and commit such crimes no more.” But others cried out against her, saying that any messengers would be killed.
Upādat spoke for another group, those who argued for caution. She said, “Let us flee to the north, away from these creatures. Let us go where they cannot find us. If they are so heartless as to strike at the Maker of Above and Below, they will not hesitate to do the same to us. We must go to where we will be safe.” But others cried out against her, saying that no corner of the earth was safe from those made by the Foundation of All.
There was a third group, led by Abikri, who insisted that nothing need be done. She said, “Let us remain as we are. They have tried already to destroy the Light of the World, and they have failed; it will not be caught so easily a second time. We have nothing to fear from these creatures, who are worms crawling on the ground compared to us.”
Samšin rose. She stood before them, brave Samšin, noble Samšin, fiercest of the four, and she said, “Worms they may be, but shall they escape justice for their crime? Are we so lacking in devotion to our creator that we will let their sin pass unpunished, simply because it cannot be done a second time? Are we so lacking in courage that we must flee from creatures whose only true strength lies in envy and malice? Are we so pitiably weak that we must speak to them with our wings folded about our bodies, showing respect where they have earned none?”
All fell silent. She said, “We are neither weak, nor cowardly, nor lacking in devotion. We will show these creatures to the south why we were created by the Maker of Above and Below. We will go in force among them and make them pay for their blasphemy. We will come to them as a claw of light, because I have brought justice into the world, and justice demands that we answer.”
1 Here the style shifts again, as before.—K
2 How many Draconeans would there have been back then?—CF
It is difficult to say. This does not depict accurate history as we would think of it; quite apart from matters like three sisters inventing metal-working, agriculture, and legal systems overnight, I do not think the world as it is described can be considered anything other than mythic representation. We have no evidence that there was ever a widespread community of Anevrai living separate from human contact; on the contrary, the evidence we have suggests that they always existed in the context of human society, and only later came to be numerous enough to rule over the civilization whose ruins we know today. I think this story depicts very much an idealized scenario.—K
3 The ancient word for “moon” is arweh. Lord Trent speculated, based on the Qurrat Fragment, that this was etymologically related to the root for “ghost”; based on what we have read in this tale, I think that is true, and have translated the term accordingly here.—K