Long days they journeyed; long nights they journeyed. They came to a plateau rich with fertile soil, and the people said, “Here we will stay, and make for ourselves a new home.” But the Source of Wind scoured the plateau with freezing gusts, and Imalkit said, “My fire and my shelters are not enough to keep us warm. We must continue onward.”
Long days they journeyed; long nights they journeyed. They came to a valley rich with grain, and the people said, “Here we will live, and make for ourselves a new home.” But the Foundation of All shook the ground so that stones came down upon their heads, and Nahri said, “My grains and my fruits cannot survive in this place. We must continue onward.”
Long days they journeyed; long nights they journeyed. They came to a mountain rich with clean water, and the people said, “Here we will halt, and make for ourselves a new home.” But the ridges of the mountains separated the people, and Samšin said, “My laws and my strength are not enough to keep us together. We must continue onward.”
Long days they journeyed; long nights they journeyed. They came to the lands of the south, where the warmth of the Light of the World was strong. Here the waters were clean and the soil fruitful. Reeds flourished on the banks of the rivers, with forests of cedar on the slopes of the mountains.
Imalkit turned over a stone and found copper within it. She said, “This place is good. I can make my home here.”
Nahri cast seeds across the ground and saw them grow. She said, “This place is good. I can make my home here.”
Samšin brought the people together and heard them speak in praise. She said, “This place is good. I can make my home here, and so can our mothers and our sisters, our brothers and our hatchlings. We will not forget the place of our hatching, the place where our foremothers made their home; it will live on in our songs and our memories, recorded in clay as Ektabr taught us. But the world has changed, and we cannot cling forever to the shell from which we came.”
Together they gave praise to the Maker of Above and Below, praise to the Foundation of All and the Source of Wind, thanking them for the gift of this land. The Crown of the Abyss was appeased, and the people starved no more.
Tablet XIII: “The Founding Tablet”
translated by Audrey Camherst and Kudshayn
The people had followed the issur to the south; in their journey they followed the path of wings to the south. Now the issur flocked in great numbers above the rivers and mountains of that land, and its abundance was not enough to support them all. The sky was filled with their roars as they fought, and those who had survived the starving time fell to their own sisters and brothers as they struggled over what remained.
The āmu had also come to the south, following the herds of the beasts they hunted. Now they huddled in great numbers along the rivers and mountains of that land, and its abundance was not enough to support them all. The air was filled with their cries as they fought, and those who had survived the starving time fell to their own sisters and brothers as they struggled over what remained.
The sisters looked at their own people. They said, “We are few in number, but the abundance of this land is not enough to support us and the āmu and the issur together. Are we to fight as they do? Will we kill our own sisters and brothers as we struggle over what remains? Will we become as the star demons and destroy everything in our hunger?”
Imalkit went among the āmu. With her clever tricks she hid herself and listened to their words, until she understood them as well as she understood the speech of the people. She saw how they hunted the lesser beasts, how they did not dare to hunt the greater beasts. She spoke to them and showed them how to forge spears of metal, how to forge arrowheads of metal. Together they hunted the greater beasts, and there was enough for all.
Nahri went among the issur. She laid out food for them; with patience she coaxed them to her hand. The issur quieted their roars and lay beneath her wing. She planted fields of grain to be food for the beasts of the land, the beasts of the sky; she trapped these beasts to be food for the issur, and fed them from her own hand. The issur ceased to fight, and there was enough for all.
Samšin went among the people. She said to them, “The āmu and the issur have come here in search of life. Once they gave us their breath as a blessing; once they gave us their blood as a gift. Without them we would have no life. As the āmu share our eyes, as the issur share our wings, so we must share this place, and there will be enough for all.”
Imalkit brought to Samšin the one called the Keeper of the Stone, who spoke for the āmu. Nahri brought to Samšin the one called the Highest, who led the issur. She said to them, “I am Samšin, sun-gold, hatched from a single shell, and these are my sisters, Nahri the water-green, Imalkit the sky-blue. Together we descended into the underworld to retrieve the Light of the World, and brought forth the gifts of civilization. If we cultivate the land there will be grain enough for the āmu; if we husband the beasts of the land there will be meat enough for the issur. Together we can deny the Endless Maw its triumph, so that it does not claim us before our time.”
So she spoke, and so it was. Some of the people went among the āmu and became known as the Saybakh, the order of iron, for the wondrous things they crafted. Some of the people went among the issur and became known as the Parzel, the order of quicksilver, for the changeable nature of the issur divided them into many kinds. Some of the people stayed at Samšin’s side and became known as the Takhbat, the order of the one who was sun-gold.
These were the three roots of the great tree, the three foundation stones of the great temple, the three songs in praise of the Foundation of All, the Source of Wind, the Maker of Above and Below. In ancient times the land was watered by those three streams, and the fields flourished with life; in ancient times those three jewels shone in the crown of the queens, and all the peoples were at peace. Now mere gems fill the crown, the streams are choked with weeds, the foundation stones have cracked and sunk. Gone is the harmony of those blessed days, replaced by discord, like bells jangling out of tune. But we keep this memory of those hatched from a single shell, the four who afterward were three, who descended and rose again, turning darkness into light.
TRUE DRACONEAN HISTORY REVEALED
Publishers Announce Corrected Edition
Joint Effort of Human and Draconean
“We apologize for the confusion”
Carrigdon and Rudge, publishers of the memoirs of Lady Trent, announced today that they have made arrangements to withdraw their intended publication of the ancient Draconean epic and replace it with a corrected edition. “We offer our sincere apologies to all our customers for the confusion,” Mr. Rudge said when issuing the announcement. “We were sorely misled by the Earl of Gleinleigh, who had substituted forged material for the epic’s true ending, and we are horrified by the role we nearly played in bringing his lies to the world. Rest assured that we will take steps to make certain no such hoax is perpetrated through our offices again.”
The corrected edition, prepared at great haste by Lady Trent’s granddaughter Miss Audrey Camherst and the Draconean scholar Kudshayn, will include supplementary essays describing the forgery and the process by which it was arranged, as well as a personal reflection by Mr. Kudshayn on the significance of this affair for himself and his people.