A Note for Seriyah

[Hierophant]

Hark, Seriyah

You kindred soul, are your Salhinid tales spun by your hand or another? I recently took trek far and wide, from Ephia's Well to Frostport, and Harrowden to Qadira. Soon, I mean to make an extended stay in Kha'esh to visit their market and bring back beads of many colors for the children of the Stockade.

Though I am most often on my feet, I have made it a mandate of mine to ensure many of these tales are tucked in my traveler's livery for the long roads and voyages ahead. Therefore comes my next question for you, and I wondered if you know of a tale told from a mountain fast, and thought beloved of the Wheel?

The name eludes me, but there is such a place beneath the skirt of the Giant's Road to its west, or perhaps its east. To stare at the Demon's Glare and omit the truth of direction is an unnecessary sore on the eye; for regardless, there is a fast in those canyons, far above and nestled deep. It is abandoned, for God's sake, and I wish to embark on pilgrimage there soon.

Tales do make the world feel round, even if it does not make the world. I shall speak a prayer for you tonight in earnest for your contributions to the many spun of the city, keeping we patient and quiet travelers in suspense of what comes next in the Odes of Salhin by your writ.

Carry Water for Him

Coryn Darsk

[magical girl salhin]

Adar 10, IY 7788

Dear Coryn,

Please forgive me for the belated reply! Between my chores and my duties, the distribution of the Haoma to the refugees in need, and penning the Hundred and One Salhinid Tales, my hours have been so deeply weighed down that I can only take moments here and there. Again, I am deeply sorry.

To briefly canvass your queries: some of the tales were taught to me, some were recited since my arrival in this Citadel, though most were restructured and edited by my hand before publication. As for a tale told from a mountain fast, nothing immediately comes to mind, but I could keep an ear out for you. If you should have heard of any tales or parables during your travels, know that I would be most grateful if I may hear of them! With your permission, I would even be happy to edit and pen them down in my collection.

I don't typically leave this Citadel without my Sisters, and I can't say much of what might lie by the Giant's Road to the west. However, my earnest prayers and my best of wishes go out to you in your pilgrimage.

I wholly agree with you on the nature of tales and stories. I believe that they are metaphors for our creation, and altogether illuminate facets of Knowledge and our world that lend vibrance and wisdom to our understanding of it. I intend to bind the Hundred and One Salhinid Tales as a single volume, and I have stated accordingly in my Preface to the intended volume:

It is said that we dwell now in the Waqt Almashaqa, the Time of Hardships. In the present time of strife, many forget the wisdom of the Wheel and turn to false knowledge. This is especially so for the refugees who have arrived in our Desert since the Ringfall, and who are susceptible to being led astray. Accordingly, it is the duty of our tribe of Salhin and we faithful of the Wheel to chart the path of the Wheel such that these refugees and others may know its wisdom for their own.

It is in these circumstances that I have penned these one hundred and one tales, being stories and parables from these Deserts. Stories are, after all, a metaphor for our creation, and it is said that one who knows all of the stories of the world will know the world as if it is their own. While I cannot claim to have accrued even a fraction of all the stories of the world, it is my earnest hope that these hundred and one will nevertheless shed some illumination as to the strange and mysterious nature of ours.

In so doing, however, I must convey my regretful warning that stories, being metaphors, are nevertheless  an imperfect medium, and I urge caution in treating them if they are gospel. Know that stories are conveyed through the many years, from generations after generations of Hakawati and tale-tellers, that they are best understood of as myths and allegories rather than as testimonies of facts.

This work, laborious as it may have been, was nevertheless an unfailing source of solace and satisfaction. These words have carried my mind and dreams far, to the firmament of the stars and to the cornerstone wreathed in the dark. It has served as my talisman against ennui and it is impossible for me to open these pages without my mind wandering to a host of memories and reminiscences which are not the common property of those less travelled. It is my earnest hope that in reading these pages, you would come to share in that same joy and marvel, that same solace and satisfaction.

If you wish to support the project, please do take a gander at this notice: Become a Benefactor!

With humble gratitude,
Seriyah