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edenfallingSummary: Ekanu takes a class on the history of the Three Day Revolution and the end of the Estarin Empire. (415 words)
Note: This ficlet is set during Ekanu's student years in Estara, though judging by her grasp of Common and recognition of Trinitarian religious imagery, she's been there at least a couple years. So it comes after Learning To Listen, Barycenter, and Craftsmanship, but before Seduction in which she goes to Vinaeo to begin her service payment for her education.
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Ripples in Time
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"It's called stone weaving," Mistress Itannissen said as the students gently passed around the tiny, supple network of gems, each delicately clasped and linked into a shimmering picture. "It was popular in the decades immediately preceding the Revolution. The practice fell out of favor for obvious reasons, and even when some parts of Estaria recovered enough prosperity that the upper classes could afford such luxuries, tastes and styles had moved on."
Ekanu took the tarnished silver rod from her neighbor and let the gems swing freely, glinting in the morning sun that poured through the classroom windows. The stones felt heavier than their physical weight.
The image was highly stylized, but it seemed to depict a veiled woman standing in water. Or on water, perhaps? Her gown and veil were cabochon moonstone, her skin unpolished agate, the water faceted lapis and amethyst. Cabochon ruby blood dripped from her hands and spread around her feet in facets.
Nesta of the Waves, in one of her more ambiguous guises.
"Was this a private commission, or was it for the Church?" Ekanu asked, looking up toward the front of the room.
Mistress Itannissen smiled. "Both, actually. This was part of the personal collection of Zakaros VII, the last of the imperial Hierophants. It was looted from his mansion during the Three Days, but vanished from the new government's records during a reactionary raid on the treasury. It didn't resurface for nearly thirty years, at which point it was left as an anonymous death offering at Nesta's temple in Sinnesta. The temple added it to their altar display, but after two attempted thefts, one of which left both the thief and a priestess dead, the Sinnestan Mother of Waters sold it to the University in return for the deed to a confiscated shrine on one of the bay islands."
A heavy weight indeed, for such a small thing to carry.
"Has anyone tried to steal it from here?" someone asked from across the room: one of the day-students, whose names Ekanu had yet to correctly match to their faces.
"That is an excellent question," Mistress Itannissen said. "Let's pretend I don't know the answer. How would you find the truth?"
As the class began to discuss potential sources and records, Ekanu ran her fingers over the goddess's image, tracing the faint residue of heat from her fellow students' hands, and wondered how much true blood had joined its mineral counterpart on Nesta's hands through the years, and how many more years before that weight dissolved.
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Inspired by the 2/1/15![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
15_minute_ficlets word #219: ruby
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Yay, I wrote a thing! It's tiny, but still. A thing!
This was kind of odd to write, because I had to placeholder several things while writing and then go look up the details later from my world-building files. Like, I remembered the name of the last high priest, but not his number or official title; likewise, I couldn't remember if I'd ever come up with titles for the local head priest/priestess of the three Estarian deities, or named the bay at the mouth of the Mekhul River. Turns out I hadn't. *shrug* Well, at least Nesta's clergy now have titles. And I suspect the bay is called the Bay of Sinnesta, because let's not get fancy here. (Sinnesta is Estara's port, btw, since the coast has moved several miles downstream since Estara's founding.)
Note: This ficlet is set during Ekanu's student years in Estara, though judging by her grasp of Common and recognition of Trinitarian religious imagery, she's been there at least a couple years. So it comes after Learning To Listen, Barycenter, and Craftsmanship, but before Seduction in which she goes to Vinaeo to begin her service payment for her education.
---------------------------------------------
Ripples in Time
---------------------------------------------
"It's called stone weaving," Mistress Itannissen said as the students gently passed around the tiny, supple network of gems, each delicately clasped and linked into a shimmering picture. "It was popular in the decades immediately preceding the Revolution. The practice fell out of favor for obvious reasons, and even when some parts of Estaria recovered enough prosperity that the upper classes could afford such luxuries, tastes and styles had moved on."
Ekanu took the tarnished silver rod from her neighbor and let the gems swing freely, glinting in the morning sun that poured through the classroom windows. The stones felt heavier than their physical weight.
The image was highly stylized, but it seemed to depict a veiled woman standing in water. Or on water, perhaps? Her gown and veil were cabochon moonstone, her skin unpolished agate, the water faceted lapis and amethyst. Cabochon ruby blood dripped from her hands and spread around her feet in facets.
Nesta of the Waves, in one of her more ambiguous guises.
"Was this a private commission, or was it for the Church?" Ekanu asked, looking up toward the front of the room.
Mistress Itannissen smiled. "Both, actually. This was part of the personal collection of Zakaros VII, the last of the imperial Hierophants. It was looted from his mansion during the Three Days, but vanished from the new government's records during a reactionary raid on the treasury. It didn't resurface for nearly thirty years, at which point it was left as an anonymous death offering at Nesta's temple in Sinnesta. The temple added it to their altar display, but after two attempted thefts, one of which left both the thief and a priestess dead, the Sinnestan Mother of Waters sold it to the University in return for the deed to a confiscated shrine on one of the bay islands."
A heavy weight indeed, for such a small thing to carry.
"Has anyone tried to steal it from here?" someone asked from across the room: one of the day-students, whose names Ekanu had yet to correctly match to their faces.
"That is an excellent question," Mistress Itannissen said. "Let's pretend I don't know the answer. How would you find the truth?"
As the class began to discuss potential sources and records, Ekanu ran her fingers over the goddess's image, tracing the faint residue of heat from her fellow students' hands, and wondered how much true blood had joined its mineral counterpart on Nesta's hands through the years, and how many more years before that weight dissolved.
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Inspired by the 2/1/15
15_minute_ficlets word #219: ruby---------------------------------------------
Yay, I wrote a thing! It's tiny, but still. A thing!
This was kind of odd to write, because I had to placeholder several things while writing and then go look up the details later from my world-building files. Like, I remembered the name of the last high priest, but not his number or official title; likewise, I couldn't remember if I'd ever come up with titles for the local head priest/priestess of the three Estarian deities, or named the bay at the mouth of the Mekhul River. Turns out I hadn't. *shrug* Well, at least Nesta's clergy now have titles. And I suspect the bay is called the Bay of Sinnesta, because let's not get fancy here. (Sinnesta is Estara's port, btw, since the coast has moved several miles downstream since Estara's founding.)
Arjonline
Date: 2015-12-01 11:16 am (UTC)https://arjonline.org/