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A Long Hard Rain - The Story of Autumn of Fallon - Completed: 8/14
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<blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 2959495" data-attributes="member: 11"><p><span style="font-size: 18px">Part One: Autumn</span></p><p></p><p>I am writing this as a testament to my life and the glory of Fallon (1), who through her grace (and that of Nephthys (2) and Isis (3) - May their beauty and power never fade from the fair, yet foul-seeming world - redeemed me and delivered me from the position of victim to the helper of victims, so that these poor people might live the good life they deserve.</p><p></p><p>My name is Autumn Rain-Storm and I was born on the 6th of Ter in the year 529 H.E. to Bountiful and Ella Rain. They were already in their forties when I was born and they had no intention of having children at that point, but I came anyway. As I grew up I felt the resentment they had towards me, more often than their love. The worst part was that I was a girl and could only be of limited help in my father's small pottery shop, which he ran from the front room of our cottage on the outskirts of Paragraine. (4) My mother definitely did not want me around the house helping with her chores. She had no idea what to do with a young girl. It was as if she had forgotten that she had been one herself.</p><p></p><p>I was a plain girl and not much to look at. No boys ever took an interest in me; not even enough to tease me as other girls were teased. I was quiet and had no friends and spent my free time perfecting the pottery I had picked up by watching my father. By the time I reached my middle teen years my parents were both very old and my mother grew sick with the yellow wasting disease and could do less and less. I took up her household chores, in addition to the chore of caring for her once she became bedridden. My father and I were constantly worrying that someone would find out that mother was sick and that the Monks of Anubis (5) would come to fulfill their duty determined by local law. All infected persons within the city walls or within ten miles of the city were to be put to death to avoid larger contamination. </p><p></p><p>In the end Anubis' servants did not need to help her along her way to their master's realm. My mother died on my fifteenth birthday. I will never forget when the monks came for her corpse and laid it upon the cart with the others, their solemn dark faces betraying no emotion about their work; not speaking a single word of condolence. This was my first experience with death and while some part of me understood that this was a necessary part of the life cycle, part of me raged against it and I wished there were something I could do to delay death and make life better for the living.</p><p></p><p>Such philosophical thoughts had to wait. The next year was very difficult. My father also became frail and could do less work. My cooking did not seem to nourish him as much as my mother's had, his pottery became less beautiful and reliable. He was late with several commissions, and I had not progressed enough at the craft to be a sufficient substitute. At first I did not understand what was happening to him, as he seemed otherwise healthy, but one night I heard him weeping and peeking into his room I saw him curled up on my mother's side of the bed holding a pillow to his body. It became clear to me. He really did love my mother. This came as a shock to me. I had never seen any overt affection between them and as far as I knew they had had an arranged marriage. I was also surprised that two people that could show so much resentment and coldness to their own daughter could be capable of such a deep love. But it was true. I realized then that love was in the hearts of all sentient beings, even the cold, cruel or evil. It only took the right conditions or people or opportunity to bring that love and goodness out. </p><p></p><p>It was the first of several turning points in my life. I came to understand why they resented me. I came along and changed the dynamic of a friendship and romance that had lasted over twenty years and they did not want it changed. Perhaps if I had been born earlier in their marriage they might have been the loving affectionate people I desired as parents, but for some reason they had remained infertile until now and had taken it for granted that no child would come from their acts of love, but Isis works in mysterious ways.</p><p></p><p>Something else became clear to me the next morning as I served my father breakfast. He was willing himself to die. My father did not want to go on without his wife of so many years.</p><p>I could see it in the way he ate and in the way he went about his chores. He hardly spoke anymore and only glared at me when I did not do the chores he expected of me on time or exactly as he expected. Eventually he went days without getting out of bed and only ate one meal a day. He fell behind on his quota of pottery and the tax collector visited us three times. The third time he mentioned debtor’s prison and slavery. (6) I was afraid, but said nothing. One day my father spoke.</p><p></p><p>"Autumn," he said in a croaky voice, hoarse from hardly speaking. "I am selling the house and the shop."</p><p></p><p>I was stunned.</p><p></p><p>"But where will we go?" I stammered.</p><p></p><p>“I am going to die," he said quietly. "I know that you know. I can see it in your eyes. It is all I want to do now. Life does not satisfy me."</p><p></p><p>"Am I to die too?" I asked, half-wishing that he would answer in the affirmative. My life had always felt so weighty and miserable and now it seemed unbearable. </p><p></p><p>"You are to be married," he said and coughed.</p><p></p><p>"No one would marry me," I said.</p><p></p><p>"I have already arranged it through an intermediary. You will marry the youngest son of Norwich Storm. He is a land-owner from the vicinity of Zentralp. The boy is a bit dull and will not go far in life, but he will provide for you. It was the best I could do with no dowry."</p><p></p><p>I did not complain or argue. I just accepted my fate. Within a week I was on board a wagon headed for Zentralp with a wicker basket, which held my pottery tools, a change of clothes and a letter from my father to Norwich Storm, who would soon be my father-in-law. I do not know what the letter said, for at that time I had not yet learned my letters. I did not even know what my future husband's name was. I spoke even less than I usually did during that last week and never asked. My father sold the house and his business and as I left workers were carrying things out of the house. I do not know what my father ended up doing. I never saw him again. I still imagine him dying on the streets of Paragraine a poor miserable beggar or perhaps leaping over the Chalton Cliffs to the northeast of the city as many of the miserable did.</p><p></p><p>I was frightened of the change in my life and of being with a man I had never met, but at the same time part of me was happy that there was a man somewhere that wanted me. Love comes from strange places. Had not my parents fallen in love after an arranged marriage? Perhaps that was how it worked best. The wagon came to “Sown with Bones”(7), the plantation of my soon-to-be father-in-law and I got off. My new life started.</p><p>-----------------------------------------------------------</p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p></p><p>(1) Fallon is the goddess of healing. Once a mortal, she ascended to godhood in the Third Age by the combined wills of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys.</p><p></p><p>(2) Isis is the goddess of motherhood, magic and the moon. Her worship is illegal in the Black Islands Barony.</p><p></p><p>(3) Nephthys is the goddess of freedom, bravery and friendship. She was once married to Set the god of evil, tyranny and serpents. Her worship is illegal in the Black Islands Barony.</p><p>(4) Paragraine is the capital of the Black Islands Barony, on the western coast of the northernmost of the two large islands that make up the majority of its territory.</p><p></p><p>(5) Anubis is the guardian of the dead and his monks are charged with the burial and protection of the dead and the administering of rites. </p><p></p><p>(6) Nearly three-fifths of the population of the Black Islands are slaves or indentured servants.</p><p></p><p>(7) The plantation is built on the site of a great battle against the wizard Heenuce who ruled these islands before the coming of the Herman-landers in the 2nd century of the current age. This place is named for all the bones still found when the earth is tilled or dug into.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="el-remmen, post: 2959495, member: 11"] [SIZE=5]Part One: Autumn[/SIZE] I am writing this as a testament to my life and the glory of Fallon (1), who through her grace (and that of Nephthys (2) and Isis (3) - May their beauty and power never fade from the fair, yet foul-seeming world - redeemed me and delivered me from the position of victim to the helper of victims, so that these poor people might live the good life they deserve. My name is Autumn Rain-Storm and I was born on the 6th of Ter in the year 529 H.E. to Bountiful and Ella Rain. They were already in their forties when I was born and they had no intention of having children at that point, but I came anyway. As I grew up I felt the resentment they had towards me, more often than their love. The worst part was that I was a girl and could only be of limited help in my father's small pottery shop, which he ran from the front room of our cottage on the outskirts of Paragraine. (4) My mother definitely did not want me around the house helping with her chores. She had no idea what to do with a young girl. It was as if she had forgotten that she had been one herself. I was a plain girl and not much to look at. No boys ever took an interest in me; not even enough to tease me as other girls were teased. I was quiet and had no friends and spent my free time perfecting the pottery I had picked up by watching my father. By the time I reached my middle teen years my parents were both very old and my mother grew sick with the yellow wasting disease and could do less and less. I took up her household chores, in addition to the chore of caring for her once she became bedridden. My father and I were constantly worrying that someone would find out that mother was sick and that the Monks of Anubis (5) would come to fulfill their duty determined by local law. All infected persons within the city walls or within ten miles of the city were to be put to death to avoid larger contamination. In the end Anubis' servants did not need to help her along her way to their master's realm. My mother died on my fifteenth birthday. I will never forget when the monks came for her corpse and laid it upon the cart with the others, their solemn dark faces betraying no emotion about their work; not speaking a single word of condolence. This was my first experience with death and while some part of me understood that this was a necessary part of the life cycle, part of me raged against it and I wished there were something I could do to delay death and make life better for the living. Such philosophical thoughts had to wait. The next year was very difficult. My father also became frail and could do less work. My cooking did not seem to nourish him as much as my mother's had, his pottery became less beautiful and reliable. He was late with several commissions, and I had not progressed enough at the craft to be a sufficient substitute. At first I did not understand what was happening to him, as he seemed otherwise healthy, but one night I heard him weeping and peeking into his room I saw him curled up on my mother's side of the bed holding a pillow to his body. It became clear to me. He really did love my mother. This came as a shock to me. I had never seen any overt affection between them and as far as I knew they had had an arranged marriage. I was also surprised that two people that could show so much resentment and coldness to their own daughter could be capable of such a deep love. But it was true. I realized then that love was in the hearts of all sentient beings, even the cold, cruel or evil. It only took the right conditions or people or opportunity to bring that love and goodness out. It was the first of several turning points in my life. I came to understand why they resented me. I came along and changed the dynamic of a friendship and romance that had lasted over twenty years and they did not want it changed. Perhaps if I had been born earlier in their marriage they might have been the loving affectionate people I desired as parents, but for some reason they had remained infertile until now and had taken it for granted that no child would come from their acts of love, but Isis works in mysterious ways. Something else became clear to me the next morning as I served my father breakfast. He was willing himself to die. My father did not want to go on without his wife of so many years. I could see it in the way he ate and in the way he went about his chores. He hardly spoke anymore and only glared at me when I did not do the chores he expected of me on time or exactly as he expected. Eventually he went days without getting out of bed and only ate one meal a day. He fell behind on his quota of pottery and the tax collector visited us three times. The third time he mentioned debtor’s prison and slavery. (6) I was afraid, but said nothing. One day my father spoke. "Autumn," he said in a croaky voice, hoarse from hardly speaking. "I am selling the house and the shop." I was stunned. "But where will we go?" I stammered. “I am going to die," he said quietly. "I know that you know. I can see it in your eyes. It is all I want to do now. Life does not satisfy me." "Am I to die too?" I asked, half-wishing that he would answer in the affirmative. My life had always felt so weighty and miserable and now it seemed unbearable. "You are to be married," he said and coughed. "No one would marry me," I said. "I have already arranged it through an intermediary. You will marry the youngest son of Norwich Storm. He is a land-owner from the vicinity of Zentralp. The boy is a bit dull and will not go far in life, but he will provide for you. It was the best I could do with no dowry." I did not complain or argue. I just accepted my fate. Within a week I was on board a wagon headed for Zentralp with a wicker basket, which held my pottery tools, a change of clothes and a letter from my father to Norwich Storm, who would soon be my father-in-law. I do not know what the letter said, for at that time I had not yet learned my letters. I did not even know what my future husband's name was. I spoke even less than I usually did during that last week and never asked. My father sold the house and his business and as I left workers were carrying things out of the house. I do not know what my father ended up doing. I never saw him again. I still imagine him dying on the streets of Paragraine a poor miserable beggar or perhaps leaping over the Chalton Cliffs to the northeast of the city as many of the miserable did. I was frightened of the change in my life and of being with a man I had never met, but at the same time part of me was happy that there was a man somewhere that wanted me. Love comes from strange places. Had not my parents fallen in love after an arranged marriage? Perhaps that was how it worked best. The wagon came to “Sown with Bones”(7), the plantation of my soon-to-be father-in-law and I got off. My new life started. ----------------------------------------------------------- [b]Notes:[/b] (1) Fallon is the goddess of healing. Once a mortal, she ascended to godhood in the Third Age by the combined wills of the goddesses Isis and Nephthys. (2) Isis is the goddess of motherhood, magic and the moon. Her worship is illegal in the Black Islands Barony. (3) Nephthys is the goddess of freedom, bravery and friendship. She was once married to Set the god of evil, tyranny and serpents. Her worship is illegal in the Black Islands Barony. (4) Paragraine is the capital of the Black Islands Barony, on the western coast of the northernmost of the two large islands that make up the majority of its territory. (5) Anubis is the guardian of the dead and his monks are charged with the burial and protection of the dead and the administering of rites. (6) Nearly three-fifths of the population of the Black Islands are slaves or indentured servants. (7) The plantation is built on the site of a great battle against the wizard Heenuce who ruled these islands before the coming of the Herman-landers in the 2nd century of the current age. This place is named for all the bones still found when the earth is tilled or dug into. [/QUOTE]
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