Chapter 10: After the Council

When Rorlal escorted Tilsitar from the council hall to the chambers where the bellows women would stay, they went through the long halls of the Aientas’ House. Now the fashion of Aientas’ house was such that each of the walls was painted with scenes of the gods and their deeds. Even the deeds of Kilomond are recorded in the murals of those halls.

As fate would have it that the pair should pass by a strange image that Tilsitar did not know. She stopped, and after continuing a few steps Rorlal paused and turned to see her examining a large mountain being raised over a great void, with fire spewing from a great black maw that licked at the base of the mountain.

“I… I should have led you down a different path,” said Rorlal quietly, “I am sorry. Come. This is a work of grief and pain.”

“No, please tell me what is this?” whispered the bellows women, “I see the void into which our Lord was thrown, but I have never seen the mountain.”

Rorlal exhaled deeply. “I do not know if I ought to… Neither gods nor spirits speak of it but in whispers. Fear still colors our memories… god against god…”

Cutting off the grave servant, Tilstar took his hand and pleaded with Rorlal, her voice breaking.

“Please! Be kind to me. Me and those who served the forge master were never told what happened to our Lord. We saw him cast down into the void, but we were never told what judgment the gods passed on him, nor why he has not returned. We do not know if he was slain, so we hold hope he will return and restore us to his mighty forge works. The gods have never spoken any word to us of what became of him and the spirits who witnessed will not speak. I beg you please tell me! So that we may at least know what has happened to our master!”

Eyes cast to the floor, brow furrowed, Rorlal turned away from her and set off down the hall.

“… very well… come and we shall start at the beginning…”

Thus, Rorlal walked the hall of Kilomond’s Jealousy, explaining to the bellows women all that came to pass. From the creation of mortals to the gifts of the gods all was explained, and just when the servant of Aientas began to tell of how Silnethren bound the souls of mortals to his crystal halls, Tilsitar spoke up.

“You have spoken of these murals for nigh an hour yet I am no closer to understanding why our lord was cast out of the heavens? All he has done is forge the mortals and invite the gods to make his creations better. Why was he cast down? Why?”

“Patience, Tilsitar,” replied Rorlal, “We are about to come to the point.”

“When the gods had given their gifts to mortals, Kilomond considered the work complete. But see here, Silnethren, his brother, saw that the soul fires were often poured out into the void when their forms were broken. So built his great crystal halls into which were gathered and bound all of the souls of mortals. And this Kilomond could not stand. He became jealous, and sought to destroy all mortal life, so he could begin again and make something new and wholly his own. For he saw this final work of Silnethren as the culmination of his work slipping from his ownership to the ownership of all the other gods. Those who saw the battle in heaven say that he bellowed about the other gods being thieves, taking from him his own creation. I was not there, but… this is what is said by those who were there.”

And there was silence while the stars shone through the windows of the hall. Both were still. For Tilsitar had her answer and her heart which had been planted with the seeds of grief began to sprout with the strangling vine of rage. For if her master, the rightful master of all his crafts deemed that craft unfit, it was unfit. But the vine was not yet in bloom and it would not bear fruit for some time yet.

She turned to Rorlal, face troubled.

“Please take me where I can rest, servant of Aientas. You have shown me much kindness.”

“You are welcome mighty bellows women. Please, follow me.”

So Rorlal led Tilsitar to the chamber where would sleep in the heavens. For three days and three nights Tilsitar rested in the heavens, and Rorlal was always by her side telling her much of the past. In this time, she learned much of her master’s downfall of the chasm that Myliayar carved with her sword, the Tablet that Silnethren cast into the void, and of the mountain the Aientas raised to seal Kilomond away. 

When Silnethren left the council hall he was immediately found by his sister Kalikel. Grabbing him by the arm, she pulled him into a courtyard away from the main thoroughfares Aientas’ halls.

“Milyos is a liar, and he seeks to blind us from his desires,” snapped the Wild Lady, “He speaks of helping the people of that city. He desires only to be worshiped and to rule.”

“Perhaps,” replied Silnethren, “But we have no way of knowing this. What he has said aligns with the testimony of the dead and the living. I… I wish that the servant of our brother had not come into the meeting. Her grief has reawakened mine. I grieve with her, for Kilomond. I wish he would return…”

“I fear he may, if Milyos did as he claimed,” snarled Kalikel, moving away from her brother, eventually settling under a small tree in the courtyard, reaching down and picking up a stone.

“Kil could never be separated from those dastardly tools once we finished this world. He never even visited to see the wild things that flourished in the world we made. Instead, he decided to make more, build more. His craft consumed him. He will feel their use.”

The stone skipped across the marble tiles of the courtyard. Silnethren crossed the courtyard, sitting next to Kalikel, placing her arm around her shoulder.

“Kali, I… I know he’s… jealous, wrathful even, sometimes. But if he does come back he will have crossed the void. And you know that I wrote to him…”

“Yes, but he was angry at you specifically! He was angry because he thought that you had tarnished something that was his!” cried Kalikel, pushing her brother away. “He loved his tools! And if his servants heard their use then surely, he did! No matter how great the void! And what do you think he will say when he comes back!?!

‘Oh hello dear brother, I’ve completely forgotten the thing that made me attempt to kill you! Come, let us celebrate and feast together! And whoever used my tools, I am glad for them! They are the finest ever made, and I am sure they served them well!’ Is that what you believe he will do?!?!”

“Do you really think so lowly of our brother?” questioned Silnethren in a quiet voice. He continued, turning to face her, his voice rising.

“Do you wish that he would never return? I know he hurt you when he turned to his craft and did not come to see your wilderness in its great and vast diversity, but have you forgotten what we did together? Have you forgotten how he helped you craft the lava flows that are the heart of the earth? Or how he showed you how to use the waters to shape the land into whatever you desired? He is still our brother! Yes, the fire of that furnace he made drew him always further in, but he has been away from them now for thousands of years! We only need to speak to him when he returns and all will be made right! Besides, there is the mountain. Milmota stands over the void. We will have a warning for he will not be able to destroy it in a single blow from the inside. We will have time to prepare for his return.”

Kalikel turned her back on her brother, a small tear welling in each eye.

“Now do not cry dear sister. For you will cry a little, but I will weep till a new river flows from the heavens,” said Silnethren, “Forgive me. I spoke foolishly and from my grief.”

“I know, Silnethren. And I do forgive you,” replied Kalikel, “And I hope you are right. I hope he will listen to us. But I am afraid of what will happen if he does not.”

And together the pair wept together in the heavens for Kilomond the Forge Lord. Their tears from that night mingled together and became the river, Elistralla. Slow and thoughtful it flows in the cold reaches of the north, and those who drink from its water taste the sweet sadness of the siblings grieving for their brother.

On the same day that Tilsitar left the heavens, Silnethren set out from the heavens to once again to collect the souls of mortals. Kalikel went with him. For the war between the two great cities had kept his focus busy on the battlefields and atrocities filled with corpses of many mortals. But war is not the only end that a mortal may find in the world, and since he would travel through much of the wilds, Kalikel accompanied him.

In this time, the two shared many things and in their time together things were much as they were before making of mortals. Kalikel learned much of guiding and collecting mortal souls from her brother, and Silnethren saw all of the wonders of the wild. From the caves of Rasaca to the great desert that stretched over many lands in the southern reaches of Kilsanndeth, the two walked the earth together.

The siblings went over the mountains by the difficult pass of Drandtha that many travelers find stunning beauty in the frozen heights, but as many find their end there. When the two came down from the pass to the foothills of the mountains of Totinth, they sat together under the great oaks that grow in the valleys and dales there, resting and considering where they might go next. 

Silnethren sat under the mightiest of the trees in the forests, listening to the birds while Kalikel moved to and fro among the trees about where her brother sat. There was not but the wind in the trees to accompany the birds for some time when Sinethrenl stood from his seat between two roots.

“Kali,” He called out, “May I ask you a question? I would like to know something.”

“What can I tell you that you don’t know,” laughed Kalikel, “Are all treasures of nature that I have shown you enough?”

“They are more than enough, dear sister, you know this,” replied Silnethren, “No, it is… well…”

“Yes you can ask me about whatever you like,” relented Kalikel with a smile, “you may always ask me your questions. I have no secrets.”

“Is that so?” spoke Silnethren with a broad sarcastic smile. “How many have seen Creti’s mighty water falls or walked the secret paths to Elethetaea’s shores? You keep plenty of secrets.”

“They are not secret!” said Kalikel, dancing around Silnethren, “Most just never bother to ask. If they went looking there is little that would stop them from finding all in my domain. Most just never look.”

“Ah because those who have died in your domain were not kept from those places.”

“No,” replied Kalikel, with a wry smile, “They did not listen to what the wild was telling them. If they had listened they would not have died. For those who listen, they could reach them.”

Kalikel began to laugh, shoving Silnethren down playfully, sending him tumbling to the forest floor.

“So I may have some secrets!” said Kalikel, her smile bright like the sun, “Go on then. Ask your question.”

Collecting himself from being sprawled on ground, Silnethren pushed himself up sitting cross legged, collecting himself. He looked up at her, finding her eyes, his face becoming serious and inquisitive.

“What?” asked Kalikel, “What is it?”

“Kali, why did you not aid in the creation of mortals?”

Kali’s head tilted slightly to the side. Turning half away from Silnethren, She looked up to the trees, before turning back to meet Sil’s gaze that had not left her.

“The eyes of the gods have always been on what we have done together, you, I and Kilomond. When you gathered the dust of Milyos they watched you. When Kilomond forged that dust into this great sphere, they watched him. And when I made the wilds they watched me. So when they turned and looked on Kilomond’s new work that he undertook himself, I enjoyed that their eyes were not on me and what I did. Surely you felt the same. The absence of their gaze. I relished it. Besides, look around you, and see my gift to mortals. The trees and the forests. The rivers and their lakes. My gift to mortals is evident.” Kalikel crouched down so that she looked him level in the eye. “They were built for land made lush by the wilds. They may hide in their cities, those cheap imitations of Ikata’s work which they build from the wild around them. They do not have to learn the ways of the wild in them, but their grains, their vegetables, the fruits of the tree and the vine and the bush, who made those?”

Now Kalikel sat, mirroring Sil’s cross legged posture. “When I saw mortals, I saw that I had already given them the greatest gift I could give them. A lush home, full of all they could ever desire.”

They sat across from each other for some time, quite. The sun set over the mountains in the distance. And as night came in Silnethren rose and offered a hand to his sister.

“Will you walk with me a little longer?” brother asked sister, “I have missed you in the wanderings of my work and I should visit you more.”

 Thus, the two set off down the valley, silent and thoughtful.

When they reached the mouth of the valley, the trees broke, revealing an open plane. In the distance was a town, and Kalikel upon seeing it turned to Silnethren and said,

“I will go with you to the edge of that settlement, but no further. For I need to return to my wilds. I imagine there are many souls there for you to usher into your halls and many more in other mortal dwellings.”

“Yes, you are probably right,” replied Silnethren, “though I am sad to leave you. Especially in these lands, I love to wander most.” As he said this he stopped a few paces out from the edge of the tree line and turned around to face Kalikel. “You see in all the lands west of Irrkengrond, they burry their dead in great round sepulchers dug into the ground lined with stones and each or the bodies of the deceased are placed in recess in the wall that is then sealed with a stele inscribed with the name of the one who lays there. I must say I am more than a little flattered by the similarities to my own great well.”

“Oh you are a simple one aren’t you brother,” chuckled Kalikel, “I will be glad to see such a thing before I go. And It was only a matter of time before I must depart from you. Many die in cities and towns and villages. Only a few in the wild. It is the way of things.”

“Yes… You are right sister. You are right.”

Kalikel set her eyes on the horizon and moved beside Silnethren. Suddenly nervous, Silnethren shifted his weight from one foot to another, scuffing at the ground. A cloud lingered over the sun and all became grey.

“Kali… I…”

Silnethren paused, searching for courage. Before he found it Kalikel spoke.

“Yes, Sil? Do you have another burning question inside of you?”

“I… I do, but… It is not like the other,” stammered Silnethren.

“Well ask. You know that I will answer.” Spoke Kalikel, her face turning serious.

The Lord of Death turned to face his sister directly “That is what I am afraid of.”

A heavy silence filled the air, and as Sil’s consternation and fear grew, a thick fog swept in over the plain, obscuring the town from their sight. When the air was heavy around them, he finally spoke

“You know that I did not intend to anger Kilomond when I bound the souls of mortals to the crystal halls? I… I only wanted to protect what he had made. And now, from time to time, I feel it is my fault that he is gone. I fought him instead of trying to reason with him. I helped Myliayar and Aientas cast him into the depths.”

Kalikel looked out into the fog, a question trickling from her lips like a quiet stream, weaving its way through great trees high in the mountains, cool and steady.

“Do you truly believe you did the right thing when you chose to preserve the souls of mortals?”

“Yes! I do! More than anything I’ve ever done!” spoke Silnethren, his voice rising , “More than when we made the earth! More when we came here from what was before! How could I watch as he was content to let something so good, something he crafted with his own hands be destroyed and forgotten with no trace of what was there? How?”

And Silnethren turned away, slumping to the ground, arms wrapped around his knees, his face strained, full of grief and anger.

Kalikel slowly approached Silnethren, crouching down and turning Silnethren to face her again.

Then, reaching out with both of her arms, the arms that split the sea, and that drove the wilds, she embraced him.

“I do not blame you for Kilomond’s exile,” soothed Kalikel, “I wish he were her just as much as you. I am sorry that he could not see what was good in them once the hands of other crafters had touched them. I am glad you protected them.”

“But why me? Why did he not become angry when the other gods gave the mortals gifts? Why only after what I did to help him?”

“I do not know, Silnethren. I do not know.”

And Kalikel comforted Silnethren, until the fog passed and they could see the town again. Together they rose and went to the sepulcher outside the town.