Stories I Found
January 20th, 2026
Brother and Sister
Dear Readers,
I always find the first few weeks of the new year to be a little disorienting. Trying to find your way back into the routines of everyday life after the hubbub of the holiday season has always been tricky for me. One challenge for Aubri and I in finding this regular routine early this year is that Aubri was in a car accident two weeks ago. Both Aubri and the other driver where uninjured but Aubri’s vehicle was totaled. So, we are down a car at the moment.
However, there are plenty of positives to go around early this year. Tutoring with Beverly Bootstraps is going well and I am enjoying the process of helping other adults learn. Additionally, we have been really enjoying our D&D groups recently. The connections we have made and the stories we have gotten to tell with good friends have been a great joy.
With regard to my writing, I have started Chapter 21. It took me awhile to get started on this chapter as Chapter 20 ends with a large release of emotional tension and finding exactly where the story needs to go next took me some time. I have also been doing quite a bit of editing for future chapters as well.
This Week’s Chapter
Chapter 10 takes us deep into the minds of three characters, all of whom have rich connections to Kilomond. The first is Tilsitar, the most faithful of Kilomond’s servants. The other two are Kilomond’s siblings; Kalikel, goddess of the wild, and Silnethren, god of death.
Tilsitar has many admirable characteristics. She is loyal to her master even in his absence. She hopes that he may return to his station and restore his relationships. In her time operating the bellows of Kilomond’s forge, she performed her tasks dutifully. Ultimately, Tilsitar wants to know what happened to a person she loved and respected, who led and taught her the craft of the forge. What she learns leaves her grieving.
Kalikel and Silnethren also spend much of Chapter 10 grieving. They have lost a brother and a friend. Further, they have lost someone who they commenced a great work with. They built the world with Kilomond. They filled it with life with Kilomond. Silnethren ultimately had to save mortals from Kilomond. And Kalikel was not there. She didn’t help create mortals, not did she fight Kilomond. Silnethren can’t help but wonder what she thinks of everything that has happened…
Please feel free to share these newsletters with other people you think may be interested, and leave comments on the chapters!
“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.”
Something Extra!
This week’s something extra is a song that I imagine underscoring the last scene of Chapter 10. Brother by Gerard Way discusses a sibling relationship that wasn’t perfect but that the narrator wants to return to in some way. The current state of things, “the drums of the city rain”, keep him from sleeping and he longs to find a place of rest in the relationships of the past.
I think that Kalikel and Silnethren both share a certain amount of the kind of sadness that is discussed in Brother. If it were possible to bring Kilomond back without the destruction of the world and all the things that the three of them made together, both Kalikel and Silnethren would jump at the chance. So together they grieve for what once was.
