56 lines
5.2 KiB
HTML
56 lines
5.2 KiB
HTML
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<title>Zk | punishment</title>
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<h1>Zk | punishment</h1>
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<p>(Tyw comes walking up to Lyut, an all white ermine)
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The next morning, a second strange occurrence greets Lyut when he opens his eyes. Sitting at the entrance to his cave is a creature very much like him in many ways, but in many ways different. Long and lithe, yes, strong and slender, yes, but shorter, and with fur of the purest white as opposed to the dark brown of his own. Too, a face more slender and ears larger, and on the tip of his tail, the fur is dark black.</p>
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<p>“Who are you?”</p>
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<p>I smile to him. “It is I, faithful. It is Týw.”</p>
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<p>A look of confusion comes over his face, and I must hold back amusement as the fisher sits up and rubs his eyes, looking around as though the answers were to be found in the air itself.</p>
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<p>“Týw?”</p>
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<p>“Yes, faithful.”</p>
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<p>“I thought that the gods were too dear to be seen?”</p>
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<p>I close my eyes. “Yes, this is true, most of the time. However, I was not completely honest with you yesterday, Lyut.”</p>
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<p>He frowns. “If you are a god and you are holy, how can you lie?”</p>
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<p>“It was a lie by omission, for I am the god of water and of watching and of the moon and of death, but I am also a trickster god. I am the god who sows chaos while Ýng sows order. Forever we work together or against each other. Forever we move in a cycle.”</p>
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<p>Lyut sits cross-legged and bows his head as he thinks on this. He knows that, on some level, it must be true, for there are times when the weather is bad for days on end and he cannot — or could not — tell the difference between day and night, and there are times when he will go a week without food from the river, and once there was even a time when something happened to the water of his section of the stream that caused it to taste bitter and plant-like, and no boiling could remove the flavor.</p>
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<p>“You sow chaos and Ýng fixes it?”</p>
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<p>“There is no fixing chaos, faithful. I sow chaos because that is who and what I am. Ýng brings order because that is what They are. There is no moral ground on which to judge the chaos that I sow, just as there is no judgement to be made on the order of our lord. Both are holy in their own way.”</p>
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<p>Lyut nods. “Is the chaos of your servants not holy?”</p>
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<p>“It is not. It is my role in the world to sow chaos so that you may learn and become better for it, but when you sow chaos for each other, you lower yourselves in our eyes.”</p>
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<p>“So then how can I see you now? What are you?”</p>
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<p>“I am the concrete manifestation of myself. I committed a concrete act by giving you sight, and the ramifications to me are also concrete.”</p>
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<p>“You made it so that I can see you?”</p>
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<p>I wince, then cover it with a smile. “No, faithful. Ýng has made it so that you can see me, for They are my lord and I am Their servant, and I sowed chaos and They have in turn brought order to me. At least, for a while.”</p>
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<p>Lyut looks startled at this. “Is it a wicked thing that you have given me sight? Have you made us both unholy?”</p>
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<p>“No, faithful.” I hold up my hands. “It is good and holy that you may see, and Ýng agrees. However, They control the balance, and so they have decided that the balance for you seeing as for me to be seen. I will live for thirty years among the world, and you will find that the chaos that I bring is vastly reduced while I am here in this form, for in this form, I cannot work my usual methods.”</p>
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<p>Lyut nods. “Is that not a punishment?”</p>
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<p>I laugh. “No, I do not think so. Ýng was at first angry with me, but They understand now, and this is instead a matter of me experiencing what you experience in only the way that a god can.”</p>
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<p>He thinks for a long while on this, and I know that he is praying to Ýng throughout, that he is closing his eyes so that his hearing is sharper and his smell is more keen and perhaps his sense of the holy is as well.</p>
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<p>“Okay,” he says at last. “I have faith in Ýng and I have faith in you that I will remain pure and that the world will remain pure with us.”</p>
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<p>“Good. Now, I will teach you to see, faithful, and you will teach me to be seen, for everything — <em>everything</em> — will be different now.”</p>
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<p>Page generated on 2020-11-30</p>
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