In the Shadow of Tempus - Yana's Thoughts
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_“Mom! Don’t leave! Please! Don’t Leave!”
Through the settling dust, Maya reached her hand into the crack that separated her and her adopted daughter Yana, and clasped her hand reassuringly.
“Yana, please. Yana must listen. I have try to move rocks and are too big, even for me. I must go to village and get help. Maybe miner or mountain person will have pulley and things for move stone”
“But Mom! The village is days away!”, Yana cried.
“Yes”, Maya’s voice wavered with emotion, “But I cannot get you out. Is only way”
Yana choked back a whimper as Maya slid two water skins and parcels of dried meats through the crack. Then taking off a glove, Maya pulled a large ring from her finger and slid it through the crack as well.
“Ring, when rub will make light so you can see”, Maya said, leaning her face as close as she could to the opening. “I promise. I swear to Tempus I return to you. No lose heart. No lose faith.”
With her dust coated face tear streaked, Yana nodded weakly. Maya clasped her forearm tightly one last time before she let go. “I love you Yana”, she said, her foot steps fading quickly into the distance.
Yana was alone._
The End of First Journey…
The time I was left alone in the caverns above Nayar was the turning point of my life. My hopes and dreams shattered near the end of my First Journey. It was there I lost my faith, and turned to Lathander for guidance. I swore I would never be away from the light again.
What Maya didn’t know was that ring only worked four times. Four times. I used it up in the first day before all the magic was sucked out of it. Maya, my mom, was gone close to six.
It took me a long time to recover from that. I lost track of time. I lost hope. I lost my magic.
A priest of Mystra had asked us to recover an artifact said to be somewhere in the hills above a little village called Nayar. It was said to be guarded by some horrible monster, and here was my mom Maya, champion of Tempus, ready to recover it. She never asked too many questions.
The journey was easy enough, but the cave was treacherous. There was no horrible monster, and we began to wonder why no one had recovered it. The artifact, a simple scepter, was buried under some lose stone in an old vault. However, as soon as I pulled it, the rest of the stone came tumbling down. My mom was able to leap aside out of the vault. I had panicked and curled into a ball. It had probably saved me, but left us trapped on separate sides of the cave-in.
I was stuck, and she went for help
The first thing I noticed was that after a few tries, I couldn’t make the light, the simple cantrip that Aramuil had shown me long ago. When the ring stopped working, I lost all heart.
Maya came back six days later with half a dozen old miners, one of them a foul-mouthed old dwarf. I was rescued in short order, and we returned to the village. Then, we proceeded to the Mystran temple in Heliogabalus. During the two week journey, I couldn’t do any of my simple magics. Even the simple cantrips yielded nothing. I suspected it had something to do with the scepter, but I figured once we returned it, my magic would return.
It didn’t.
We returned the scepter amidst some fanfare, and were both well rewarded. We used the money to finish payment for the Cerulean schooling I was to receive, but after my magic didn’t return, we began to get worried. Both of us returned to the Temple for an answer.
I don’t remember much of the discussion. I remember hearing about how the scepter drained power, tearing at the weave. The priest was apologetic, and mentioned the phrase, “Necessary Risk”. I remember those words vividly, because it was right then when my mom got angry.
Making my mom angry is generally not a bright idea. She’s of Uthgardt blood, and she’s tall, very tall even by tribal standards, and has the strength to match her height.
Oh, and she’s blessed by Tempus. Personally.
It took six to eight guards to drag her off the priest, who had to receive some very quick healing to save his life. Some of the guards got very badly hurt in the process. To my mom’s credit though, she never even drew her axe. That would have been messy.
To this day, my mom has sworn never to do anything for Mystra or her temples again. Ever. It had been her dream countless years back to be a Cerulean Knight, and now that I was going to achieve her dream, pride had filled her heart.
Mine too. Now the only thing that filled it was despair.
… And the beginning of another
I was despondent for months after that. I had trained my whole life under my mom’s and Aramuil’s tutelage. I took great delight in manipulating the weave. My mom taught me to be a warrior, and I trained from an early age to be fast, strong, and knowledgeable in the ways of sword and axe. I even received training from a man named Pavel, who taught me to breathe and maintain control.
It was that memory. That summer of taking lessons from Pavel, that brought me out of despair.
When I was very little, I used to watch him practice before and after my lessons. A deadly dance filled with grace and speed. During the dark moments, of which I had plenty, I got to thinking about that summer.
I mentioned this to Maya, who in some respects took loosing my magic harder than I did. She tried to cheer me up, but it often did more harm than good. The shouting matches were terrible, and though I will never tell her, I almost left.
When I discussed my training I had that summer in my childhood, and how that this was something I could do, something that I wanted, it became both hope and goal between us. We searched the remainder of the year until our journey led us to a small enclave outside the village of Northridge.
It was a religious order, dedicated to Lathander, and an off shoot of the Order of the Sun Soul. At first mom and I were hesitant, as I was brought up under Tempus beliefs, but the code of Lathander was surprisingly close to those of what Maya shared in the Sisterhood, which valued strength, unity and family.
I was interviewed at great length. So was Maya. After, I was required to watch and observe for one week. Then I was interviewed again. After deliberating for a day, I was accepted! It was a joyous time for both Maya and I. I had a purpose and a goal, and was learning things my mom couldn’t teach me.
The order’s symbol was a sun, with an eight pointed start. I was to learn the “Way of Eight Points”, represented by the strike points of feet, knees, hands and elbows, and eight spiritual ideals.
That was six years ago
I just received a letter from my mom. She doesn’t write very well, but I can usually make out what she’s trying to say. It seems the war is over in the lands of Narfell. The people are rebuilding and making changes, and have hope in their hearts again.
Perhaps it’s time for me to leave here, and go home.
