A Year of Stories (Collection Three)

The Peace of Taminbar

Location

If you drew a eighty-mile line starting at the Western Shore of Bankar Province, and were able to travel that line without detour, without delay, without being killed by the giant spiders or the real monsters that make those river worn roads their home, it might take you a month to reach the end, that is assuming your fortitude outstrips your supplies.

If you are then lucky enough to find the Ferryman, the one who wears the eye patch and silver ring and goes by the name Catwalla, and by some small miracle of charm or trade are able to convince him to take you across the river known to them as the Sacred Silt, you will still have a twenty mile hike through brambles and bush and things we don't yet have names for.

If you do all this and survive with your body and soul intact, you will arrive, as I did, at the valley known to legend as Taminbar.

They say that in Taminbar the rivers run with gold, and honey rains from the sky. In my experience, neither is true. Taminbar's jewel is not in its wealth, but in its beauty, a beauty the glitters more brightly than any gold, more sweetly than the honeycomb's fruit ever could.

Your very essence can be lost in the beauty of Taminbar, in rivers that seem the reflection of the skies own glory, in air that smells of earth and nectar and life, in the sound of the place – like the beating of a maiden's heart at the sight of her lover.

In Taminbar, you are that lover, and you should take great care not to lose yourself in that fact.

Temperament

As a Pilgrim, you will be lead to the pair that watch over this place – they will be dressed in simple robes of white cotton, adorned only with a silver bracelet on their left wrists, a singular mark of office.

You will refer to the man as Uncle and the woman as Aunt, and they will refer to you as Niece or Nephew. Even in their isolation, they will know your mother tongue, and will refuse to explain how they managed such a feat.

If it is the Summer or Winter, you will speak to Uncle as I did. If it is the Spring or Fall, you will speak to Aunt.

What you say is your business, but here were my words:

"I've come to learn more about your people, dear Uncle."

"What do you wish to know of us, Nephew?"

"It's said that you make no war here, neither with the land, nor with each other. Is this true?"

"You are in Taminbar, to try to make war here, would be like trying to wrest the Moon from her silvered perch, or trying to teach the river fish to walk on dry land."

"You're telling me, that there are no fights, no squabbles, no blood shed among your people?"