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.If anything, the Vilandians resembled theHyperboreans more closely than they did Darian and Arella.No, Darian andArella were the descendants of an invading army that had crushed my people,then stolen the last of their women to survive when they themselves weredefeated in a last, suicidal effort to annihilate them.The women did theirbest to raise the children as proper Hyperboreans, and our two languagesmerged."Tell me, Darian; you say the Arcadians and Larinians are descended from theHyperboreans.Where did the Hyperboreans come from?" I asked."From the western sea, of course - you should know that, since you were one ofthem.The legends say that their homeland was an island that was quite distantfrom here, and it was always suffering volcanic eruptions.The sages of thatday said that eventually the island would sink into the sea, so they came hereand established Hyperborea.Then they had a devastating war which destroyedthem, and the survivors fled south to establish Arcadia."I struggled to control my rage.His people had totally forgotten their trueorigins, their ancestors having concealed them to prevent having to tell theirchildren 'well, we were crushed by the Hyperboreans and so we stole the lastof their women and went south to avoid the destruction we were directlyresponsible for.' Of course they held their women in thrall and never let themlearn true sorcery or have any real responsibility.By tradition, their womenwould have been property.In the beginning, the Hyperborean women probablyresisted the invader-males at every turn, and would've had to be kept in lineby force.After a few generations, women would simply be the chattel of themen.'Darian's society has probably become rather liberal in this regard -they actually allow their women to walk around without manacles,' I thought tomyself sarcastically.'Oh yes, I'm sure that in a few centuries they mightPage 122 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmleven allow them to speak every once in a while.' I looked at Darian, my friendand companion, and for a moment all I could see was the face of the invadersthat had destroyed my people.I turned away and spat."Raven, what is it? What did she say?" Darian asked."You are angry.Eddas Ayar, it is not their fault.I don't even think theyknow the truth," Rhane said."You're damn right I'm angry.Darian and his people are a race of murderersand rapists, and I hate them," I said, and told her what I'd figured out."I believe your deductions are correct, Eddas Ayar.They at least coincidewith what little those two elves and I talked about a few centuries ago.Theelves miss the Hyperboreans, Eddas, and they don't like the Arcadians andLarinians at all.Yes, you occasionally warred each other, and they thought ofyou as hairy brutes.Even so, they still miss you.You and they both had acommon bond aside from the respect you'd learned for each other on the fieldof battle - you both shared a common love for the wilderness.The Arcadiansand the Larinians.Well, the elves see them as little more than brutishgrave-robbers who loot the tombs of their forefathers the moment the elvesturn their backs," she replied, and we both fell silent."Raven? Can you tell us what happened? You stopped translating just before theend," Arella asked."Darian, Arella, you don't want to know," I replied, keeping my back to them.I thought about the dream I'd had where the glowing figure asked me to guideand advise Darian.It was no god of mine - my people were dead.It was one ofDarian's gods; Yorindar, the God of Wisdom.Yorindar had a raven that advisedand aided him, and apparently he wished me to be his raven here on earth.Iwas disgusted.I stood up, keeping my back to them, and walked away."Raven?! Where are you going?" Darian called."I'm going for a walk," I replied, and kept going.I walked away from the camp, my half-elven eyes adjusting to the gloom of theforest easily.Once I was fifty paces away, I sat down with my back against atree.I knew I was being foolish - it was stupid to blame Darian for somethinghis ancestors had done.Even so, it was difficult not to feel anger and sorrowat the tragedy of it all.I knew that Yorindar was one of Darian's gods, not mine.My people were dead,thus my gods slept.Darian's people were alive and healthy, so their gods werestrong.Yorindar's words were the usual numinous phrases one associates withthe gods.I pondered them carefully, trying to understand.He had asked me tobe Darian's friend, to aid and advise him, to help him defeat his enemies.When I'd told him I could only think of Dyarzi and how I wanted to see heragain, he had replied that I would.Maybe he'd meant I'd have her back with mePage 123 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlagain as a reward, or perhaps as Darian's court wizard I'd have the time andresources to research a way to bring her back to me.Of course, he could justhave easily meant that he'd give me a brief glimpse of her as a reward,perhaps in a dream.I thought about it, and realized that even seeing her fora brief moment would be enough of a reason for me to help Darian every way Icould.I liked Arella as a dear, dear friend and someone who'd helped methrough a horrible, extremely traumatic experience, but I didn't love her.No,my love lay quietly moldering in my tomb, sealed behind a hand or two ofstone.Even the chance to see her, the slim possibility that I might hold herin my arms again, even this was enough.I looked up to the stars."Alright.We'll play the game your way for themoment, Yorindar.You just damn well better not be in heaven or hell orwherever it is you Arcadian deities live, laughing up your sleeve at me," Isaid, then stood.I managed to wander back to camp, as my half-elven eyescould see clearly in the moonlight and I hadn't really gone that far.Iarrived just in time to see Swift-wing squawking at Rhane in the gutturalchatter of ravens, and have her reply in kind."She says Raven is coming back now, and is standing over there beyond thefirelight," Swift-wing translated."Huh! I didn't know ravens had a true language.My ring doesn't even translatethat," I said, stepping into the light."It's not a true language like that of humanoids, it's our calls.Wild ravensare not stupid, they just aren't as smart as humans.I, however, am not a wildraven, I am my mistress' familiar.I am many times smarter than an ordinaryraven, so she and I were able to make ourselves understood.Raven, you weremad at Darian, so you walked off.She can't tell us why, because raven's don'thave calls for concepts like that.We can talk about food or danger or beinghappy or angry and many similar things, but we can't talk about concepts thatgo much beyond that.We need you to tell us what the problem is.Darian can'tapologize if he doesn't know what he did," Swift-wing squawked.I could see Darian was just bursting to talk to me, but managed to hold histongue.Arella also remained silent, waiting.I sighed, and sat down next tothem."Darian, it's not you that needs to apologize, it's me.I was blamingyou for something you had no control over, something your ancestors had done.This is what Rhane said happened at the end, and what I believe followedthat," I said, and began explaining what I thought.When I was done, Arella looked shocked and saddened, and Darian hung his head."I'm sorry, Raven.I never knew," he said.I reached out and clapped him on the shoulder."Darian, it's not your fault.Don't feel sorry
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