September 22, 2010
Origins.
Your stories say there were only three of us, or maybe only two. But you keep listing different names. That’d be a hint, no?
There weren’t two, or three, but nine Mothers. It happened like this: once upon a time, He Who Washes Away Cares saw Flash-of-Lightning and took a liking to her, and took her. Gleam eventually bore the Silver-Swirling nine daughters, all of whom had beautiful wings and beautiful voices.
There was Charming, whose name was a pun, who had the wings of a falcon.
There was Song, the most learned sister, who had the wings of a goose.
There was Glorious Word, whose every utterance was oracular, who had the wings of an owl.
There was Mind-Affecting, who could command and be obeyed, who had the wings of an eagle.
There was Maiden Voice, whose voice was high and sweet, who had the wings of a kingfisher.
There was Clear-Toned, who had the most perfect voice, who had the wings of a sea-eagle.
There was White, who was pale as pearls, who had the wings of a swan.
There was Easy Adapter, who changed fastest of all the sisters, who had the wings of a hawk.
And there was Completion, the last child born, who had the wings of a vulture. After her, their mother the Lightning was gone in a flash, and try as he might, their father never found her again.
They lived happily in the land through which their father ran, and grew to join the service of the Barley Mother, with the job of watching her daughter. But the Unseen One came and stole the Maiden away (though what no one tells is that the Maiden went willingly, and became the Destroyer), and the Barley Mother in her fury forced the sisters to search for her. But the sisters, not born to be slaves to anyone, refused. And so they were banished to a barren spit of rock called the Defilement of Flowers.
There they stayed, singing and fishing and eating that which washed up, when eventually something else washed up. He Who Dashes, the Sea himself, heard of their diet and set out to bind them, but as he drew close he heard their singing, and fell in lust with them instead. He came to the rock time and time again, until all the sisters were pregnant with his children, and still comes back to this day to enjoy their descendants.
And their descendants increased in number, and spread to sea-cliffs and escarpments and even the occasional sea-cave throughout the world, defying the old banishment. And Defilement of Flowers was fertilized with the blood of the washed-up creatures, and seeds blew in, until flowers did bloom there and the place became known simply as Flowery.
Thus did the entwiners, the binders-by-voice, enter this world.
