Yeah, putting Faraday through an Avar rite without permission isn't right. For all we know there's preparation beforehand, ritual cleansing or instruction or both that's required to fully participate. (And Catholics are forbidden to participate in non-Catholic religion rituals like this because it gives worship to someone other than the Lord. Faraday should not be okay with this!)
To be strictly fair, we don't know the average age kids 'show promise' at or what kind of preparation they do. Shra could be unusually young (and it might be necessary to handle being presented to the Mother). That said, there's also no reason to believe they have to go through that test as soon as possible. Couldn't they wait until a more reasonable age?
I'm thinking Faraday felt a bit stung by the accusation that she cut down any trees.
Okay, Raum is upset at the state his ancestral homeland is in. Fair enough. However, he should really say what activities he's upset by! I mean, if say all the Christians got chased out of the Holy Sepulchre so it could be used as a barn we'd be pretty dang upset for possibly ever, and we'd say 'and then they used it as a barn!'.
But of course, if Doughlass' wrote that she might have to face up to how she's dissing her own food source.
Oh, they are tested at size very small. I get that they think it's necessary, but somehow I doubt it actually is. (Cultures can get really messed up, so I'm not blaming Raum much for that.)
That whole sequence is... Problematic, to say the least.
"Only the Avar can tread this path!"
"Then I won't," Faraday said. Her voice sounded strange and farway, but still hers.
"You must," Jack asserted. "You are the Tree Friend."
Faraday felt almost like she should be scared. She pressed her hand to her chest above the bone pendant and felt her head clear. "How can I befriend them if I intrude where I am not wanted?" she asked. It was not her true reason, but she felt very pleased for coming up with it. In truth, she did not want to imperil her faith further.
"She speaks truly," the stranger said. "You should listen to her."
The resulting argument got so heated Faraday worried Jack and Yr might carry her to this Mother by force, but in the end they reluctantly agreed that she would witness Shra being presented to the Mother but no more.
Faraday resolved to stand well back.
***
"Why do you hate the Sentinels so strongly?" Timozel asked Ceolmund.
Ceolmund was silent for a moment and sighed. "It is not an easy story," he said. "Not to tell and not to hear. Are you sure you desire it?"
"Yes," Timozel said. "I want to hear it. If you don't said telling it," he added hastily.
"I do not," Ceolmund said. "In truth, I weary of bearing it alone."
He took a deep breath. "Before either ax or plough, I was the guardian of a small clan. We worked small fields with hoes and gathered fallen wood, and settled by the side of a small river.
"When the plough came, we took quickly to its use. Our fields were larger and worked more easily, and because we ploughed the old crop under they produced better. Soon enough I had more under my care then I ever had before.
"But the Talon did not like the plough or ax, and banned their use," Ceolmund said, eyes distant. "I knew I could not guard against his forces by myself, so I sought out the Sentinels and bargained for their aid in protecting my people from attack, trading help for help."
"And then they didn't help you?" Timozel ventured.
"For a time they did," Ceolmund said. "Many times the Talon's forces ventured near my home, and many times they helped me conceal us. It was not until afterward that they betrayed us. Tell me, what do you know of the Heretic War?"
"It was the second of the Wars of the Ax," Timozel said, "Waged against the heretics of what is now the Skarabost- Oh," he said, feeling guilty. "Your people were among those heretics, weren't they."
"It was not your doing, your father's, or your grandfather's," Ceolmund said softly. "I and the Sentinels are the last of those involved.
"My people had by that point adopted the ax," he continued, "but we did not apply it with the abandon the Way of Ax and Plough prescribed. We coppiced our willow stand and felt no need to fell the ones across the river, nor did we have any quarrel with the Avar whom the Seneschal had deemed forbidden and often passed through the far stand. For this I feared the Acharite forces.
"But this time, when I called on the Sentinels for aid they refused me, saying that 'the Prophecy' required that humans not be forgiven until 'the time of the StarMan'," Ceolmund spat bitterly.
"And so we destroyed your people," Timozel said.
"The Acharites forces," Ceolmund corrected. "I have never blamed your entire people, and those who actually carried it out have long since died. But the Sentinels have never apologized or atoned."
"It was the Brotherhood of the Ax, wasn't it?" Timozel said. "And we haven't apologized either." He stood up and bowed deeply. "On behalf of my brethren, I am deeply sorry for our actions against your people."
"I accept your apology," Ceolmund said, "and extend my forgiveness."
no subject
To be strictly fair, we don't know the average age kids 'show promise' at or what kind of preparation they do. Shra could be unusually young (and it might be necessary to handle being presented to the Mother). That said, there's also no reason to believe they have to go through that test as soon as possible. Couldn't they wait until a more reasonable age?
I'm thinking Faraday felt a bit stung by the accusation that she cut down any trees.
Okay, Raum is upset at the state his ancestral homeland is in. Fair enough. However, he should really say what activities he's upset by! I mean, if say all the Christians got chased out of the Holy Sepulchre so it could be used as a barn we'd be pretty dang upset for possibly ever, and we'd say 'and then they used it as a barn!'.
But of course, if Doughlass' wrote that she might have to face up to how she's dissing her own food source.
Oh, they are tested at size very small. I get that they think it's necessary, but somehow I doubt it actually is. (Cultures can get really messed up, so I'm not blaming Raum much for that.)
That whole sequence is... Problematic, to say the least.
"Only the Avar can tread this path!"
"Then I won't," Faraday said. Her voice sounded strange and farway, but still hers.
"You must," Jack asserted. "You are the Tree Friend."
Faraday felt almost like she should be scared. She pressed her hand to her chest above the bone pendant and felt her head clear. "How can I befriend them if I intrude where I am not wanted?" she asked. It was not her true reason, but she felt very pleased for coming up with it. In truth, she did not want to imperil her faith further.
"She speaks truly," the stranger said. "You should listen to her."
The resulting argument got so heated Faraday worried Jack and Yr might carry her to this Mother by force, but in the end they reluctantly agreed that she would witness Shra being presented to the Mother but no more.
Faraday resolved to stand well back.
***
"Why do you hate the Sentinels so strongly?" Timozel asked Ceolmund.
Ceolmund was silent for a moment and sighed. "It is not an easy story," he said. "Not to tell and not to hear. Are you sure you desire it?"
"Yes," Timozel said. "I want to hear it. If you don't said telling it," he added hastily.
"I do not," Ceolmund said. "In truth, I weary of bearing it alone."
He took a deep breath. "Before either ax or plough, I was the guardian of a small clan. We worked small fields with hoes and gathered fallen wood, and settled by the side of a small river.
"When the plough came, we took quickly to its use. Our fields were larger and worked more easily, and because we ploughed the old crop under they produced better. Soon enough I had more under my care then I ever had before.
"But the Talon did not like the plough or ax, and banned their use," Ceolmund said, eyes distant. "I knew I could not guard against his forces by myself, so I sought out the Sentinels and bargained for their aid in protecting my people from attack, trading help for help."
"And then they didn't help you?" Timozel ventured.
"For a time they did," Ceolmund said. "Many times the Talon's forces ventured near my home, and many times they helped me conceal us. It was not until afterward that they betrayed us. Tell me, what do you know of the Heretic War?"
"It was the second of the Wars of the Ax," Timozel said, "Waged against the heretics of what is now the Skarabost- Oh," he said, feeling guilty. "Your people were among those heretics, weren't they."
"It was not your doing, your father's, or your grandfather's," Ceolmund said softly. "I and the Sentinels are the last of those involved.
"My people had by that point adopted the ax," he continued, "but we did not apply it with the abandon the Way of Ax and Plough prescribed. We coppiced our willow stand and felt no need to fell the ones across the river, nor did we have any quarrel with the Avar whom the Seneschal had deemed forbidden and often passed through the far stand. For this I feared the Acharite forces.
"But this time, when I called on the Sentinels for aid they refused me, saying that 'the Prophecy' required that humans not be forgiven until 'the time of the StarMan'," Ceolmund spat bitterly.
"And so we destroyed your people," Timozel said.
"The Acharites forces," Ceolmund corrected. "I have never blamed your entire people, and those who actually carried it out have long since died. But the Sentinels have never apologized or atoned."
"It was the Brotherhood of the Ax, wasn't it?" Timozel said. "And we haven't apologized either." He stood up and bowed deeply. "On behalf of my brethren, I am deeply sorry for our actions against your people."
"I accept your apology," Ceolmund said, "and extend my forgiveness."