Behavin/Sisters
Behavin and Belladonna
Our small band of clan Maeramil lived in the mountains, moving up and down the slopes when the seasons changed, foraging and hunting. Ours lands were uncommonly dangerous, but my sister Donna and I didn't know that growing up there. We had tigers and bears and mammoths, of course, but we also had dangerous evil spirits. We didn't know it then, but we later found an ancient ruined elven outpost. That's another story, though.
WHY DO YOU CALL HER DONNA?
Why do I call her Donna? Because it was her name...its what I always called her. Have you noticed when I talk about my band, everyone has double names? Annaheart, Felsky, Hailrain, Tomblue...
YOU DON'T.
That's different because I...um...my name is...it has a double meaning too. I don't want to talk about that right now. My band has always had powerful seers and we believe that everyone is born with two spirits, or a shared spirit. The elder seers and witchwomen give a name to the newborn reflecting thier understanding of the future of the baby, but they never tell anyone...even each other...what they've seen.
WHY IS THAT?
We believe no one is meant to know anyone's future. While the child is still in the womb, some of our seers and witchwomen are given signs, visions, dreams, and feelings that are just a very small part of the whole child's future. Then each seer and witchwoman who had visions of the child touch and bond with the book for a moment, adding their knowledge. When the last one is done, the book glows the most beautiful, peaceful emerald green and then it fades and we open the book and the baby's name will be written there.
THATS STILL NOT AS COMPLEX AS SOME ELVEN CULTURES. DOES IT EVER GO WRONG?
Oh frequently. Sometimes it takes several tries. Very strong spirits can make things difficult in a variety of ways, not all bad. My mother told me when Donna was born, half of the seers and witchwomen in our band had only night dreams...no visions or signs or anything during the day, just dreams. For six weeks, they woke every morning filled with love and joy and a strong sense of new purpose. One, having never painted before, picked up a paintbrush and painted a masterpiece and when she was done, she could not paint anymore. Another crafted an intricately detailed statue out of a solid marble block in our band's high hunting camp. It's a very handsome Kindred man holding a book. No one knows who he is. Another wrote poetry that is beautiful when spoken but makes no sense when read. One very old woman spent four weeks travelling to Ta'Vaalor and back. She brought back a golden harp. All she said was, "We're going to need this later." A few days after Donna was born, the old seer disappeared.
WITH THE HARP? WAS SHE EVER FOUND?
Yes. One winter hunting season years later some hunters found her dead and brought one of our seers up to find out what happened. She'd built a small vault in a rock wall and, we assume, put the harp in it. Then she put some simple wards on it. Then...someone...put wards on it that were completely alien to us and were so powerful we had no chance of breaking them. More seers came and set up camp in front of the vault. The heat from their campfire melted the ice and snow around the vault and that's when they saw it. They had searched the old woman's corpse and the area looking for a message to explain what had happened. It was carved in the wall, right there above the vault, plain as day.
WHAT DID IT SAY?
The carving on the granite wall was so large and so deep that our stonemasons said it would take two strong men working for two weeks, standing on a scafford, to complete the work.
WHAT DID IT SAY?
Well, it said...um...it said..."It's right here, Donna."