Tali'Yore, Jusarin's Scribe - or, Rin Thistleknot and the Great Old Owl
As Dak's eyes flitted across the page, reading the account of the ruhuë, he felt his heart skip a beat. Instantly, he was transported back to a time years ago, a time before he had ever left home, when Uncle Tangleknot had brought kith and kin together for a Story.
Story time was serious business among the cidals. Story time was where the history of the smaller folk was handed down from generation to generation.
Were the tales exaggerated? Perhaps. Were the details always perfect? Most assuredly not. But Stories were the meat and drink of his people. They connected each generation over the ages.
And this Story? It was one that had always appealed to Dak, even as a young shadelin.. and it had never lost appeal to him. A Story that showed just how important courage and curiosity were in this world of big and powerful and important people.
In spite of himself, Dak felt his eyes close for a moment as Uncle Tangleknot's words came flowing back; he could hear the gray-haired old fellow as his creaking voice narrated the tale.
****************
There once was a shadelin named Rin Thistleknot. As shadelins do, when the wanderlust hit Rin, he left home to wander Antaron. In his travels, he became friends with a sigie wizard, one with a great thirst for knowledge.
The sigie sought some ancient magical secret, but time had stolen away all knowledge of this magic. Rather than apply common sense and move on with his life, the wizard grew obsessed, searching far and wide for this magic.
What was the magic? Who cares? That's not important to the story, you dunderhead!
In his studies, the wizard had stumbled across a story of his own; this story was about a creature who was the pet of Jusi, the knowledge god. The legend held that this creature hoarded knowledge like a khord hordes gems, and that Jusi had tasked the creature with cataloging all knowledge in Audalis.
This creature took the form of a massive owl, one of the legendary folk called the "Ruhuë". It lived in a great rosewood tree deep in the sylvari forests. The creature spent its days looking across the world with a great spyglass, collecting every scrap of knowledge it could find.
For centuries, the creature - known as Tal... Tala... Tali-somethingorother - was keen to complete its mission. The god had decreed that it was to trade knowledge with any who came to visit, giving away secrets whenever any visitor brought it some new nugget of knowledge.
However, as time flowed by, the creature became jaded and bitter. No matter how much knowledge it hoarded, new knowledge was created every day. It began to realize that Jusi had given it an impossible task, and it took that fact quite personally.
While it dared not disobey a god directly, the charge lost all joy to Tali-whatshisname. So while it continued to do Jusi's bidding and trade knowledge with any who petitioned, the trade became a strict price to be paid rather than a polite exchange... and if a petitioner could not pay the price, the ruhuë would instead take the visitor's life in return.
Some claim that the creature would eat the mind and memories of such foolish applicants far before it consumed their flesh!
Eventually, the creature - tired of the interruptions of foolish mortals who rarely had any fresh knowledge of value to offer - hid the entrance to its glade. This way, any who sought an audience had to at least educate themselves somewhat, meaning they were perhaps a bit more likely to bear something of value to the hermited ruhuë.
Anyway.... where was I? Oh, yes. Rin Thistleknot.
So Rin's wizard friend had uncovered some ancient secret of a lost human empire, and thought to offer this as trade to the ruhuë for the knowledge he truly wanted. Rin was more than happy to go along... what self-respecting shadelin would pass up the opportunity to meet an actual demigod?
Eventually, the glade was found, and the wizard and his friends - along with Rin - met with the great owl... who already knew the wizard's great secret, and thus prepared to eat them all for their trespass.
The wizard and his allies tried to flee in terror, but Rin did not. Why would he? Not only was he meeting a demigod, but getting to see it up close? Everyone dies, why would you pass up the chance to behold something interesting, something wonderful at your end?
So this Tali-fellow swooped down, but when Rin did not run - not frozen in fear but instead staring in wonder - the great owl was intrigued and instead landed on the ground by the shadelin before speaking in a booming voice.
"Why do you not flee, tiny mortal? Who dares stand before me?" The storyteller naturally really overacted the great, scary voice of the ruhuë.
"I am Rin Thistleknot, a shadelin of Tottle-ham," Rin replied. "If I run, you will catch me anyway. Why would I not want to see you before you eat me?"
The ruhuë was puzzled by the lack of fear in Rin. "What... is a shadelin?" it asked.
And so, Rin explained who we are, and how the sigies call us "picks". The great creature had never heard the tale of our folk... apparently, the old owl had never turned his eyes our way. So Rin told him of our hams and our homes, and how we live with the moundlins and loavens, and of our wanderlust, and of our hopes and dreams and values.
The grouchy old owl gained a wealth of knowledge that day, learning many things he never knew he never knew. And in reward, he gave Rin a feather from his own tail, and promised our cousin that if that feather was ever presented to the ruhuë, it would grant any boon within its power.
And yes, the owl did grant the sigie wizard the knowledge that he sought. No, I don't know what it was... I told you, that's not important to the story!
Rin died... I dunno, a hundred years ago? No, it has to be longer than that. I suppose that Rin had to have lived a good two hundred years ago, surely?
I know that he went to that final sleep surrounded by his family and friends, having lived an incredibly full life full of adventure and wonder and love.
The feather? I'm pretty sure that it went to his nephew, Kil. I know for a fact that it was put on display in Tottle-ham, but Kil moved to Brook-ham, so he surely took the feather with him? But then, Gerta told me that she had held it herself, even though she never steped foot in Brook-ham on account of her falling out with that Guldin fellow. Delbun swears he saw it in Kendal-ham, but the last I heard, it had been traded for a vase made of dragonglass.
Sheepish laugh...
Truth be told, most families swear that they have the feather in the collected treasures of their kin - and everyone knows for certain that even if their family doesn't have it right now, they have had it in the past and can find it easily enough... as soon as they figure out who they lent it to.
So... who knows for sure? Not me.
Anyway, that is the story of Rin Thistleknot and the great old owl.
Thanks to Olan Suddeth for this contribution!
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