The priest had finished his tale and I considered his words. “This is a strange and wonderous world, where even the great ones are held accountable for the choices and actions. Are there no dark gods, no gods of thieves or assassins?”
He reminded me that not all Ästé stayed true to their obligations to their domains, and became the ones called Älté, but it is not always easy to tell them apart. There was an Ästé, Kashiif, considered a Finger of Fate, left behind after the sundering, whose domain was finding that which needed Fate’s attention. With the severing of Fate from the world, his domain lost its meaning. But there was a person, and that child who needed to be hidden from the Älté. So, Kashiif inverted his domain and hid the child and later the child’s descendants from those who would eliminate their lineage throughout the ages until they were needed. Is Kashiif to be considered and Ästé or an Älté?
The priest took me to a long, elliptical hall. At one end there was a bright light that hung in the air, above a mosaic sun. The other end was masked in shadows. In the shadows, there were posts, some with candles. “This is the hall Light and Shadows, Lianos and Zharoka. At one time, it was Lianos and Nisareya, Light and Darkness. You asked about thieves and assassins; the story is here.”
LianÄsté, is the Ästé of Knowledge, that which is known, Languages, and ideas. His aspect is Light, as knowledge sheds light on the world. Nisareya was the Ästé of Faith, whose aspect was Darkness or Night. Faith allows one to function in the absence of knowledge. LianÄsté and Nisareya worked together for no matter how much one knows, there is always the unknown and a need for faith; but faith, without an anchor in knowledge, can lose its way. Nisareya lost her way.
Without a tie to the light, Nisareya lost her perspective and began to Believe and inspire belief in ephemeral things. Thieves and assassins began to venerate her, and she to inspire them.
In time, another appeared, in the way of the Ästé, an almost adult, almost child, who seemed to be the daughter of them both. The Vargans called her Zharoka, which in their language means Shadow Lady, and referred to her as a child of delightful mischief. It is a name she has kept—along with the mischief. She embodies a mixture of knowledge and faith, of Light and Darkness, her heart filled with the wisdom of a sage and a wonder of the unknown. As her mother became more removed from the world, withdrawing into her beliefs, Zharoka began to absorb her mother’s domain. Faith with an anchor in the light becomes stronger. No matter how bright the light, there are always shadows as each answer question creates more questions. No matter how deep the darkness, there is always a way to the light. When her mother was destroyed, Zharoka evolved, appearing as a young woman. She completely adopted her mother’s domain but expanded it, or perhaps, fulfilled it.
Her domain is more than faith. It extends to intuition, creativity, justice, craftsmanship, and all areas where knowledge fails to extend but acts as a foundation for faith that inspires. In a way, her domain exceeds her father’s, but it depends on his, so they are often seen to be working together. Nor did she truly abandon her mother’s thieves and assassins, though she necessarily doesn’t approve of their actions. She inspires them to improve their character, but there are always some things that need to be, err, corrected, and some people the world is better without. As I said, she lives in the shadows.
Copyright © 2021 by Robert W. Dills