December Free Fiction: Advent Story: Thear Collection: Conall: 1064 words
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“What do you think North Square will be like?”
“I don't know exactly, Conall, but I know that mixed heritage children will be welcome, mixed marriage will be permitted, and life will be just as hard for us as it will be for everyone else.”
Conall looked at Sophia. “At least if we have all three of the races working together for the same purpose it will mean that we can share knowledge and hopefully nothing will be lost.”
Sophia nodded. “It will make things smoother.” She smiled. “I know that life will be difficult for a long time, because learning to live together in a new place is something we've never have to do before, but I do think it will be much better than things are now.”
“I can't imagine what it will be like to live in a mixed town.” Conall bit his lip. “I hope it will work, I hope all three of the races will be able to
work together, but I wonder if it's possible.”
“There are people who want it to happen, Conall. They want all three races to work together to make Thear a better place, even if it is just one small part of Thear, and those are the people who are more likely to end up in North Square. Of course there will be those who flee to North Square because they have no other choice, because of their bloodline or possibly their beliefs, so it's not going to be perfect.”
“What does Aisling know about North Square?”
“She doesn't know a lot. Persephone thinks there are things that Aisling needs to learn herself, so she's just been given the basic information. It's north of the Residence, behind two walls, and was created a long time ago by a deity who only has a few followers now.”
“Behind two walls?”
“Probably to keep the town and the people in it safe.” Sophia shrugged. “Aisling will send me a letter once she's visited and we'll know more then.”
“How will she get into the town?”
“I'm guessing there's probably people living there. There are mentions in a couple of diaries that have been passed through the family of a town that is known of, but not talked about, and I think they might be talking about North Square. It's seems to be a town that has been kept hidden for a long time.”
“I hope things do work out.” Conall sighed. “I wish I could have told Mother about North Square, even though I don't think she'd ever leave Father behind. She doesn't love him, but she doesn't know how to live without him, and it's hard to watch.”
“Life was different when she was younger. Mother told me about what it was like to live in an Uisdro village twenty years ago and I understand why most people live the way they do now. When I talked to Grandmother it made it easy for me to see how things have changed over the years and how they have stayed the same.”
“My grandmother died in childbirth when Mother was six or seven. I can't remember exactly. Mother was raised by her aunt, who is a lovely woman, but neither of them ever talk that much about the past. It's hard for them to remember, and they don't like even thinking about it.”
“My aunts both died in childbirth. I don't remember either of them because I was young when it happened, but I know it was hard on the family. That's part of the reason Mother kept me, even though I was blind.”
“It's hard to think that it could happen to anyone we know.” Conall ran a hand through his hair. “When my brother married and his wife had their first child everyone was worried that it might happen to her, but she was fine. She'd just announced her second pregnancy when I left, so I don't know if she got through childbirth safely a second time.” He looked over at one of the pregnant women in the square. “During my training I spent hours talking to the other healers about why so many women die in childbirth, or lose their babies, but they don't know for sure what the reason is. It's difficult for them knowing that there's not really a lot they can do.”
“There are those who think it might be because there are too many pure blood handfastings and people are more closely related as there is less movement between villages. Having a mixed heritage gives you a better chance of surviving through childbirth, whether you're the mother or the child.”
As Conall thought about how long it had been since the fires, when records of all the families were destroyed, he realised that three hundred years was actually a very long time. “Mother got handfasted when she was twenty-two,” he said, “and most handfastings happen between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three. If we go back three hundred years to when we know that this pure blood interest started and make twenty the average age of a woman having her first child then there have been sixteen generations of...” He shook his head. “...interbreeding.”
Sophia nodded. “It's not a nice thing to think about, but that's what the priests want. They have been working towards everyone being pure blood Uisdro and those who believe what the priests say are happy to do what they are told to.” She shook her head. “Some don't agree and there are mixed heritage children scattered around the country, but the majority of people think that the priests and priestesses are always right because they're passing on the messages of their deities.”
“Even if it isn't having an effect on women and children it's still wrong.”
“The thing is most people don't stop to think about what they're doing. Either their parents or their priest has told them that they are doing what is right, not only for them but the Uisdro as a race as well, and that's all that really matters. It doesn't make sense to me because I know that none of them are speaking on behalf of a deity and they don't really know what is right for the Uisdro, but other people do believe them and that really has an effect on us as a race.”
© K A Jones 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
This entry was originally posted at http://kajones-writing.dreamwidth.org/45342.html. It currently has
comments.
Read the second part of this story ( LJ link).
Read the third part of this story ( LJ link).
“What do you think North Square will be like?”
“I don't know exactly, Conall, but I know that mixed heritage children will be welcome, mixed marriage will be permitted, and life will be just as hard for us as it will be for everyone else.”
Conall looked at Sophia. “At least if we have all three of the races working together for the same purpose it will mean that we can share knowledge and hopefully nothing will be lost.”
Sophia nodded. “It will make things smoother.” She smiled. “I know that life will be difficult for a long time, because learning to live together in a new place is something we've never have to do before, but I do think it will be much better than things are now.”
“I can't imagine what it will be like to live in a mixed town.” Conall bit his lip. “I hope it will work, I hope all three of the races will be able to
work together, but I wonder if it's possible.”
“There are people who want it to happen, Conall. They want all three races to work together to make Thear a better place, even if it is just one small part of Thear, and those are the people who are more likely to end up in North Square. Of course there will be those who flee to North Square because they have no other choice, because of their bloodline or possibly their beliefs, so it's not going to be perfect.”
“What does Aisling know about North Square?”
“She doesn't know a lot. Persephone thinks there are things that Aisling needs to learn herself, so she's just been given the basic information. It's north of the Residence, behind two walls, and was created a long time ago by a deity who only has a few followers now.”
“Behind two walls?”
“Probably to keep the town and the people in it safe.” Sophia shrugged. “Aisling will send me a letter once she's visited and we'll know more then.”
“How will she get into the town?”
“I'm guessing there's probably people living there. There are mentions in a couple of diaries that have been passed through the family of a town that is known of, but not talked about, and I think they might be talking about North Square. It's seems to be a town that has been kept hidden for a long time.”
“I hope things do work out.” Conall sighed. “I wish I could have told Mother about North Square, even though I don't think she'd ever leave Father behind. She doesn't love him, but she doesn't know how to live without him, and it's hard to watch.”
“Life was different when she was younger. Mother told me about what it was like to live in an Uisdro village twenty years ago and I understand why most people live the way they do now. When I talked to Grandmother it made it easy for me to see how things have changed over the years and how they have stayed the same.”
“My grandmother died in childbirth when Mother was six or seven. I can't remember exactly. Mother was raised by her aunt, who is a lovely woman, but neither of them ever talk that much about the past. It's hard for them to remember, and they don't like even thinking about it.”
“My aunts both died in childbirth. I don't remember either of them because I was young when it happened, but I know it was hard on the family. That's part of the reason Mother kept me, even though I was blind.”
“It's hard to think that it could happen to anyone we know.” Conall ran a hand through his hair. “When my brother married and his wife had their first child everyone was worried that it might happen to her, but she was fine. She'd just announced her second pregnancy when I left, so I don't know if she got through childbirth safely a second time.” He looked over at one of the pregnant women in the square. “During my training I spent hours talking to the other healers about why so many women die in childbirth, or lose their babies, but they don't know for sure what the reason is. It's difficult for them knowing that there's not really a lot they can do.”
“There are those who think it might be because there are too many pure blood handfastings and people are more closely related as there is less movement between villages. Having a mixed heritage gives you a better chance of surviving through childbirth, whether you're the mother or the child.”
As Conall thought about how long it had been since the fires, when records of all the families were destroyed, he realised that three hundred years was actually a very long time. “Mother got handfasted when she was twenty-two,” he said, “and most handfastings happen between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three. If we go back three hundred years to when we know that this pure blood interest started and make twenty the average age of a woman having her first child then there have been sixteen generations of...” He shook his head. “...interbreeding.”
Sophia nodded. “It's not a nice thing to think about, but that's what the priests want. They have been working towards everyone being pure blood Uisdro and those who believe what the priests say are happy to do what they are told to.” She shook her head. “Some don't agree and there are mixed heritage children scattered around the country, but the majority of people think that the priests and priestesses are always right because they're passing on the messages of their deities.”
“Even if it isn't having an effect on women and children it's still wrong.”
“The thing is most people don't stop to think about what they're doing. Either their parents or their priest has told them that they are doing what is right, not only for them but the Uisdro as a race as well, and that's all that really matters. It doesn't make sense to me because I know that none of them are speaking on behalf of a deity and they don't really know what is right for the Uisdro, but other people do believe them and that really has an effect on us as a race.”
© K A Jones 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
This entry was originally posted at http://kajones-writing.dreamwidth.org/45342.html. It currently has
comments.