Childhood
Tiersu sat with her back to the fire, skinny arms around long legs, gazing up at Grandmama Kellith. It was getting dark, and the shutters had been closed – story time. She had heard them all before – knew most of them by heart, but there was something in her grandmother's way of telling the stories which brought them to life. A knack for storytelling, combined with her faint trace of an accent, perhaps.
The old woman wriggled slightly in her chair, getting comfortable, and laid her staff gently across her knees. She gave Tiersu an indulgent yet piercing look, and frowned a moment. The girl was tired. A shorter tale for tonight, then. She cleared her throat, and began:
“Now, it was your five times great-grandfather Yiko who brought the family to Kryta, fleeing the cruel Emperor Usoku. He brought with him his wife and his children, but they left because of his mother, your six times great-grandmother, and your namesake. That name has been in the family for generations, but it is to honour her that we pass it along now.
“She travelled with a band of heroes when Cantha faced mortal peril, and she stood by them through thick and thin, fighting alongside them as they struggled to defeat Shiro. Hers was not the part of glory and everlasting fame; that would go to those who struck the killing blow, but she was there, and she fought to free her nation. And when those heroes travelled again to fight great foes in other lands, she remained behind, for there was yet work to be done to make it safe.
“The Emperor, father of that same Usoku who would prove to be so unjust, did not have full control of his country. There were yet afflicted in the great city, and the rival clans of the Luxons and the Kurzicks caused discord despite their brief alliance. Her love of Cantha kept her to its shores, even though greatness was, for a time, within her reach. None yet knew how well the Echovald Forest would regrow, or if the Jade sea would return to water, and while these lands lay locked to expansion, the great city, Kaineng, remained dense and crowded.
“Her gift lay in communing with the spirits. She was a Ritualist, a gift foreign to these lands, and her power was great. She considered it her duty to return the souls of the afflicted to rest, and worked tirelessly. When the Ministry of Purity made its great push against them, she rallied to the fight, and earned the respect of all those around her.
“After the last of the Afflicted were defeated, there were many celebrations on Shing Jea island, and among the revelry, she conceived a son, bowing out of active duty so as to raise him safely. Whilst pregnant, she journeyed to the relative calm of the Echovald forest to raise him. It was there that she met her future husband, Gervas, and together they had two, no, three more children. He accepted Yiko, and supported him, but there was always tension, as the boy did not feel the ties to the forest that his half-siblings did. By the time Usoku came to the throne and turned on the Kurzicks and Luxons, he had moved to Shing Jea island, and married there.
“That war could only ever end one way – with Usoku claiming victory over the two peoples, and uniting them into one. Many said that it was for the best, that it would end generations of bloodshed, but Usoku, he wasn't finished yet. His foes defeated, he turned instead on the non-human people of the continent, and began to turn them out.
“Tiersu was old by then, older than I am now, but she did not sit back and let the armies bring her into submission all peacefully. Nor, however, did she fully side with the Kurzicks, and for that reason, in part with her Imperial heritage, the children she had had with Gervas disowned her, and she was forced to flee the mainland and join Yiko and his family on Shing Jea island. Even that was no guarantee of safety for her, so Yiko booked passage on a ship bound for Lion's Arch.
“It was the breaking of Tiersu, and she died but a few months later, with her son and her grandchildren around her. Her dying words, that a descendant of hers must surely some day walk the Canthan shores once more, have been passed down through the family, along with her staff, that I carry with me to this day.”
Grandmama Kellith stroked the old, gnarled staff as she spoke, and smiled down at Tiersu.
“There. You've had your story; off to bed with you! If you're good, tomorrow I'll tell you about the time Gran'ther Yiko was surrounded by angry Tengu, or maybe even the story of your namesake's fight against the Afflicted. I know you like that one. Go on, bed!”
Tiersu stood up, and kissed her Grandmother on her wrinkled brow. “Pleasant dreams, Grandmama Kellith. Dwayna watch you while you sleep.”
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