{"id":8472,"date":"2020-07-27T11:54:22","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T15:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/?p=8472"},"modified":"2020-07-27T14:41:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-27T18:41:00","slug":"meeting-lord-golden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/2020\/meeting-lord-golden","title":{"rendered":"Meeting Lord Golden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

First through the door of the Libarrow comes the toughguy who went in, carrying his club. Then comes he who I assume is the Lord, his face painted with the thunderbolt and Radiactive. He wears rings of glass on each finger but the pointer of his right hand, which carries a ring of gold. The finger on which it rides is short and scarred. He wears a codpiece made of carved wood that looks like a deer dick. He carries a club that I hope to never see used in anger \u2014 long as he is tall, headed with fine-ground stone, hafted with delicately graven Maina wood. It looks like it has pictures in relief on it. I would love to take the time to record them. They\u2019re in a spiral, so they\u2019re probably a story. The lines on his face tell me has lived perhaps 100 hurricanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

He stops and looks at us. As we\u2019d thought, more of the Hoarders appear soundlessly from the tight bamboo outside the ring of trees. More toughguys, armed better than us, fat and healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Steppan drew this quickly as soon as they could get to the materials in the Libarrow to add it to the chronicle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once the Lord has sized us up, he steps toward us from the door and from the inside come three people, two wearing shifts of glass-beaded net. As ancient as the garments must be, the people wearing them are young, only recently able to bear, fat like the toughguys, but moving as though they were in a practiced, shuffling dance, unable to meet our eyes. Their hair is braided to make a veil before their eyes and it, too, had glass beads woven into it. They stood behind the Lord and stood quietly, gazing downward.
Behind them come six more, but their differences to the others surprise Jerone, who looked at me to confirm that I saw. Skinny. Dirty. Tired. Sad. Their skin shows dry salt though a generous well was in arm\u2019s reach. Lacking even a loincloth, they gaze downward that of a beaten dog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am Lord Golden. What tribute do you bring?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Lord Golden is pretty fearsome.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I scrambled to think of a good reply and was relieved when Jerone spoke first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe tend this place as its Libarrians,\u201d says Jerone, their voice steady and meaty, \u201cand we welcome you to it. We can share with you its secrets.\u201d
Lord Golden coughs a laugh. \u201cI was here first. I found it. Why should I let you in?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerone makes a face like both a frown and a smile. \u201cBecause we will make it worth it to you,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord Golden appraises the eight of us. Healthy, but not fat like Lord Golden or his entourage; but neither emaciated and broken like his slaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProve it,\u201d says Lord Golden. One of his toughguys chuckles like he thinks it sounds like a clever thing to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jerone responds, \u201cYeh, okay, what shall we call your people?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord Golden stands up even straighter and inhales deeply before reciting \u201cWe are the Free People of the North, who Bow to None! We will Break the Rope of Death with Our Will!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We respectfully let the words reverberate for a moment, before I recite, \u201cWe are the People of the Red Wood, the Lion Tamers, We who Know and Remember, We Who Tell All who Ask, We Who can Make Words Stay and Bring Memories Back from the Dead.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHuh,\u201d says Lord Golden. \u201cMy shaman has died.\u201d One of the sullen-eyed behind Lord Golden shuffles their feet sadly. \u201cDo for me as our shaman did and I will allow your presence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you Lord Golden,\u201d says Jerone, \u201cWe are pleased to show you all the secrets of this place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every one of the eight of us released a breath at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musha shows them what the books are. Says, \u201cPoint at a line.\u201d The Lord Golden points at a spot on a page. Musha whispers into his ear, \u201cWhisk sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, chili oil, and ginger together in a small bowl; stir into jellyfish and marinate while you sing Nanana Baddalabia twice.” Now, here, take the book, go over to Steppan and point to the same spot.\u201d Musha steps away and Lord Golden holds out the book, his truncated finger pointing at the same spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steppan looks at it, then whispers in Lord Golden\u2019s ear. Confusion runs across Golden\u2019s features, then suspicion. \u201cSo you know how to cook jellyfish? That is what your people do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, says Musha, \u201cNow whisper in my ear something no one else knows.\u201d
Lord Golden, no less suspicious, whispers into Musha\u2019s ear, \u201cWhen I was a child, I ate a green spider and it made my mouth burn. It is the source of my strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Musha knods, transcribing it to a scrap of paper already covered in practice letters. Musha folds the paper so only the one sentence remaines visible, then hands it to Lord Golden. She says, \u201cNow hand this to Steppan.\u201d
Lord Golden walkes to Steppan and hands him the paper. He looks at it, nods, looks Lord Golden in the eye and said to him \u201cWhen you were a child, you ate a green spider and it made your mouth burn. It is the source of your strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lord Golden\u2019s eyes grew round. \u201cHow do you know this?\u201d he demanded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Modular systems are a function of industrial society. But do people of The Fifth World still know how to agree to standards? With their acute interest in efficiency, I think they might have carried that lesson forward!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First through the door of the Libarrow comes the toughguy who went in, carrying his club. Then comes he who I assume is the Lord, his face painted with the thunderbolt and Radiactive. He wears rings of glass on each finger but the pointer of his right hand, which carries a ring of gold. The … Continue reading “Meeting Lord Golden”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":8473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[210],"class_list":["post-8472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-set-of-all-sets-that-do-not-include-themselves","tag-libarrians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8472"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8480,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8472\/revisions\/8480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glyphpress.com\/talk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}