"Before you leave..." he said after a while, coming to a decision.
"Yes?"
"There's something I'd like to ask of you."
"Anything."
Tansen reached into his boot and pulled out Armian's shir. Mirabar's eyes widened in surprise, and he saw that she realized whose it was. Tansen said hesitantly, "He died... I killed him at the start of the long rains. So the season should be about right."
"You want me to Call him for you," she murmured, staring at the shir.
"It's time for me to confront my nightmares."
Mirabar met his eyes again, then nodded and rose to her knees. She blew a fire into being, the enchanted flames curling magically to life out of the Dar-blessed miracle of her breath.
"I can't touch the shir," she said. "You'll have to put it in the fire."
He did so, and watched it dance as if it were alive while Mirabar started chanting. His heart pounded with mingled eagerness and dread as he prepared to face the father he had loved, betrayed, and murdered.
"He is coming," Mirabar whispered, her voice tense with anticipation.
He grew out of the flames, and Tansen caught his breath as he gazed at him. This was exactly how Armian had looked the night he died. Exactly how he appeared again and again in Tansen's dreams.
"Father," he said hoarsely.
"Tansen," Mirabar said, startling him—then he remembered that shades of the dead normally spoke through a Guardian rather than directly to the supplicant.
He just stared at Armian for a long moment. Then he said, "I've thought of you almost every day since I killed you."
"It's right to think of me often."
"I wish... I wish things could have been different."
"If you're content now," Mirabar said, her voice eerily like the one he heard in his dreams, "then things are as I would have wished them to be."
Tansen felt his eyes mist, and for a moment, he couldn't speak. Finally, he was able to say, "I'm sorry for what I did to you, father. I'm so sorry."
"I know," Armian said. "I know."
"I think... I've asked her to Call you so I can beg for your forgiveness."
"I am your father," Armian told him, Mirabar's voice rich with love. "I will always be your father."
"I'm a father, too, now," Tansen said. "I want to be a better father than I was a son."
"You were a good son," Armian assured him. "I tried to be a good father."
"You were," Tansen insisted.
"And if we were the wrong father and son for each other..."
"Were we?"
"We nonetheless made our choice."
"When you made yours, you didn't know I would kill you," said Tansen, his chest aching.
"Neither did you. But having made the choice and knowing the consequences now... I would make the same choice again. This was our destiny, yours and mine. If I can accept it, so can you."
Tansen closed his eyes and lowered his head. "Thank you, father. Thank you."
He heard Mirabar breathing harder and knew she was getting tired. She hadn't slept in more than a day, and she'd had an exhausting night, as had he. He didn't protest as she let Armian slip away, just watched as his father faded from the woodless fire and finally disappeared altogether.
A soft drizzle started falling as Tansen gazed into the empty flames where the shir still floated, its frantic dance slowly dying along with Mirabar's energy.
After a while, he felt her hand fumble for his. He clasped it and squeezed. "Thank you."
"How do you feel?"
"I feel..." Tansen smiled and lifted his gaze to the new mountain emerging before their eyes as the gentle rain washed their faces and soaked the soil. "I feel free."
There would no more nightmares. From now on, only dreams.
Epilogue
The rains come and the rains go;
but Dar remains steadfast. And so do we.
—Silerian Proverb
At the summit of Mount Darshon, whose snow-capped, cloud-piercing peak dwarfed the rest of this rugged, mountainous land, the colored lights and dancing clouds which had so alarmed Dar's people slowly began to fade, spreading themselves thinly on the wind, until only the wind remained.
She had worn Her plumage to welcome the arrival of Her consort, the Firebringer, and to alert Her people to his imminent rebirth, if only they would have the strength to conquer Her enemies. For their sake, She had undergone terrible labor which repeatedly shook this land and made Her bleed long and hard. She had demanded a great deal of them in exchange for Her blessings; but She was the destroyer goddess, and that was Her right.
For a thousand years, Silerians had looked to Dar, the most powerful goddess in a nation of many sects and cults, to liberate them from the yoke of slavery. Now, finally, they had offered Her the courage, strength, and devotion that had always been needed, and which they had never before been able to give.
Deep in the heart of Darshon's raging, fire-spewing sea of lava, Dar rumbled with contentment as She considered the nation She had forged with Her fiery will.
The End
Author's Note
The genre which we think of as "fantasy" in modern times is the most enduring form of fiction. When you explore the world's oldest literature, the stories that made the transition from oral tradition to the written word centuries ago, they're tales of quests and prophecies, impossible feats and terrible deeds, gods and monsters, world-changing events and extraordinary magic. And having the opportunity to write tales of larger-than-life challenges which are enhanced by sorcery and mysticism is one of the best things about writing fantasy novels.
Above all, though, the world's oldest literature is filled with great heroes and legendary heroines. And creating circumstances in which characters are called upon to be so much more than they ever thought they could be, and then figuring out how and why they rise or sink to the occasion, is the very best thing about writing fantasy. Because far and away the most important thing in every story—whether the tale is contemporary or ancient—are the characters. The people who inhabit a story are what make it live and breathe.
The tales of Camelot and the Round Table are still popular centuries after their murky origins, but not because we're fascinated by an early attempt at good government in Britain. We remember those tales because we're drawn to Arthur, whose strength and idealism are undermined by his tragic mistakes; Lancelot, whose noble reputation crumbles under the weight of his doomed love for another's man's wife; Guinevere, the barren queen torn between two men; Mordred, vengeful about a birthright he didn't choose; and Merlin, the wise sorcerer who, in the end, can't save Arthur from his enemies, his friends, or his own nature.
The Iliad hasn't survived millennia because it's the story of how a key city on the Dardanelles fell to the Achaeans. Homer's tales speaks to us across the centuries because vivid characters like Hector and Achilles fight, live, love, and die at Troy, the city where nations go to war over Helen, the queen who left her husband for another man. The Odyssey still lives because we enjoy the wily, bold, resourceful Odysseus, not because we're transfixed by the logistics of Bronze Age sea travel. We watch Hamlet to see the Prince of Denmark struggle with his difficult decisions and troubled relationships, not because we're dying to see the Danish monarchy crumble.
Although developing religions, weapons, geography, political factions, and rival sorceries for this epic trilogy about Sileria was some of the most fun a writer can have without getting arrested, the characters themselves are always the heart and soul of Sileria's tumultuous tale. If you don't grow to care about Mirabar or find Kiloran compelling, then who really cares how fire sorcery and water magic work in Sileria? If you don't feel attached to Josarian, then his sacrifice doesn't mean anything. If you aren't invested in Tansen, then his fate doesn't matter—and thus neither does the fate of Sileria.
Just as any enduring legend is ultimately about the people who lived it, a good novel is also always about people; and their tale is alw
ays, in the end, about the human heart in conflict with itself—which William Faulkner once said is the only thing worth writing about, the only thing worth the agony and sweat of writing a book.
So, as you come to the end of Sileria's story and depart from the mountainous island nation which floats in the heart of the Middle Sea, surrounded by mainland empires that rise in glory and descend in flames... I hope that you've grown attached to Tansen, Josarian, Mirabar, Zarien, Kiloran, Elelar, Baran, Najdan, and Ronall in their turbulent struggles for freedom, power, love, friendship, vengeance, or peace. I hope that you will think of them from time to time, and perhaps even revisit their world now and then.
—Laura Resnick
Also by Laura Resnick...
The Esther Diamond Series
"Fans of Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse series will appreciate this series' lively heroine and the appealing combination of humor, mystery, and romance."
—[starred review] Library Journal
Disappearing Nightly
Doppelgangster
Unsympathetic Magic
Vamparazzi
Polterheist
The Misfortune Cookie
The Chronicles of Sirkara
"For action-packed storytelling filled with prophecies, plot reversals, and conflict-haunted heroes, this is as good as it gets."
—Philadelphia Inquirer
In Legend Born
The White Dragon
The Destroyer Goddess
NonFiction
"[Resnick's] her hard-won, practical advice will inspire both aspiring and published writers as it helps them navigate the always choppy waters of the publishing world."
—Booklist
Rejection, Romance, and Royalties: The Wacky World of a Working Writer
Short Story Collections
Highway To Heaven
Maybe You've Heard of Me?
The Muse Afire
Glossary
Aiaola!: May they die!
Bharata Ma-al: the bharata is the sea-born folk's annual ritual slaughter of dragonfish
jashar: a woven rope belt worn by shallaheen; its knots, beads, and weaving convey vital information, such as the wearer's name and clan; other variations include a door jashar, a woman's headdress, a message left hanging from a tree, etc.
kadriah: an endearment which means true love, sweetheart, “my destiny”
lirtahar: the law of silence
mar: child of (used within a formal name)
roshah: outsider, stranger, foreigner
shah: clan of (used within a formal name)
shallah: mountain peasant; also refers to their dialect
shatai: a Kintish swordmaster
shatai-kaj: one who trains shatai
shir: the wavy-edged, enchanted water-dagger of a Society assassin
siran/sirana: master/mistress: term of respect
sriliah: traitor
stahra: an oar-shaped weapon used by the sea-born folk
toren/torena: titled aristocrats (male and female)
yahr: a flailing weapon used by the shallaheen, it consists of two sticks of wood connected by a short rope
Yahrdan: ruler
yesh: spouse of (used within a formal name)
zanar: member of a male-only religious cult; the zanareen live atop Mount Darshon and occasionally fling themselves into the volcano in an attempt to become the Firebringer
Characters
Men
Abidan: a (deceased) waterlord; brother of Liadon
Armian: exiled as a baby; Harlon's son; once reputed to be the Firebringer
Baran: a powerful waterlord, Kiloran's chief rival; lives at Belitar
The Beckoner: a spirit that haunts Mirabar
Borell: the (deceased) Imperial Advisor in Sileria
Cheylan: a Guardian
Commander Cyrill: the (deceased) Valdani Commander of Cavasar; nephew of Advisor Borell
Daurion: the last Yahrdan (ruler) of Sileria, murdered by Marjan
Derlen: a Guardian, from a merchant family in Shaljir
Dulien: a sulky waterlord
Dyshon: an assassin loyal to Kiloran
Ealian: an elderly Guardian
Emelen: Josarian's brother-in-law; Jalilar's husband
Ferolen: a tedious waterlord
Gaborian: Elelar's late grandfather, founder of the Alliance
Geriden: a minor waterlord
Gulstan: a fat waterlord
Harlon: Armian's father; the waterlord succeeded by Kiloran
Jagodan shah Lironi: a powerful eastern clan leader
Jalan: a zanar
Emperor Jarell: Emperor of Valdania for the past 40 years
Josarian mar Gershon shah Emeldari: outlaw and rebel leader (deceased)
Kariman: a shrewd waterlord
Kiloran: Sileria's most powerful and feared waterlord
Kiman shah Moynari: a handsome eastern clan leader
Commander Koroll: High Commander of Sileria (deceased)
Lann: a large, bearded shallah from Emeldar
Liadon: a (deceased) waterlord; brother of Abidan
Linyan: Zarien’s sea-born grandfather
Marjan: the first-ever waterlord, who killed Daurion
Meriten: a waterlord and an ally of Kiloran
Najdan: an assassin inducted into the Honored Society by Kiloran
The Olvar: leader of the Beyah-Olvari
Pyron: a shallah loyalist
Porsall: a Valdani toren
Radyan: a shallah from Illan
Ronall: Elelar's half-Valdani husband
Searlon: an assassin loyal to Kiloran
Semeon: a red-haired Guardian child
Sorin: Zarien’s sea-born father
Srijan: Kiloran's son
Tansen mar Dustan shah Gamalani: a shallah from Gamalan who became a shatai during his exile from Sileria
Varian of Adalian: a toren in the Alliance
Verlon: a powerful waterlord in the district of Liron
Vinn: an assassin loyal to Baran
Wyldon: a waterlord who likes to sculpt
Zarien: a boy of the sea-bound Lascari clan
Zimran shah Emeldari: Josarian's cousin (deceased)
Women
Alcinar: a sea-born woman with a mysterious fate
Sister Basimar: a friend of the rebels and loyalists
Torena Chasimar: Porsall’s pregnant wife
Dar: the destroyer goddess
Torena Elelar mar Odilan yesh Ronall shah Hasnari: a member of the Alliance
Faradar: Elelar's servant
Haydar: Najdan’s mistress
Jalilar: Josarian's sister; wife of Emelen
Mirabar: a Guardian tormented by prophetic visions
Neysar: Najdan’s youngest sister
Nulimar: Najdan’s eldest sister
Palomar: Zarien’s sea-born mother
Sister Rahilar: a friend of the rebels and loyalists
Sharifar: a sea goddess
Tashinar: a Guardian, Mirabar's mentor
Sister Velikar: a bad-tempered Sister
Viramar: Jagodan’s wife
Yenibar: Torena Chasimar’s servant
Clans
Emeldari: Josarian's clan
Gamalani: Tansen's eastern shallah clan, virtually extinct
Hasnari: Elelar's clan, the Hasnari are toreni
Idalari: Armian's and Harlon's clan
Islanari: Basimar's and Amitan's clan
Kurvari: a sea-born clan
Lascari: Zarien’s sea-bound clan
Lironi: Jagodan’s clan; the biggest shallah clan in eastern Sileria
Marendari: the (eastern) clan of Jagodan shah Lironi's wife, Viramar
Moynari: Kiman’s clan (eastern)
Sirdari: Calidar's clan (a western clan known for its bloodfeud with Tansen's clan, the Gamalani)
Factions
The Beyah-Olvari: a mysterious, le
gendary race who were the original inhabitants of Sileria
The city-dwellers: the inhabitants of Sileria's cities and larger towns
The Guardians: a Silerian religious sect which communicates with the Otherworld via fire magic
The Honored Society: the waterlords and assassins of the Society achieve power through extortion, violence, and control of Sileria's water supply
The lowlanders: peasants living and working on Sileria's agricultural plains
The Outlookers: the gray-clad Valdani occupying force in Sileria; different from the Valdani armies on the mainland
The sea-born folk: bearing intricate indigo tattoos on their arms, they live mostly aboard their boats along Sileria's coasts
The shallaheen: mountain peasants; the largest and poorest faction in Sileria
The Sisterhood: usually Silerian widows or young women with a calling, the Sisters are pacifists and healers, and they provide Sanctuary for people in danger
The zanareen: a fanatical Silerian sect living atop Mount Darshon, awaiting the coming of the Firebringer
Place Names
Abayara: the first moon
Adalian: Sileria's southern port city, famous for its Temple Market