About Tunare's Benevolence
Meeting Places
Myths & Legends
Other Stuff
The Family
Alone in her attick room at the top of Tunare's Inn, a kindly looking druid woman is bent over a scroll with quill in hand. She looks up from the parchment and her gaze focuses in the distance where ravens circle over the fields of Shattered Sword Lane. Beside her, her cup of tea grows cold. She is lost in thought.
The scroll in front of her is a history half written, a legend that has yet to be.... "It was last year that the bright and beautiful Lady Lilliy came to me and told me Tunare wanted to speak with us. In wolf form we crossed the Wakening Lands together, and I could not help but noticing that my friend had aged greatly with the cares of guild leadership. She had held our family together through some of the hardest times we had ever encountered, and had inspired us to bring the guild back to a strength and happiness. But no longer did she frolick the way I remembered. Instead she chose her path with the care of one who has been set upon too often.
As we entered the Plane of Growth, Gaiah was there awaiting us. Solemnly she drew us both into her arms and then stepped back, motioning for us to follow her. No words were spoken, and I understood that what Tunare had to speak with us about would not sit easily upon our souls.
I cannot begin to describe the sense of peace that a woodelf feels upon approaching Tunare's sacred tree. Her presence infuses the land, tingles up from your feet with every step upon her soil, you sip it from the air with each breath you take. As we drew nearer I watched Lilliy begin to radiate joy once more and I breathed a prayer of thanks.
When we first entered Tunare's chamber it was empty but for the two black cats that guard her. But as we settled ourselves we felt her presence grow stronger, until we could see her form, more beautiful then words could describe. She spoke into our minds, and each word was a blessing.
She addressed Lilliy first, and in her voice was so much compassion that I could not help but shed a tear for my friend. She told us that Lilliy had been meant to be a youthful spirit, that she was Tunare's handmaiden and should not have been subjected to the weight of leadership's worries. As Tunare's gentle hand reached out and cupped Lilliy's face, the lines upon her brow were erased, the shine of her red-gold hair returned, mirroring Tunare's own. "Forgive me my child," Tunare spoke, "Your carefree youth was needed to return vitality to my chosen family. The laughter in your heart was given to spark the heart-fires of My Benevolence. You have served me well. I now release you from this burden."
As Tunare's touch a giggle escaped from Lilliy's lips and she stood tall once again shining with happiness, then lept and spun around the room in extacy, uncaring of anything but the pure joy bubbling up from inside her once more. The laughter was infectious and Gaiah and I ended up laughing with her, all of us basking in Tunare's smile.
Then Tunare turned to me.
She did not speak at first but looked into my eyes and in that moment I knew that it was my turn to step up. "I can love them that much." I spoke, my voice breaking under her gaze. "Enough to care for them, your children, as if they were my own." I hoped as I said it, that it was true, and that I would do justice to the position of Guild Leader.
Tunare spoke to me then, and what she said seemed impossible, except that so much of it has come to pass. "There is a terrible destiny unfolding, Silxie." Tunare warned, "Our enemy Zebuxoruk plays a role, but there is greater betrayal yet to come, and it may well signify the end of the Age of the Gods."
Then Tunare spoke of gods that wanted only to see Norrath burn in the fires of Ro, of how the hated Bertoxxulous had been the one to point the finger at Zebuxoruk, and of how Rallos Zek had been the first to have offered aid to Tunare's cause against him. She spoke of a great covenant being broken and all that lives being destroyed.
"Not all is how it seems! Zebuxoruk indeed is trying to bring about the downfall of the gods. Even now he is preparing to open the Planes of the Gods to mortals... From this I am safe. I opened the portal to my realm long ago, out of love for the Elven Races. Although it makes me vulnerable to the evil children of Norrath who come to slay me in my home, My physical body is only a shadow I cast for I am the whole of this land, and that they cannot touch."
"But soon the mortal races will have access to powers that have only ever been the domain of the gods. They will become like gods themselves. They may one day release the physical form of Zebuxoruk into the world and that will mark the twilight of the Immortals."
Tunare paused "Would a Goddess who loves Life sacrifice her own divinity to preserve it?" she asked
"What would you have me do My Goddess?" I asked, a sick feeling in the bottom of my stomach, "Who do I fight? Who is the enemy then?"
"Fight no one" spoke Tunare. "Nuture our guild, wear My Name with pride, be an example of My Love in the world. Put your family first Silxie, and cast away all doubts, you will be the right one to lead them as long as you remember to love them. If the day comes when I am not stronger then the strongest of my children, let your name carry my legend. For there is great power in names."
As Tunare extended her hand to touch my heart I felt an overwhelming surge of love for all the people who gathered under the name of Tunare's Benevolence. I saw the guild as a bountiful harvest of souls and realised how terribly precious each one of them was to me. At that moment I vowed I would serve them the very best that I could.
Finally, Tunare's gaze rested on Gaiah. "Old Woman" she smiled, for Gaiah is Tunare's best beloved among wood-elves. "You were born wise beyond your years. And now I ask that you share that wisdom with Silxie and with this little family. I have heard your prayers, Gaiah, I always do. In answer, yes, you will return to Norrath to help Silxie in taking on this task, and to make sure that Lilliy has the chance to be a simple woodelf again. When all is well you may come back to me, but for now, be where you are needed."
Gaiah knelt at Tunare's feet then, and what passed between them I do not know, for it was beyond my understanding. When Gaiah rose she called us both to her and bid us to say our farewells to our goddess. Then she cast a powerful spell which called us three from Tunare's side to stand, back on Norrath, in Surefall Glade.
Lilliy ran out into the woods, calling to her side a wee bear cub who she had befriended, to feed him the tasty tidbits she had foraged for him in the Plane of Growth. Giving me one last hug Gaiah excused herself to be alone for awhile in her sacred place behind the waterfall. But I delayed her with a question.
"I am confused, Gaiah. What is the purpose of our family now? I must surely prepare to fight, but is it against the decline of the Gods? Or is it against the torching of Norrath? I dont understand what Tunare meant."
Gaiah replied "If the family is strong, and the hearts within it are pure, then come the time, they will make the right choices. This is what your task is: Make Tunare's Benevolence thrive, listen to the guild for direction. Let the future bring itself to your door, and the family will be there to answer its knock." Here Silxie's tale ends. And so it was, my beloved ones, that our family was given Tunare's trust. Now we forge our own future.
Let us read the words
So much has happened since then, and her hand is now tired from trying to write it all down. As Silxie's gaze returns to skim the document she has created, she smiles, then adds one last sentence.
-Silxie Sower
