Now that the new Book I of The Daighacaer is ready for the final touches prior to publishing, I'm betwixt and between about including a prologue or simply beginning the story without any preamble. I personally appreciate knowing a bit of the back-story but can just as well do without it.
I've also considered perhaps not putting in a prologue and gathering the 'historical' aspects of the story which I include at the beginning of each book in the series into a book of its own. This is something which will need more thought.
If you have any views on this, I'd appreciate your input.
Faeré
In the Realm
of Myths and Faeré
Our Fantasies
Live their
lives
In the Realm
of Myths and Faeré
Our very
dreams
Come true
In the Realm
of Myths and Faeré
Because Times
are
Time survives
In the Realm
of Myths and Faeré
Knowledge of
Ages
Continue
In the Realm
of Myths and Faeré
Lighte dwells
in truth
As Darke
deceives
In the Realm
of Myths and Faeré
I live my
life
With you
Over
the aeons and for no discernible reason, fewer and fewer yldryf baby girls were
born in Faeré until the ratio between yldryf men and women was so one-sided
that fewer and fewer yldryf children were being born at all.
The
Chief Clerics knew that unless something drastic was done, the yldryf would no
longer exist and, if the yldryf were lost to Faeré, The Knowledge of Ages too
would cease to exist.
When
all of their combined knowledge failed to increase the number of yldryf girls
born, the senior yldryf tried to encourage the younger yldryf men to accept
marriage with women of their communities who were not yldryf in order that the yldryf
would endure in at least some form.
Whether
because of apprehension or denial of the demise of yldryf, the clerics were
painfully unsuccessful and, over time, the yldryf, in Raeldysce particularly,
but also in the surrounding kingdoms, were reduced to a mere handful of men.
Apart
from Anoral, the Queene of Raeldysce, there were no longer any pure-blood yldryf
women in Raeldysce.
Queene
Anoral and King Eroyalen lamented the loss of their pure yldryf heritage but
understood that life constantly changes and with it societies grow or die.
It
took a direct intervention from the Deities to point out the obvious to the yldryf
men.
Once
their minds and spirits were decisively and inevitably opened by the Deities,
it was finally clear to the majority of yldryf men that, for their heritage to
continue within Time and Times in any form at all they would, indeed, need to
embrace communities other than yldryf.
Nevertheless,
the majority of yldryf still firmly baulked at the thought.
During
the time through which the clerical debate was raging about the wisdom of
diluting the yldryf bloodline, two young yldryf friends had both, at almost the
same time, fallen in love with girls from different communities.
The
young men were not aware of the heated discussions raging around the dilution
of yldryf and consulted with The King and Queene about the situation in which
they found themselves.
That
the young men would stay with their true and life loves was not in question.
What was in question, however, was whether any children they had together would
suffer in any way by being only half-yldryf. The King and Queene consulted with
the Deities but it was something about which the Deities were strangely silent.
The
Royals themselves did not have any answers for the young men.
There
was also nothing within The Knowledge of Ages which helped in any way to solve
their dilemma.
Despite
the possibility of unforeseen complications, the young men decided that their
love for their life-loves demanded that their lives be joined not only in
matrimony but also in children of their own. Soon, each couple found to their
delight that they were with child.
All
the other yldryf in the Kingdom kept themselves apart from other communities
and slowly as each family grew older, more and more young yldryf boys, as they
reached the age of conversion to adulthood, left Raeldysce to find life-loves
outside of the Kingdom.
The
yldryf of Raeldysce started dwindling and the unavoidable was looming. They
were facing a very real danger of extinction.
The
one young friend was Leobarden, Lebrowen’s father, who married his lifelong faeré
love, Gianaira.
Lebrowen,
their son, was their only child.
To
his father’s delight, Lebrowen’s yldryf heritage seemed to be as strong as any
true yldryf.
To
his mother’s delight, the combination of yldryf and faerie endowed Lebrowen
with a special heritage that, as he matured into full manhood, he was now
beginning to truly explore.
The
other friend, Jivdral, was Jivdreg’s father. Jivdreg’s mother, Rinaedra, was dra’en,
and she passed on to Jivdreg her own unique heritage, which combined hauntingly
with his yldryf bloodline.
Jivdreg’s
eyes were jade, just as Lebrowen’s were, attesting to the still vibrant
strength of yldryf which coursed through them.
Until
Ryallor was born to Prince Eryen and his naiad bride, Princess Allara, Lebrowen
and Jivdreg were the only two half-yldryf among the remaining handful of pure-blood
yldryf who were living in Raeldysce Kingdom.
Every
full-yldryf looked at the world through emerald green eyes.
Every
half-yldryf looked at the world through jade green eyes, no matter what the
race of their other parent was. Their jade eyes attested to their heritage
which drew on the knowledge of yldryf ages but which also included their other
uniquely different and powerful heritage from their non-yldryf parent.
♦
Eryen’s
parents, Eroyalen and Anoral, who had no time for old-fashioned notions of
governance, began to step aside from active administrative duties while Eryen
was still young.
The
King and Queene were sitting on their veranda, looking out over the beautiful
landscaped garden. The scents from the various plants and flowers danced around
them, mingling into a burst of intense fragrances.
“This
is my most favoured time of the day, My Love,” said Queene Anoral. “Our private
time when I have you all to myself, once the obligations of governing our
people are complete for the day.”
King
Eroyalen smiled his acknowledgement.
He
did not need to answer his wife, she knew that he felt exactly as she did.
“I’ve
been thinking, Anoral,” said Eroyalen. “There are many administrative duties
which Eryen is more than competent to handle, even at his young age. As the
future king, he needs to learn all there is to know about the most complex
strategic understanding of governing people with the powerful combination of
both love and discipline. That will come with time. If we start passing the
most basic of administrative duties to him, to be his own responsibilities and
not as support to us or even to the administrative clerics, I believe that he
will thank us later.”
“I
agree,” said Queene Anoral. “There is much power in having the knowledge of the
workings of the state. Our clerics always appreciate that we know and are
willing to do what we ask of them.”
“Exactly!”
replied The King.
“Are
you considering starting now, while he is still involved with his studies?”
asked Anoral.
“Yes.
There is no time like the present. We’ll speak to him during our evening meal.
If he accepts, we’ll begin handing over. Of course, it will be simple duties at
first, and how much we transfer to him will depend on his alacrity and
aptitude.”
This
happened rather suddenly while Eryen was perhaps still too young to take over
the Kingdom. Yet, Eryen, to his credit, undertook everything that his parents
taught him with determination, if not always gladness. The first lessons were
rudimentary and deathly boring. He sometimes longed to be outside with his
friends rather than writing tomes of stuffy notes about how many barrels of such-and-such
liquid were being stored in which building. The mundanity of it all often irked
him but, he was the Heir-Prince, and his duty to the Kingdom and its people was
impressed on him from before he even knew his numbers.
