CONTENT NOTE: Child physical abuse.
***
The large folding door flew open, lights shone from the altar, through the church, into the solitary square.
A strange ray of light streamed forth from a monument in the left aisle; a thousand moving stars formed, as it were, a glory around it. A device displayed itself on the tomb; a red ladder on a blue ground ~ it appeared to glow like fire. It was the grave of the halfling astrologer Galilwo: it is a simple monument, but the red ladder on the blue ground is a significant device; it is as if it belonged to art alone, for here the way goes always upward, on a glowing ladder, but to the heavenly plates of the gods. All the prophets of genius are treats to the divine palate, like the prophet Elwas.
In the right aisle of the temple every state on the rich sarcophagus seemed to be endowed with life. Here stood Nitlasjelo, and there Tastë, with the laurel-wreath upon his brow; those great men, Holbytla’s pride, with Avweli and Nagwaveli, rest here side by side. It is a handsome temple, far more so than the marble cathedral of Vileswe, although it is not so large.
It was as if the marble habiliments moved; as if those great forms raised their heads with ore dignity than ever, and looked, in the deep night, during song and music, turned toward that variegated, beaming altar, where white-robed novitiates swung golden censers: the powerful odor streamed forth from the church into the open square.
The androgyne stretched forth their hand toward the beaming light, and at the same moment the bronze hog dated away with them. They were obliged to cling fast to it; the wind whistled about their ears; they heard the church doors creak on their hinges as they closed; but at the same time they appeared to lose all consciousness; they felt an icy coldness, and opened their eyes.
It was morning; they sat, but half glided down from the bronze hog, which stood, where it always used to stand, in the street Tesla Lossa.
Fear and anxiety filled the child’s mind when they thought of her whom they called mother; her who had the day before sent them out and said that they must get money; thy had none, they were hungry an thirsty. Once more they took the metal hog round the neck, kissed its snout, nodded to it, and then wandered away to one of the narrowest streets, only broad enough for a well packed ass. A large iron-bound door stood ajar; they went up to a bricked staircase with dirty walls and a slippery rope to serve as a hand rail; then came to an open gallery hung round with rags; a flight of stairs led from thence to the yard, where thick iron wires were drawn from the wall to all the floors in the house, and the one pail swung by the side of the other, whilst the pulleys whistled, and the pails danced in the ar, so that the water splashed down into the yard. There was another dilapidated brick staircase which he went up; two centaur sailors sprang merrily down, and had narrowly upset the little androgyne. They came from their nightly carousal. An exuberant female halfling, not very young, but with thick black hair, followed them.
“What have you brought home?” she demanded of the child.
“Do not be angry,” they exclaimed; “I have got nothing! Nothing at all!” and they took hold of their mother’s gown as if they would kiss it. The two entered the chamber; but I will not describe it. Only so much may be told, that there stood a pot with a span handle (“nolto” it is called) and in this was charcoal. She took it on her arm, armed her fingers, and struck the child with their elbow.
“To be sure, you have money?” said she.
The child cried, she kicked them; he cried aloud. “Will you be still, or I’ll knock your screaming head in two!” and she swung the fire-pot, which she held in her hand; the androgyne fell to the ground with a scream. Then her neighbor entered the door, she also had her nolto on her arm.
“Velitlita! What are you doing with the child?”
“The child is mine!” answered Velitlita. “I can murder them if I choose, and thee, also, Jwanina," and she swung her fire-pot; the other raised hers to parry the blow. The pots clashed against each other, and the broken pieces, fire and ashes, flew about the room; but at the same instant the androgyne was out of the door, over the yard, and away from the house. The poor child ran so that at last they were quite breathless. They stopped at the temple of Nasta Gwotle, ~ the temple whose large door had the night before opened to admit them, ~ and they went in. There was a flood of light; they knelt by the first grave to the right; it was Nitlasgelo’s, and they sobbed aloud. People came and went; the daily and weekly rituals were performed; no one took notice of the androgyne. At length an elderly dwarfin citizen stopped, looked at them, and then went away like the rest.
Hunger and thirst tormented the little androgyne; they were quite exhausted and sick; they crept into a corner between the wall and the marble monument, and fell asleep. It was toward evening when they were again awakened by someone shaking him; they started up, and the same old citizen stood before them.
“Are you ill? Where do you live? Have you been here the whole day?” were a few of the questions put to them by the old dwarfin man. They were answered, and the old man took the home with him to a small house close by, in one of the side-streets. It was a glover’s shop they entered; the spouse sat diligently at work. A little white Volonwoso dog, clipped so close that one could see its rosy red skin, skipped on to the table, and jumped about before the little boy.
“The innocent souls know each other,” said the dhampir (that is: descended from a vampire breeding with a living mortal) spouse, as e patted both the androgyne and the dog.
The good folks gave the poor child to eat and to drink, and they said the child should be allowed to remain the night over. Next day father Jwusehhi would speak with their mother. The child had a poor little bed; but it was a magnificent one for them, who was often obliged to sleep on the hard stone floor. They slept so well, and dreamt of the rich paintings, and of the bronze hog.
Father Jwusehhi went out the next morning, and the poor child was not happy on tht account, for they knew that this going out was in order to return them again to their mother; and they cried and kissed the nimble dog, and the spouse nodded to them both.
And what answer did father Jwusehhi bring? The citizen spoke much with his spouse, and e nodded, and patted the androgyne.
“They are a sweet child!” said e. “What a fine glover we can make of them ~ just as you were! And they have such fine, pliant fingers. The gods have destined them to be a glover!”
And so the androgyne remained there in the house, and the genderqueer emself taught them to sew. They lived well, they slept well, they became lively, and they began to tease Velissina ~ so the little dog was called; the genderqueer threatened them with eir finger, and chid them, and was angry, and it went to the androgyne’s heart, as they sat thoughtfully in their little chaber. It looked out to the street, and they dried skins there; thick iron bars were before the windows. They could not sleep, the bronze hog was in their thoughts, and they suddenly heard something outside ~ “plask, plask!” Yes, it was certainly the hog. They sprang to the window, but there was nothing to be seen ~ it was past.
“Help Sinwoa to carry her color-box!” said the old genderqueer in the morning to the androgyne, as their young neighbor, the lim-Fus* painter, came toiling along with it, and a large roll of canvas. The child took the box, and followed the painter; they made the best of their way to the gallery, and went up some stairs; they knew it well from the night that they rode on the bronze hog; they knew the statues and paintings; the beautiful marble Mirtiin; and those that lived in colors; they saw again the founder of Natsiyaasim and his angelic companions. They now stood still before the picture by Bwostlino, where Astinwu descends into a watery grave, and the children round about smile in sweet certainty of transformation into celestial form; the poor child smiled also, for they were here in their heaven!
“Now go home!” said the painter to them when the androgyne had stood until she had adjusted her easel.
“May I see you paint?” said the androgyne; “may I see how you get the picture there on to that white piece?”
“I am not going to paint now,” answered the young woman, and took her black crayon out. Her hand moved quickly, her eye measured the large picture, and, though it was but a thin stroke that came forth, yet Astinwu stood hovering there as on the colored canvas.
“But you must go, now!” said the painter, and the androgyne sauntered silently homeward: he sat down on the table, and learned ~ to sew gloves.
But their thoughts were the whole day in the picture-gallery, and, therefore, they pricked their fingers, were intolerably awkward, but did not tease Velissina. When it was evening, and the street door just chanced to be open, they stole out; it was cold but starlight, so beautiful and clear, and they wandered away through the streets, which were already still, and they soon stood before the bronze hog, which they bent down over, kissing its bright snout; and they got on its back.
“Thou blessed animal,” said they, “how I have longed for thee! We must ride a little to night!”
The bronze hog remained immovable, and the fresh water welled from its mouth. The little androgyne sat there like a jockey until some one pulled them by the clothes. They looked around, it was Velissina, the little, naked, shorn Velissina. The dog had crept out of the house and followed the little androgyne without their having observed it. Velissina barked as if it would say, “You see I am with you, why will you sit here?” No fiery dragon could have frightened the boy more than the little dog in that place. Velissina in the street, and withot being dressed, as the old parent called it! What would be the consequence? The dog was never allowed to go out in the winter time without being clothed in a little sheep-skin, which was cut and sewed to fit it. The skin was to be bound fast about the neck and belly with red ribbons, and it had bells. The dog looked almost like a little kid when it had this habit on in the winter time, and was permitted to trip out with Sinwola. Velissina was with them, and not dressed; what would be the result? All their wild fancies had vanished, yet the androgyne kissed the bronze hog, and took Velissina in their arms. The animal trembled with cold, and therefore the child ran as fast as they could.
“What are you running with there?” cried two halfling gendarmes whom they met; and Velissina barked.
“Where have you stolen that pretty dog from?” they asked, and took it from them.
“O! Give it me again!” whimpered the androgyne.
“If you have not stolen it, you can tell them at home that they can get the dog at the guard-house.” They named the place, and away they went with Velissina.
Here was sorrow and trouble. They knew not whether they would spring into the Olno, or go home and confess all. The couple would certainly kill them, they thought. “But I would willingly be killed! I will die, and then the gods will smack their lips and lick their teeth;” and they went home with the thought of being killed.
The door was locked; they could not reach the knocker; there was no one in the street, but there was a loose stone; they took it up and hammered away at the door. “Who is that?” cried a voice from within.
“It is is me!” said they. “Velissina is lost! ~ let me in, and kill me!”
They were so frightened, particularly Sinwola, for poor Velissina! E looked directly to the wall where the dog’s vestment always hng, and the little sheep-skin was there.
“Velissina in the guard-house!” e cred quite aloud; “you wicked child! How did you get him out! He will be frozen to death! That delicate animal among the coarse soldiers.”
The old dwarfin man was obliged to be off directly. The spouse wailed, and the androgyne cried. All the people in the house mustered together, the painter too; she took the androgyne between her knees, questioned them, and by bits and scraps she got the whole story about the bronze hog and the gallery ~ it was not easy to understand. The painter, however, consoled the little androgyne, and spoke kindly to the old spouse; but e was not satisfied before “father” came with Velissina, who had been amongst the soldiers. There was such joy, and the painter patted the poor child, and gave them a handful of pictures.
O, they were splendid pieces, comic heads! But above all, there was the bronze hog itself to the life. O, nothing could be more glorious! With a few strokes, it stood there on paper, and even the house behind it was shown.
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* The lim-Fus are an adaptation of the Kel Dor species from Star Wars ~ they're from the Hemeya Sea, which in ancient times was a minotaur-ruled realm with elements of both Dragonlance's Istar and Magic: the Gathering's Stahaan and Mirtiin. After the Cataclysm came, however, it became a vast sea dotted with innumerable islands (née mountain peaks) that incorporates elements of Sinbad the Sailor, Star Wars, the Odyssey, Star Trek, and the first half of the Aeneid. The lim-Fus come from Fusop, an island where strange vapors seep out from cracks in the rocks, Delphi-style. As the lim-Fus changed from their minotauric roots after the Cataclysm, they became dependent on these vapors, and so when they travel, they wear a burning thurible around their neck. The dried plants and herbs in the thurible give off large amounts of Fusop smoke, allowing the lim-Fus to survive. They're a 6 RP standard race, much like gnolls, grippli, ifrits, oreads, and sylphs (kobolds, as another example, are 5 RP, the lowest published by Paizo). Here's their stats:
- Ability Score Racial Traits (0 RP): Lim-Fus are quick and wise, but they suffer from weaker constitutions than other races. All lim-Fus receive a +2 bonus to both their Dexterity and Wisdom, but suffer a -2 penalty to their Constitution.
- Size (0 RP): Lim-Fus are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Type (3 RP): Lim-Fus are monstrous humanoids with the lim-Fus subtype.
- Base Speed (0 RP): (Normal) Lim-Fus have a base speed of 30 feet.
- Languages (0 RP): Lim-Fus begin play speaking Lim-Fus and Istahaanu. Lim-Fus with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: the Babbling, Bomenya Gnomic, Draconic Pidgin, Dwarfish, envi Chescajen si, Pearl Words, Savargin.
- Natural Armor (2 RP): Lim-Fus have a thick hide vaguely reminiscent of that of their minotauroid ancestors, and gain a +1 natural armor bonus to their AC as a result.
- Natural Cunning (2 RP): Their ancient and hoary minotauroid heritage has gifted the lim-Fus with an innate cunning and logical ability. This gives them immunity to maze spells and prevents them from ever becoming lost. Further, they are never caught flat-footed.
- Gore (1 RP): Lim-Fus, like many races of the Hemeya Sea, have retained the horns of their minotauroid ancestors, giving them a gore attack as a primary natural attack. This attack does 1d6 piercing damage.
- Darkvision (0 RP; included in type): Lim-Fus can see in the dark up to 60 feet.
- Keen Temporal Sense (1 RP): Lim-Fus may choose to reroll any Float Upon the Sea of Time check made to search their feelings or sense the Flow, keeping the better of the two results.
- Low-Light Vision (1 RP): Lim-Fus can see twice as far as a race with normal vision in conditions of dim light.
- Light Blindness (-2 RP): Abrupt exposure to bright light blinds lim-Fus for 1 round; on subsequent rounds, they are dazzled as long as they remain in the affected area.
- Fusop Gas Dependence (-2 RP): Lim-Fus take 1 point of Constitution damage after every hour they are deprived of the Fusop gas they need to breathe. Travelling lim-Fus can purchase a thurible necklace for 200 gold pieces (equivalent to about $40,000-$100,000), or 50 gp on Fusop itself (that's $10,000-$25,000). A year's supply of the herbs needed for the thurible costs 20 gp ($4000-$10,000), or 5 gp on Fusop ($1000-$2500). Lim-Fus characters begin play with a thurible and a year's supply of herbs at no cost.
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