“Did you say good-bye to anyone else?” Rhys asked, considerably alarmed at the thought.
Nightshade nodded. “I went to visit Laura. After what happened with Gerard, I thought I’d sneak up on Laura gradually-you know, give her time to get used to me.” The ghost sighed. “But that didn’t make any difference. She screamed and threw her apron over her head and broke a whole stack of dirty dishes when she fell into the wash basin. So I thought it would be best if I didn’t stick around. Now I’m here with you, and you’re my last stop, and then I’m off for good.”
“I am glad to see you, my friend,” said Rhys. “I have missed you very much.”
“I know,” said Nightshade. “I felt you missing me. It was a good feeling, but you mustn’t be sad. That’s what I came to tell you. I’m sorry it took so long for me to get here. Time doesn’t have much meaning for me anymore and there were so many places to visit and so much to see. Do you know there’s a whole ’nother continent! It’s called Taladas and it’s a very interesting place, though that’s not where I’m going on my soul’s journey-Oh, that reminds me. I have to tell you about Chemosh.
“The ghosts I talked to when I was a Nightstalker told me how when you die your soul goes before the Lord of Death to be judged. I was looking forward to that part and it was very exciting. I stood in line with a whole bunch of other souls: goblins and draconians, kender and humans, elves and gnomes and ogres and more. Each soul goes up before the Lord of Death, who sits on an enormous throne-very impressive. Sometimes he tries to tempt them to stay with him. Or sometimes they’re already sworn to follow him or some other god, like Morgion, who is not a nice person, let me tell you! And sometimes other gods come to tell Chemosh that he’s to keep his hands off. Reorx did that for a dwarf.
“So I was standing there in the back of the line, thinking it was going to take me a long, long time to reach the front, when suddenly the Lord of Death bolts up from his throne. He walks down the line and comes to stand in front of me! He glares at me quite fiercely and looks very angry and tells me I can go. I said I didn’t mind staying; I was visiting with some friends, and that was true. I’d run into some dead kender and we were talking about how interesting it was being dead, and we described how each of us had died and they all agreed that none of them could top me since I’d been killed by a god.
“I started to explain this Chemosh, but he snarled and said he wasn’t interested. My soul had already been judged, and I was free to go. I looked around, and there was the White Lady and Majere and Zeboim and all three moon gods, and Kiri-Jolith in his shining armor and some other gods I didn’t recognize and even Sargonnas! I wondered what they were all doing there, but the White Lady said they’d come to honor me, though Zeboim said she’d come just to make sure I was really dead. The gods all shook my hand, and when I came to Majere, he touched the grasshopper that was still pinned to my shirt, and he said that it would let me jump forward to see where I was going and then jump back to say goodbye. And I was just telling Mishakal how much I liked her gingerbread and I was about ready to leave when who do you think came to see me?”
Rhys shook his head.
“Mina!” said Nightshade, awed. “I was going to be mad at her, for slaying me, you know, but she came to me and she put her arms around me and she cried over me. And then she took me by the hand and walked with me out of the Hall of Judgment and she showed me the road made of star dust that will take me onward past the sunset when I am ready to leave. I was glad for her, because she seems to have found her way, and because she’s not crazy anymore, but I was sad, too, because she looked so very sad.”
“I think she always will be,” said Rhys.
Nightshade heaved a deep sigh. “I think so too. You know, in my travels I’ve seen the little shrines people are starting to build to honor her and I was hoping those would cheer her up, but the people who come to her shrines always look so sad themselves that I don’t think it helps her much.”
“She wants the people to come to her,” said Rhys. “She is the God of Tears and she welcomes all who are unhappy or sorrowful, especially those consumed by guilt or regret, or struggling against dark passions. Any person who feels that no one else can understand his pain can come to her. Mina understands, for her own pain is constant.”
“Woo, boy,” said the ghost.
Nightshade was never downhearted for long, however. After gathering up a few ghostly pouches, he bounced to his feet.
“Well, I’m off,” he said, adding cheerfully, “As Zeboim said, it’s time for me to go annoy the poor, unfortunate people in some new world.”
Nightshade reached down to pat Atta. His ghostly touch caused the dog to jerk awake and stare about, puzzled. Nightshade held out his hand to Rhys. He felt a soft whispering touch, like the fall of a feather on his skin.
“Farewell on your journey, my friend,” Rhys said.
“So long as there’s chicken and dumplings, I’ll be happy!” Nightshade replied, and he waved and whisked himself through the oak tree-just because he could-and then he was gone.
A bell ringing out from the monastery called the monks to evening meditation. Rhys stood up and smoothed the folds of his orange robes. As he did so, he felt something fall to the ground. A gold grasshopper lay at his feet. Rhys picked up the grasshopper and pinned it to his robes and sent a silent prayer of well-wishing along the Stardust road after his friend. Then he whistled to Atta, who sprang to her feet and raced down the hill, herding the sheep.
Her pups chased after her, barking frantically and making little darting runs at the sheep in imitation of their mother. And though Atta cuffed them for getting in her way, her eyes shone with pride.
Rhys picked up one of the pups, the runt of the litter, who was having trouble keeping up. He tucked the pup under his arm and continued down the hill, taking his flock safely to the fold.
Appendix
Amber and
Blood by Jamie Chambers and Cam Banks
MINA
Goddess of Tears
Lesser Deity
Symboclass="underline" An amber teardrop.
Celestial Symboclass="underline" None.
Home Plane: Ethereal Plane/Krynn.
Alignment: Neutral good or neutral evil.
Portfolio: Grief, loss, mortality.
Worshipers: The desperate and the abandoned; the grief-shattered; those feeling trapped, suicidal; those who have lost all hope.
Colors: Black, purple, yellow.
The embodiment of the sorrow of the gods in the face of the world’s many tragedies, Mina (mee-na) is a mysterious divine agency who does not stand among the other gods of Krynn. Once the divine power of innocence, Mina was corrupted by and subsequently liberated from the plots of Takhisis and the other gods of Darkness during the Age of Mortals. Her trials have irrevocably changed her. Now, she is the patron of the faithless, the hopeless, and those who, either through their own fault or despite their best efforts, have lost what they hold most dear. She brings comfort in the face of sorrow, yet she is a constant reminder to the grieving that their pain is a real and necessary part of a mortal’s existence.
History
Mina is the daughter of Mishakal, Goddess of Healing, and Paladine, the Platinum Dragon. She was born out of their sheer joy in the creation of the world. Sister to Kiri-Jolith and Solinari, Mina was not counted among those gods who brought forth the world during the Age of Starbirth. Indeed, her existence was known only to her divine parents and to their wise counselor, Majere, who knew that if she joined them in the pantheon of Light, her existence would upset the divine Balance between Good, Neutrality, and Evil. Such an imbalance would be an excuse for the Queen of Darkness to manipulate events to her advantage, and thus Paladine and Mishakal bade Majere hide Mina away, safe in eternal slumber deep within Krynn’s primal oceans. Her divine essence was thus housed within Krynn itself, unseen and unknown, until the world was stolen by Takhisis after the Chaos War. Takhisis, thinking herself alone, felt Mina’s holy power, and set out to find her. She awakened the god-child and tricked her into believing herself mortal. Thus began the sequence of events that led to the War of Souls and the rise of the Beloved.