Nodding in satisfaction, Sunandi left the Hetawa and went forth to do her part.
Acknowledgments
My thanks here are mostly for resources rather than people, but only because the list of people to thank would be another book in itself.
The list of helpful resources would be, too, but I’ll single out a few for particular note. First is Mythology: An Illustrated Encyclopedia by Richard Cavendish, a coffee-table book that attempted the impossible—a survey of all the world’s myth systems. It had some notable problems of cultural bias and the usual problems of any broad survey, but it was helpful in one way: when I first read it, I began to see the common structure underlying most human cosmogonies. I used this common structure, as I did in the Inheritance Trilogy, to create the gods of Kisua and Gujaareh.
Also, On Dreams by Sigmund Freud, and The Red Book, by Carl Gustav Jung. The latter I was able to see “in person” at last thanks to a lovely exhibit at the Rubin Museum in New York. Early psychoanalysts got a lot of things wrong in their studies of human nature, but in their partly spiritual, partly intellectual quest to understand their fellow human beings, I got a sense of how a faith can be born. To some degree, Gujaareh’s founder Inunru—er, sans mass murder and megalomania—is inspired by them.
Also, the Brooklyn Museum’s Egyptian and Nubian collection. The British Museum’s collection is much bigger and more impressive, but I don’t live in London, and that museum was too crowded and anxiously guarded to allow the hours of close study I needed. No quick visit can give you a real sense of the day-to-day life of ancient city-dwellers: how they combed their hair, how they cleaned their teeth, how they traveled from home to work, how they gossiped about that guy down the street who looked at them crosswise and didja hear he worships that god? In Brooklyn nobody cares if you sit in one place and stare at something for hours, as long as you don’t then get up and shoot somebody.
Oh, and I’ll allow myself one bit of people-thanks: to my first writing group, the BRAWLers, who were the Boston Area Writers’ Group until we decided we needed better branding. You guys tore this book apart and put it back together better, and you loved it and cheered for it before anyone else. (No, Jennifer, they did not have sex.) Thank you.
Glossary
Abeyance: A formal delay, pending further investigation, of any Hetawa-issued order. May be invoked by any Servant of Hananja sworn to a path, though the abeyance must be justified before the Council of Paths or the Superior.
Acolytes: Boys of between twelve and sixteen floods who have elected to pursue the Service of Hananja, but who have not yet sworn themselves to one of the four paths.
Age of adulthood: In Gujaareh and Kisua, four times four, or sixteen floods of age. The age at which young citizens are granted legal and all other rights of majority, and may be confirmed in their choice of vocation.
Age of choice: In Gujaareh and Kisua, three times four, or twelve floods of age. The age at which young citizens are counted old enough to pursue a chosen vocation, court a spouse, or undertake many other significant decisions.
Age of eldership: In Gujaareh, four times four times four, or sixty-four floods of age. The age at which citizens are counted old enough to hold positions of leadership or esteem. In Kisua, citizens are deemed elders at fifty-two years of age.
Apprentices: Youths who have passed the age of adulthood and begun higher training in an adult vocation.
Assay of Truth: The procedures required to determine whether and when a Gatherer’s aid is required. Usually performed by the Council of Paths, although any Gatherer has discretion to perform an assessment in the field.
Aureole of the Setting Sun: Symbol of the authority and divinity of the Sunset Lineage. An emblem consisting of alternating plates of red and gold amber arranged in a sunburst pattern around a central gold semicircle, which sits atop a staff carved from white nhefti.
Banbarra: A desert tribe, enemies of Gujaareh.
Body wrap: A garment worn around the torso or waist by men and women in Kisua. A woman’s wrap is usually ankle-length; a man’s wrap may be knee-length or shorter and accented by a shoulder-drape.
Bromarte clans: A cluster of northern tribes whose territories lie just across the Sea of Glory from Gujaareh.
Caste: The social/vocational classes of Gujaareh and Kisua, ascribed at birth. An individual may transcend his or her assigned caste only by entering public service (such as in the Hetawa or the military).
Charad-dinh: A small nation to the southeast of Kisua, at the edge of the High Green Forest.
City of Dreams: Colloquial name for the capital of Gujaareh. Also known as Hananja’s City. Officially, the city’s name is simply “Gujaareh.”
Collar: Decorative item worn in Gujaareh and occasionally in Kisua. Consists of a band around the neck and dangling ornaments that drape the chest and shoulders.
Commission: Official request for a Gatherer’s service. Commissions are usually submitted by family members of the one to be Gathered.
Council of Paths: With the Superior, the governing body of the Hetawa. Includes senior members of the Sentinels, Teachers, and Sharers, as well as one (non-voting) liaison from the Sisters. Out of courtesy, Gatherers operate under the authority of this body, although they are officially autonomous.
Dane-inge: One of the divine children of Dreaming Moon and Sun. A goddess of the dance.
Donation: The monthly offering of dreams required of all citizens of Gujaareh.
Dreambile: One of the four dream-humors that form the basis of Gujaareen magic. Culled from nightmares, it is useful for discouraging harmful growth and destroying unnecessary tissue in the body.
Dreamblood: One of the four dream-humors that form the basis of Gujaareen magic. Culled from the final dream that occurs at the moment of death, it is useful for bringing peace.
Dream-humors: The magical energies culled from dreams.
Dreamichor: One of the four dream-humors that form the basis of Gujaareen magic. Culled from ordinary “nonsense” dreams, it is useful for repairing damage in the body.
Dreaming Moon: The mother of all gods and goddesses save Sun and Waking Moon, and mistress of the sky. Also called “the Dreamer.”
Dreamseed: One of the four dream-humors that form the basis of Gujaareen magic. Culled from erotic dreams, it is useful for stimulating growth that ordinarily occurs only in the womb (e.g., new limbs).
Easternese: Collective term for people from lands far to the east of the Sea of Glory.
Ehiru: A Gatherer of Hananja; the black oasis rose. Once a son of the Sunset Lineage.
Empty Thousand: The desert that stretches from the southernmost edge of the Gujaareen Territories to the northernmost reaches of the Kisuati Protectorate.
Endless, The: The great ocean to the west of the Sea of Glory.
False-seeing: A dream that appears to be a vision of the future or past, but is too distorted for interpretation or is simply inaccurate.