Tale of the Old Country

> *We were once a forest people—we lived in a fat land*
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> *We ate fruit from trees, and the big waachi that swam in the ocean*
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> *There was always enough—hunger was a stranger at our doors.*
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> *Skara was a kind place back then: Mist and cool sheltered us from Celem’s brilliance*
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> *Na-Shizu could live on the land then and children could wander alone.*
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> *There was joy in everything then—in the training for war even.*
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> *It was understood to be the form, the pathway of happiness.*
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> *But blood rested not on our hands.*
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> *Even Durno children came to learn with ours the Arts of war and self control at our Elders feet.*
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> *Then came the darkness and the shaking—Lôm’s jealousy—*
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> *And all changed like awakening from a dream.*
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> *The Waachi swam away from their homes to find new cool places*
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> *The mist evaporated in the heat*
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> *The fruits began to shrivel and the skin to burn.*
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> *With the changes came a new Threat.*
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> *A people from the South*
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> *Like reptiles they drew power from Celem*
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> *Like the heat they were merciless*
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> *Devouring all in their path.*
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> *Their menfolk developed a taste for our Na-Shizu*
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> *And carried them off to accomplish their will*
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> *They fought in groups, not like men with honour*
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> *They flung fire before them*
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> *In terror the Na-Shime turned to our friends, the Durno*
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> *We entreated them for help*
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> *But they met us with coldness*
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> *Our blood was not their blood*
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> *Our lands not their concern*
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> *Where were we when the Joria fled? –they asked*
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> *Did we track them down and bring them back?*
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> *Then they spoke of a land beyond the High Places*
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> *A land harsh and cruel, but empty and new.*
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> *We could go there—they would not lift against us their hand.*
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> *They even offered meal and leather coverings for the journey.*
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> *Now we must decide—there will not be time later.*
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> *So the elders spoke together—of all the signs:*
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> *Of Celem’s fury and his new fiery sons,*
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> *Of the shriveled fruit and the Waachi*
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> *We took their bargain, we received their gifts.*
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> *By cover of night, when Sons of Fire danced their fierce dance and made merry*
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> *We gathered who was left and we fled.*
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> *We did not look back.*
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> *We came here to the Lake and to the Plain*
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> *And we made oaths to be a new people*
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> *To learn the lore of the open spaces*
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> *The language of the Lake Waachi and the prickly trees*
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> *To protect ourselves from  Celem with new woven skin*
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> *When the sons of the Snake came down from the High Places*
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> *With a hunger we had not seen,  even in the Sons of Fire*
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> *We built Nagaco – City on the Lake*
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> *There we were safe—as long as we kept watch.*
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> *We also learned the lore of fighting in groups*
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> *Of traps and bait*
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> *How to walk great distances with neither food nor drink*
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> *Though we grew and changed to be like the prickly trees of the plains*
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> *In our hearts we kept the secrets of our Birthplace*
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> *The softness of the fruit, the mist, and tast of the fat Waachi*
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> *That is why in your dreams you must remember that land*
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> *Feed it to your heart*
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> *And no matter what misfortune befalls you—you will then be forever Shinse*
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