Teelo Imara Gives Proof Before The Virtuous Court

 The following is reproduced, in accordance with the benevolent wishes of Great Sister and the Red Emperor, wearing his mask of Celestinus, solely for the purposes of buseric, khoric, and ontoric discussion and consultation. It is not approved for ritual, ceremonial, or T&J usage, and I affirm no responsibility to the one who uses it for such!

It was the custom, in the days of Carmanian rule, for the people of Raibanth to graciously emphasize the festivals of those gods that were shared between Carmanians and Dara Happans, and by this act of condescension and kindness even the most bullish of Carmanians could be mollified. This we Lodrilli, as we are known, have in turn understood from time immemorial. The trick is a simple one, which I will not go into here. But for this reason, in those days the twin priestesses of Entekos and Dendara were exceedingly important in the city, and it was indeed twin priestesses, as a single priestess for both would have caused Carmanian eyebrows to furrow, Carmanian lips to split and unleash some dire sarcasm, Carmanian proscriptions to post themselves in the great plazas.

And thus when the Red Goddess, in her gauze-like earthly veil of Teelo Imara, let it be known that she would march in procession to the walls of Raibanth and there enter within the city, it was appreciated by all that she would have to be questioned and examined, for she had made many claims and these were as of yet unappreciated in the Oslira's bottom. And there was nothing for it but for the twin priestesses to lead the questioning and examining, for in truth the rumors of the Battle of Chaos had spread westward and there were those who whispered in fright that this Teelo Imara was a being of purest corrupt Darkness, or worse, and to have a priest of Yelm enter a potentially abyssal presence like boarding a riverboat would have been catastrophic. 

But in turn, it would not have been right for the high priestess of Dendara to question Teelo Imara either, for much the same reason. And so it was Entekos, who has always been the defender of her sister's pure virtue, whose representative met the Goddess to the south of Yuthuppa, at a place where the Oslira may be crossed with relative ease. 

Now the high priestess of Entekos was a woman named Jaseen, and the high priestess of Dendara was a woman named Ledashta, and they were sisters in one way and without any family relation in another. And it was whispered at times that Jaseen may have even been something of a Gorgorma priestess in her efforts to keep virtue strong in Raibanth, and that there were many times when it was Ledashta who protected Jaseen, Dendara shielding Entekos. And if there happened to be a Pelandan hearing these whispers, then they would nod and say that that was appropriate, but nobody could ever get any explanation for why this was so. 

Jaseen came across the Oslira standing in a sailboat with her guards and attendants, but no sailors, and the wind itself carried her across the river. All could tell she was with it, in the know, and tuned in. The Goddess had pitched a tent, a full pavilion with several rooms, and there was some negotiation and some disquiet at the readiness with which the Goddess had foreseen this necessity. But it was all worked out without any deaths, and at last Jaseen faced Teelo Imara in a room that held only the two of them in a tent that held no one else, so that their words would remain unknown to anyone else. 

Jaseen began with questions, popping off with quizzical queries, and the Goddess answered satisfactorily, giving the appropriate answers, or saying, "I don't know, I'm from Rinliddi" in some cases. And this continued for some time, and then Jaseen stopped. 

"All this shows is that you are learned," she said, and cracked her knuckles. "But you have also proclaimed your knowledge of many secrets, and that you have held in your heart stories of gods and demons that are held in confidence by the temples and the cults. So tell me, Teelo Imara, what secret story do you have of Entekos and Dendara?" Her face was as cold as Walindum's bosom, and Teelo Imara held her hand to her mouth to keep from laughing. 

"The testimony I could give would last ten years and ten weeks and ten days and ten hours," she said, "And there are many more things that you could do with that time that were not simply listening to me gossip. Oh, but I do know something that you know, but that your... 'sister' might not, about her goddess and your goddess." Jaseen sneered. 

"Do you, now? And what is that?" She asked, boredom carefully articulated in her voice. 

"There is a riddle," the Goddess said, and she winked at Jaseen, "Which asks, 'Why do we wear robes when Yelm wore only the Loincloth of Modesty?', and there are common answers, but here is an answer that is True." And she leaned forward, and lowered her voice. "You know, for you have learned, that the reason that we wear clothes beyond the Loincloth of Modesty is because of Dendara."

"Is that it? I suppose you don't even know why," Jaseen said. She snorted. 

"I don't!" the Goddess said. "All I know is that when Dendara was fitted for the Loincloth of Modesty, there was no way that it could be made to cover her and make her modest, for indeed there was much to cover there, more than any loincloth could ever hope to cover." Jaseen was silent. "And that indeed it was Entekos who covered Dendara's immodesty," the Goddess added, "Her breath, her mouth, shielded Dendara from view." 

This is of course known now, and in the countryside it has been remembered, that when rain comes, we know that it represents the coming of Entekos, and it was said, truly, that "Entekos was frisky", and that if clouds gathered about a mountaintop sufficiently thick to hide it from view, then rain will soon follow. And this was known as "Entekos veiling Dendara." But in those days it was not known. Some even believed that Dendara had but crevasses and ravines. That was the ignorance that clouded our world before the Goddess arrived. 

Jaseen sprung up, a cry from her lips, and the Goddess continued, "And you, Jaseen, do you perform this duty for Dendara, for Dendara's servant, Ledashta? You who were sent as the vizier of virtue, do you kneel before Ledashta, as is appropriate and proper?"

Jaseen spoke, in a hollow voice, "Yes." She sighed. "And I also do so regardless of whether it is proper or not, in circumstances where the appropriateness is unknown, and this is a weakness, an entry of the Lie into my heart, and I knew before I ventured to this place that the Lie would devour me, and I thought that it might be you. But you speak truth, and so it shall be the people of Raibanth that shall give me up to hungry Oria and Annara before long." She shivered. 

"No," the Goddess said. "You shall not be devoured, for you have devoured first and with passion. And if you let the truth be the Truth, you will be skinned of your mask of fear, but you will keep your life."

Jaseen barked. "You would be a fool to believe that." 

"Believe it if you like," the Goddess said, and stepped out of the room and of the pavilion. "I find my throat parched," she said, and leaving the tent, Jaseen soon behind, she knelt down and gathered some water into her hands from the Oslira, and drank of it, and as her fingers touched the water, a massive red fish leapt into her hands. And the city is named that to this day. And Jaseen saw and understood.

Now Jaseen was wrong, for she did not die, for everyone in Raibanth saw that she was simply devoted to her sister-priestess, and she lived out the rest of her days in peace, as all knew that she had demonstrated that Carmania would kneel to Dara Happa by her deeds, and so too did Carmania kneel to the Heartlands. Though the Goddess ensured this was purely flirting, for did she not send the Blood Kings to test her Moonson, and challenge him to transcend the ways of the emperors of old? 

If there is anyone who would doubt this story, let them marvel at the cave that was discovered on the shores of Lake Oronin, or see the charcoal sketches of it that now hang in every Dendara temple from Graclodont to Garsting. Let them do as I have done, and join in the purification of Entekos, and wash away their vices in her blessed rainwater, and witness the rituals that only the purified may see. Wonders will pass before their eyes, and they will comprehend only a seventh of them, and they may even go blind if they speak foolishly. Such are the ways of our goddesses. 

This story is generally marked as dubious, as it is not directly referenced in any surviving texts from before the Third Wane. The author of this version identifies themselves as a Lodrilli. Their identity is not otherwise known. As "Lodrilli" is a term that outsiders generally use (indeed, anyone who grew up in a lod-plow village knows well how minuscule the distinctions between peoples can become) it has been suggested that the author was an urban individual feigning familiarity with peasant customs and beliefs. This is false, in that "Entekos veiling Dendara" is a well-known peasant aphorism for oncoming rainclouds, though normally not specifically associated with mountains. Thus, I propose that the anonymous author was from a community right on the edges of the upland country, familiar with mountains. Identifying further texts by this author (there are several candidates currently being debated, and at least one other traditional attribution) would help us to determine whether they were a Kostaddi or a Kisteli or a Kesterani or a Dikoriani or a Vandesi or even from a Thirsty Village.