The Tale of Tear and Shastalar

Cast/Mentioned beings:

: The god of the Weather and the Oceans

: The Sun God

: The Supreme God, The Lord of Time, Death and Judgement

: The Spririt of Nature

: The Goddess of Wild Nature, Faeries. Sylvan creatures and Elves

The Tale of Tear and Shastalar
In the lands of the Ardamians there is a tale. A tale of the weather god, Shastalar, and of Tear, the spirit of nature. This tale is often told when the weather grows bad and the children huddles in front of the fireplace.

When the world was yet young and the gods marvelled at their creation, a particular beauty caught the eye of Shastalar, the Stormfather, younger brother of Aahr and Fhalgharod. Amidst the running rivers and the blowing winds, above the forest leaves and the flowers of the plains, there was a dancing spirit. Her hair tossed as the wind blew and the water rushed. How gentle her nature, how fragile her soul.

'Tear is her name' Aahr said, 'she is the creation of Lumaratha, our little sister'. But Shastalar heard naught as he was consumed by desire, and thus the aeons passed and the gods grew weary of creation. Yet even as the other gods found new venues of creativity, Shastalar looked back at what had already been done, and his eyes sought Tear, the most lovely being in creation. With a haste born of rapacious desire, the god descended from the starry heavens.

To a glade full of blossoms both red and white, in a forest filled with nature's delight. His arrival was heralded by torrential rain, his coming an epiphany of inner pain.

'Who are you?' asked Tear, wonder in her eyes.

'I am the one you love!' Shastalar barked imperiously, his voice the clapping of thunder.

'Yet I do not know you, do not know your name. And as for love, my heart speak of no such thing!' Tear stared at the stranger, wondered at the reek of ozone and the fierceness of the wind, the downpour of rain. It was if as the ocean itself had been trapped in the heavens and was only now making it's escape.

'But you will love me, don't you see? There is nothing else, for you and me? Shastalar was broken, his head hung low, he ascended the skies, Tear in tow. And they arrived at the heart of Makura, the heavenly cloud, Tear was chained in the heavens above. You can hear her wail when the wind blows by, and when the rain is soft you can hear her cry.

So it came to be that Tear, most loveable and free willed of all, was chained in the heart of the heavenly skies. And as summer arrives, she stands fair and tall, yet when autumn comes her heart grows cold. Winter brings Shastalar, full of ire, the god wants her love, but succumbs to desire. Her chains rattle, winter winds bring her howl, fear is her child in the winter so cold. Eventually the darkness of winter is done, spring brings endurance and the pain will be gone.

At this point in the telling, an elder woman will sing the song of the four seasons. And this concludes the Ardamian tale of Tear.