“You’re distracting yourself, Celeste.” She whispered an admonishment to herself. The problem was these books. She rounded upon the issue for the millionth time, fingering the worn parchment of one such tome. So far every book she had read was terrible. From Fereni war documents to Sherya treatises, or even Jöln cultural studies, they had all described the Korek with the same broad strokes. The Korek are stupid, cruel, backwards, savages. That was all that they seemed to want to say. Celeste bit her lower lip in frustration. The only compliment they seemed willing to give the Korek was for their ‘talent’ at manual labour.

“The Korek, despite their ugly sun-burnt visage, are as hard working as they are simple of mind.” Celeste read aloud, then threw the book across the room in disgust. This passage was from some wicked Fereni lord from five hundred years ago. He was making an argument in the king’s council for why they should be allowed to enslave the Korek. That left her sick.

Account after account of despicable, prejudiced opinions on the Korek was enough to leave Celeste ill. She knew she would get some biased opinions, but this was proving to be too much. The image they painted was far from what she had experienced. It was nothing like the Korek she had witnessed. That woman, the older one with whom she had met. She had been intelligent, understood rhetoric, had known the faith. That was not the mind of a simpleton made solely for heavy labour. Looking at the books in front of her, Celeste would have thought they were discussing two completely different peoples.

“Then why is it so hard to find anything on the people that I met?” She mumbled. She tried to think of what the woman had said to her. Any words or phrases in Koreki that she could have caught.

“Ga’Na” She whispered. She had called herself the Ga’Na, had spoken as though the name, no, the title had imparted some power upon her. Celeste glanced over at another one of her books. A dusty old cracking leather bound written by a Renyan scholar priest a few decades ago titled ‘Linguistics of the Korek Savages: A Language Born of Chaos.’ Celeste rolled her eyes, she had expected better from a priest, but pulled it over and flipped it open.

She had read through this one a few times already. The frustrating author had spent nearly half their time complaining about the simplicity of the language. Something Celeste had come to realize was a premature opinion as the author clearly didn’t understand the spoken word of the Korek in the least. In the past few days she had been able to decode more than a dozen inaccuracies just by cross referencing first hand accounts by scribes recording what they had heard.

Rapidly flipping through the pages, her eyes scanning down each paragraph as fast as she could, she found it. She tapped the page triumphantly with her finger and read aloud.

“The Gahnah seems to be both their word for crone, as well as mercy. It has been reported that Korek warriors will sometimes offer ‘Gahnah’ to soldiers who stand their ground well in combat. An utterly brutish…” she trailed off as she finished the useful part. Not crone, more like… older female? Maybe a lady of some sort? It couldn’t be the leader. She had read about those men, the so called Gahseh. They were described as brutal warlords that ruled with an iron fist worse than any old Fereni absolute monarch. “Ga’Na, and Ga’Se.” She whispered aloud. “Woman and Man…” then it hit her, and she began to laugh aloud at how she had missed it.

“Are you alright Radiance?” Valleresa called out to her from the distant table she sat at with Kriss and Arabella. “Perhaps it’s time you take a break?”

“Not now sister! I just had a breakthrough!” she called out excitedly. “Ga’Se and Ga’Na! Man and Woman! Can’t you see?” She asked with a giddy smile. The three at the table just stared at her. Then Kriss nodded.

“Ga’Se. Law, I know that word.” He responded to her. “So what does Ga’Na mean?”

Celeste blinked shocked at Kriss. Law? Ga’Se? “Wait,” she thought aloud before asking. “How do you know what that means?” She asked. How did Kriss know this when she didn’t? she had been studying the Korek for a week while all he had been doing was forming his letters.

“I uh… used to work with some Korek men. Before we got to… work” he seemed to struggle with what to say, he was holding something back from her. It irked her, but he always got quiet when she asked about their years apart. She wouldn't push, he would tell her when he was ready. “They would always say prayers. They would cut their palms to bleed, claiming it was for the honor of their Ga’Se. Then they would whisper something and pour a small vial of milk into the soil. Never understood that last part.” Kriss shrugged, and Celeste tried to piece it all together. Bleed? For law?

Then she understood. “Valleresa! Go fetch me Brother Gardinal’s copy of the Book of the Abandonment, it’s in his room!” she exclaimed excitedly. If she was right, and Celeste was fairly confident that she was, then this could be a breakthrough in her understanding of Korek culture. More than that, she realized, it would be an incredible finding for the faith in general! Valleresa stared at her for a moment before Celeste added “Please?”

At that, Valleresa sighed, told Kriss and Arabella to resume their practice, then trudged from the room. In moments, she was back with the fine black and silver illuminated copy of the holy book that Gardinal kept. It was supposedly written by the Second Fruit, the second Sherya born of the Great Tree at the dawn of creation. Celeste flipped open the book. Though she had long since memorized the tome, she wanted to ensure she got every little detail right. Finding the passage, she read aloud.

“Our Faith does change now.” She spoke with as full voice as she could muster. The room all stopped to listen to her. “Once, before, we gave ourselves to earth and tree. In name of the Father and the Mother. But in our abandonment, such gifts have proven unworthy. On their thrones in perpetuity, we must give of mind and spirit in stead. Perhaps through this, we might hasten their return.” Celeste finished the reading, then looked around at them all expectantly.

“What in the Chaos is that supposed to mean?” Vallerian asked with his characteristic snark. Celeste shook her head, wasn’t it obvious?

“It means.” She began. “That the Korek practice the old faith. I didn’t fully understand it at first, but the old Korek woman called the First Mother ‘Eten’a. They worship the Mother and Father just like us, not some strange other gods like these books want to believe.” Celeste motioned to the tomes in front of her. “But their faith never changed after the Abandonment because they never saw the Sherya as their religious leaders like everybody else.” Celeste explained. “They didn't have the Book of Abandonment, only tradition.”

It was all coming together so quickly now, how had she missed something so obvious? Not just obvious either, something incredible. The Pre-Abandonment methods of worship had long since been thought lost. Replaced with practices set forth by the very book she held in her hands. But here it all was, hidden among the ancient practices of the Korek.

“The Korek aren’t like us at all.” Celeste realized. “And yet, they’re so much like us. They are not led by warlords, but by a man and woman. Like you said Kriss, Ga’Se means law. Ga must mean leader of some sort, or perhaps representative?”

“Ga’Se.” Kriss nodded in response. “Like a representative of Seratos. That’s why the woman was Ga’Na.”

Celeste grinned widely at him. He understood now as well, she wasn’t just making things up. It made sense.

“Ga’Na. Representative of Ethinia.” They both said in tandem. They looked at each other in excitement for a moment before Celeste realized she was staring right into his eyes. She darted her gaze away from him as she began to feel her cheeks redden.

“As positively riveting as this little pantomime is, could you translate for those of us who only speak the king's tongue?” Vallerian asked exasperated. He didn’t seem to have a particularly high opinion of scholars. Celeste closed her book.

“It means, Count Vallerian, that I need to go speak with this Ga’Na. I think I can forge a bond with them that will help everyone.” Celeste smiled. She saw hope here, the hope of a united Southshore within the light of the First Mother. Celeste would not let that hope slip through her fingers.