How Chalana Arroy
Brought Voria Back
by Bruce Ferrie
There came a day when Voria thought that it would be fine thing to visit Grandmother, whose house was on the edge of the Storm Tribe tula. Knowing that a good guest should always bring gifts, Voria packed fine things to take to Grandmother. She packed warm bread, baked at Mahome's hearth, bright silver foxgloves from her own garden and a flagon of Minlister's fine ale.
As she was leaving home her mother, Ernalda, stopped her. "Where are you going?" she asked. And when Voria told her, Ernalda warned her not to stay too long at Grandmother's house: "It is all too easy to find your way there, but it is hard to find your way back." Voria thanked her mother for the warning and went on her way.
Voria walked across the tula. She walked so far that she left the fields far behind. She walked so far that she could not even see the sheep in the pastures in the hills. And she walked into the dark forests where Grandmother's house can be found.
She paused at the gate a moment, looking at Grandmother's garden, which was not like other gardens. Ernalda grew good things to eat, Chalana Arroy grew healing herbs, but Grandmother kept only a field of urns. As Voria watched, she heard a footfall behind her. She turned and saw a wolf! She was about to run, but then she looked again and saw that the wolf was in fact Humakt, who had been her uncle.
He spoke to her: "I had not thought to find you here, Voria, where there is little laughter and springtime blossoms are unknown." Humakt made Voria afraid, especially when he leaned close to her and she felt his cold breath on her face. "Have a care, child," he told her and warned her not to stay too long at Grandmother's house. "It is all too easy to find your way there, but it is hard to find your way back home." Voria thanked Humakt for his warning and went on her way.
When Voria went into Grandmother's house, she found that it was cold and dusty. Still, she greeted Grandmother in the proper way and she gave to her the gifts that she had brought. Grandmother was pleased with the bread, which was the only thing that was warm here, and she was pleased with the silver foxgloves, which were the only things which were bright here. But what pleased her most of all was Minlister's ale, which brought roses to even her cold cheeks.
While she drank the ale, Grandmother built a fire in her cold hearth and let Voria sit in the most comfortable spot. She warned Voria, though, that she should not stay too long at Grandmother's house. "It is all too easy to find your way here," she said. "But it is hard to find your way back home." Voria thanked Grandmother for her warning and settled down by the fire.
By and by, Grandmother told Voria many tales of the old days, when Orlanth was young and the world was very different. Voria loved to hear stories of her kin, so she did not notice time passing until she saw that the silver foxgloves she had given to Grandmother were withered for lack of sunlight and water. Up she jumped with a start and, barely stopping to say farewell, she rushed out of the door and ran for home.
Hardly had she passed Grandmother's gate when she found Humakt the wolf standing before her. "Where are you going, child?" He asked her. "I warned you not to stay too long at Grandmother's house. Now you are cold and pale, and you have no living breath left in you." Voria stopped, and she knew that this was true. Her time in Grandmother's house had sapped the warmth from her. She stopped to argue, but she saw something in Humakt's eyes that stilled the words in her throat and made her turn to run. She did not get far, though. With a SNAP! Humakt ate her all up in one gulp.
Voria was very afraid. It was dark inside Humakt, and much colder than she had expected it would be. She began to cry. It happened that Chalana Arroy was passing, and when she heard Voria crying she came to Humakt to ask him what was going on. "There is nothing for you here," he told her. "You had best be on your way." Chalana Arroy would not pass on by, though. "I can hear Voria crying, and she is inside you. Surely you have not eaten her?" Humakt did not deny that this was true, but he explained that she was cold and dead and there was no living breath in her. He again warned Chalana Arroy that she should pass on by, for there was nothing to be done. Chalana Arroy stopped to argue, but Humakt gazed at her with his cold eyes. "I have warned you twice, Chalana Arroy, that there is nothing for you here. Do not make me warn you a third time!"
Chalana Arroy knew that there was no challenging Humakt. Death was a wound she did not know how to heal. She came home to the Storm Tribe and gave her kin the dreadful news that Voria was dead. Everybody wept - people, animals and plants alike grieved for Voria. No flowers bloomed, no children played and there was no happy laughter.
But all the time, Chalana Arroy pondered how to bring Voria back, for the Storm Realm was a cold place without Voria. Soon, she remembered that Eurmal the fool knew something of Death, for it was from him that Humakt had taken it to keep it safe. So she searched for Eurmal - she looked in Harst's storehouse, where he liked to disguise himself as a mouse to steal the good grain. But he was not there. She looked behind Skovara's stage, for she knew Eurmal liked to lurk there in the hope of catching a glimpse of flesh when the entertainer changed her costumes. But he was not there. Finally, she looked on the dungheap near Minlister's brewery, where she found Eurmal sleeping off a hangover.
Chalana Arroy woke Eurmal and asked him to tell her about death. He refused at first, but when Chalana Arroy cured his sore head, even Eurmal was grateful. "How can I persuade Humakt to release Voria?" Chalana Arroy asked him. Eurmal told her that she would need three things, and he told her how she should use them, and he rolled around giggling at the thought that he could work this trick on mighty Humakt.
Chalana Arroy gathered the things she needed. She borrowed a basket of bright red berries from Ernalda, which was the first thing. She borrowed a clay pot with a glowing ember inside from Mahome's hearth, which was the second thing. The third thing was something that she did not need to borrow.
Chalana Arroy set out to see Humakt outside Grandmother's house. "Back again?" he asked her. "I have warned you twice to pass on by. Now I warn you a third and final time. Leave this place, or will eat you whole!" Chalana Arroy smiled and, much to Humakt's surprise, she did not wait for him to eat her. Instead she leaped into his mouth and climbed down. She climbed down his throat, past his cold heart and down into his stomach where Voria still wept.
Voria threw her arms around Chalana Arroy and held her close. "I am so glad to see you!" she cried. "Though I am sad that you, too, are dead and must stay here in the cold and darkness forever." Chalana Arroy smiled. "Not so, child, I have a trick to play on Humakt..."
Chalana Arroy took the bright red berries that she had borrowed from Ernalda from their pot. She crushed them into a paste and used them to redden Voria's pale face so that she looked alive. But still Voria was cold and had no living breath inside her.
Chalana Arroy next took the glowing ember from Mahome's hearth. She tucked it inside Voria's dress, over her heart, where it would warm her. But still Voria had no living breath inside her.
Chalana Arroy finally held Voria closed and she kissed her. She blew some of her own living breath into Voria. Though this made Chalana Arroy weak and dizzy, it rekindled Voria's own living breath.
Chalana Arroy and Voria climbed up. They climbed out of Humakt's stomach. They climbed past his cold heart (Humakt wept when he felt life warm his heart for a moment). They climbed up out of his throat and leaped out of his mouth.
Humakt looked hard at Voria, for he had been sure that she was dead. But he saw that her cheeks were rosy. He felt that she was warm. And he saw the living breath inside her. He was forced to let her return home, though he was puzzled about how he could have been mistaken.
When Voria came home, everyone was happy. The people sang, the animals danced in the fields, and the flowers sprang forth to greet her. All, that is, except the silver foxgloves, which she had left behind in Grandmother's house and which we do not see any more.
When Humakt found out it was Eurmal who had tricked him, he was very angry and chopped him into a hundred pieces. But that is a tale for another time...
