Songs of the People
A pair of songs from the broader repertoire of Elshore: "Just Stay With Me," a desperate plea over a fevered loved one, and "Unbound, Unbent, Unbought," Sila Character Sila Sila is a young Bar girl of about twelve winters, daughter of Mara Yara, the chief of Yara Village on the forested island of Baramma, growing up among her people in the forest c...'s anthem of the forest-web and a life lived by omen rather than law. Both are sung in English performance text and carry the gods and creatures of the world in their lines.
Key traits
- "Just Stay With Me": a plea over a feverish loved one, invoking Uhiel Cosmology The Binary Suns Two stars share the sky of Elshore: Uhiel, the warmer and steadier light, and Namii, the smaller and more ominous companion., Namii, and the Traveller.
- "Unbound, Unbent, Unbought": Sila's anthem of Kironism Faith Kironism The Breath That Remains, the old and enduring spiritual system of the Bar tribes of Baramma. and the forest-web.
- Themes: devotion and grief in the first; defiance and rootedness in the second.
- Names Uhiel, Namii, the Traveller, the Yara flow, Liir Cosmology The Two Moons Two moons attend Elshore: Liir, the near and swift one, and Ressor, the far and slow one., and Ressor.
- "Unbound" sets the forest-bound life of the Maan People Maan The most numerous people of Elshore and the baseline cultural reference of the age. against marks and concrete rows.
- Language: English performance text, with refrains and choruses repeated.
- Performed as song; "Unbound" belongs to Sila alongside her path-song.
Beyond the named rites and the path-songs, the people of Elshore keep songs for the rest of life - for the bedside and for the open road. Two of them carry the world in plain performance text.
"Just Stay With Me" is a plea sung over a loved one burning with fever. It begs the gods of Randenism Faith Randenism The Flame Doctrine, dominant faith of the Maan and state religion of the Maan Empire. - Father Uhiel, Mother Namii, and the Traveller - to spare the one in the heat of stone and street, and it offers the singer's own life in exchange. It opens softly and tightens to a desperate refrain.
The first verse pleads in:
"I'll promise you, a beautiful seed Just stay with me... Just stay with me, do not... Just stay with me, do not LEAVE!"
The plea then turns to the gods, naming Father Uhiel and asking him to free her from the heat:
"Oh bright suns, her forehead glints Father Uhiel... Free her from the heat... The heat of stone... Stone and street!"
And the singer bargains everything, calling on the Traveller and on Mother Namii:
"From The Traveller... May her be saved, Mother Namii... my life you can take!"
It resolves on a single hope held to the morning:
"Just have her please... Just have her please, tomorrow... Just have her please, tomorrow wake!"
"Unbound, Unbent, Unbought" is Sila's song, a companion to her path-song and a full anthem of Kironism. Where the path-song aligns her to the forest, this one declares who she is against the world of the Maan - she walks by omen and not by law, reads truth in bone and stone, and curses the concrete rows where the Maan count marks and never sleep.
Its first verse plants her:
"I am daughter of Yara flow Where stone-ribs brood and star-plants grow I run the path of spoken vows While Maan decay in concrete rows I do not shear what forest gives I do not bow where status lives My mother is moss, is wind, is heat I curse the stones that bite my feet"
Its chorus is the song's banner:
"I am the roots in the forest Roots in the forest Unbound, unbent, unbought I walk by omen, not by law"
The second verse turns to divination and the gods Liir and Ressor, who hold the scale and wake the path-songs:
"I read the truth in fallen bone In the silent shift of heavy stone I bargain with leaves for lucky turns Under twin-fire the heaven burns Liir and Ressor, hold the scale Wake the path-songs, set the trail I name the stars that cross the deep While Maan count marks and never sleep"
The bridge carries the song through the gate of pain and the binary rain into the warning of a thin glass and the coming winter:
"We come through the gate of pain Into the red of binary rain Forest breath in marrow and bone A story in water, a story in stone Sing to thunder, sing to sky Before the last path-songs die Winter comes, the glass is thin Forest calls her children in"
And the outro closes her claim, that no chief can bind her living rite:
"I am daughter of Yara tide Omens and forest at my side I walk in day, I walk in night No chief can bind my living rite I am the roots in the forest"