"The treasure of New Che-Uin, the city of gold, is not a solid, but a liquid."
-Tharkin of the Kinnarit
"Our Comblands, the first Che-Uin, lie to the east, in a place called the Valley of the Lamp," explained Kai'an, Bee warrior and Master of Arrows. "This place," he said, "was a wonder beneath the world, a sprawling, magnificent palace of golden halls and glorious combs, edifices of the ancient Iy'ylipu people filigreed with crystal and gem, and inlaid with fine wood and marvelous stone.
The grandest of its chambers, fed by pure running cisterns and laughing fountains, lit by the flame of *Wendael, and overflowing with the sweetest *Agyr'e, stretched out the arms of their columns as if to touch a sky above, and the ceilings above each sanctuary, each sanctum and walkway, glittered with fine gems set in bedazzling patterns of wax. Early humans who were trusted by our people were staggered by the work of our artificers and architects, and they borrowed this same soaring and intricate approach as they built the grand shrines, temples and basilicas of their worship.
The first Che-Uin was guarded on all sides by the Ledgelungs, great stone spirits heralding from the Deep Time. Before the ways of war and weapons, here we sought shelter and purpose only, and as the people of the Bee we lived for age upon age in a profound peace. The flowers and the trees gave to us, and we gave to them.
At first, man befriended the bee folk, and in trade we exchanged all that the earth gives, all that we in minds and hearts possessed. We taught man the Dance, the rhythms of the season and the joy of the world as it turned. We gave him knowledge of the buds and the leaves, the boughs and the flowers. But the birth of the spear and the sword brought dark battles for possession among the emerging human tribes. Man began to see the flowers as his own, and no longer saw that both he and the blossoms belonged to the earth. He began to draw lines upon the ground, and through our lands a great wound went deep. We rejected the ways of war in the early days, but finding ourselves pinned between one kind of man and another, with arrows filling the skies, and with blood staining our lands, we, with mournful hearts left Che-Uin. The Queen, at the time of our exodus, chose these cliffs, some distance from the Combland, but with similar earth, similar sky, and with leaves broad and flowers of magnificence and delicacy. And here it was that we built our new kingdom, New Che-Uin."
The grandest of its chambers, fed by pure running cisterns and laughing fountains, lit by the flame of *Wendael, and overflowing with the sweetest *Agyr'e, stretched out the arms of their columns as if to touch a sky above, and the ceilings above each sanctuary, each sanctum and walkway, glittered with fine gems set in bedazzling patterns of wax. Early humans who were trusted by our people were staggered by the work of our artificers and architects, and they borrowed this same soaring and intricate approach as they built the grand shrines, temples and basilicas of their worship.
The first Che-Uin was guarded on all sides by the Ledgelungs, great stone spirits heralding from the Deep Time. Before the ways of war and weapons, here we sought shelter and purpose only, and as the people of the Bee we lived for age upon age in a profound peace. The flowers and the trees gave to us, and we gave to them.
At first, man befriended the bee folk, and in trade we exchanged all that the earth gives, all that we in minds and hearts possessed. We taught man the Dance, the rhythms of the season and the joy of the world as it turned. We gave him knowledge of the buds and the leaves, the boughs and the flowers. But the birth of the spear and the sword brought dark battles for possession among the emerging human tribes. Man began to see the flowers as his own, and no longer saw that both he and the blossoms belonged to the earth. He began to draw lines upon the ground, and through our lands a great wound went deep. We rejected the ways of war in the early days, but finding ourselves pinned between one kind of man and another, with arrows filling the skies, and with blood staining our lands, we, with mournful hearts left Che-Uin. The Queen, at the time of our exodus, chose these cliffs, some distance from the Combland, but with similar earth, similar sky, and with leaves broad and flowers of magnificence and delicacy. And here it was that we built our new kingdom, New Che-Uin."
*Wendael - the Iy'ylipu word for wax
*Agyr'e - the Iy'ylipu word for honey
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