Prompt: Where did the Calormenes come from? The Telmarines were pirates, the Narnians (and probably Archenlanders) from King Frank and Queen Helen - how did the Calormenes begin?

An old, bent over woman drew the water out of the well with the help of her granddaughter and, once they had finally filled the water jugs, the grandmother sat down heavily on the edge. The little girl sat beside her.

"O my Grandmother," the little girl said, "while you rest could you tell a story? Please?"

Grandmother Zilah laughed. "O my granddaughter and O the delight of my eyes, I would be exceedingly happy to." Seeing the other village children coming closer, she beckoned to them. "Come on, children. Come listen to a story."

The children seated themselves all around her, on the ground and on the well, and one little girl climbed into Grandmother's lap. Grandmother was well loved by all the children for her kind manner and lovely stories.

She began. "Do you know the story of how we Calormenes came to be?" Several younger children shook their heads. "No? Then let me tell you.

"Many, many generations ago, before my grandfather's grandfather's father was born. Our ancestor lived in another land, so far away that no one has found it since. It's name was Issaddiq. Issaddiq was a crowded, dirty city sprawling many miles over the land. There were no plants, no beauty. Only dirt, sweat, and crowds. Living in Issadiq at the time was a man called Garsa. Garsa grew tired of the city and set off to find another place to live – a beautiful place. He and his wife (her name was Fyalor) traveled long and hard, and had many adventures.

"After several years of traveling and not coming to anything else other than more of the city, Garsa and his wife met with thieves! A huge, nasty band of robbers attacked them and overpowered Garsa, though he fought valiantly. The robbers made off with all their money and jewels. Garsa sank down after they were gone, discouraged and helpless. But his wife whispered words of encouragement and hope to him and at length he arose to pursue the band of thieves. On his way he was blessed with good fortune and met a group of men going after the very band he sought. After a long night of hard searching they fell upon their hiding place and attacked them. By the grace of the gods, Garsa had not had his sword stolen and he now used it in the battle. It was a wonder how he fought that day. His sword flashed like five and his battle cry resounded throughout the entire district. At one point, however, an unscrupulous man came up behind him with a large stone in his hand, seeking to kill Garsa from behind, like a coward. Garsa barely had time to twist before the large rock flew past, grazing his ear and hitting his sword instead, cracking it and rendering it useless.

"Garsa stared at the broken sword in disbelief as the robbers descended on him. He looked around to see if there was anything that he could use to defend himself. All that he saw was a sickle. So Garsa took it up and in a few smooth strokes killed the five men descending on him. In that day he birthed a new weapon – the scimitar. With his new sword in hand, he felled the rest of the robbers – which originally numbered at two hundred – and at the end his wife ran up to him. 'O my husband!' she cried. 'You have fought so valiantly and killed many dozens of men with only a sickle. In doing so you have given yourself the treasures of the band. Now come see the treasures they had!' He came and saw the most treasure he had ever seen in his life. Gold, silver, jewels, more than you can imagine, children.

"In the center, on a red cushion, were two rings. One was yellow, brighter than the sun, and the other was as green as the hills in the north. I do not know where they came from, very few even pretend to, but it is said that Issaddiq was an advanced land of many sciences and magics, so there is no telling. They could even have come from another world. Who can say?

"There was a warning written on a stone next to the pillow. The exact wording has been forgotten, but it went something like this:

"Through fire and snow these rings have remained

And shall till the gods come down to earth again.

But be warned, those who touch them, for if you do

An adventure of the strangest sort shall surely befall you."

"As Garsa stood, staring at the rings, undecided, his wife put her hand on his shoulder. 'Surely you will not turn away now,' she said. 'Throughout all our travels you have not turned back from any adventure that has come upon you and if you do so now I should be forced to think you afraid.' Pushed on by the urging of his wife, Garsa reached out his hand and picked up the rings. It is not clear what happened afterward, but we do know that eventually Garsa found himself in another land. Which land? This one! Calormen! This desert was where Garsa and his wife found themselves. He looked around and saw, standing there, the great god Tash. Tash commanded him to build a new nation called Calormen and charged Garsa to build a temple of Tash at the place where he stood. Then Tash the Exalted named Garsa the First Tisroc of Calormen. Garsa went on to build the shining city of Tashbaan, beginning of course with the Temple of Tash. He ruled over his sons well and eventually they became the greatest nation in the world," Grandmother Zilah ended.

"That's not how the story goes!" another woman shouted from across the well. "Garsa, through great and strange magic, became Tashand it was his eldest son who became the First Tisroc!"

Grandmother Zilah laughed and shrugged. "Well," she said, "that is how I tell the story."

A/N: Hopefully the rings wasn't too similar to what the books. I was struggling for ideas and if I didn't use the rings you would have been stuck with "They went down a street and disappeared" or something like that. :) Please review!