Hey guys! Welcome back to Hear a Tale! Before we do anything else, review time!
Thanks so much to CitrusChickadee (If only Therion wasn't so easy to tease, he wouldn't have to suffer all these daily heart attacks XD) and Guest (Poor boy's in denial, haha! ;) for reviewing!
With that, on with the tale!
Relevant Events: None
34. Stars
"What're you drawing, Professor?" Tressa peered curiously over Cyrus' shoulder, watching as the scholar sketched out seemingly random patterns of dots and lines in his notebook. The two of them had taken the first watch that night as the other six travelers slept, but when no monsters had bothered to show themselves, Cyrus had taken to scribbling down little designs by firelight to occupy himself.
"Why, constellations, of course!" Cyrus replied, keeping his voice low to avoid waking their companions. He gestured up at the sea of stars above them, a soft smile on his face. "The night sky holds quite a bit more history and knowledge than the casual observer might expect. Tell me, Tressa, are you familiar with any of the stars' legends?"
"Um…" Tressa paused, tilting her head back to gaze up at the sky as well. "A few of them, I think? I never knew too many constellations, but…Draefendi's Bow is up there, isn't it? And Aeber's Dagger? And…oh! The big, bright one is Steorra's Eye, right?"
"Right you are, Tressa," Cyrus said approvingly. "Those are indeed the most recognizable landmarks in our sky." He tapped his drawing lightly with his quill, indicating a swooping arc that resembled a bow, then pointed at the corresponding cluster of stars in the sky. "The Bow is especially visible this time of year, as you may notice. Aeber's Dagger, meanwhile, is a winter constellation, while Steorra's Eye can be seen year-round."
The young merchant blinked, alternating between looking down at Cyrus' drawing and squinting up at the sky. Finally, she drew in a sharp gasp and beamed, exclaiming, "Oh! I see it now, I see the Bow! Wow…I'd always heard about the patterns in the sky, but they all just looked like random, shiny dots whenever I tried to look for them on my own. The drawing really helps!"
The professor chuckled lightly and nodded at her. "I'm grateful that my own studies could be of use to you, my dear."
"Have you studied the stories about all those patterns too?"
"But of course! As I said, the night sky is utterly ripe with rich history and lore. In fact, it is often said that it was Steorra herself who penned those stories with her own hand based on the prophecies she foresaw, then threw the legends into the stars to preserve them for all time."
Tressa's eyes widened in awe. "Whoa…so that's why she's called 'the Starseer,' then?"
Cyrus smiled and nodded. "Precisely. The gods all have their own different varieties of purported abilities and magics, of course, and Steorra specializes in prophecy and divination, as well as the manipulation of celestial entities. In fact - " The scholar lifted his hand and pointed northward, in the direction of the brightest star in the sky. "- the reason that this ever-present star that serves as a point of reference for lost travelers is given the name 'Steorra's Eye' is directly related to the goddess' prophetic powers. She sees all that there was, is, and will be, and so her Eye always gazes down upon us. She foretells the future precisely as it must unfold, and so we follow her guidance to true north. Rather poetic, don't you think?"
"It sure is…" Tressa frowned slightly. "But is all that really true? I mean…how is it possible to write down a story and then 'throw' it into the stars? And…the northern star isn't really an eyeball, right? That just sounds kind of creepy when you think about it…"
The professor laughed, though not unkindly. "Do keep in mind, Tressa, that gods do not necessarily have to adhere to the same rules that humans do," he explained. "Not to mention, most of our own stories about the gods have been…let's say 'heavily exaggerated' for the sake of flair. That said, no, I do not believe that Steorra's Eye is really an 'eye' in the literal sense, nor do I know for certain if Steorra truly looks down on us from that star - who could know, really?"
"Oh." Tressa blinked. "I…to be honest, I kind of assumed you knew just about everything, Professor."
"Would that I could, my dear girl," Cyrus chuckled. "Would that I could. Alas, we humans are doomed to never truly understand all the machinations of the immortal, enigmatic gods. All we can do is observe natural phenomena, apply our own logic and reasoning as explanations for why said phenomena occur, and then adjust our knowledge as needed when new information becomes available. Ah, but…" He shook his head and smiled sheepishly. "I'm afraid we've gotten rather far away from our original subject of stars, haven't we? My apologies, I do have a bit of a tendency to ramble."
Tressa couldn't help but giggle at such a profound understatement. "No worries, Professor! Though…I am still curious about those constellation legends you mentioned earlier. Do you think you could tell me one of them?"
"I'd be glad to! Let us see…" Cyrus absently tapped the end of his quill against his chin as he became lost in thought, unknowingly creating a small ink goatee on his face that Tressa couldn't resist smirking at. "Ah, I've got it! How about the tale of Bifelgan's Coin Purse?"
"Haha, sounds like a story picked out just for me!" The young merchant sat cross-legged, leaning forward with an eager smile. "I'd love to hear it, Professor!"
Cyrus' eyebrows lifted, then he sat up a bit straighter, barely holding back a grin of pride. Tressa couldn't exactly blame him for his excitement - it was a rare event indeed that one of their group of travelers actually encouraged one of the scholar's lectures.
"Now that, Tressa, is truly wonderful to hear!" Cyrus cleared his throat and began flipping through his notebook pages before continuing, making sure that he spoke relatively softly for their sleeping companions' sakes. "Now, before we begin…this particular constellation is quite visible at this time of year, as it so happens. Here." He gestured at a sketched-out pattern that vaguely resembled a coin purse lying on its side, with several larger dots near its opening that were circled, as though meant to indicate coins that had spilled out of the small bag. "This is the pattern you are looking for. Do you think you can find it in the sky?"
Tressa's eyes narrowed as she scanned the sky for signs of the indicated constellation. Soon, her gaze fell on a cluster of stars that seemed just a touch brighter than the rest (though still not quite as brilliant as Steorra's Eye), which she realized could only be the scattered "coins" Cyrus had shown her. Without much difficulty, she was able to trace the outline of the slumped-over coin purse in her mind, and the whole of the celestial image quickly became clear.
"There!" she exclaimed, grinning and pointing up at the constellation. "I see it!"
"Excellent!" Cyrus chuckled lightly. "I believe we'll make a stargazer of you yet. Now, are you ready for the tale?"
"Yes!"
"Very well, then." The professor put down his quill and shut his notebook, devoting his full attention to the story he was about to tell. "This legend, like many others, is said to come from long, long ago, back when the gods still dwelled in Orsterra alongside us mortals. Humanity was in its early stages at the time, with the people of this land only just beginning to develop what we know today as civilization. Towns that have been around for what feels like forever to us were only in their infancy, and the idea of a kingdom, or otherwise governed land, was nearly unheard of - to say nothing of the utterly foreign concept of commerce and currency.
"Now, some people had begun developing rudimentary systems of barter, trading various different supplies with one another in an attempt to obtain what they specifically needed. This worked well enough for a time, and indeed, trades of a similar nature are not unheard of even today, but as it turned out, there was a flaw in the system. The trouble, you see, was that different people would value items at differing levels. Things would operate smoothly if parties on either side of an exchange happened to both possess what the other would want, but in other cases, arguments would break out over value and what constituted a fair trade."
"Well, that doesn't sound too different from markets nowadays!" Tressa laughed. "It's always 'That's too expensive,' or 'This is worth more leaves than you are!'"
Cyrus chuckled. "A fair assessment," he admitted, "though if nothing else, at least we can intuitively know the value of a leaf in order to help make our judgments. Back before there was a universal standard for these sorts of things, it must have been much more difficult to truly gauge what the proper cost of something should be."
"Huh…I guess that's a good point. So, then what? Where does Bifelgan come in?"
"Well, as I said before, this was during a time in which the gods still walked the earth alongside humans, so Bifelgan was easily able to see the chaos that was taking place. He was a god of a shrewd, intelligent mind, so he quickly devised a plan to bring proper order to the marketplace. He began to roam the Woodlands, plucking leaves from the trees and depositing them into a small pouch at his hip. Those who saw him at this task were confounded, and whispered amongst themselves, wondering if the god had somehow gone mad. Bifelgan paid them no mind, of course, and instead continued working until his pouch was full to bursting with various leaves.
"Then, he went to one of the largest places of trade at the time - a place that would ultimately become Grandport's vast market, as a matter of fact - and called the people there to gather before him. Now, these people had heard rumors of Bifelgan's strange activities and his bag of leaves, and were eager to find out what exactly he had been doing this whole time. Once they were gathered, the god told them that, from this point onward, there would be a new standard for trading goods. Bartering would still be an option, of course, but he would give them a far easier way - and with that, he opened his pouch and threw it to the ground, where it landed on its side, contents spilling out at the people's feet.
"However, instead of ordinary leaves, the people were shocked to discover that the pouch now held a plethora of shining, golden coins. They knew not what 'coins' were, at this point, of course, but the design was yet another example of Bifelgan's cleverness. The objects were small, and easy to transport in bulk. They were distinctive, and difficult to counterfeit, with the intricate patterns carved into their surface. And, of course, they glittered in the sun and drew the eye, giving them an appearance of inherent value.
"The people of Orsterra readily accepted Bifelgan's bounty, and soon, these coins, these 'leaves,' as we call them even today, were in circulation across the entire continent. Our modern system of currency had been cemented into our society, and Bifelgan earned his moniker, 'The Trader.'" Cyrus smiled as his story drew to a close. "And that, dear Tressa, is the story of Bifelgan's Coin Purse."
"Whoa…" Tressa's eyes were wide with awe. "So that's why we call them leaves! I never knew that!"
"Many don't," the scholar chuckled. "Most of these old legends have fallen out of common knowledge, I'n afraid…though I'm quite glad you seem to enjoy them, as I do. Of course, the accuracy of these tales could certainly be debated, and they're not exactly verifiable, but…well, if nothing else, they're an interesting source of entertainment, wouldn't you agree?"
"Absolutely!" The merchant tipped her head back, gazing up at the constellation of Bifelgan's Coin Purse with a grin on her face. "I never knew the stars had so many stories in them…you'll have to tell me more of them sometime, Professor!"
Cyrus' own smile grew wider as his heart swelled with pride at the prospect of a new, eager student. "But of course, my dear girl! I would be more than happy to oblige."
See you guys next time for Tale 35: Hold My Hand!