J.M. Lee’s upcoming book, Songs of the Seven Gelfling Clans is due to be released on 28th July 2020 and we have the first pages of the book to show you and what better way than to read the introduction of the book, as this book is told from a Gelfling song-teller’s point of view.
Introduction
In my youth, I dreamed of walking the many paths of Thra, from the shadowy trails intertwined among the trees of the Endless Forest to the snowy cliffs that give way to the Silver Sea. And yet, on the eve of my fated departure, traveling pack on my shoulders and Firca at my breast, I found myself afraid. Afraid of the unknown that lay beyond the green leaves I had always called home, but more than that, afraid that once I had left, I might never find my way back.
But I could not bow to the fear and hold it in my heart forever. By the light of the Rose Sun, I left the place where my mother and her mother and her mother had lived happily and died peacefully, and set out to pursue my destiny: to witness as much of the world as I could, and to fill my ears and heart with as many songs as others might deign to tell. To dream-etch every scent and sight; to commit every wonder to memory.
My naive quest was to seek out the Gelfling—scattered across the land in seven clans, each more reclusive than the last. The Stonewood, deep in the Endless Forest. The Spriton, in the open plains. The Drenchen, in the far southern swamps. The Vapra, in the blustery cold north. The Dousan, wandering in the Crystal Desert. The Sifa, sailing upon the Silver Sea. And the Grottan, hiding deep within the mountains.
It took most of my life, and I do not regret a single day. With the Brother Suns and the Sister Moons as my guides, I sought out the seven clans. I met with their younglings and their elders. I sat with their maudras. I listened to their songs. I saw my life divided into seven chapters, each lived with one of our mighty clans so that I might finally uncover the whole that is made up of our seven parts.
That was many trine ago. Now, I look upon my records as if they were adventures had by someone else. And they were; the youth who charged, fresh-faced, into unknown lands was a Gelfling wholly different from the one who writes this introduction, looking back. My heart is full of songs and memories, my fingers burning with the makings of one final dream-etching. And brightest is a spot in my forehead, not unlike Mother Aughra’s third eye. It yearns to open and spill out all I have seen, all I have learned, so that the experience might not be trapped within only one mind forever.
And so, I arrange this collection for you. All I have learned and loved of our proud and gentle ways: this teller’s songs of the seven clans.
Thriya
The book is due to be released on 28th July 2020.