EQUINOX
Afew days after my arrival Beneath Lutesse, there was a festival. In the world above, we marked the changing of the seasons, but all the festivals celebrated were based on the Church of Scion. So it was no surprise that I was unfamiliar with the Spring Equinox.
The Spring Equinox was one of the most important festivals for the magic-wielding community, Elena told me, though she was less clear on why.
“I’m so bad at remembering these stories.” Elena winced as we chatted over coffee at the Chat Noir Cafe. “Get Rory to tell you at dinner tonight, he knows the Old Ways the best of anyone.” She sipped her coffee. “I’m just in it for the food, drinks and the party.”
The party took place that evening in one of the long narrow limestone tunnels. Down the centre of the tunnel was an unbelievably long table. It was big enough to have a spot for each and every citizen of the city. Each place was set with silver plates and cutlery, with candelabras flickering warmly every few spots. There were bottles of wine, red, white and sparkling, set along the table, with huge carafes of water. Along the arched ceilingwere thousands of twinkling lights that looked like so many fireflies.
Delicate flowers and buds—the first cuttings of spring—were placed in simple vessels all along the table as well. The effect was magical.
Ciaran, Elena, Rory, Fionn and I sat together. Magic wielders in chef whites began to pile food onto the table in front of us. Overflowing dishes of spring peas, asparagus and creamy carrot coriander soup. There were piles of steaming fresh bread and tender mesclun salads. More of that soy protein that Ciaran liked to cook with, swimming in savoury sauces, or smothered in green pistou. The chefs explained the dishes with pride fortheirart form.
Ciaran explained to me that while not every magic wielder stuck to it full time, worship of the Goddess strongly encouraged following a fully plant-based diet. For their sacred festivals, they stuck to this tradition. It was fine by me. I had been enjoying Ciaran’s cooking so far, and as he said, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything.
The food was delicious. The wine was light and effervescent. I was thoroughly enjoying listening to the conversations around me. I noticed Rory looking at me with quiet contemplation.
“Can you explain the origins of this?” I gestured to the long table and the celebrations that were carousing around us, recalling that Elena had told me to ask Rory for an explanation.
“What is it that you want to know?” Rory put his fork down, wiping his mouth on a cloth napkin.
“From the beginning. I know it’s celebrating your goddess? But that is all I know. I don’t even know why you worship a goddess.” I laughed, trying to excuse my own ignorance.
“Of course. We have a long and storied mythology. It begins with the creation of our world,” Rory began, his soft voice turning solemn. Around us, many people paused theirconversation to listen. I wondered if this was part of the tradition: to retell the stories of their people. Our people, if I counted myself among them.
“In the beginning there was only the Void. And the God and Goddess. They have had many names. To me, they are Arda and Ishtar. For eons they existed together, in the perpetual darkness. But then they started to create.” It was so quiet around us now.
“Their creation was a song—a symphony they created together in perfect harmony. Everything in existence sprung up from their music.
“First came the light—from Ishtar’s ethereal song. The stars sprang into being. Thus, she became the queen of the celestial realm, ruling over the sky, the stars, the planets and everything in the heavens.
“The Earth came next, from Arda’s deep and percussive music. The heartbeat of his song became the heartbeat of our planet, creating the seas, the rock, the mountains, the very fabric of the Earth itself. And so Arda ruled over the Earth. Together their song filled the lands with life: plants, flowers, trees, everything green and good in nature.
“Finally, their sacred union created the races which populated our planet: the Aos Si, the humans and all manner of animals and creatures great and small.”
I was enraptured by this story. But I marked one word I had never heard before. The… Aos Si? He said it in that lilting accent from Erinn—eess shee.
Rory continued: “The Aos Si were the favoured race of Ishtar. To them, she granted long life, virtual immortality, ethereal grace and beauty, and the ability to harness the elemental magic of nature. The humans were favoured by Arda—their mortality was a gift of another sort. They had such short lives and so they loved harder, felt more, faster, deeper, and though their bodies were mortal, their immortal souls would rest with Ardaand Ishtar in a celestial afterlife. And for a time the Aos Si, or fey, as they are more commonly known, and the humans lived in harmony together.
“But soon, Arda grew jealous of Ishtar and the Aos Si. He coveted her dominion over the celestial realms and resented the Aos Si for their immortality and mastery of magic. So, Arda united his Scions, the humans, to march against the fey, and Ishtar, the queen of the heavens.
“The war was catastrophic, with unimaginable loss of life, and went on for hundreds of years.
“In the final battle, Arda and Ishtar fought—and Ishtar was banished to the underworld. Now Arda ruled over the heavens and the Earth—though eventually he too diminished from the world and remained in the celestial realm.
“The Aos Si, mourning their queen, left the continent of Ereba, travelling west, never to be seen again. But before they left, there were unions between fey and humans—the children of these unions became the magic wielders in Ereba.”
My face must have betrayed my shock.
Rory smiled. “Humans formed the Church of Scion then, as they were referred to as Arda’s Scions. Over time, they began to refer to him not by his name, but only as ‘God.’ Ishtar’s equal role in creation was largely forgotten, and she was now called the Demon Queen of Hell, since she reigned in the underworld.
“But the magic wielders worship her as our Goddess—she rules over liminal space, between waking and sleeping, life and death, day and night, and all things magic and nature. And so the Scions of Arda have always been at odds with the magic wielders and have always attempted to hunt them down. Over time, they twisted the creation story to involve a woman being tempted by a demon and thus being responsible for theoriginal sin. This is the legacy of demonizing Ishtar and her powers, and the extremepatriarchy of Scion.” Rory paused. That truly explained it all. My eyes were wide as he continued with his story.
“Here we celebrate the Spring Equinox as our most holy holiday. We, like Ishtar, have been banished to an underworld of sorts. Each Spring Equinox we pray for her return from the underworld, and ours as well.” Rory finished his retelling. Around us everyone slowly began talking again.
“Fey?” I asked, glancing toward Ciaran, my eyebrows raised. “So we’re descended from… fey?”
“This was a long time ago.” Ciaran sipped his wine and tore off a chunk of bread as he answered. “But yes, we do have evidence of the race of… something other. Fey, perhaps. Of course Scion vehemently denies their existence. I believe it is considered heresy to even speak of them now.”
