…unexpected means of conveyance, but at that time, what ought have been reasonably expected at all?
Perhaps such flippancy isn't well placed. Now, with the benefit of distance and context, it's simple to recognize the many ways that the Rhizome should have shaken loose our assumptions along with all that old Hieronic dirt. But by all retrospective accounts--including this historian's own limited recollection--no single question dominated our collective anxiety as much as this one: What can we expect? In a world of giant insects, endless growth, unearthed histories older than the Weaver King was long, how could we know what tomorrow would bring?
Perhaps it was phrased differently, sometimes more specifically or with more sentimentality. But at core, it was this question--this fear--that led many to swear allegiance to the banners of Alcyon, the University, the Grey Duke. The words delivered to us by the Shepherd confirm that it was what motivated those who came to that fateful Understanding. And while this is admittedly conjecture, it is easy to believe that it is what made so many pray to Galenica, whose most authorial power was still grounded in the one bit of old Hieron still left in grand supply: us.
Would tomorrow be worse than today? Would the suns ever find consistency, the pollen ever break? Would those who left us return? Would the threads of the world spiral further apart than they already had? Would 'normalcy' ever arrive? In the face of these things, how common a response fear is. After all, what more could we expect?
-An Excerpt from The Last Days The We Had: A Narrative Catalogue of Hieron, End Apparent, Pt. 2 by Alonzo Victor Devareaux van der Dawes
This week on Spring in Hieron: The Second Spring Pt. 4
Cover Art by Craig Sheldon (@shoddyrobot)
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