Argonian Inquiry Part 3: Adolescence to Naming Day

First part: http://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/39waae/argonian_inquiry_part_1_sithis_the_hist_and/

Previous part: http://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/39ytzv/argonian_inquiry_part_2_reincarnation/

The Naming Day commences soon, and a number of strange creatures have been brought to the pool. I knew what they were immediately, but I was still surprised.

From the time a young one emerges from the Pool and breathes its first gasp of open air, it is an adolescent. These Argonians develop into something barely half an average Man’s size, pale-scaled, lean and resembling a Saxheel form but with rounded features and eyes much larger than their adult counterparts. They are devoid of sexual organs, and from what I’ve seen they have no distinguishing features. They all look the same, only differing their appearance between tribes. This is apparent most in groups such as the toad-like appearance of the Naga children, or the crocodile-like form of the Tum-Taleel.

I can see why these young are so closely protected with their weak limbs and spiny snouts, and why they are hardly seen outside of private homes or nurseries located near Hatching Pools.

“Adolescence is a time of learning, outsider, not only for the child but also the Hist.” Weeresi told me after I found the courage to ask him more questions. “It’s their soul which shows us who they are over the turning of the current, how they will be useful to the Organism. But their soul is not complete. They are taught the ways of our people: how to follow, lead and survive in preparation for their Middle Trial after the Before Trial. The rules must be strict for a dangerous land like this. They live with their parents, for it is known their connection is not yet strong, and they must belong to their father and mother. But after the Naming Day, they belong to the Hist only, as they belongs to us.”

And it is on this Naming Day that the young Argonian finally becomes an adult. After exactly four years of training and observation, they, like the Lukiul, Man or Mer can undertake the Trials of the Hist at a place like Hissmir, where their strength, intelligence and agility are all put to the test. (I’ve heard death is an accepted occurrence there.) If they succeed these Trials, they are brought to the Hatching Pools where it all began for their young, and the Naming Day commences. Here the subject ingests Hist sap, and is exposed to the mercy of the Hist in their Final Trial. (Think of all the Trials of the Saxheel as a three-layered-Egg, like many things in their culture – an Echo of their Creation.)

It appears that both Egg-Tenders and Egg-Watchers participate to some degree in the ritual, normally two to four of both as I’ve been told. They don a special garment, and I’ve been allowed to inspect it. It’s made from the battered hide of a Sifting Snake, a bright green in colour with bones of that species ringing the arms and acting as structural support. On top of that, it’s decorated with bright yellow and orange feathers, which apparently come from a sacred Drumming Bird that lives in proximity to a Hist tree. They say the feathers are made of the Sap.

In their traditional attire, the attendants then guide the subjects and parents (if present) toward the Hist tree. The subjects then stand among their developing young in the Hatching Pool in a circular formation. (I must confess this place makes me feel nauseas, but then again the Sap is potent to me.) The ceremony then begins, around the Pool the Egg-Tenders dance in stamping motions, creating an elliptical motion. They seem to swing their tails from an adjacent position to that of facing away, like the formation has shattered? The tails then come back together and repeat the movement. With their hands, it appears they propagate some strange type of magic, which to me looks like golden mist propagating in the air. I’m told it is to facilitate good favour in the Hist.

Outside this formation, the Egg-Watchers repeat the same movement in the opposite direction, moving forward and backwards in a swaying motion. The parents are positioned slightly forward of this wave-like movement, adhering to the flow of the Egg-Watchers. I found myself drawn to the whole dance myself in a strange way. They all hummed too in their strange, raspy tongues, a monotonous drone of high and low voices, coming together as one, louder and louder as the children waited in the centre of this strange yet trancing spectacle, the Hist tree seeming to sway in its Roots. And then it happened.

There was a crack in the roof of the tree, and upon the children drizzled a golden liquid more pure and luminescent than anything I have ever seen in all my travels – pure Sap, the blood of the Hist. And as it fell, the children drank. For a small time, nothing happened, but then the children began to spasm and their body shift and bulge. And then their screaming began, drowned out by the current of chanting cries. I knew then that the Elder Way, the Final Trial, had commenced.

But alas, I am running out of parchment! I must ran and get some more. Until next time, where I will discuss what happens next in much detail!

Next part: http://www.reddit.com/r/teslore/comments/3a54gb/argonian_inquiry_part_4_drinking_from_the_sap/