Lessons of Solitude, by Raven Blackmane

Story name: Lessons of Solitude
Author: Raven Blackmane

Date: mid-summer, 706 CR
Location: Metamor Keep

Overview

Raven reflects on Wanderer's sacrifice and her anger.

+ Story info - Spoilers!

Summary

Raven sits on the inner wall of Metamor Keep, staring at the twilight horizon, thinking about the recent events with Wanderer. She remembers when he first came to the Keep, full of passion. She was still struggling with the curse and rejected his interest in her. When he sang beneath her window one night, she threw a pillow at him, which he bit by instinct. She laughed, and that was how their relationship began. Now, she feels betrayed, that he was the only one she could open her heart to, and he lied to her so that he could be his friend Christopher's pet. She wonders if Wanderer loved Chris more than he loved her.

A woman approaches Raven; it is Kyia, the spirit of the Keep, here out of sympathy and concern. Raven bursts into anger, at why couldn't Akkala have left them alone. Kyia says softly that she felt responsible for resolving the dispute between her sisters. Raven is sick of being mistreated by the gods, not noticing the sympathetic look in Kyia's eye. Kyia promises that Wanderer will be returned in time. Raven doesn't care; she just doesn't want to be alone. Kyia holds her close in the evening light.

Characters

Main characters:

• Raven: The high priestess of Metamor Keep, and Wanderer's lover. She is still coming to terms with what happened to Wanderer.
  • Her birth name is Karenna.
  • After the Battle of Three Gates, like many at the Keep, she was angry and bitter about her new body. Less than 3 months after she deposited her father's ashes, Wanderer began wooing her.

Supporting:

• Kyia: The spirit of Metamor Keep. She keeps Raven company.
  • She appears as a young woman with gentle eyes and short silver hair, wearing a thin gray robe.

Prominent Mention:

• Wanderer: The former bard and Raven's lover, now a full wolf morph in body and mind.
  • Raven remembers when he used to be known as Charles, but had paid little attention to him at the time. He showed interest in her first, though she was eventually charmed by his voice, his humor, and his persistence. He was one of very few she could trust with a secret, and the only one she could be intimate with.

Important Mention:

• Christopher: A tutor of the Keep, a bear morph. After Wanderer's sacrifice, he became a full bear morph in body but not mind. He distrusts Lothanasi, though he is as close a friend to Raven as he can.
• Lurene: Christopher's ward, a female gendermorph, and now a wolf morph from Wanderer's sacrifice.
• Akkala: The Lothanasi goddess of healing. She did not tell Raven why she did what she did to Wanderer, though Kyia says that it was to resolve a dispute between Velena and Artela over Wanderer.

Referenced:

• Jack DeMule: The castellan of Metamor Keep, who, when Wanderer first arrived, challenged him to a sword fight.
• Duke Thomas: Ruler of Metamor Keep.
• Elric: Raven's father, who died in the Battle of Three Gates.
• Merai: A Lothanasi initiate to the priesthood. She sometimes sits at the inner wall to contemplate.
• Velena: The Lothanasi goddess of poetry.
• Artela: The Lothanasi goddess of nature.

Locations

• The Vyaldi River is where Raven's father's ashes were scattered, soon after his death.

Story Connections

• Raven recalls Charles's entrance to the Keep in Tail of a Young Wolf.
• The scene where Raven sits on the wall echoes the scene in Rites of Ascendancy, and is pointed out by Kyia.

Pawns of the Gods
Stories	For Knowledge's Sake · Lightbringer · Tail of a Young Wolf · Fetish · Ward · En Lieu
	The Lessons Trilogy	Lessoned · Hard Lessons · Lessons of Solitude
	Lethe · For I Am Lost · Passing Notes · Clearing Away · The Winter Assault · Misericardia · Koinonia · A Pawn Advances · Lessons of Faith · Dances
Major Characters	Christopher · Wanderer · Raven · Lurene