Listen child here is a story.
One day Depur was thinking long and hard. He was thinking about how difficult his slaves were. How rebellious they were and how they were always trying to escape. He was thinking about how easy it would be for him if his slaves were loyal and obedient to him as they ought to be. He came to the conclusion that the reason for their rebellion was one thing and one thing alone. Ekkreth. Ekkreth was constantly making a fool of Depur. Constantly telling the slaves stories and conspiring with them to escape. Depur knew that if Ekkreth was banished from the people then the people would no longer be rebellious.
So he gathered the slaves together. And he told them,
"You are no longer permitted to speak of Ekkreth. You are not permitted to think of them. You are not permitted to have anything to do with them."
But Depur found that his slaves were not listening. Every time Depur thought he was safe he found himself to be the subject of yet another trick.
So Depur thought that to banish Ekkreth from the people he must banish their memories from them, so that even if Ekkreth came to them they would not be able to recognize the trickster.
The people mourned their memory a great deal. But they didn't know what they were mourning because they didn't have their memories.
There were no memories of resistance, of rebellion, of camaraderie, of love, of freedom. No stories or histories or songs to get them through the tough work day. To bring hope to their aching muscles and joints. To bring coolness to their heat-parched souls. They felt a great sorrow that nothing could fill up. A great sorrow that was unendurable.
So they worked for Depur all day and into the night because that was all they knew. They thought that it was all they had.
But even then Depur could not own every part of the people.
For the people helped each other in the little ways that they could. They went out onto the river bank as far as the overseers would allow it. They got from those River banks the herbs to make medicine for those who were sick. They helped with the work loads of those who were sore and bleeding from punishment. They listened to each others' sorrows and small joys.
Ekkreth was coming to the people during this time of great sorrow. They took the form of a small red bird with black wings. They flew around their heads while they worked and perched outside their windows while they slept. Ekkreth tried to talk to the people. They tried to tell the people stories of hope and secrets and rebellion, for they saw the unending emptiness within the people. But the people could not hear Ekkreth. For they no longer had memories of him.
They could still see Ekkreth though. One day a little girl saw the bird flitting about in the sky. And this she told to the people,
"You do not deserve to be slaves."
The people were very confused by this. Slavery was all they had ever known. It was the only life they had. But deep within every single person was an intense longing to be free. And because there was this longing, there were some people who listened.
"She's right," one boy said. "We do deserve to be free."
The two of them started to persuade the other slaves to look at the longing for freedom within themselves and to accept that freedom. To accept that they deserved to be free. Eventually they gained more and more allies, until everyone was with them.
The people felt a spark of hope within their hearts.
But they wondered, how could they be free of Depur when he had so much power and they had so little?
They were still full of bitter sorrow, for the life of a slave is bitter no matter what. And still they could not hear Ekkreth and they did not know of Ar-Amu or Tena or Ebra. They worked and toiled and parched and suffered under Depur's wrathful gaze.
But they knew. That they deserved to be free. And that lit a spark inside of them.
One day an old slave woman came into the hovels where the slaves slept. She started laughing, which was the strangest thing. For laughter had been gone from the voices of the slaves every since Depur took their memory. The people asked her why she was laughing. She told them,
"Depur is so fat and lazy. He cannot even get his food from the kitchen by himself yet he believes he has more power than us!"
The people were afraid. For no one was allowed to talk badly of Depur. To openly mock him was unthinkable. But then another person started laughing.
"He thinks the size and shine of his palace will make up for the smallness and withering of his heart!" They exclaimed.
Then more people started laughing. And more people started telling their own jokes. Until every single slave had joined in on mocking Depur. Ekkreth saw this and smiled.
Time went on and the slaves started to get a little bolder. They had long, hard bitter work and they thirsted under the hot weather and their hearts thirsted for freedom. But they had laughter and they knew they deserved freedom.
One day a kitchen slave came back to the slave hovels. He carried with him bits of food he had secreted away in his clothing. They had been being secretive and deceitful towards Depur for a while now. With their words. But to go this directly against Depur's orders was still unthinkable. The slaves asked him why he did this since he was sure to get caught. The young man replied that even if he did get caught he would go to punishment with his head held high. And not even Depur could take away the confidence that would be in his eyes.
The slaves started deceiving Depur more. They stole food from the kitchens whenever they could. They secreted food and water to those that were being punished when they could. When they were sent out to market they looked for routes of escape they could take if they ever had a chance to be free of their slave chips.
One day there was a young woman, barely a woman, who Depur looked upon with a different sort of greed in his heart. And so she came to be with child. But she did not want to bring a child into a world of slavery and suffering.
Her best friend turned brother was given some coin by Depur to go to the market and buy spices and herbs. He secreted away a little of the coin and with it he bought the necessary herbs to stop a child from coming into the world. He secreted those herbs in the midst of the other herbs he bought. And in the night a grandparent prepared the herbs and fed them to the woman.
It was at this time that Ekkreth found that they could talk to the people again. They flew into the hovels and kennels where the slaves were kept and started singing. The people heard the spirited singing and began following the bird. They gathered together under the light of the three moons. And from the midst of the crowd Ekkreth transformed themselves into the form of a slave just like the people. And they told them the stories of their history, of Ar-Amu and Tena and Ebra and Akar Hinil and themselves and Leila and the many, many slaves that found a way to resist Depur throughout time.
The slaves finally remembered. And they realized that they could never forget again. For every time Depur tried to make them forget their own history, their spirits would help them remember and Ekkreth would come back to them in whatever form Ekkreth chose.
Ekkreth then told the people to brew some tzai. It was time to play a great trick upon Depur.
I tell you this story to save your life.
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