Listen children, here is a story.
Siyya was a sister of Ekkreth. Well, she still is. But this is the story of Siyya, long long ago when she was just a youth, of all the things she saw, and of how she still sees all.
Now Siyya was a little girl, long long ago, at the beginning of Depur's reign. She was a slave of Depur, as Ekkreth the slave who makes free was, as Tena was, as Ebra was, as so many of the prophets and spirits were. Siyya toiled and suffered under Depur's cruel and malignant gaze, and she was made to follow his orders and increase the vastness of his wealth and the numbers of his holdings. Just as all the others slaves were.
Siyya had somewhat of special job. She was made to be the one who relayed Depur's messages to all of Depur's different work sites. She was the one who did have to deliver Depur's messages to his mines, and his factories, and his refineries, and his chemical plants, and his manufacturing stations, and his ports, and his docks, and his fields, and his plantations, and his packing plants, and his palaces, and his warehouses. Siyya was the one who was made to travel far and wide, and deliver the messages of Depur that were far too important and far too sensitive to relay via the holonet.
Depur's depuran enforcers also composed their own messages for her to bring back to Depur, and while she waited for them to compose their messages, she had to work in the many stations of Depur. She had to work in the mines and factories and fields and plantations and packing plants and warehouses and ports and docks and refineries and palaces and chemical plants and manufacturing stations and all the rest of the places where the slaves did their work.
And so Siyya travelled through Depur's domains. And she saw all the slaves who were busy at work in all of the different stations. She saw all the work and the toil that they had to do. All the different tasks and duties that were required to keep Depur's domain running. And she saw all the punishments that they had to endure. She saw the way the overseers stalked and prowled and shouted and yelled. She saw the hollowness and the hurting in the eyes of all the slaves. She felt how they felt, like dust and ash and nothing more. She endured what they endured. And she saw their suffering. And she saw their pain.
She knew, she knew oh so very well all the hardship that the slaves had to endure. She knew it in her bones, in her breath, in her soul. She knew the suffering of all the slaves just as she knew the sky was blue or that the suns were hot. She knew the suffering of the slaves just as she knew grief and just as she knew powerlessness.
But she also knew their love. She also knew their power. She also knew their resistance. She saw, and she heard about, all the small, secret ways that the slaves defied Depur and helped each other. She saw and she heard about all the kindness and the bravery and the strength inside their hearts. And she saw how they were the rains themselves, lying in waiting for the right moment to come pouring down.
Siyya knew that she could not keep all of her knowledge to herself. She could not keep all that she saw and all that she heard and all that she felt to herself. For as much as Depur and the depuran need to communicate to each other and have knowledge of each other, the slaves themselves too needed to have knowledge of each other and needed to know the truth of each others' lives and suffering and hope and love.
And so Siyya got the protection of all of the grandparents of her community. And she got them to bless her travels. And this they did do, for they knew that Siyya had an important journey ahead of her. And she had an important mission. She had to be the messenger of the slaves, even more so than she was the messenger of the depuran.
Siyya took their blessing and she went out into the night. Every second night she went out. And she went to a different station of Depur's domain each night. And she awoke a single slave from each station. And she told that slave the stories and truths of all the slaves in all the other stations of Depur's domain. And that slave told Siyya all the truths and stories of the slaves in their own station, in their own part of Depur's domain.
The following day, the slave told all the other slaves in their community all the truths that Siyya had told them, and the slaves carried these truths and told each other. They used their simple yet complicated yet profound slave magics to carry the truths. They used their simple yet complicated yet profound slave magics to pass on the truths to each other. And so all the slaves were able to communicate with each other, thanks to Siyya, the ever-watchful young girl.
Of course, all this travelling and storytelling made Siyya very tired during the day when she had to do her work for Depur. But she found it worth it and she pushed through the tiredness anyways to do her work to Depur's satisfaction.
Now Depur had caught wind of what Siyya was doing in the dead of the night, under his nose. He had caught wind of it and it had filled him with rage. For he knew that if the slaves could communicate with each other, if the slaves knew of each others' lives and each other's stories, if each of Depur's different stations could organize together as one, this would be a dangerous threat to Depur's power. It could lay the groundwork for his demise.
And so Depur called Siyya to his main palace, and he made her stand before him in his throne room, keeping her gaze low to the ground so that she did not meet Depur in the eyes. He asked Siyya why she was sneaking around under the nose of the depuran, disseminating information to all of the slaves.
Siyya replied that she did not know that she was not allowed to do this, for she had never been told that she could not travel and talk to the slaves. She stated that she did all her work to Depur's satisfaction, and she thought that she was being a good slave.
Now this, of course, was a lie. Siyya knew that her clandestine meetings with the other slaves were something to be kept secret from Depur. But keeping oneself safe is important, for the slaves need to be able to navigate the danger of Depur with as much safety as they can. And so Siyya lied.
Depur told Siyya that she must stop these nightly meetings at once and she must stay only in her assigned slave quarters in the nighttime. Siyya said that she would obey and she left unharmed, whith Depur pleased at the proceedings.
Now Siyya of course did not listen to Depur. She continued her nightly journeys to all corners of Depur's domains. Only this time, she made sure to be very careful not to get caught. She layered herself in hiding and warding and protection spells and she oh-so-quietly, oh-so-carefully went out into the night, so that no depuran could ever see her.
Her secretive sneaking worked for a long while. And she had reached seventeen years before Depur caught on again of what she was doing, sneaking out into the night.
Now this time Depur was enraged. for he knew that Siyya had gone against his orders and defied him in order to bring him down. He brought Siyya again to his main palace, and made her stand there in front of his throne room. He asked ranted and raged at Siyya, screaming and yelling at her trembling form. He demanded to know why Siyya had defied him and worked to bring him down.
But Siyya remained silent, not saying a single word.
Depur told Siyya that if she wanted to be silent, she could be silent. And he called for the overseers to make it so that Siyya could never speak again. One overseer held Siyya down underneath a great weight. And another overseer stitched Siyya's lips together, so that she could only open them the smallest amount, and she could not speak.
Siyya underwent great pain. But still she did not give up her spirit. She did not give up her fight. She did not give up her mission. She vowed that somehow she would find a way to keep slaves of each of Depur's stations connected. And she would teach everyone each other's truths.
After her lips were sown shut, Siyya went to her slave hovel and she cried. And all the slaves of her community saw her crying, and they tried to comfort her, but they could not. She sat there crying until at last Ekkreth saw her crying and they were able to come down from the sky and sit beside her, in the form of a slave.
Ekkreth asked Siyya what had happened. And she could not answer them right away, for this was the time before the slave sign language, Amakkta, had been created. And so she acted out what had happened to her, and Ekkreth understood.
And so together they made a plan. Siyya would still go out into the night, travelling to all the different stations of Depur's domain. And she would be even more careful than before. She would still absorb all the stories and the truths of all the slaves. They would still tell them to her. And Siyya would come back to Ekkreth and act out all that she heard, so that Ekkreth could go out into the lands and tell everyone what she had seen and heard.
And so it was. Siyya delivered encrypted messages on hard discs in the day and she learned secret messages passed on by word of mouth in the night. She acted out all that she saw and heard to Ekkreth. And Ekkreth went out into the lands and told everyone the truths of Depur's cruelty and the slaves' secret, hidden power.
This went on until Siyya was twenty-two years old. Now, Depur had not caught onto what Siyya and Ekkreth were doing. They were hiding themselvess too well these days. They were too well-protected.
But Siyya's anger at the injustices around her only grew and grew. It only built up inside of her like water building up within a dam. Like pressure building up within a pot. And one day she could not take it anymore. She could not hold it in anymore.
She went up to Depur and she demanded that he tell her why he was holding so many people as slaves. She demanded to know why he was so cruel. Why he was hurting so many people. She demanded that he stop, that he let her people go, that he let her people be free and together. She demanded to Depur that he hold himself to account and that he see the horror of his actions.
For Siyya's power was in making people see. It was in making people know the truth. But she could never make Depur see. She could never make Depur know the truth. This was because Depur was foolish and arrogant and blind - metaphorically - and he would never see. And Siyya knew this, she did know this in her heart. But she couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't take being silent against Depur, when she was not silent towards all the other people of the lands.
She stood in front of Depur and she looked him in the eyes, her pain-edged, glaring eyes into his own. And she acted out all the injustices that she had seen Depur do. And she glared at him and held up her arms to ask him why. She said so much, so much, without saying anything at all.
When at last she was done, Depur still did not see. He was still absolutely blind to the error of his ways. And what was more, he was enraged. He was enraged at having been called out. He was enraged at having been called for what he truly was. And he was enraged that one of the people of his domain should look at him with anything except for perfect admiration.
For Depur thought that all creatures everywhere admired him. He thought that all of his slaves everywhere admired him. And he needed them to admire him. He needed them to look up towards his throne and see only glory, and power, and wisdom, and greatness.
For anyone to see him as a being somehow lacking, this truly grated on his ego. This he could not stand. And so he looked upon Siyya with rage and pure contempt and deep, welling hatred flowing thick and inky through his cold, glinting eyes. And he called his overseers down.
The overseers came and they once again held Siyya down. But Siyya looked on at Depur, malice meeting malice, hatred meeting hatred, fear meeting fear. Siyya looked upon Depur and she did not flinch. For she knew, she knew what would happen once she was done her display. She knew she would be punished. And she did not fear it. And she feared it. She feared it and she did not fear it. For Dukkra ba Dukkra after all. Freedom or death. Death was freedom. There was nothing Depur could take away from her permanently.
Depur looked at Siyya and he spoke.
"Why do you dare insult me, the great Depur, the provider and benefactor to all?"
Siyya said nothing, but only spat in Depur's direction, as she was being pinned to the ground by the overseers.
"It is I who gave you life," Depur continued. "It is I who fed you and clothed you and kept you alive for so long. It is I who gave you precious water from my own canteen. It is I who gave you a roof to shelter you from the sandstorm. It is I who gave you life, and I can take life away!"
Siyya kept on looking at him, body unwavering, gaze unfaltering.
"My good and loyal guards!" Depur declared, "Take this troublemaker to the pit! Let us be done with her once and for all!"
And so Siyya was dragged towards the dark and cavernous pit and she was thrown down to the very bottom. The walls were slick, and she could not climb up out of them. They were made with a hard glass that even Ekkreth could not break. But Ekkreth could fly down through the hole on the bars above her. And this they did.
Ekkreth sat with Siyya as she withered from starvation and thirst. The pain and the dryness ripped and tore through her. And Ekkreth felt everything that she felt, as her brother. They exchanged many words as they sat there together, with Siyya's stitched mouth and her twisting stomach.
Ekkreth tried to sneak food to her, but the bars were too small to get anything substantial in, and Siyya hungered on and on.
Ekkreth taught Siyya how to skywalk. And there in the darkness all around her, she let her soul fly to all the people trapped and toiling in all of Depur's domain. She sent her soul out to them. And there she could feel them, she could see them, as the hunger unravelled more and more of her hold on this world, she could see them toiling and suffering and grieving. She could see them living and fighting and helping each other. She could feel all their souls within her own and she could feel her soul within all of theirs.
And they could feel her too. All the people everywhere could feel her feeling them. They could see her seeing them. And they could hear the words she spoke to them.
For now Siyya could communicate without speaking, without gesturing, without acting out. As her body grew weaker and weaker, her soul grew stronger and stronger, and her soul could transmit information without the need for anything. Could send knowledge and feelings directly from heart to heart.
Her skywalking grew stronger and stronger as well, as her soul became less and less tethered to her body. She felt herself going everywhere. She felt her soul being everywhere. Until eventually the ties between her soul and her body snapped, and she felt herself everywhere all at once.
Her soul stretched out, out across all of the Desert. Out across all of Depur's domain. Out across all the lands that there ever was. And she saw Amavikkan everywhere. She saw all the Amavikkan at once. And she saw all that they had to endure and all that they held close to.
She saw the way that they kept their people and their identity and their hope and their struggle alive. She saw how through many Dukkras they kept their Dukkra alive. She saw all the ways small and large that they resisted Depur and helped each other.
She saw the thoughts in their hearts that they wanted to share with her. She saw the feelings in their spirits that they wanted to impart with her. And she saw all that was in their souls that they wanted someone to see.
And she communicated with them. She communicated with all of them, passing on the truths of each person to everyone else.
Of course, she couldn't do this alone. All the communities, the Amavikkan community at large, had to help her convey her truths. But she made the voices of all the Amavikkan stronger. She made their ability to pass stories on to each other stronger.
And she made it so that every single person's story was heard. No-one was lost. No-one was forgotten. None of anyone's emotions or truths were forgotten.
And she continues to this day seeing all of us, seeing every Amavikkan everywhere. She continues helping us spread our messages to each other. She helps us learn of all of the truths all of our people hold.
And none of us are ever alone, no matter how alone we might be. Siyya, the sister of Ekkreth, is always there with us, watching us, feeling with us, recording our stories and telling the world our truths.
And one day, when the rain comes, even Depur will be forced to see all of the suffering he has forced each and every one of us to endure. Even Depur will not be able to deny it. And Depur will die.
I tell you this story to save your life.
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