Almost immediately, we start to learn about the dauri but what we learn remains puzzling. They have petals. They are said to "haunt" (p. 11) the Starklands where they have a "tomb city" (ibid.) Arnanak, a leader among the Tassui, has travelled into the Starklands:
"'...where never mortal trod before...'" (ibid.)
Thus, Arnanak confirms the implication that these mysterious beings are not mortals - and therefore are immortal? He has befriended the dauri and has brought from their tomb city "'...a Thing of Power.'" (ibid.)
- which remains undescribed but which he displays to his followers as a sign that they will conquer. Seven dauri have accompanied him and it is their leader that carries the Thing beneath its petals so that Arnanak, taking it, can hold it aloft, displaying its partly gleaming and partly black surface. An unfamiliar artefact that can be used as a talisman? If this were fantasy, then the dauri might be elves.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I was reminded of "Strangers," where humans stranded on a barely habitable planet were treated like elves by the natives of that planet.
Ad astra! Sean
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