Walk in the Day
Jun. 24th, 2008 08:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bnewmanI seem to do a lot of my songwriting at and in the wake of conventions — I guess the creative juices get recharged, or something. Anyway, I have a lot of new songs to post, and in addition one song that was held in reserve so I could spring it out at Contata (which went over very nicely). Contrary to my earlier announcement, I will be posting them here, because proper handling of audio content on my new site requires a server upgrade that my hosts say will happen later this summer.
I'll be posting these in several batches because a number of them go together in groups that require some narrative framing. In this batch are two songs based on a short story, "Walk in the Day", which I'm hoping to get someone to write for me. You can listen to the songs, "Shade" (mp3) and "Walk in the Day" (mp3), first, or you can read the synopsis...
[ edit: I've added two more songs, "Long, Bright Day" (mp3) and "Dark Moon Daughter" (mp3), to this song-cycle. ]
[ edit: changed song links to point to the correct directory with updated lyrics. ]
The Yereb homeworld is a harsh desert world, perhaps slightly more hospitable to humans than Arrakis. The Yereb are a bit like Ewoks, or like Reepicheep from Narnia, if either were derived from a cross between a jerboa and a tarsier. The IFSC (Interplanetary Friends Service Committee — Quakers in space!) has sent an aid mission — a prolonged period of severe drought is predicted over the next several decades, and the IFSC is providing appropriate technology and training in nonviolent conflict resolution ("Long, Bright Day"). This violates the Confederation's noninterference policy, but the people in charge have made an exception because it's feared that, without this aid, resource wars will bring the Yereb to the brink of extinction.
The predominant Yereb culture is a warlike, tribal one, and is permeated by a light/dark symbolism as strong, and as seriously taken, as any on Earth — only, since the Yereb are almost completely nocturnal, exactly backwards. There is also a strong system of gender roles, although it's relatively balanced in terms of power and prestige. I haven't yet figured out what the main positive male archetype is, though. (We'll meet the main female one shortly.)
Eric is a planetology intern and teaching fellow with the IFSC mission. He's very smart, and has been briefed on Yereb culture, but he's bit absent-minded. Sira, one of his students, is a midnight example of Yereb ideals for an adolescent female, which in our terms would mean she's a reckless tomboy with a chip on her shoulder. In a rare moment of vulnerability (one of two in this story), Sira confides in Eric her apprehension about the upcoming ordeal (a group affair, as in some African cultures) that will mark her initiation into womanhood. In a not-at-all-rare moment of absent-mindedness, he offers to hold her in the light, which is Quaker-speak for "pray for". Of course, she is aghast — her usual fire comes right back, and she gives Eric a good talking-to ("Shade" — although probably in fewer words!).
Sira successfully completes her initiation, distinguishing herself among her peers ("Dark Moon Daughter"). As you can see from the lyrics of "Shade", the Yereb believe in a malevolent solar demiurge, whom they hate, and a benevolent lunar heroine-goddess, whom they worship. While Yereb formal religion doesn't involve a clear-cut system of aspects like the maiden/mother/crone of Wicca, it does recognize life stages and associated archetypes. If we were to name them, they might be maiden, ninja/ranger, mother, and crone, and Sira is now a ninja/ranger — an inexperienced one, but with great dedication and potential.
Meanwhile, a Confederation reconnaisance flyer attached to the IFSC mission has made an emergency landing near the arctic circle. The crew is captured by a hostile Yereb tribe and forced under torture to train the bandits in the use of their equipment. Raids are not uncommon in Yereb society (this is one of the things the IFSC is trying to change), but the newly-equipped bandits quickly become an unholy scourge, attacking under cover of daylight and using strobes to incapacitate the day-watch once they get inside a compound. Humans and Yereb agree the bandits must be stopped, but the IFSC is unwilling to condone open war.
During the celebrations following Sira's cohort's initiation, her settlement is attacked by the bandits, who take a number of prisoners, including Sira and Eric. Their likely fate is torture (including being "held in the light"), in Sira's case probably rape, and eventually death, since Eric knows the Confederation won't allow the IFSC to ransom them.
However, before any of that happens, Sira arranges a daring escape. She manages to get her hands on a map — it would be well-protected, as, in Yereb culture, a map of a tribe's home territory, especially one showing (as this one does) a weapons cache like the downed flyer, would be considered a great treasure. However, a later annotation on the map indicates that the flyer has already been stripped of everything the bandits think they can use, and is no longer heavily guarded. Eric meanwhile steals a backpack containing a wilderness survival kit, but he doesn't have time to look through it to see just what's in it.
Sira, Eric, and several other Yereb make their way away from the bandit encampment. Their plan at first is to return to their home by the direct way, but it finally becomes clear just how deep in enemy territory they are — they are set upon by a bandit patrol, and all but Sira and Eric are killed. Eric convinces Sira that their only hope is to make it to the downed flyer.
They make their way pole-ward. Eric is no scout, and only Sira's courage, determination and wilderness lore keep them going. After three marches, though, the high latitude puts Sira out of her reckoning — a Yereb scout is able to reckon the time of night by the stars, in order to find shade and make camp before sunrise, but Sira misjudges by an hour. Dawn is upon them in the midst of a barren flat with no shade.
The song "Walk in the Day" picks up the narrative as Sira finally collapses in fear and exhaustion, and Eric tries vainly to console her. Then Eric remembers the survival kit. Naturally, it contains all of the equipment the bandits use to move about during the day — most significantly, mylar cloaks and very dark polarized goggles. Sira, restored to her usual competent (and sarcastic) self, resumes the lead at once, and they reach shade about half an hour after sunrise. If Sira's lyrics make her seem uncomfortably dependent, consider that this incident is song-worthy precisely because it is the only time in the whole story when she shows real fear, and that her confident swagger comes back by the second half of the song.
I don't know exactly how the rest goes, but the good guys do win, and, probably beyond the scope of this short story, Sira eventually becomes chief of her tribe and a model peaceful warrior to make both her people and the IFSC proud.
I'll be posting these in several batches because a number of them go together in groups that require some narrative framing. In this batch are two songs based on a short story, "Walk in the Day", which I'm hoping to get someone to write for me. You can listen to the songs, "Shade" (mp3) and "Walk in the Day" (mp3), first, or you can read the synopsis...
[ edit: I've added two more songs, "Long, Bright Day" (mp3) and "Dark Moon Daughter" (mp3), to this song-cycle. ]
[ edit: changed song links to point to the correct directory with updated lyrics. ]
The Yereb homeworld is a harsh desert world, perhaps slightly more hospitable to humans than Arrakis. The Yereb are a bit like Ewoks, or like Reepicheep from Narnia, if either were derived from a cross between a jerboa and a tarsier. The IFSC (Interplanetary Friends Service Committee — Quakers in space!) has sent an aid mission — a prolonged period of severe drought is predicted over the next several decades, and the IFSC is providing appropriate technology and training in nonviolent conflict resolution ("Long, Bright Day"). This violates the Confederation's noninterference policy, but the people in charge have made an exception because it's feared that, without this aid, resource wars will bring the Yereb to the brink of extinction.
The predominant Yereb culture is a warlike, tribal one, and is permeated by a light/dark symbolism as strong, and as seriously taken, as any on Earth — only, since the Yereb are almost completely nocturnal, exactly backwards. There is also a strong system of gender roles, although it's relatively balanced in terms of power and prestige. I haven't yet figured out what the main positive male archetype is, though. (We'll meet the main female one shortly.)
Eric is a planetology intern and teaching fellow with the IFSC mission. He's very smart, and has been briefed on Yereb culture, but he's bit absent-minded. Sira, one of his students, is a midnight example of Yereb ideals for an adolescent female, which in our terms would mean she's a reckless tomboy with a chip on her shoulder. In a rare moment of vulnerability (one of two in this story), Sira confides in Eric her apprehension about the upcoming ordeal (a group affair, as in some African cultures) that will mark her initiation into womanhood. In a not-at-all-rare moment of absent-mindedness, he offers to hold her in the light, which is Quaker-speak for "pray for". Of course, she is aghast — her usual fire comes right back, and she gives Eric a good talking-to ("Shade" — although probably in fewer words!).
Sira successfully completes her initiation, distinguishing herself among her peers ("Dark Moon Daughter"). As you can see from the lyrics of "Shade", the Yereb believe in a malevolent solar demiurge, whom they hate, and a benevolent lunar heroine-goddess, whom they worship. While Yereb formal religion doesn't involve a clear-cut system of aspects like the maiden/mother/crone of Wicca, it does recognize life stages and associated archetypes. If we were to name them, they might be maiden, ninja/ranger, mother, and crone, and Sira is now a ninja/ranger — an inexperienced one, but with great dedication and potential.
Meanwhile, a Confederation reconnaisance flyer attached to the IFSC mission has made an emergency landing near the arctic circle. The crew is captured by a hostile Yereb tribe and forced under torture to train the bandits in the use of their equipment. Raids are not uncommon in Yereb society (this is one of the things the IFSC is trying to change), but the newly-equipped bandits quickly become an unholy scourge, attacking under cover of daylight and using strobes to incapacitate the day-watch once they get inside a compound. Humans and Yereb agree the bandits must be stopped, but the IFSC is unwilling to condone open war.
During the celebrations following Sira's cohort's initiation, her settlement is attacked by the bandits, who take a number of prisoners, including Sira and Eric. Their likely fate is torture (including being "held in the light"), in Sira's case probably rape, and eventually death, since Eric knows the Confederation won't allow the IFSC to ransom them.
However, before any of that happens, Sira arranges a daring escape. She manages to get her hands on a map — it would be well-protected, as, in Yereb culture, a map of a tribe's home territory, especially one showing (as this one does) a weapons cache like the downed flyer, would be considered a great treasure. However, a later annotation on the map indicates that the flyer has already been stripped of everything the bandits think they can use, and is no longer heavily guarded. Eric meanwhile steals a backpack containing a wilderness survival kit, but he doesn't have time to look through it to see just what's in it.
Sira, Eric, and several other Yereb make their way away from the bandit encampment. Their plan at first is to return to their home by the direct way, but it finally becomes clear just how deep in enemy territory they are — they are set upon by a bandit patrol, and all but Sira and Eric are killed. Eric convinces Sira that their only hope is to make it to the downed flyer.
They make their way pole-ward. Eric is no scout, and only Sira's courage, determination and wilderness lore keep them going. After three marches, though, the high latitude puts Sira out of her reckoning — a Yereb scout is able to reckon the time of night by the stars, in order to find shade and make camp before sunrise, but Sira misjudges by an hour. Dawn is upon them in the midst of a barren flat with no shade.
The song "Walk in the Day" picks up the narrative as Sira finally collapses in fear and exhaustion, and Eric tries vainly to console her. Then Eric remembers the survival kit. Naturally, it contains all of the equipment the bandits use to move about during the day — most significantly, mylar cloaks and very dark polarized goggles. Sira, restored to her usual competent (and sarcastic) self, resumes the lead at once, and they reach shade about half an hour after sunrise. If Sira's lyrics make her seem uncomfortably dependent, consider that this incident is song-worthy precisely because it is the only time in the whole story when she shows real fear, and that her confident swagger comes back by the second half of the song.
I don't know exactly how the rest goes, but the good guys do win, and, probably beyond the scope of this short story, Sira eventually becomes chief of her tribe and a model peaceful warrior to make both her people and the IFSC proud.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-06-26 06:08 am (UTC)