In a place very unlike the one we know, lived a people unlike us. They tread upon four legs yet still have two arms. And unlike our home, their home was more stony than dunked in water’s depths. Mountains chained and stretched for endless miles, reaching towards the heavens.
Tucked in the plentiful valleys were the people so different to us. The creatures toiled in the dark using claws then tools to scratch the mountains into dens. Towns grew as life took on a rhythm.
Passages small and grand began to gnaw away at the rock. Life was discovered in hidden alcoves. Food became less scarce and the people learned. In their learning they began to give thanks. First, to the stone that provided both challenge and strength to their homes. Second to the sky, which gave infrequent water but also cold.
As time passed and the people’s wishes grew, a child was one day born. And so their fates were sealed, some fatalistic sorts would say. Yet, the child was greeted with cheers. For on the day of her birth, it rained. And for four nights after, the rain could be seen in the distance. This birthed something new in a neighboring valley, the first lake.
Called the ‘Child beloved of the sky’, the young one sought to see the water once they could walk. In secret, taking stone chips from others to make their own pick, the child dug a secret tunnel to the lake. When discovered after being missing a short time, the adults discovered the child’s tool could break other stones easily.
Thus they became ‘The Child Beloved of ‘Mountain and Sky’.
Their family moved next to the lake. Thus those clear waters would watch over the child’s younger years. Both parents were makers of tools, a position of honor in the sparse society. The beloved child showed craft and cunning in taking their lessons in peeks at the parent’s work.
Often stealing scraps and slag to practice with, the child would learn to make tools to dig, drive and siphon. How different stones could be used and how some would require the heat of flames to show their true worth.
Though maturing, the child showed great talent, their early tools able to pierce even harder stones once thought impossible. Their siphons brought fresh air further into the mines than any other’s, letting the diggers work for longer in comfort. Braces made with the Child’s supports could hold better, letting them dig larger tunnels.
So the Town began to flourish, meeting other settlements. Seeing their wealth, others flocked to join to meet the Child beloved by Mountain and Sky.
But, what of the child themselves? There were pressures and expectations that unfolded and expanded beyond any single person could ever expect. Surely they were a detached genius? Lonely and longing to be normal? Nay.
Or perhaps a virtuous saint? Taking on the troubles of others and viewing it as their purpose and duty to do so? Nay.
An arrogant youth, viewing their immense talents as their birthright and crooning from dawn to dusk about their worship owed? Nay.
The child was one surrounded by friends. Among them the child was scolded lovingly, applauded on their accomplishments and given unconditional affection. What dismayed relations and onlookers was that the family that gave her such things was unseen to their eyes.
Truly, the girl was beloved.
Windbursts swelled around her. Stone all but hopped into her furnace that burned hotter than any other. The lake rippled with every strike of her smithing hammer. The industrious youth sought ever finer results. Others sought to replicate her methods with varying results. None could match her work but many lessons were imparted.
This is how the words began to be whispered behind her back. Not out of jealousy but admiration and thankfulness. Her tools had brought many together and enabled the harvesting of foods so that many could live in greater comfort. Despite this, the girl’s connection to the unseen made them uneasy.
So they called her ‘Goddess’, to distinguish her. To praise her. To keep her above them.
Still she considered them her friends and family. Still her hammer thundered down, shaping stone into tools. Still, she kept the unseen ones with her.