(My A to Z Blog Challenge theme this year is Bittersweetness & Light, my new collection of hope-filled, joy-inducing fantasy and sci fi. I’m sharing lots of excerpts of art, stories, and poetry, and I’m also sharing some of the background on why we urgently need joyful stories. Plus you can find out all about the A to Z Challenge here.)
I stand looking over the valley of the ancestors, where my people come when it is their time for death. Their bones are purified by the vultures and given back to the First Matriarch. I am driven here by the memory of the bones that are not here: the mutilated body of my daughter Feathergrass, slaughtered and left to lie. They say my people have long memories, and I will never forget those who murder my children.
I am here for vengeance, but first I give my thanks to the vultures, who sanctify bones wherever they lie, ensuring that Feathergrass too will join the ancestors. That is treasure that cannot be stolen. But I will avenge the rest. My tribe are gathered behind me, watching as I begin my incantation.
I gather dust and scatter it over my head, across my shoulders, until my scarred flanks are grey as ash and I smell a thousand thousand petrichors in the dry earth of my land. Heedless of thorns, I strip the acacia and lay its tiny leaves on my tongue, and I taste a thousand thousand greenings. I begin to dance, the stamping of my heavy feet sending my rhythm deep into the body of the earth, where it will be felt by the bones of the ancestors, and by the deep roots of the acacias and the broad woven roots of the grasses, and by other tribes on other distant journeys. And without being discerned by the duller senses of those who slaughter my children, yet it will be felt by the one I am calling: one of their daughters. I will summon her to me here, to avenge the death of Feathergrass. A life for a life, a child for a child.
L is also for Love. In this story, grief is love persevering, but that love also becomes something more. When love expands to encompass more than just the one who is lost, it becomes even more powerful, offering new ways forward.
Today’s block print is not actually the illustration for this story (which could be considered a bit of a spoiler), but it is included elsewhere in the book, and certainly fits the theme. You can read just a little bit more about the piece here.
Marketing Moral: Are you in a book club? Why not suggest this as a book for the group to read and discuss? I can even give you some Questions for Discussion if you request them!
How do you like your revenge served? Hot, cold, salty, or sweet? In the form of success, living well, a bad memory, or forgiveness?
[Picture: Seeds of Love, rubber block print by AEGNydam, 2024 (see originals here), from Bittersweetness & Light, 2025.]
12 comments:
This line has my imagination running wild: " I am here for vengeance, but first I give my thanks to the vultures, who sanctify bones wherever they lie"
As for your revenge question... hmmm. I admit I'm a bit reactive and used to love swift, painful (usually emotionally) revenge on someone I feel has wronged me. As I get older, though, I prefer just ignoring them and living my best life. But when they see they don't faze me anymore and their life goes off the rails, I'll still get some satisfaction, haha.
I could really feel the experience and interaction with the land. Revenge? If something happened to a daughter, I’d probably feel like that but targeted to the aggressor not their child, in other instances I, eventually, prefer forgiveness. My Scottish ancestry wants to bring out the bagpipes and claymores,
OK, I confess I have read the story and would love to comment on the above remarks, but don't want to post a spoiler. Meanwhile I agree that the older I get the smaller those "injustices" or slights appear that have been directed at me from time to time. There is a certain serenity in letting go of these memories. (I'm well into my 80s.) This is a joy.
Anne, I'm watching Ken Burns' doc on The Buffalo right now and the buffalo have the same feel as the elephants do here.
I think vultures don't get enough love and in my world-building I wanted them appreciated! Schadenfreude is the best revenge?
I know a few people who think bagpipes are as brutal as claymores! Yeah, I agree that I'd never go for the sort of revenge that hurts innocent people as a way to hurt my target. But fictional characters don't always do what I would do! ;)
Sometimes I go one way - willing to let things roll off my back - and sometimes I go the other way - can't stop being outraged. But there's no doubt that there's more serenity in letting things go, so hopefully the older I get the more I'll trend in that direction!
Interesting. I think all kinds of people of nature have much more culture and connection than enlightenment western thought has given them. Maybe we can be at the point where we synthesize the importance of actual science with the importance of an expansive, appreciative, non-extractive world-view.
Love the bit with the vultures! @samanthabwriter from
Balancing Act
"Seeds of Love - always free." How does it get better than that? May we all plant them in abundance.
Exactly! I always think they could be an invasive species - int he best possible way!
I really like the block print.
Ronel visiting for A-Z Challenge Love in Folklore & My Languishing TBR: L #AtoZChallenge2025 #Books #Bookreview
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