On Blue's waters

On Blue’s Waters

Gene Wolfe

PROPER NAMES IN THE TEXT

Many of the persons and places mentioned in this book first appeared in The Book of the Long Sun, to which the reader is referred. In the following list, the most significant names are given in CAPITALS, less significant names in lower case.

Alubukham
, a concubine.

Auk
, a Vironese burglar.

BABBIE
, a tame hus.

Bahar
, one of the RAJAN’s ministers.

Barsat
, a woodcutter.

Beled
, a coastal town on Blue settled by people from Trivigaunte.

Blazingstar
, a New Vironese merchant.

Blood
, a crime lord, now dead.

BLUE
, the better of the two habitable planets of the SHORT SUN System.

Book of Silk
, HORN and NETTLE’s great literary work, also called
The Book of the Long Sun
.

Brother
, a small boy living with his sister in a forest northwest of GAON.

Bush
, a tavern in PAJAROCU.

Chandi
, a concubine.

Chenille
, the woman who accompanied Auk to GREEN.

Choora
, a long, straight, single-edged knife favored by the RAJAN.

Chota
, a nickname given EVENSONG by her fellow concubines. Trooper
Darjan, a Gaonese boy.

Dorp, a coastal town.

Echidna, a major goddess, the mother of the gods of the LONG SUN WHORL.

Eschar, a New Vironese merchant.

EVENSONG, the concubine given the RAJAN OF GAON by the MANOFHAN.

Gadwall
, a New Vironese smith.

GAON
, a troubled inland town on BLUE.

Geier
, one of travelers assembled in PAJAROCU.

Gelada
, a convict murdered by Auk long ago.

GREEN
, the worse of the habitable planets of the SHORT SUN System.

Gyrfalcon
, a New Vironese merchant.

Corporal
Hammerstone
, a soldier in the army of VIRON.

HAN
, a populous town south of GAON.

HARIMAU
, the citizen who brought the RAJAN to GAON.

He-bring-skin
, a citizen of PAJAROCU.

He-bold-fire
, the captain of PAJAROCU’s lander.

He-pen-sheep
, a hunter.

He-sing-spell
, one of He-hold-fire’s subordinates.

He-take-bow
, one of He-hold-fire’s subordinates.

Hephaestus
, a minor god of the LONG SUN WHORL.

Hide
, one of HORN’S twin sons.

Hierax
, a major god of the LONG SUN WHORL, the god of death.

Hoof
, one of HORN’s twin sons.

Hoop
, one of the RAJAN’s scribes.

Aunt Hop
, one of NETTLE’s sisters.

HORN
, a New Vironese paper-maker, the protagonist.

Hyacinth
, SILK’s beautiful wife.

Jahlee
, an inhuma rescued by the RAJAN and EVENSONG.

Kilhari
, a hunter of GAON.

KRAIT
, the inhumu adopted by HORN.

Kypris
, the goddess of love in the LONG SUN WHORL.

Lake Limna
, a large lake south of VIRON.

Lal
, a small boy of GAON, Mehman’s grandson.

LIZARD
, an island north of NEW VIRON, the site of HORN’s mill.

LONG SUN WHORL
, the interior of the WHORL.

Mahawat
, the RAJAN’s elephant driver.

Main
, the eastern continent.

Mamelta
, the sleeper rescued by SILK, now dead.

MAN OF HAN
, the ruler of HAN.

Maytera
MARBLE
, the former sibyl who accompanied the colonists to BLUE and resumed her vocation there, a chem.

MARROW
, a New Vironese merchant.

Mehman
, the RAJAN’s head gardener.

General
Mint
, the heroine of VIRON’s revolution, also known as Maytera Mint.

Molybdenum
, a name assumed by Maytera MARBLE.

Mota
, a citizen of GAON.

The
Mother
, a monstrous sea-goddess of BLUE.

Moti
, a concubine.

MUCOR
, a young woman possessing paranormal powers.

NADI
, a river flowing past GAON.

Namak
, an officer in the horde of GAON.

Nauvan
, an advocate.

NEIGHBORS
, BLUE’s sentient native race.

NETTLE
, HORN’s wife.

NEW VIRON
, the town on BLUE founded by colonists from VIRON.

Olivine
, a young chem of VIRON.

OREB
, a tame night chough.

OUTSIDER
, the only god trusted by SILK.

PAJAROCU
, a phantom town on BLUE’s western continent.

Pas
, a major god, the father of the gods in the LONG SUN WHORL.

Pehla
, the RAJAN’s principal concubine. fig, a mercenary of the LONG SUN WHORL.

Patera
Pike
, Patera SILK’s predecessor.

Quadrifons
, an aspect of the OUTSIDER in the LONG SUN WHORL.

Patera
Quetzal
, the inhumu who became Prolocutor of VIRON.

The
RAJAN OF GAON
, the narrator.

Rajya Mantri
, the RAJAN’s principal minister.

Ram
, a citizen of GAON.

The
Rani
, the ruler of Trivijfaunte.

Patera
Remom
, the head of the Chapter in NEW VIRON.

Maytera
Rose
, an elderly sibyl, now dead.

Roti
, a citizen of GAON.

General
Saba
, an officer in the horde of
Trivigaunte
.

Sciathan
, the Flier who accompanied SILK, HORN, and others to Mainframe.

Scleroderma
, a friend of Maytera MARBLE’S, now dead.

Scylla
, a major goddess of the LONG SUN WHORL, the patroness of VIRON.

SEAWRACK
, a one-armed maiden.

Shadelow
, HORN’S name for the western continent.

She-pick-berry
, He-pen-sheep’s wife.

SHORT SUN
, the star orbited by the
WHORL
.

Patera
SILK
, the caldé of Viron at the time the colonists boarded their landers, also called Caldé SILK.

SINEW
, HORN and NETTLE’s eldest son.

Sister
, a small girl living with her brother in a forest northwest of GAON.

Generalissimo
Siyuf
, the commander of the Rani’s horde.

Skany
, an inland town some distance from GAON.

Somvar
, an advocate.

Captain
Strik
, a master mariner of
Dorp
.

Sun Street
, a wide diagonal avenue in VIRON.

Tail
, the southern end of LIZARD Island.

Tamarind
, a fishmonger’s widow.

Tartaros
, a major god of the LONG SUN WHORL, the god of darkness and commerce, and the patron of thieves.

Thelxiepeia
, a major goddess of the LONG SUN WHORL, the goddess of learning, trickery, and magic.

Three Rivers
, an inland town near NEW VIRON.

Tor
, a rocky peak on LIZARD Island.

Trivigaunte
, a desert city well south of VIRON.

Toter
,
Strik’s
son.

Tuz
, one of the travelers assembled in PAJAROCU.

Urbasecundus
, a foreign town not far from NEW VIRON.

Vanished Gods
, the gods of the NEIGHBORS.

Vanished People
, the NEIGHBORS.

VIRON
, the city of the LONG SUN WHORL in which SILK, HORN, NETTLE, and many others were born, also called
Old Viron
.

Vulpes
, an advocate of the LONG SUN WHORL.

West Foot
, the westernmost peninsula of LIZARD Island.

The WHORL, the generation ship from which the colonists came.

Wichote
, a riverine village on BLUE’s eastern continent.

Captain
WIJZER
, a master mariner of
Dorp
.

Tksin
, the traveler who robbed and deserted SINEW.

Zeehm
, the daughter of the RAJAN’s head gardener.

To Every Town:

Like you we left friends and family and the light of the Long Sun for this new whorl we share with you. We would greet our brothers at home if we could.

We have long wished to do this. Is it not so for you?

He-hold-fire, a man of our town, has labored many seasons where our lander lifts high its head above our trees. The gray man speaks to He-hold-fire and to us, and it is his word that he will fly once again.

Soon he will rise upon fire and fly like the eagle.

We might clasp it to our bellies. That is not the way of hunters, and there are many beds of hide. Send a man to come with us. Send a woman, if it is your custom.

One alone from each town of this new whorl, whether he or she.

With us the one you send will return to our old home among the stars.

Send soon. Send one only. We will not delay.

Speak our word to others.

The Men Of

PAJAROCU

HORN’S BOOK

I
t is worthless, this old pen case I brought from Viron. It is nothing. You might go around the market all day and never find a single spirit who would trade you a fresh egg for it. Yet it holds…

Enough.

Yes, enough. I am sick of fancies.

At present it holds two quills, for I have taken the third one out. Two were in it when I found it in the ashes of our shop. The third, with which I am writing, was dropped by Oreb not so long ago. I picked it up, put it in this pen case, and forgot both Oreb and his feather.

It also holds a knife for pointing pens and the small bottle of black ink (more than half full) into which I dip mine. See how much darker my writing has become.

It is facts I need-facts I starve for. To Green with fancies!

My name is Horn.

This is such a pen case as students use in Viron, the city in which I was born, and no doubt in many others-a case of black leather glued over pressboard; it has a brass hinge with a steel spring, and a little brass clamp to keep it shut. We sold them in our shop and asked six cardbits; but my father would accept four if the purchaser bargained awhile, and such purchasers always did.

Three, if they bought something else, a quire of writing paper, say.

The leather is badly scuffed. More facts later, when I have more time. Rajya Mantri wants to lecture me.

* * *

Reviewing what I wrote yesterday, I see that I have begun without plan or foresight, and in fact without the least notion of what I was trying to do or why I was trying to do it. That is how I have begun everything in life. Perhaps I need to begin before I can think clearly about the task. The chief thing is to begin, after all-after which the chief thing is to finish. I have finished worse than I began, for the most part.

It is all in the pen case. You have to take out the ink and string it together into the right shapes. That is all.

If I had not picked up this old pen case where my father’s shop once stood, it is possible that I might still be searching for Silk.

For the phantom who has eluded me on three whorls.

Silk may be here on Blue already, after all. I have dispatched letters to Han and some other towns, and we will see. It is convenient, I find, to have messengers at one’s beck and call.

So I am searching here, although I am the only person here in Gaon who could not tell you where to find him. Searching does not necessarily imply movement. Thinking it does, or rather assuming it without thought, may have been my first and worst mistake.

Thus I continue to search, true to my oath. I question travelers, and I write new letters subtracting some facts and adding others, composing flatteries and threats I hope will bring this town and that to my assistance; no doubt my scribe thinks I am penning another such letter at this moment, a letter that he, poor fellow, will have to copy out with broad, fair flourishes upon sheepskins scraped thin.