Recorded and Annotated by Sasilith Kremer, 1019 Age of Ascent
Recorder's notes:
I first heard this song from the mouth of a dying limler, or desert wyvern, in the autumn of 1019. I was out hunting for stones for the young dragons to sharpen their claws on when I heard a hiss, and a voice spoke to me in nearly pure Drakma.
"Have you ears to hear a dying talish?" it asked.
I peered over the rise, and saw a young golden wyvern lying there, his neck curled around on his flank. I was wary, since I saw that his tail was unharmed, and I knew that some wyverns had no great love for Elwens. But then I saw the snapped wings, and knew he was dying. A wyvern, like a dragon, who cannot fly will commit suicide, slowly losing the will to live. It was one of the few things I knew about them then.
"I have ears to hear," I answered in the same language, approaching. "What would you have of me?"
"Listen, and record what I say."
When I heard that, I lost all my fear. He would not kill me. Among wyverns, a last request is sacred, and they will not kill those they ask to fulfill it.
Patiently he waited while I readied my mind, and then he began to sing.
Though I have studied wyverns since then, they are wary of opening their hearts to outsiders, and I have not learned if the Clansong is unique or one of a number of similar compositions. It remains the only wyvern poetry I have heard.
I have been able to learn some more about the dying wyvern's people, though, for when he finished singing the song, he looked at me and said, "Blessed of dragons, be blessed also of my people," and died.
It pains me that I never learned his name.
-Sasilith Kremer, Dragonfriend and Olo'yanu'mishar, Autumn, 1024 Age of Ascent.
The Clansong
In streams of sand, in domes of dunes,1
Where no rivers run with wild radiance,
Raise the children, and chide them well
To learn the lore, and claim the Clan.
They must sing with sundering strength2
Where the winds wail across the plains.
Harvest the heart, and teach the talons3
To proper selection of the sacred sorting.
Let the children walk with swinging tails,
Tap the talons, and advance the advantages
That nature gives them in her Name of Night.4
Let them sing with strength abounding.
The elders eldritch, with magic mated,
Listen with learned ears to the lore
And name each wyvernling to the bright wind.5
The parents pace, the siblings are silent.
Each elder falls fleetly into the freedom
Of his mind and speaks with the magic.
The winds whisper, the children choose.
Each wyvern wings to his chosen weyr.
Oh, let them sing with strength abounding.
Let the winds wail, let the wings spread wide.
Each family follows in the footsteps of the air.
Rejoicing that each child has chosen a home.6
.
Notes
2. "Sundering strength" is a phrase often mentioned by the wyverns I have met, when they do not think I am listening. I am not sure what it means, but it seems to have something to do with a wyvernling severing the ties with the family that bore him and choosing his Clan.
3. Another common phrase. Given the repeition of "talons" later in the song, it may indicate that young wyverns are to show off their talons to advantage in the ceremony.
4. There seems to be among some wyverns a religion of the Night, where Nature itself is deified and worshipped. I have been unable to learn anything more about this, since wyverns are even more private about their religion than they are about their magical ceremonies.
5. The wind apparently plays a large part in the choosing ceremony. Almost certainly it helps the children to choose. Perhaps this, too, is part of their religion.
6. Apparently the reference here is literal; wyvernlings physically leave their blood families and dwell in the caves of their new Clans.
