Legends of Belariath
Callie Volopa
Ginabi’fa: The Soundless Space
A Tale of the Water and Fire Tribes
As Told by Callie Volopa
Six thousand years ago in the tiny village of Ginayka, there lived two vulpine brothers-- a brown-furred one named Eihan, and a red-furred one named Goshen. Times were hard in Ginayka, and Eihan and Goshen were the only two members of their six-kit litter to live past infancy. The two grew to become opposites of each other in nearly every way, with Eihan becoming a farmer, and Goshen a hunter.
After the day of their soul-joining, much to the surprise of no one in their village, Eihan and Goshen chose opposite career paths in the ways of magic, as well. Eihan became a water mage, and Goshen a fire mage. Both young men were well-loved by a close circle of friends, but the people Eihan chose to associate himself with were far different than Goshen’s companions. One of Eihan’s closest friends was a beautiful vulpine female he’d grown up with, by the name of Tayun, and after their soul-joining, Eihan and Tayun had fallen very much in love. They got married on the one-year anniversary of their soul-joining.
One day, Goshen and his friends were engaged in a youthful prank in front of the Water Temple in Ginayka, throwing tomatoes at both the building and the clerics outside. Eihan arrived on the scene, and Goshen mocked his brother to his face, saying that the power of fire would always triumph because water mages were too meek and gentle to fight back.
In response, Eihan challenged Goshen to a first-knockout-wins duel, with the following stipulations-- if Eihan won, Goshen and his companions would have to clean up the mess they’d made (without using magic); if Eihan won, he would be his brother’s slave for the next three months.
Amused by his brother’s challenge, and eager to put him in his place, Goshen accepted his brother’s terms, but was soundly defeated by his far quicker, more defensive-minded brother. Humiliated in front of the entire village, Goshen and his friends nevertheless had to clean up the outside of the Water Temple.
Eihan assured his brother that he’d taken no pleasure from beating him in the contest, but Goshen’s anger was not quelled. A week later, while Eihan was away from the village on an errand, Goshen and his friends were passing by Eihan’s house. Goshen’s friends taunted and laughed at Goshen as they reminded him of his failure of a week ago, and Goshen, infuriated, launched multiple fireballs at his brother’s house, lighting it ablaze.
A few minutes later, however, Goshen heard an alarmed scream from inside the house-- it was the voice of Eihan’s wife Tayun, who’d been in the house asleep when it had been set on fire. While Goshen’s friends fled the scene, Goshen, distraught at what he’d done, ran into the house to try and save Tayun’s life, but just as he was about to get to her, part of the ceiling gave way and crashed down upon her, killing her and the couple’s unborn child.
In a panic, Goshen flew away from the scene, but unbeknownst to him there were many witnesses to his departure. When Eihan returned to the village to find his house burned to the ground and his wife and child murdered, the villagers told him that they’d seen Goshen fleeing away to the northwest, and Eihan cast his own Fly spell, chasing after him.
Eihan caught up with his brother on the grassy plains of Vosho, when Goshen had finally tired of the pursuit. It was there that the two brothers had their long-anticipated rematch against each other, but they weren’t playing with kid gloves on this occasion; it was a life-and-death struggle, they both knew. Each man brought the greatest elemental magics they had to bear upon one another.
When Eihan cast his ultimate Water spell at the exact same moment Goshen cast his ultimate Fire spell, the two spells collided with phenomenal force and enveloped the brothers inside a large, opaque, impenetrable purple crystal floating twenty feet off the ground. The few vulpines from Ginayka who had made the trek to Vosho to watch this confrontation were astonished at all they had seen, but when they tried to speak to each other about it, they found they literally could not make a sound. Indeed, the crystal was absorbing all sound within a radius of 5,000 square feet.
It was determined then that that radius would be set aside as a holy place, called Ginabi’fa-- the Soundless Space-- and be made into a garden. An oak tree was planted near the crystal, and the Water and Fire Tribes agreed to build a city around Ginabi’fa called Yenneto-- the Vulpani word for “brother’s quarrel”. Designed as a perfect circle, the northern hemisphere of the city was set aside for the Fire Tribe, and the southern hemisphere for the Water Tribe. But both tribes would have unrestricted access to Ginabi’fa.
Over time, it became a tradition that no violence was permitted within the confines of the garden itself, for fear that harming a member of the opposite tribe might cause the corresponding brother inside the crystal to retaliate against the other. So, while inside the garden, Fire and Water Tribe members are expected to be gracious and courteous to one another.
Fifty years to the very moment after the crystal was formed, a group of eight vulpines were introduced to the people-- the Brushani Ginabi’fa, “Priests of Ginabi’fa”. Two males and two females from both tribes had been elected to serve as the religious and sexual leaders of the city, and they would fulfill the needs of the people while inside the garden. For one to be named a member of this group is considered a tremendous honor, for it requires a lifetime of servitude to The Lady.
Ginabi’fa is one of the most holy places in the entire world to the Fire and Water Tribes, as well as all of their sub-tribes and offshoots. And they both believe that at the end of the world, the crystal will shatter from the inside, revealing one of the brothers floating over the other’s dead body, and signal the final victory of one tribe over the other.