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Description
Jilarra told me that she's heard of kings in the south that wore a metal torc around their neck as a sign to their people of their nobility. She'd heard that even further south, kings wear a band of metal around their head for the same purpose.

"What idiocy! Bare metal on bare skin? And more than that, how can you call yourself a leader if your people don't know you by your face, your shape, your voice, your very walk? My people are NOT a small tribe, but every one of my warriors knows who I am without needing some shiny frippery. Metal on skin..." she scoffed.

I pointed out that it was warmer to the south, so the danger of metal on skin was greatly reduced except in winter.

"Even so," she said, leaning into the discussion, "even so, wearing such a bright bauble into battle is begging for a rock thrown at your head. Even the poorest of folk can generally throw a rock, and even a child knows that if you take out the leader, you're that much closer to winning the battle outright."

I asked her if there was no heirloom that the head of her family passed down, an object that signified the trust and heritage of her family as the royal line.

"Well of course, but when we go a-conquering, it's kept under my sleeve. For ten generations, a female has been chosen to lead, and in the ceremony where the previous queen retires, she takes the bracelet of office from her wrist and hands it to the next, handing off leadership to the next. If a queen falls before she can pass it on, as happened with my own mother, one of her sisters stands in. Then the new queen walks through the crowd of her people, greets them, asks names, starts becoming known them as queen and not just another person. My people don't need to see it to know who I am. I was raised among them, as a good leader should be, and each of them knows my face and my voice well enough to heed me in the midst of pitched battle. "

She spoke with pride, and rightfully so, for her people had been conquerors for as long as memory could follow. Her ancestors had taken scattered northern tribes squabbling over resources, and turned them into a nation. From what she had told me of her childhood, she had spent every season in a different city, sometimes with her family and sometimes as a fosterling. She herself had four daughters so far, as well as a son, all fostering in different cities this season. While I could not fault this practice for engendering familiarity and loyalty in the common folk, I wonder how hard it is for the children to be so often separated from their family. I traveled quite a bit, to be true, but it was always with family.

I asked her how often she told this much of her peoples' tactics to outsiders like myself.

She chuckled, "You're not an outsider anymore. Besides, walking alone on your own two feet, you have as much power as I do with the whole of my army behind me. And you know it."

We both laughed at that, then she pulled a box out of her pouch and handed it to me. Within, I found a bracelet made of silvery metal and brilliant blue glass, wrapped in yarn to protect my skin from the bare metal.

She nodded at it and told me, "Each of the great families has a bracelet that they pass down, not just my own. As I said, you're not an outsider anymore. I had this made for you. Any child of yours who comes back this way bearing this will be one of our own, as you are."

We paused, because we had reached the border of her city. She hugged me tightly, saying," I hope your road bends back this way again, but if it doesn't, may your daughters be wise and your sons be strong." She stepped back, nodded, then turned back toward the city.

I began walking again.

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This piece is full of imperfections, glaring ones in my mind, but I'm leaving it as it is. I'm extremely grateful and excited that I have commissions to work on, but when I'm working on a piece especially for someone else, my perfectionism goes haywire, so I sort of forced myself to be done with this one as a bit of a relaxation thing. It's a bangle, no open spot, so it has to slide over my hand, so I wrapped the band in yarn for comforts' sake and found that I actually quite like it.

It's meant to hang low on my wrist so that the glass gem rests on the middle of the back of my hand, because I think it looks nifty that way. I painted the back of the glass with pale, pearly blue nail polish before I started wiring, so that the blue would be more vivid. I like the way it looks, but I'm not sure I'll try it again for a customer piece, it's a bit messy and isn't very pretty when looking at the back.

I'm thinking that this one is for my Costume, so I don't think I want to sell it. If you absolutely must have it, I'll not take less than $45 USD plus shipping. I'm not sure if I can replicate this one with any degree of success because it was made with aluminum scraps for the frame, but I'm willing to give it a go if you want one.

Also, my character, the one narrating this and the one that wrote the letter in 'Baby Elephant Walk', the one who goes to my Costume, finally has a name- Tirzyah! Thank you for helping me muddle through until I got it.

->Razzi

Description
Jilarra told me that she's heard of kings in the south that wore a metal torc around their neck as a sign to their people of their nobility. She'd heard that even further south, kings wear a band of metal around their head for the same purpose.

"What idiocy! Bare metal on bare skin? And more than that, how can you call yourself a leader if your people don't know you by your face, your shape, your voice, your very walk? My people are NOT a small tribe, but every one of my warriors knows who I am without needing some shiny frippery. Metal on skin..." she scoffed.

I pointed out that it was warmer to the south, so the danger of metal on skin was greatly reduced except in winter.

"Even so," she said, leaning into the discussion, "even so, wearing such a bright bauble into battle is begging for a rock thrown at your head. Even the poorest of folk can generally throw a rock, and even a child knows that if you take out the leader, you're that much closer to winning the battle outright."

I asked her if there was no heirloom that the head of her family passed down, an object that signified the trust and heritage of her family as the royal line.

"Well of course, but when we go a-conquering, it's kept under my sleeve. For ten generations, a female has been chosen to lead, and in the ceremony where the previous queen retires, she takes the bracelet of office from her wrist and hands it to the next, handing off leadership to the next. If a queen falls before she can pass it on, as happened with my own mother, one of her sisters stands in. Then the new queen walks through the crowd of her people, greets them, asks names, starts becoming known them as queen and not just another person. My people don't need to see it to know who I am. I was raised among them, as a good leader should be, and each of them knows my face and my voice well enough to heed me in the midst of pitched battle. "

She spoke with pride, and rightfully so, for her people had been conquerors for as long as memory could follow. Her ancestors had taken scattered northern tribes squabbling over resources, and turned them into a nation. From what she had told me of her childhood, she had spent every season in a different city, sometimes with her family and sometimes as a fosterling. She herself had four daughters so far, as well as a son, all fostering in different cities this season. While I could not fault this practice for engendering familiarity and loyalty in the common folk, I wonder how hard it is for the children to be so often separated from their family. I traveled quite a bit, to be true, but it was always with family.

I asked her how often she told this much of her peoples' tactics to outsiders like myself.

She chuckled, "You're not an outsider anymore. Besides, walking alone on your own two feet, you have as much power as I do with the whole of my army behind me. And you know it."

We both laughed at that, then she pulled a box out of her pouch and handed it to me. Within, I found a bracelet made of silvery metal and brilliant blue glass, wrapped in yarn to protect my skin from the bare metal.

She nodded at it and told me, "Each of the great families has a bracelet that they pass down, not just my own. As I said, you're not an outsider anymore. I had this made for you. Any child of yours who comes back this way bearing this will be one of our own, as you are."

We paused, because we had reached the border of her city. She hugged me tightly, saying," I hope your road bends back this way again, but if it doesn't, may your daughters be wise and your sons be strong." She stepped back, nodded, then turned back toward the city.

I began walking again.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

This piece is full of imperfections, glaring ones in my mind, but I'm leaving it as it is. I'm extremely grateful and excited that I have commissions to work on, but when I'm working on a piece especially for someone else, my perfectionism goes haywire, so I sort of forced myself to be done with this one as a bit of a relaxation thing. It's a bangle, no open spot, so it has to slide over my hand, so I wrapped the band in yarn for comforts' sake and found that I actually quite like it.

It's meant to hang low on my wrist so that the glass gem rests on the middle of the back of my hand, because I think it looks nifty that way. I painted the back of the glass with pale, pearly blue nail polish before I started wiring, so that the blue would be more vivid. I like the way it looks, but I'm not sure I'll try it again for a customer piece, it's a bit messy and isn't very pretty when looking at the back.

I'm thinking that this one is for my Costume, so I don't think I want to sell it. If you absolutely must have it, I'll not take less than $45 USD plus shipping. I'm not sure if I can replicate this one with any degree of success because it was made with aluminum scraps for the frame, but I'm willing to give it a go if you want one.

Also, my character, the one narrating this and the one that wrote the letter in 'Baby Elephant Walk', the one who goes to my Costume, finally has a name- Tirzyah! Thank you for helping me muddle through until I got it.

->Razzi