The Telling of Paimonrhoth, Once of the Abzu

A fictional character Telling. Meet Paimonrhoth.

This is the tale of Paimonrhoth — a siren of the Abzu, the first rank of the Broken Circle, where all sirens begin.

She grew up in the deep temples, well-loved and curious, often found at the ever-burning flame as though it was speaking to her in a language she almost understood. When others of her kind returned from the upper world with stories, it was only a matter of time before she went too.

In a cove, she found a man on the rocks. She had heard what they were: sweet flesh. Easy. She was already reaching for his wrist when he told her she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

She froze. Something entered her that had no name in Abzu. She pulled him in — old habit — and dragged him back up when she remembered he couldn't breathe. When he recovered he was looking straight at her. She said I'm Paimonrhoth, sorry I pulled you in. He kissed her. She had never been kissed before.

His name was Noal. For several hours they bobbed in the ocean. He said I love you. She thought: he loves me.

She was reported. She was forbidden. She fought the one who threatened him and was temple-bound for thirty days. She stared into the ever-burning flame for every one of those days.

The morning after her release she took the flame and left the Abzu. She never went back.

They found their lagoon. He built their house. She sang to him, as she often did — of their love and how they would be together forever. His skin grew thin as hers wore fire. He died with a smile on his face. She built his tomb on the ocean floor and stood vigil for ten years.

When the Masons found her and offered to take her grief she said yes. She came to the Lodge and gave the Telling. And then she drifted here for three hundred years — quiet, unreachable — because when grief is your everything and someone lifts it from you, what remains?

The Masons, to their credit, eventually understood what they had done. They gave it back. All of it — the memory, the pain, the smile on his face at the end. She burned the Telling and left the same day.

She is at her vigil now. The flame still burns beside him.

That is the story of Paimonrhoth. Take from it what you will.

Faction: The Broken Circle · View the Gallery