In the glow of dusk, you sit within the stone house, the last of the daylight being a time to finish your working. You smell the freshly rubbed vellum and place the page upon the scriptorium's table, pulling the guide ropes taut. They make horizontal lines across the worked skin, and you push the page over to set the margin before making final tightening once you are sure it is straight. You pick up the quill, rubbing your hand in reflex as it protests taking to the familiar position.

“Oh Gods. Grant me the strength.” You laugh. The Gods are invoked to heal the wounds of warriors, not scribes, but at this moment the pain your hand surely must be at least worth a few battles worth of honor. You already know the words you must transcribe by heart, as you have already made two copies of it today, but you still glance back at the reference again just to ensure there are no mistakes.

<span class="mu-i">From Hroth, came the four princes and just one daughter, born of the last great Hrothian King. This was a strong bloodline. And of these four went out to carve Kingdoms of their own, founding a great city each in their own name, and their names were Inigo, and Alcepass, and Lugh, and Chermeset. But the daughter was the King's favored, as from the day she was born she was beloved by the whole world, and he believed her to be the true future of Hroth. The daughter was to be married to the last Prince of the Halitotians, uniting the two greatest peoples of that age. But upon seeing his hideous face, she refused, and a war broke out between those peoples.</span>

You rub your aching hand. The dusk is longer then you thought, judging from the light outside. You still burn a candle in the murkiness. Soon you will be finished, and may finally have a drink.

<span class="mu-i">The Hrothians prevailed, and buried the last of the Halitotians in their mountain fortresses, and their kind faded into history forevermore. As for the princess, she fled to the south, as far south as she could go, and married a black king of a tiny kingdom. The Okites, whose royalty now had a trace of white man's blood, came to dominate their desert homeland. But it was not from this union which gave the Okites their golden eyes, but instead from the Princess's dowry. As she so favored by the Gods, from the day of her birth to the day of her death, held in her hands the missing piece of the yellow moon.</span>