Dark Thane

Tarn's favorite ornaments were the moon lamps that he saw sitting atop poles at the corners of many of the streets he passed. Carved into a hollow sphere inside which a single candle burned, the red lanterns were carved from red jade and glowed like the red moon Lunitari, the moon of neutrality. Far more popular were the white lanterns, which were carved from milky white crystal to represent Solinari, the silver moon of goodness. Though the moons of magic no longer brightened the night skies of Krynn (they, like the gods, had disappeared at the end of the Chaos War), the dwarves remembered them in their crafts and in their songs. Tarn loved to see the warmly glowing translucent globes hanging above his head once more. They reminded him of a simpler time.

At this time of the day, the celebrations of the festival were just beginning to start. Columns of dwarves paraded through the streets of each quarter of the city-Hylar, Daewar, Daergar, Theiwar, and Klar-playing harps and drums, and bearing lights to honor the dead and decorate the family shrines found in most residential districts. Each family had its own shrine, and the head of the family was its priest, presiding over a day of feasting. The dwarves celebrated their dead rather than mourning them, after the proper mourning period of six years had passed. So the Festival of Lights was a day in which a family might celebrate the lives of their grandfathers through riotous feasting and games, while at the same time wearing shorn beards and black armbands in mourning of someone who had recently passed away. It was not unusual to see a veiled widow kicking a ball in the streets with a gang of laughing children, or a grief-stricken father well into his cups singing songs with other customers at the neighborhood tavern.

Tarn made a point of touring the newer neighborhoods of the Anvil's Echo, though this took him far out of his way. On normal days, the Daergar and Theiwar never even bothered to light the streets of their home quarters; they were gifted with darkvision and had no need of lights. But on the day of the Festival of Lights, these two quarters were perhaps more brilliant than any other in the city. The Daergar made up in cleverness and dark humor for their lack of precious metals and rich stones with which to make their lamps. Instead, they had created an infinite variety of paper and wood constructions, and this material allowed them to achieve more fantastic shapes and a greater variety of colors. On one street, all the lamps were of fish, whales, and mythical beasts of the sea, shining with cool blues and soft greens that made the street look like some weird underwater grotto. Another street seemed to be on fire, with orange and yellow paper lamps shaped like open flames licking from every window and doorway. Such was the nature of the Daergar humor, which re-created the destruction of Chaos as part of their celebration.

In the Theiwar quarter, there were fewer lamps, but these were often magical in nature, burning without fire or heat, and with wildly varied colors. The Theiwar preferred to cast their magics into lamps of purest crystal and to decorate them with illusions, usually grotesque ones. Tarn's favorite was a new one set up before the house of Brecha Quickspring, the Theiwar thane. It was a towering piece of crystal carved to look like the mountain itself. Its light shone from the open North and South Gates, while illusionary dragons flew in slow circles around its snowcapped peak.

Tarn was surprised to see so many new magical lamps in the Theiwar section of the Anvil's Echo. Over the past three or four festivals, new lamps had been scarce, and some had even begun to whisper that the Theiwars' magic was failing. But now, the streets seemed to be filled with glowing lights and weird illusions to delight and terrify. Tarn had a natural distrust of magic, as did most dwarves, but he could appreciate the care that had gone into the Theiwars' decorations this year. Certainly, this proved that their magic had not waned one whit. While pleased, nevertheless he reminded himself that he needed to dig more deeply into this development and find out why.

Tarn's wandering journey through Norbardin was of course accompanied by Mog's constant wheedling. That street was much too dangerous; the people of this neighborhood dislike you; let me summon more guards, you shouldn't travel alone like this; I can't protect you from everything, I only have two eyes. …on and on. The Klar captain walked as though upon naked swollen nerves, always jumping at shadows, his hand flying to the axe at his belt at every slam of a door.