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SOLstice

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A marked day to celebrate many things.

The changing of seasons.

The beginning of a new year.

The promise of bountiful harvests to come.

The welcome of new life.

And most of all...our wonderful Inti. The sun. One of our greatest gods. The one who makes all this possible and to whom we give thanks.

Even if he cannot stay long today.

Nevertheless, I am ever grateful. He had accepted my husband to serve him, taking him into his kingdom and his care. And in his wake, he had blessed me with a new life of my own. He has blessed us with his son to guide and watch over our people.

Just like his father before him.

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I know the time of year has come, even without the voice of the bright circle's light as it speaks through my body.

From the top of this hill looking over the valley, low and long I echo the bright circle, stating my presence in response.

Stating my presence to the very earth itself, and all that I share it with and rule over. All that I keep in balance under the bright circle's guidance.

Stating my presence again and again. Echoing over the broad flats, across the running waters, and through the trees.

Until the echoes return to me.

Except they're not my own.

They're from three males. Three brothers. Singing praise and gratitude to the bright circle. Storytelling across the earth of their successful hunt of a long neck. A difficult and dangerous game, even to the experienced and to those who hunt together. But the long neck is a revered trophy and a meal of plenty - a meal best not to boast about lest others hear word and covet over such trophy.

But they don't eat any of it.

They cut their prize apart piece by piece, one of them taking a leg before he faces me and performs the dance of the bright circle's passion - a passion matched by the bright colors painting his deeply reverberating throat, and lightly marking his face and tail. Scoring the earth beneath his feet as he waves his share of game before me. His brothers are quick to follow suit, a chorus of passion as they scoop their heads low, then rise up again like the bright circle.

Something inside me tells me that they are performing this dance for me. Same as their game, these smaller portions of which they set down before me. This is a proposal. A proposal to grow a new pack with me. A readiness and will to serve me for the rest of their lives.

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It was an honor to be graced in person by the presence of our Sapa Inca, but never in my sixteen-year-old life had I expected him to choose me to become one of his wives.

And yet here I am before him as he graces my right foot with a shoe made of the finest material - a promise that he would serve me for the rest of his life.

Just as I would serve him.
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And now, I serve his people - my people - as he guides me under Inti's tutelage from his kingdom above. To guide and to watch over our people, and to ensure their well-being for generations to come.

My greetings and gratitude are for him.

My sun.

His son.

His son's son...

...my son.

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My sons and daughters.

...or so they will be after many cycles of the bright circle, warming them in its embrace of light until they hatch and step into its domain.

For them, my pack and I wait upon the gathering of long necks and other game. For them, we build our nest with as much food as we can.

Through them, our people will continue to roam the earth under the guidance of the bright circle as we teach them of the ways of the earth.

It is with great pride and joy that I may bask in the warmth of the bright circle, balancing the earth through me as I do so through my kin.

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It is with great honor and celebration that I may stand here, to drink with him once again and bask in his warm presence.

And that Inti may care for our people through me.

And within me.

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A manga for the :iconperfectpreggo:'s Summer Bash 2018, featuring my OC Rayen. (READS RIGHT-TO-LEFT)
Theme: Summer Solstice

...or, at least it would be in the northern hemisphere of Earth. Contrariwise, because of the tilt of Earth's axis, the southern hemisphere experiences winter and its subsequent winter solstice (which is tomorrow for this year). Either way, it's a marked day to celebrate the sun and the changing of seasons.

And for the Inca world, Inti Raymi - The festival of the sun, and the beginning of a new year. Celebrated in honor of the sun god, Inti - one of the most revered deities in Inca religion, for whom they awaited his return for their summer months to come.

The Sapa Inca (emperor) and curaca (magistrates) gather to Haucaypata at the dawn of the June solstice. There, they remove their shoes and face northeast to wait for sunrise. When the sun appears, they crouch down and blow respectful kisses to the sun, before raising two golden cups of chicha (an alcoholic beverage from maize, grains, and fruits). The left cup is offered to Inti, and the right cup is shared among the Sapa Inca and the curacas, who would then go to the Coricancha, the most important Incan temple, for the sacrifice of llamas. The festival then consists of nine days of indulging in vast quantities of food and drink.

The ending wasn't initially intended to be a homage to the ending of Jurassic World, but I'm happy that it turned out that way, especially with Fallen Kingdom officially opening tomorrow in the US.

The early panels for the scar-faced Mapusaurus are also homage to "Death of a Dynasty" from BBC's original 1999 Walking With Dinosaurs. In this episode, a male Tyrannosaurus courts a female with food. I thought this behavior would be well suited to be applied here to Mapusaurus, based on someone's idea about reproduction and nesting behavior of the ancestral Allosaurus (fav.me/dbd0en9).
Image size
1082x15421px 3.09 MB
Make
HP
Model
HP ScanJet 2400
© 2018 - 2024 roukaryu
Comments16
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buried-legacy's avatar
Beutifal work. its almost like a manga keep up the work.