Ezra Siat [District Nine]

Ezra Siat -- fifteen -- nonbinary -- District Nine

You are, you suppose, a heretic, not in the subtle ways one might drift from teachings about where Silksharp died or the exact nature of her divinity but in the big ways—the ways that say she never died, that a true death would have been the end of her because she was never divine at all.

That doesn't feel like as big a deal to you as it does to your teachers. Faith matters, not the specifics; Silksharp was a rat once, and now she is something else, held alive in the space between her own force of will and her followers' devotion. Her guidance is not omnipotence. That doesn't mean you respect her, or heed her wisdom, any less. (None of your mentors are divine, either, and it's not like you hold it against them.)

In the day to day, they seem content to believe that the things you know are some strange thought experiment. On principle that bothers you, but you let it go; if Silksharp minded, she would put the matter to rest herself. And you won't let anyone make you abandon your weekend duties or give up the precious summer weeks you spend at the temple, missing your parents but content in your purpose. You're good at reading casts—you knew this, even before anyone told you so, because words have only ever come easily to you with Silksharp watching over you and your fingertips tracing tokens. Perhaps you knew you would be even before that, when you sat swaying to the music at services, eyes closed and tender awareness reverberating through your bones—or Silksharp knew, and nudged your thoughts in the right direction until your steps followed into the dappled shade of an apple tree.

Either way, you were meant for this.



They. Outline note was "gender: the process of making an apple swan."

299/300 for the second of two CBs from the birthday dodgeball event melting_clock but it's fine, everything's fine

Named in part for Siat from Ann Leckie's The Raven Tower, who has maybe three total pages of screen time but who I fell in love with immediately. I was pushing around vague thoughts about Silksharp and heresies and temples before I read Tower, and Ezra is not an expy of Siat, but they owe something to a quiet priest of the Strength and Patience of the Hill who collects and categorizes stones for fun and doesn't smile for people she isn't comfortable with and is the first person to recognize what's happening when an imprisoned god reaches out.