Part 14 : Aberstone

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At the eastern edge of the Windrise Hills, the rivers South and North Aber unite to become the River Aber proper which finally flows into the Gulf of Ptral. It was here that the peoples of Ironhope released into Klane’s care, the independent Riders of the Thranish tribe that pledged allegiance to him at the Great Burning, and the clans of the southern moors of Ulumol, joined together with Klane and his queen and lover, Lucalle. Here, at last, they stopped riding and they began to build. 

The great settlement they constructed in this place, in the many years that followed, would eventually occupy the banks of both tributaries and the tongue of land between. They called it Aberstone. You have heard of it perhaps? Of course! For Aberstone was more than a town, it became the first of the Foundation Cities and it would not suffer its streets to be burnt as Ironhope had been burnt.

Now we have come to the end of the story of Klane Kalonia and the Great Burning.  It ends with a new beginning, for, as you have just heard, it is at one and the same time also the story of how Aberstone was born from the ashes of Ironhope. In later years, Aberstone would be proud to declare itself the oldest of the seven Foundation Cities and proud to declare too, that it was the famous Klane Kalonia who was their very own founding father.

What of the fate of Klane Kalonia, himself? Do not ask. Let us leave him in the peace and sweetness of his reunion with Lucalle for a little while at least. He deserves that much, for dark times and sorrow lie ahead when the call of destiny comes once again, as you shall hear if you attend to the later legends of Klane Kalonia. But those stories will keep for another time, and perhaps another teller.

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