The Tragedy of Maura and Iagan

"I love you, have loved you and will love you till my dying breath and they will too. There will be no problem.”

Written by David_Ulph

There are many myths spoken throughout the Holy See Territories, which tell the Gods' stories to better understand why the Great Dance is the way it is right now. Others, though, are simple tales whether true or not that help to push the messages of the Holy See's faith, their virtues and their vices. The Tragedy of Maura and Iagan is a blend of both.

The Story

Maura was a young maiden of royal blood with flaming locks of auburn hair, one who had not found her place in her family yet. Without her role being discovered yet, she would wander the land and discover the wonders available due to the waltz of the Gardener and Winnower.
And it was there she witnessed Lumen set over a lily field, its dying rays highlight the wild beauty of the north and highlighted the beauty of a man to which the light glittered through shining brighter than anyone around him. While being the eldest child of the King and Queen, Maura found nothing in her life quite so valuable as the hours she passed at the edge of the lilies, next to her love and knowing he felt the same.
However, young Iagan despite being the most respected of his landsmen, was just a poor commoner compared to the royalty. He and his family would spend all hours in the day working the Realm for their royal masters to ensure their worship was fulfilled, and as the strongest of his kind it was his heavy task to lead the community. Though this weight was lifted every night when he would catch a glimpse of the ivory skin of Maura.
One evening, Maura turned to him and, in between the whispered words of love that mean little to the outside world but everything to those within, said what Iagan had been waiting for, “I love you. Your beauty outstrips that of these lilies. Your raven hair and snow-white skin make you more than kingly. I wish to tell my parents that we shall marry, if you will have me, as I believe to have found my purpose in life; To be full of love.”
Iagan worried that his being would not be enough to persuade the royalty that he could marry one of theirs, but Maura reassured her lover, "I love you, have loved you and will love you till my dying breath and they will too. There will be no problem.” Lumen sank slowly below the floral-pink hills in the distance, but with her lover’s assurance, Iagan felt no chill in the darkness.
Maura went to her parents. They had known of her affection for a boy but not who he was, though her father dreamed of a noble heir. “Father, Mother,” she said, standing upright and strong, “I wish to marry my sweetheart. Iagan. He is strong, handsome and kind and there can be no better husband than he. We want your blessing because we will not ever be content apart.”
Her parents looked at each other in disbelief, aware that this commoner would bring nothing and help no-one in the Realm, despite the charm he’d cast on their daughter. Maura’s father rose, heartbreak and fury written all over his face and pronounced this doom, “You shall not marry this boy while I draw breath. You are forbidden from seeing him, from speaking to him. You are a child who does not understand the weight of this decision and you will listen because my eldest daughter will not marry a labourer’s son or I will not know her.”
Hurt tore through the young maiden, and while she shouted in defence of her beloved, of his worth, his heart and his beauty, her father would not hear of it. Maura ran from the palace to the lilies, furious and desperate, carelessly disturbing all the creatures who lay there resting. In her misery, she stayed away all night, thinking and dreaming and hoping for an answer, for a sign, a sprite to help her in her troubles. None came. Until a great beast passed through the lily field, disturbed by Maura.
If hunting constituted an excuse to still go to the lilies every day, to still see her beloved, to still hold his hand, then there was no harm being done and her father would have no reason to be suspicious. One winter’s morn, Maura's father asked her where she was going so early. She had planned to hunt a large beast; one she could use to fashion a cloak to keep Iagan warm in the coming depths of winter and had allowed herself the entire day to search the land for tracks, though her parents could not know the truth.
“You spend much more time hunting than you ever used to,” he said, a hint of suspicion in his voice, “You should take your sister with you and you can follow in her footsteps as they can teach you a thing or two. The winter this year is likely to be a difficult one with both flood and storm as the Great Hag beckons. We recommend not going near the lily field, for there are better and easier catches to be had near the loch.”
Maura agreed but her father was not convinced. He watched his daughter leave and walk towards the forest and decided to hide to see when she came back and whether he had a rightful cause for suspicion. A crunch of frost alerted him to the presence of young Iagan and so it was that Maura’s father discovered his daughter was disobeying him, turning his fury into desperation and ruthlessness. His already-tough heart hardened further.
And so a plan was concocted with the serpentine cousin. “She is lost!” he answered imperiously, “Send the common boy away. I wish my daughter to never speak to him or see him again and I do not care how or what you do. Get rid of him, and tell me what I owe you after.” The fork-tonged cousin replied "A curse like that requires a large sacrifice. From you, I request your most precious belonging, in exchange for the loss of your daughter’s most precious belonging.” The King paused for a moment, before handing over his cloak of swan feathers, gifted to him by his predecessors as a symbol of his rule.
And so the cousin lay in wait at the lily fields for Iagan to pass by, disguised as an old crone in need. Iagan's heart was too warm and caring, and fell into the arms of the cousin's trap when he was offered by the crone a feathered cloak to keep him warm for this harsh winter and that the crone would use the money to feed her ill son. Upon donning the cloak, however, Iagan became cursed like ice. Frozen in one spot, where anyone looking to him would assume was a solitary winter-beast resting. With that, the cousin slunk back into the lilies away from all prying eyes and awaited fate to plan out.
Maura arrived not long after, successful in the hunt to make a warm cloak for Iagan but he was nowhere to be found in the lily field. She waited at the fields all night but still he did not appear. Every morning she went and waited for him, ignoring the need for hunting and her father’s reminders but nothing changed. Eventually, as the weeks drew by, she realized she had lost him and that whatever had happened, he was too far from her. She could not wait any longer.
One beautiful morning, after the serpentine cousin placed a hex on the sleeping maiden, Maura watched the sunrise and felt a longing to return to the lily field to hunt. To see the birds and beasts that had previously accompanied her in her happiness and time with Iagan. As she approached, she witnessed a great winter-beast more beautiful than any other who would be a perfect reminder of the perfect time she had with her lover. The cousin appeared from the field with a new bow, which he promised would strike true and leave the pure white skin unharmed on impact of the arrow.
Maura took a deep breath, aimed her cousin's bow and struck a mortal blow, the arrow piercing the winter-beast's heart. In an instant, the feathered cloak's enchantment lifted from Iagan and he reverted to his natural form, but the cousin's arrow set a new curse upon him where his heart turned to hardened ice and cold uncaring. Maura in giving up on the hope of her love directly caused the death of any future occurring between the once lovers.
Maura's love turned to grief and sorrow, where she would spend the rest of her days in the crypts of the dead for she would no longer feel much life left inside her broken heart. Iagan's warm caring nature turned as harsh as the winter, which he would dwell in forever. Iagan was dead forever, and Maura longed every day for his soul to be returned, so never stopped following his descent.

Prompts Advent Calendar #29

Interpretations

It is believed that this story is a near mirror of the deific story of the Second Era concerning Sindla and Gelida.

In civilisations to the west during the time of the Empire of Midland, Gelida was known as Maura and was also considered to be a Goddess of Love and Passion. This also matches Maura being a princess, as in Chaos the Gods of Magus Realm are royalty above the common Elementals of the Elementia Realms.

The link between Iagan and Gelida is one connected by the Scholars of Hamaskus, for those who seek answers for all will hunt all corners of the Realm to uncover the truth. A minor deified spirit which appears throughout the Mortal Realm is the "Fallen Frost" whose fall and frozen heart resemble Gelida's myth.

Though the details of the myth appear to resemble the tragedy of Sindla and Gelida as written in the Holy See's Bible, with the cousin being Pashna despite it being generally understood that he is the son of Sindla. Nevertheless, it is written it was Pashna who froze Gelida's heart and drove him to join the Shadows of Yor, the group who would become the Fallen Angels and join the side of the Great Hag Throff during the Invasion of Mortis Realm.