Shownotes
Hear now the tale: a myth of a far-away land, telling of the gods of love, and of patience.
Today’s story is “The Gods In Between” by NightEyes DaySpring, one of the stories from his collection Gnoll Tales, that won a 2023 Ursa Major Award for Best General Literary Work. NightEyes is a wolf with a penchant for coffee and a love of fantasy fiction. Information about him and his writing can be found at nighteyes-dayspring.com.
Read for you by Rob MacWolf — werewolf hitchhiker.
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Transcripts
You’re listening to Pride Month on The Voice of Dog.
Speaker:This is Rob MacWolf, your fellow traveler,
Speaker:and Today’s story is
Speaker:“The Gods In Between”
Speaker:by NightEyes DaySpring,
Speaker:one of the stories from his collection Gnoll Tales, that won a 2023 Ursa Major Award for Best General Literary Work. NightEyes is a wolf with a penchant for coffee and a love of fantasy fiction.
Speaker:Information about him and his writing
Speaker:can be found at nighteyes-dayspring.
Speaker:-dayspring.com. Liminality
Speaker:—the quality of being in between two known or settled states,
Speaker:an equinox, a crossroads, a seashore
Speaker:—has been a key quality in folklore and religion
Speaker:for longer than the written word has existed,
Speaker:and for just as long
Speaker:have queer people been instinctively felt to possess an inherent liminality,
Speaker:and we will make no attempt to deny this.
Speaker:Non-binary gender, especially,
Speaker:has often been seen as the province of:
Speaker:“The Gods In Between”
Speaker:by NightEyes DaySpring
Speaker:In the drylands, trees are scarce because rain is infrequent.
Speaker:The hearty acacias that grow in these lands live short lives,
Speaker:but there is one
Speaker:that is so old it has seen empires come and go.
Speaker:This sacred acacia, which is infused by magical powers, is known as the Lover’s Tree.
Speaker:Many, many years ago, back when the new gods were first coming into the world,
Speaker:it stood alone, and it was just a tree.
Speaker:Then one day a gnoll named Renu came
Speaker:and sat under the tree
Speaker:to enjoy its shade
Speaker:and waited. They were a curious gnoll, not because they were particularly special,
Speaker:but because they
Speaker:were always in between male and female.
Speaker:We do not know if they were born in between or just felt in between, but they were
Speaker:just in between. It matters not how they were born
Speaker:anyway. Under the acacia Renu sat
Speaker:and rested. The tree offered good shade, and they had come to think.
Speaker:Some people told the gnoll they should craft like a male,
Speaker:skilled with their paws and keen with their eyes,
Speaker:while others said that
Speaker:they should hunt like a female, swift
Speaker:with their footpaws and strong with their spear throws.
Speaker:The village elders told Renu
Speaker:to just pick a path,
Speaker:but everyone wanted them to be something they weren’t.
Speaker:Renu would have none of it.
Speaker:They were not one thing, but two things,
Speaker:and whomever they would love
Speaker:would need to understand that.
Speaker:On the advice of a village elder,
Speaker:it was suggested they go find a tree to sit under and figure it out.
Speaker:The elder might have meant this as finding any tree and just
Speaker:settle the confusion with themself,
Speaker:but Renu saw this as a quest.
Speaker:Thus, they journeyed for many days,
Speaker:seeking the right
Speaker:tree, seeking the right
Speaker:place to think, and when they found that tree, they sat in its beautiful shade
Speaker:and thought. The first day, nothing new came to them,
Speaker:and the next, nothing new came to them,
Speaker:but Renu kept thinking
Speaker:about who they were
Speaker:and what they were.
Speaker:Nothing changed, and confused on the purpose of the elder’s advice, they stayed under the acacia.
Speaker:A passing shepherd, a dark-skinned human,
Speaker:saw them there and offered them water and
Speaker:Renu accepted it gratefully.
Speaker:Then another shepherd offered them some meat, and they accepted it too.
Speaker:Through all this, Renu stayed under the tree,
Speaker:and days turned into weeks.
Speaker:The locals assumed they were a holy person of some kind on a vigil,
Speaker:and they brought food and water to Renu who kept their vigil, deep in meditation.
Speaker:After forty days,
Speaker:another gnoll came to the tree
Speaker:and sat with Renu. They too
Speaker:had always struggled to find who they were,
Speaker:caught between the genders,
Speaker:and together the two sat
Speaker:and meditated for a few hours,
Speaker:unsure of the other’s plight until the second gnoll finally asked.
Speaker:“Why do you sit under this tree?”
Speaker:“I sit because one of my village elders told me
Speaker:I should sit under a tree
Speaker:and think through myself
Speaker:to find who I am,”
Speaker:replied Renu. “And are you that hard to find?”
Speaker:asked the other gnoll. “I know who I am,
Speaker:but no one else knows who I am.
Speaker:They insist on labeling me one sex or the other, but I am both,
Speaker:and neither.” “Ah, I know that feeling,”
Speaker:said the second gnoll.
Speaker:“You do?” replied Renu, ears up in surprise.
Speaker:“Oh yes. My parents wanted a boy, but I came out different.
Speaker:Neither one nor the other really.”
Speaker:“There are others like me?”
Speaker:replied Renu, hackles up in excitement. “Well,
Speaker:there is at least me, but I have heard of others.
Speaker:We’re not too common.”
Speaker:“Still, you see it,
Speaker:and you understand.”
Speaker:The second gnoll bobbed their head and nodded, tall wagging.
Speaker:“Yes. My name is Shena.”
Speaker:“Renu,” they responded, getting up.
Speaker:“My vigil has been answered.
Speaker:If you would like, I can take you to my village and show the elder I am not
Speaker:the only one.” Shena considered.
Speaker:“Does the approval of an elder matter that much?
Speaker:If they could not see the you you always were,
Speaker:could they see the me I have always been?”
Speaker:“No, probably not,” said Renu. “Let’s just talk,
Speaker:here in the shade.
Speaker:The locals have given me a bit of water and some dried meat, and I can share it with you.”
Speaker:“I’d like that,” said Shena.
Speaker:Renu and Shena stayed under the tree
Speaker:for two more days, talking
Speaker:and laughing. Then, coming to a decision, they left the shade of the acacia and built a hut next to it,
Speaker:and decided to live together there.
Speaker:Soon others came, and a small village formed around the tree,
Speaker:and each night, Renu and Shena would sit under the tree for an hour
Speaker:after dinner before bed.
Speaker:The gnolls and humans of their new village listened to them,
Speaker:and learned much about who they were and what the world was.
Speaker:They offered advice only on love and always gently,
Speaker:like a gnoll treats their newborn cubs.
Speaker:Here, in this village, Renu and Shena grew old, and it was here they died, together.
Speaker:The people buried them under their acacia, careful to nestle them between its roots while
Speaker:not disturbing the tree.
Speaker:Then they told the story of Renu and Shena to the people of the nearby villages,
Speaker:and others came to the tree to sit and think.
Speaker:Not all were confused on who they were, but some were just lonely.
Speaker:Many a couple met under the tree.
Speaker:A year passed, and under the tree on clear nights people started saying they saw things.
Speaker:There would be two gnolls holding hands, talking to themselves.
Speaker:And that wasn’t the only curious thing about the acacia. People started feeling presences
Speaker:of great power when they saw these spirits
Speaker:and a sense of love and connection to each other.
Speaker:The tree had born two new gods right here in their village,
Speaker:and since then, lovers of all species, dwarf, elf, human, and gnoll
Speaker:pray to Renu and Shena,
Speaker:the gods of love
Speaker:and patience. Together, they rule with the other gods,
Speaker:and their tree continues to grow and flourish,
Speaker:even though it has long outlived any other acacia in the world.
Speaker:And on clear nights,
Speaker:sometimes you will find their spirits still,
Speaker:under the acacia
Speaker:talking together.
Speaker:This was “The Gods In Between” by NightEyes DaySpring,
Speaker:read for you by Rob MacWolf,
Speaker:werewolf hitchhiker.
Speaker:You can find more stories on the web
Speaker:at thevoice.dog,
Speaker:or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker:Happy Pride, and Thank you for listening to The Voice of Dog.