On the Holowkiin
An Account Submitted whilst navigating a world upside down
(I painted this on handmade Khadi paper using watercolour paint and watercolour graphite - Chaiga T. Cheska)
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(The Holowkiin - sung in the “Way of Lon”, the natural language of all true MirMarnian beings.
Wenæn hwirlæn in urenæ tinæn werlænnaen ov galnæn,
The twæn leornwynnaen stillæn tumæn thuraen hægoræn ænd bræmelwyn.
Urenæ reodwyn galnæn softæn in the æræn bufæn heoræ hæfwyn,
Ænd wenæn snitræn thæn, fægwyn ænd lóren, forthonæn thæn secæn.
Written and created by Chaiga T. Cheska)
~~~
Scholar’s Preface
Rinarli May, Junior Fellow, Field Division
I should say right away that studying the Holowkiin is to completely uproot anything stable in your life that you’ve previously taken for granted, such as being upright with your feet on the ground and your head above your shoulders, rather than looking at the world through your ankles, which is unprofessional and yet apparently part of my daily life.
What follows is an honest account of how I attempted to study the Holowkiin whilst attempting to maintain professional standards.
One: My Assistant, Jos
I was given an assistant for this assignment, for which I was very grateful, as I was unsure how I would carry and assemble all my equipment, document everything, and record my interactions with the creatures without someone there to oversee things and make the occasional much-needed cup of tea. So I was grateful for Jos and his expertise in assisting scholars.
[Jos: Assigned to Scholar Rinarli, who appears to think I am here to carry everything and make him tea. Currently not impressed by this tiny man, who seems to have no sense of direction.]
Two: The Moss and the Hedge
Had an unfortunate experience. The moss in this forest we’ve arrived in seems very slippery and interrupted my introduction to Jos about our study area, where the Holowkiin have been sighted most often. Jos is a big fellow, and I’m grateful he was able to navigate the hedge that appeared out of nowhere. It hasn’t been a great start to our investigations, but I have high hopes that we will be back on track as soon as the moss has calmed down.
[Jos: Rinarli found the only patch of moss that was slippery and stood on it as he was turning to give a tedious lecture. Within seconds, he and the patch of moss he was on were sliding into a nearby hedge, which was absolutely hilarious until I realised I had to be the one to extract the idiot, which then stopped being funny.]
Three: How to Study the Holowkiin
The Holowkiin are the most fascinating creatures and the most difficult to study in MirMarnia, as they are often found beneath things, not like worms under stones, but rather suspended beneath something like a branch or a stony outcropping. Most people would say this is easily managed, as they think all you have to do is lean forward and see what they’re up to, but that doesn’t work because the only way to observe the Holowkiin is to invert oneself upside down, as they are simply not visible to even the most trained eye. No amount of professional dignity can be preserved when one is bending over a branch or suspended by one’s ankles in the act of academic study.
So, of course, after demonstrating this tactical strategy to Jos, he actually rolled his eyes at me, the cheek! I suspect he thinks I’m off my trolley! These young assistants have no idea what it’s like to study out in the field! I sent him off to make me a cup of tea just to teach him a lesson.
[Jos: Rinarli is a twit! He thinks he’s punishing me by making him a cup of tea just because I rolled my eyes at him! He literally wants to hang upside down and have me join him in order to study the beings that I honestly don’t believe actually exist. I asked the head of department for a proper scholar to assist, and this is who they put me with! Why me?!]
The tea was actually quite good. I was surprised.
[Jos: I make excellent cups of tea.]
Four: The Hovering Lights in an Outcropping
We discovered, whilst walking through hedges experimentally (an idea I had after breakfast), a dazzling display of dancing, hovering lights across a valley. After climbing through a lot of undergrowth and being distracted for a while by a spiky tree that wouldn’t let us pass, we found a cluster of Holowkiin suspended under the lip of a stone outcropping. Jos pointed out we could just stand and look at them, but I noted they still remained just fuzzy lights if we stayed where we were. After a bit of unprofessional whispered bickering, we traversed the ridge, and I had Jos hold my legs whilst I hung my top half over the lip of the outcropping and came almost nose to cosmos with the Holowkiin. It was just a split second of the wonderful creatures sitting on a curved twig and playing incredibly exciting instruments, and a universe literally forming itself right before my eyes. Then I accidentally shifted, and my nose interrupted the scene by poking through their cosmos, and they faded immediately. Jos was useless at hauling me back up and instead stopped holding my legs, so I ended up crashing into a huge patch of nettles below with my bum in the air and a view through my legs of Jos running around and flapping his hands. What an unprofessional day!
[Jos: I was terrorised by bees that flew at me whilst holding Rinarli’s legs, and he didn’t help and then even accused me of being useless! I ask you, what kind of scholar doesn’t look out for their assistant?]
I did notice after I’d pulled myself out of the nettles that my assistant was otherwise occupied with some buzzing creatures, but I fail to see how bees are worse than nettles! I landed in a bed of nettles that were so dense that I sank several more feet before I could climb out, and now I’m covered in red welts!
[Jos: Rinarli has a welt on his forehead that looks like a target. I feel that this is both amusing and worrying at the same time.]
Five: Jos has a close encounter with the Holowkiin
It was nearing dusk on the fourth day when we first heard it: a low hum, many small voices threaded together. Jos went still in a way I had not seen before, and for a moment I saw a shimmer settle on the branches ahead, faint and gold at the edges, the air thickening the way it does before rain. So I encouraged Jos to walk a little ahead of me, and we carefully climbed the tree. Being as quiet as possible, we both lowered ourselves over the branch and held on to the other branches with our legs so as not to fall headfirst. There, a short distance from our faces, were the Holowkiin. Jos’s eyes went wide, and it was a good feeling to see that he finally believed what I’ve been trying to share with him and talk about for the last few days. The Holowkiin were seated on their chosen twig, all playing their musical instruments, and out of that music wound the magic of tiny universes. It was an incredible sight, and I think I actually saw a tear from Jos.
[Jos: I absolutely didn’t have a tear in my eye! What nonsense! My eyes water when I’m hanging upside down in a tree, alright! Those creatures are fascinating, and yes, I believe now that the Holowkiin are real. Rinarli is still strange, though.]
What We Saw
We did not speak much after that. There seemed little point. We made camp beneath a broad old alder, and I lay for a long while listening to the wood settle around us.
We attempted later that night to witness another group of Holowkiin who were suspended beneath the edge of a riverbank, which we carefully lowered ourselves over to get a good view of their cosmic weaving. I do admit I had to work hard to suppress a terrible fit of the giggles as Jos, being taller than me, ended up with his head partially in the stream, his hair flowing around in the water and mixing with weeds, and attracting curious fish.
These Holowkiin were fascinating to watch. On a little twig sat three tiny figures with instruments no bigger than strands of grass, held to their mouths. When they played, the most gorgeous music, unlike anything we’d ever heard, came from these little beings.
The music, when it came, was almost nothing. A hum beneath hearing, a thread of sound so fine it seemed to pass through the air rather than move it. And yet from that thread, drop by drop, something began to gather. Pale light unfurled into the shape of mountains, small as knuckles, catching a dawn with no source. Between them, a sea rose, no wider than my palm, and upon it forests took root, reached skyward, went gold, and fell bare again, all of it no larger than a coin and none of it any less real for its smallness. A kingdom rose upon a hill I could have covered with one finger, held its shape for the length of a breath, and was gone.
The music thinned. The light folded back into itself, gentle as a held breath released, and the twig was only a twig again, and the moon shone on as though nothing at all had happened.
I do feel this has been a rather enjoyable adventure with Jos, who I hope will consider more field studies with me.
Closing Note
[Jos: Yes, I believe in the Holowkiin now, but that does not mean I think Rinarli is sensible, logical, or a scholar to admire. I do see that he is not bad to work with, provided he doesn’t behave like an idiot I have to rescue all the time. There are some scholars who see assistants as just equipment-transportation and tea-making factories, which I admit was what I thought Rinarli was doing at the beginning. Whatever assistant work I have in the future needs to be conducted right side up, without bees or my head in a river. Small requests, but I feel that if I don’t say them now, I’ll end up somewhere even more ridiculous than where I’ve just been.]