Silks

The silks are large rolls of painted silk made by the people of Rin, depicting the people's history. The silks were begun centuries ago by the ancient people of the Valley of Gold, the ancestors of the Rin people, before they were taken prisoners and enslaved in old Rin in the Zebak city,  and were continued for three hundred years until Shaaran, and her brother Norris and grandfather Thiery was the last remaining people in the compound. When they were rescued by Rowan, Perlain, Allun and Zeel and brought back to Rin, Shaaran, now the Keeper of the Silks, painted a new silk roll.

Other silks painted by the people of the Valley of Gold were discovered in the cavern of Mountain Heart by Rowan, Zeel, Shaaran and Norris, proving that the ancient people of the Valley are the ancestors of the people of Rin, before they were catured by the Zebak and enslaved by them.

History
The silks were begun by the people of the Valley of Gold, the ancestors of Rin centuries before they became slaves of the Zebak. One day, during the early days of winter, as the Zebak invaded Maris the Travellers called for the people of the Valley of Gold to aid them in the war. They began marching east towards the coast lead by the Wise Woman of the time, only leaving behind the bukshah herder, Evan, and the keeper of the silks at the time, Fliss. On the plains, the people of the Valley were ambushed by Zebak. One injured man, Bron, escaped and returned to the Valley after two days, to inform Evan and Fliss of what had happened. Afterwards Evan, Fliss and Bron followed the bukshah on their secret path to Mountain Heart, carrying the silks with them. While there, Fliss painted a silk with the recent events. The friends waited at the cavern until winter's end, however as the bukshah returned to the Valley they remained. From afar they saw the first crops bloom. They noticed that a dread illness had befallen the horses and birds of the Valley. Fearing it to be a Zebak plot to tempt them out of hiding, they retreated into the cavern, however a few nights later a landslide occurred, caused by devil trees erupting from the earth, and the cavern gate was sealed by rock. Unable to escape, the friends died in the cavern with the box of silks in their possession. Before their demise, Evan wrote a letter about what had happened for their people to find.

New silks were painted by the enslaved people of the Valley of Gold while they were imprisoned in the Zebak city across the sea in the Land of the Zebak. At some point the Zebak wiped the memories of the strongest of the slaves and took them across the sea to invade Maris. However, the slaves rebelled against them when they arrived and fought with the Travellers and the Maris and drove the Zebak back, and then founded the village of Rin, with no memory of their past. When the Zebak returned, the remaining slaves learned of what had happened through their tales and a silk was painted showing the events and the battle. The art of painting the silks and protecting them were passed down through generations, eventually landing with Thiery three hundred years after their ancestor's original enslavement. Eventually Thiery and his grandchildren Shaaran and Norris and their parents became the last remaining slaves. When their parents died of fever, Thiery painted a final silk depicting himself and his grandchildren standing by the parents' grave. Following that he did not paint anymore, as he did not have heart for it and there were no more to tell.

Rowan and the Zebak
During summer seven years after Shaaran and Norris' parents had died, Rowan and Allun of Rin, Zeel of the Travellers and Perlain of the Maris found their way to the Land of the Zebak and the compound in their quest to rescue Rowan's sister Annad. Here they met Thiery, Shaaran and Norris. Inside the family's house, Thiery and Shaaran discovered the medallion around Rowan's neck. Shaaran took Rowan, Allun, Zeel and Perlain down into the cellar below the house. In a hole in one corner drew out a chain attached to a hook somewhere near the top inside the wall. Pulling on the chain, a box containing the silks swung into view. Shaaran proceeded to show Rowan and his friends all the silks, including one depicting the strongest slaves being put into cages. Shaaran pointed out a bent old woman close to one cage, carrying a bundle of herbs to show that she was a wise woman and healer. She was passing the same medallion that Rowan wore now to a younger woman inside the cage. This convinced Rowan and his companions that Shaaran and her family were the descendants of Rin's ancestors. The next silk showed the ensuing battle on Maris and the slaves rebelling and fighting alongside the Travellers and the Maris. The remaining silks showed people working as before, but even harder, and in greater sadness. They showed guards taking young ones who showed any sign of rebellion, and throwing them into The Wastelands. They showed overgrown fields, houses falling down, adults growing older and dying, but fewer and fewer children being born to take their places. The last silk, painted by Thiery, depicting their family by Shaaran's parents' grave. In the end, Rowan decided that they would take Shaaran and her family back with them to Rin with the silks.

Later, when Thiery were murdered by Zanel in the compound, Shaaran took his place as the keeper of the silks. As Rowan, Allun, Zeel, Perlain, Norris and Shaaran flew back across the sea to Maris on Unos' back, escpaing from the invading Zebak, Shaaran had the box of silks with her. Guided by Sheba's advice, Rowan convinced the Rin army which was assembled on the plain, and his companions, to hide in the orchard, ordering Shaaran to take the silks. As they did so, they witnessed the Dragon of the Mountain arrive and burned the plain with its fire, killing many approaching Zebak and forcing the rest to escape back across the sea.

Rowan of the Bukshah
The silks were hung on the wall of the house of books. In the early days of the second Cold Time, the people of Rin had gathered at the house of books to discuss the shortage of food. Neel the potter was convinced the Cold Time was the Mountain's revenge on Rin for looking back in history, claiming that it had begun when Shaaran and Norris had come to the village with the silks. He called for the silks to be burned, much to everyone's shock and protest. It was decided that most of the villagers, including Shaaran and Norris, would leave for the coast the following day while Rowan stayed to take care of the bukshah.

The following night Neel went to the house of books to attempt to burn the silks with a torch. Shaaran and Norris, unable to sleep due to fearing for the silks, went to the house as well to get them. Norris tried to stop Neel, taking the torch from him, but Neel managed to knock him unconscious, and knocked the torch to the floor which set fire to the bottom of a book shelf. Rowan was woke by Shaaran screaming and arrived to her struggling with Neel. Rowan managed to take and throw the torch out through the door, into the snow, and Neel ran out after it. Rowan quickly kicked the door shut while went to the back to get the silks. The door crashed open and Jonn, Jiller and Bronden arrived with a crowd. While Jonn and Bronden ran out to find Neel, the others saw to stop the fire. Rowan wound his scarf around his mouth and nose and plunged into the thick smoke in the back of the room where he found Shaaran with the box of silks. Quickly Rowan and Shaaran plunged into the cold outside air, bringing the silks to safety.

Later the same night, on Lann's request Shaaran began painting a new silk of recent events in the comfort of the living room of Allun's home. Seeking answers, Rowan went to Sheba who, with an ominous prophecy conveyed through rhymes, instructed him to travel to the Mountain with four companions and to follow the bukshah.

As Rowan, Shaaran and Norris left the village at dawn to travel to the Mountain, Shaaran had insisted upon carrying the box of silks with her. When, following the bukshah's tracks, they came to the place where the stream flowed from the Mountain's base, Zeel came flying down with her kite to join them, making them four.

In the vale of horrors Shaaran threw herself between Zeel and Rowan who were under its illusionary spell, blocking Zeel's knife with the box of silks, breaking its side, making the silks spill on the ground. Once they came to themselves with the help of Shaaran's tears, the side of the box was lined with a blanket to keep the silks secure.

Once in the safety of a cave inside a cliff wall, hiding from ice creepers squirming on the overhang above the cliff, Zeel asked Shaaran to see the silks, saying Ogden would not stop talking of them. However, the companions lost heart once they saw the first silk: the one Shaaran had painted in Allun's bakery showing the Rin folk walking in a line east along a burned black path, the bukshah fenced in their snowy field, and a new addition: ice creepers writhing from the mist of the Mountain. Shaaran apologised for showing them the silk and put it away, only moments before the cliff's overhang gave way under the weight of the ice creepers on top of it, fell down and sealed the cave mouth with snow and rocks. Once they managed to dig through and escape the cave, the only ice creepers they found were dead, crushed by rocks.

Rowan, Zeel, Shaaran and Norris eventually caught up with the bukshah, making it to the cavern of Mountain Heart. Inside the bukshah fed on the grey fungus that protected an ice creeper nest there. The heat from the cavern killed the creepers in the nest and escaped through holes in the cavern roof to clear the realms infested with ice creepers and ending the second Cold Time. Inside the cavern the companions found the bones of Evan of the Bukshah, Fliss of the Silks and Bron, ancient people of the Valley of Gold who had come here centuries earlier to let the bukshah feed. Among Fliss' bones they found a long box containing a shallow tray holding tiny glass jars of many colours, and a letter written by Evan detailing who they were and what had happened to them and their people. Below the jars they found ancient rolls of silks showing the history of their people from before they were enslaved by the Zebak, proving that the people of Rin had always lived on Maris, that it was their original home and that they were the lost peope of the Valley of Gold.

The companions left the bukshah to their feast and carried home to Rin the bones of Evan, Fliss and Bron and the newly discovered box of silks.