Tandavi, listen close, and I will tell you how you start life in this world.

You are born on a cliff overlooking the sea. Under a setting sun I find myself alone, tucked in a corner of the world reserved solely for me and you and the lives we protect. Kali rests a restless head upon my back and an anxious claw upon your egg, the companion I shall offer you when I cannot give you my own soul. With the rise of the crescent moon comes the fall of my head, black cheek pressed into soft grass, every stray pebble a pinprick upon my skin. So long it has been, so many years I have lived, and yet pain such as this is unlike all I have had before. It is all the raging agony of my burning flesh in the Sun God's rage, and all the wrenching pain of coming across the ruined form of the child I swore to protect. You tear me apart, body and soul, and I reward you by forcing you into a world of broken hearts and wretched dreams.

I labor with you through the night, and you wait until dawn to give me reprieve.

The first rays of sun peer curiously out from behind the woods, casting a rosy glow upon the silver sea. The comforting purr of an avian friend beats comfortingly against my heaving side as I push, push, one last time and then you tumble out of me, an alien ejected from within my womb, wet and wild and red as the falling leaves. You are an autumn child, gold highlights on your chestnut hide, an indistinct crescent striking a line through your youthful face. In this gold you are me; otherwise you are your father, your grandfather, a flame of the morning who will dance with shadows until your night falls, and it pains me to look upon you and remember those I have loved.

Kali loves you. She purrs and purrs as I lick away the fluids from your body, and you watch her through those black, black eyes, curious yet unafraid. She lays before you the pulsing egg, and you watch that too, and I watch you. Do you understand the gift I am giving you? The responsibility that it accompanies? Do you understand why I am doing this, why I put another life in your heart when you are so young and unable to even care for yourself?

Someday, perhaps, you will.

In the rising dawn above the sparkling sea, I stand on shaky legs and wait for you to rise into your world. This land is yours, yours to claim and explore. I have brought you here and now you must stand on your own. You will suffer and you will love, you will feel joy and pain, and I am sorry for it.

I love you, Tandavi. Know that.