Art Exhibition: Etyries Goodears

This is a departure from the blog's usual format, which the translator hopes will be acceptable to the audience. Rather than being more translations directly from Mianmo, this is one of the translator's original works, as she has been tapped to provide a blurb for Seven Mothers, Seven Moons, Seven Wanes: How the Lunars Conceptualized their Past. The translator's work on The Lost Book of Etyries Goodears came to the notice of the curator in charge of the exhibition, and thus came about this commissioned piece describing a gorgeous Seventh Wane icon painting of Etyries Goodears herself.

This icon was recovered from the excavation of the Trader Temple in Furthest. Enough of the original pigments remained that professional conservator-restorer Katrin Dirim was able to recreate the icon painting as it existed during the Late Heortling period. Despite being an icon painting, which were usually modestly sized, this depiction of Etyries Goodears was set into an alcove in the Trader Temple, taking up the upper two-thirds of the alcove.

The Five Flavors

This, too, was labeled as being "From the Cottar," and thus provides a glimpse into culinary culture in southern Kerofinela during the Late Heortling period. It provided interesting challenges in translation; the final flavor could have been translated as "savory," but ultimately the translator's hands were tied in providing a translation for the Theyalan adjective umatheh.

It must be noted that spiciness is not listed as one of the flavors here; this suggests that the Heortlings viewed spice as a different axis of cooking entirely. Certainly, they were not unaware of the role of spices in cooking, given the Issaries manifests that have been recovered from Wilmskirk and Boldhome, detailing the many spices that were brought up from Esrolia, including cinnamon, black pepper, coriander and sweet neem. Elsewhere in Mianmo's notes, she makes reference to having a "five-goddess Sarli curry" for dinner with Mesyllandre Otoros, and her later regret at thinking the two of them could "overcome Ty Kora Tek" is illuminating.