In the most ancient days, when Kings and Queens first walked the land and all the heavens were bright with glory, three Orders were ordained on mother earth beneath the great blue sky. When the deer was but a fawn, one was set to guard. When the rose was only beginning to blossom, one was set to tend. And when the first horse was but a foal and silk but a dream, one was set to learn and teach.
The wise ones spoke: “Let all those like Gere Sesen, who clothes her family and sits in wisdom, be set apart. Let their deeds be read and their names spoken, that the wind may remember them forever.”
Now the returned Khan, Lucian, commands the Ordu, brave as an eagle. Now comes a Khatan so honored herself, Tamar, with healing power in her thumb and magic in her fingers. Now the Ordu seek those who fulfil ancient commands, striving against hard things and attacking the difficult.
There grew a steady effort among the folk to bring a name forth. “We have seen one who steps without stumbling. More skilled than most, wise in her actions and wiser in her waiting. From a piece of silk as big as her palm she has made ten garments; from a piece of silk as big as her finger she has made twenty robes.”
Spoke Lucian Khan: “We know the one of whom you speak. To look upon her work is like looking at the moon. To look upon her mind is like looking at the sun.”
Spoke Tamar Khatan: “We know the one of whom you speak. Like a fine work of art in form and deed, like a very star of heaven itself come down to mother earth.”
Spoke the Khan and Khatan together: “Send the news to the lands of the farthest west and east. Ashland Taiji, beloved of the Falcon, is taken apart and blessed. Give her silk to work and clad her household. Wood to make her beauteous marks. Name her to the Order of the Laurel, ancient and proud, that the wind may remember her forever.”
And it was done in the ways of the ancestors of the Ordu on the __th day of the month of the Fire Horse, in the year of the Metal Rat.
Lucian Tamar
Khan Khatan