#sehlat

From @archangelbeth over at Bluesky, via @MonsterGirlEllie: A translation of a famous poem... from the Rihannsu.

Farewell, I-Chaya

I wanted to share some before & after comparisons of zine pages I've restored recently! They're not always this dramatic, but when they are it's nice to see them side by side :)

Gee Moaven, 1975 (unknown zine)

DEW, 1987 (unknown zine)

Connie Faddis, 1977 (Sehlat's Roar)

I've redrawn it again!

What is the story behind I-Chaya’s chipped tooth?

The subject of I-Chaya's chipped tooth in an intriguing prospect. Upon revision, I believe that I could have considerably shortened the retelling, but I find myself... pleased to recount my youth spend with I-Chaya. I shall not remove the irrelevant information I have shared.

As a young boy, I had a... particular habit of wandering the streets of Shi'Kahr after nightfall without my parent's permission. On a particularly chilly night, I discovered a sehlat in an alleyway. He was lost and injured and, as such, effectively stranded. I snuck him into my childhood home and attempted to nurse him back to health.

Skon, my father, discovered I-Chaya sleeping in my bed while I was away at school for days later. He was... displeased that I had brought a wild animal into the house, but was more disappointed that I had lied about I-Chaya and my nighttime wandering and that I did not inform him of my decision to foster I-Chaya. Vulcans are not incapable of lying, despite the rumours. The act of lying, however, is frowned upon in Vulcan society, as per the teachings of Surak.

My mother T'Lara, however, was quite fond of I-Chaya and pushed for our family to officially adopt him. I-Chaya, she learned, had managed to escape from a domestic farm-herd some distance beyond the city limits of Shi'Kahr. The owners of the farm-herd, upon request, willingly gave I-Chaya to my family, pleased that he would be looked after comfortably and well loved.

As for I-Chaya's chipped tooth... as a cub, I-Chaya had a fear of lightning. A mazhiv-yon, or a sandfire storm, had progressed into the city and I-Chaya had hidden with my family in our food cellar. He was startled by a nearby lightning strike and, in his youthful panic, ran into an wall with sufficient force to damage one of his fangs. Sehlat fangs develop much more rapidly than the cub itself and sehlat cubs lose their wu-zud-kan at approximately 14 months when the an'pre'le-wu'zud grow in. I-Chaya chipped his fully grown an'pre'le-wu'zud at 18 standard months, eight months after I had discovered him in the alley.

Skon attempted to cosmetically repair I-Chaya's tooth, but as he was domesticated and the broken tooth did not seem to bother I-Chaya's energy or lifestyle, it was decided that his fang was to be left alone.

I-Chaya had never seemed to be deterred by his chipped tooth and led a long, full, and happy life, seeing me to adulthood and Spock to his premature kahs-wan before his honorable death protecting Spock from a le-matya.

Spock and I-Chaya sketch and scan of the sketch based on this Belle & Sebastian screencap