Through The Castle Garden

 

Through The Castle Garden is an installment for A Call to Arms, a series of stories inspired by Dungeons & Dragons. Taking place late in the canon of the series, a middle-aged Anry Muse chooses to fulfill an old promise by visiting Huaisheng Temple within Minwa Dynasty. Upon his arrival, however, he discovers that his old friend Taizong Muhtar has been deceased for some time, though his spirits are lifted upon learning that his younger sister, Zetian Muhtar, is still alive, albeit out in town at the time. After exploring the temple grounds and meeting both one of the Muhtars' mutual friends, Laleh Gulyar, and their impersonal and distant father, Shimin Muhtar, Anry ends up meeting a ranger like himself from the northern forests of Mwalakore, named Migizi; almost instantly, however, the two discover that their personalities are completely incompatible despite their shared goal of ridding the world of otherworldly beings and threats to their plane. Outside of Huaisheng's grounds, however, the two are given a joint task that forces them to cooperate for at least a few moments.

Through The Castle Garden can be read here.

The above photograph is that of an entryway to the real-life Huaisheng Mosque in Guangzhou, China. As mentioned before, Huaisheng Mosque is China's single oldest mosque and one of the world's oldest mosques, estimated to have been built in about 627 CE. A unique blend of Chinese and Muslim architecture, it acts as a perfect stand-in for the fictitious Huaisheng Temple.

Through The Castle Garden was named after the song of the same name by Celtic jazz group Nightnoise. A number of other tracks were considered as to try and tie Anry, Migizi, Zetian, and Taizong together, but I ultimately felt that nothing else could quite work. 

As said in the notes for Strange Pursuit, I felt that Anry and Migizi would struggle to get along due to their radically different personalities, even with their common goal and their own pasts having a point of commonality (that is, their friendship with Zetian). I was curious to see what exactly would happen between the two if they met, and decided on setting a story where the two could meet due to my own interest in seeing a small piece of Zetian's home life when she's not out adventuring. I also wanted to include Gilbey Jenevere somewhere in the story, since he has met both Anry and Migizi in the past, but I couldn't find a way to include him without it feeling tacked-on; with the conflict between Anry and Migizi being a primary focus, Gilbey's presence seemed a bit too distracting. I also considered having him perform in Huaisheng's common area as a minor cameo at the story's conclusion, but I figured having Anry and Migizi meet both Gilbey and Zetian in rapid succession would've been too much plot at once, so Gilbey had to remain absent this time around. I'm sure he'll meet the two of them again, though.

Laleh Gulyar partially predates this work, having been obliquely referenced in the real-life campaign I'm part of (being only referred to as an "elven friend with a cursed lineage"). Through The Castle Garden was the first time that Laleh was named, her first name being a common Middle Eastern name from the Persian word for "tulip" and her surname being adapted from a famous Uyghur folksong, The Girl From Dabancheng (which can be heard here). Laleh herself is intended to be a monk practiced in the Way of the Ascendant Dragon, herself having to cope with a cursed draconic lineage, akin to Katalia, though most of this hasn't showed up in any stories yet. Hopefully she can get more time in the limelight in other stories, and even then, I find it interesting to see Laleh's extroverted personality and willingness to show her lineage compared to Katalia's withdrawn disposition and bandaged limbs.

I also just want to say that I find the idea of Migizi, inspired by the Ojibwe people in historic Michigan, and Anry Muse, inspired by Scousers in Liverpool, England, intrinsically entertaining by itself. We see plenty of stories where Americans meet First Nations, but I don't think we see many stories where Englishmen meet First Nations.