Children of the Star

Brhati, a traveller from the East, stumbles upon the settlement of the Tua Finvee, the Yellowhaired Ones, on the mountain slopes of the southern Alps. His first impression of this seemingly tranquil area is rudely dispelled by an outbreak of hostilities with the neighbouring peoples of the valleys below. And he comes to realise that the settlement is also an easy target for the Feond raiders who can strike at will from over the mountains. Brhati’s failing health forces him to stay and he becomes familiar with these people and the story of their ancient origins. Outsiders may know them as the Tua Finvee, the Yellowhaired Ones, but they call themselves the Children of the Star. This is because they have a yearning to return to Is Rind, the land beneath the Star, the lost land of their roots. The wisdom of Brhati becomes the means of a great step forward in their progress as a people. But he is not entirely forthcoming with them. He happens to know the actual location of Is Rind. He knows too that the iceface is receding from their homeland. But a selfish concern for his own situation makes him keep these facts hidden until the dangers the Tua Finvee encounter make it clear that they must move from their mountain home. Ahead lies the Great Walk, a trek from the southern Alps across the north of what is modern Italy and up the Rhone valley in France. But after this hardship there is a further trial. At the coast lies the age old landbridge which must be crossed to reach the Land beneath the Star in ancient Britain. But the link is in a precarious state and about to collapse into the sea, breaking the land connection with the continent of Europe.