The Inner Dark by Altariel (PG)

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Fandom: EARTHSEA
Pairing: none
Length: ~1400 words
Author on LJ: altariel
Author Website: On ff.net, Skyehawke & Altariel & Isabeau (Tolkien), but as far as I'm aware she hasn't written anything else in this fandom
Why this must be read:

This is the second in my interlude of stories focusing on the many minor characters populating the Earthsea universe. The all-women society of the Kargish temples on Atuan, described in The Tombs of Atuan, has inspired some of the most interesting Earthsea fanfiction, perhaps because Le Guin has yet to re-envision the setting.

The priestess Thar acts as Tenar (Arha)'s mentor and as a foil to Kossil, the novel's adversary character. As everything is seen through Tenar's eyes (& Thar dies before Tenar begins to look beneath the surface), Tombs of Atuan doesn't give much of a hint as to her motivations, opening a space for Altariel's intriguing interpretation to slip into canon. 'The Inner Dark' is a quiet, beautifully written character study that examines choices for women in a male-dominated society and the nature of religious faith.

Thar had been the child of a woodcutter from a village in the east of Hur-at-Hur; the seventh child, and a girl as well – unlucky, in the way they told it there. They had given her to the temple in Mesreth as soon as it would have her; when she had shown herself apt, she had been sent on to the Place. She had already learnt how to work hard, and she gave herself over entirely to the new tasks set before her, trusting that faith would come in time. At first, learning the dances and the chants had given her a secret delight, but she swiftly mastered them; and she grasped too, and early, what kind of men they were, these gods to whom she had been given over. The years ground on in the desert, and she kept her silence, but when the dark had at last become too much and the day was not enough, "Mistress," she had burst out to Arha-that-was, "do you ever doubt?"

"Doubt the darkness?" the Eaten One had answered. "Why would I?"

The Inner Dark by Altariel