The Other Way

     In the eastern United States, thousands of years ago, the Tebawa people lived. The Tebawa believed that an individual must survive alone and without aide as soon as a child was capable. Children, or gabia, in the Tebawa forest either strived to earn a name or avoided one at all costs. Teaching and learning were forbidden, so it was unknown to gabia whether earning a name was a good thing or not. When a name was earned, a Tebawa became Demiar, an elder, who was responsible for enforcing the natural order, or the new Demiar reached Ancestra through a natural ritual shortly after naming – the latter was witnessed more often than the former, so gabia often thought that earning a name meant death, or releasing of the soul to the ancestors.

     This novel first follows one gabir, or female narrator, as she survives in this brutal culture, then follows one tabir, or male narrator, as he stands up for himself and becomes one of the most powerful Demiar to ever live. These and other Tebawa perspectives combine in a third part to create a wholesome view of this ancient culture and these two sani, or souls, who will be at the mercy of more than just their wills to live. To survive past their first physical life, they must avoid Bardete, or the true death, and thus follow and submit to the natural order at all turns, including living up to the names they have earned for themselves. Sometimes, living up to a name is not as easy as it would first appear, and sometimes, names are granted too easily by others who see an opportunity to control.

     This novel is the true start of the Bawasani, or old souls, contained in the first-published book of the Merely Mortal series, Pieces, which is set in modern times. The Other Way comes first chronologically, and the events in Pieces will be clearer if read after this novel.