The Fellowship of Tears

Separation

After interacting and getting to know Qat’l Banwar more, Milal realized that he still had one goal that he wanted to pursue and tried to tell his young wife about it. The young deity wanted to rid the two continents around his father’s domain of the demons that had somehow come to rule their world.

Having wanted nothing else all her life besides being with Milal for the rest of her life, Agnos could not understand why Milal would think anything could be more important than being with her. She thereby accused Milal of not truly loving her as much as she loved him.

Milal assured Agnos of his undying love for her even as he tried to explain that life would be empty of any fulfilment without a grand aspiration to give meaning to his existence. However, Agnos became unreasonable and accused Milal of having grown tired of her. She went on to dare her husband to just say he wanted out of their marriage instead of coming up with a lame excuse just to be away from her.

Realizing the futility of his situation, Milal backed off and just asked Agnos to give his words some thoughts for a few days. He decided to go over to a friend’s house for a few days.

Left on her own, Agnos sorted out the events that led to their first fight as a couple. She came to realize that she had been jealous and insecure. She was jealous of Milal’s great aspiration and his quest to find meaning in his life. She also admitted that she felt insecure of Milal’s feelings for her. Looking at it that way, she blamed herself for not being more broad-minded for the sake of her husband. Of course, it must be her fault. In her mind, Milal could only be right.

Yet, another more sinister thought sneaked into her mind. She never had any aspirations in life, great or small. Her whole life was built around a little girl’s fancy of someday being married to the boy of her dreams. There was no other meaning or source of fulfilment except the realization of her little girl’s dream. Surely, there was something wrong with her, or so she thought.

Agnos decided that she needed to go away and sort herself out. Thus, Agnos set out of her house one morning and journeyed east. Without a sense of direction or purpose, she travelled a meandering path like one so unsure of her destination. She could not make up her mind whether to head east or go west, or even just go home.

The storytellers of Ragha cited this part of the story to explain to children why the Agnos branch flowed like it did, going from east to west then curling back to go west to east and back again.

Milal got back after three days and walked inside their house with sad, heavy steps. He had decided to forget about his great aspiration and never leave Agnos’side.

When he could not find Agnos, he went mad from worry and chased after her. However, he travelled westward, which is the opposite direction of where she went. He chanced upon a demon lord and his minions, so he decided to vent his fury upon the hapless demons. Later on, the clearing along the western branch and the fissures among the huge rocks thereat were explained as the result of that great battle. The town that sprang up in the area was even called Milal Unteg, or Milal’s Wrath.

Meanwhile, Agnos was wailing and sobbing in self-pity. Despite pleas from her maidservants, who decided to follow after her, her pride kept her from doing what was sensible. She imperiously declared that she would only go home if Milal personally came to fetch her if only to make up for making her feel bad about herself.

The headmistress of the servants dispatched a few of the maidens to go and search for Milal and direct him towards Agnos’ location. However, when they found him and Milal had learned Agnos’ reason for leaving, the young god suddenly turned cold and became difficult to speak with. Two of the servants had to return and tell the headmistress the bad news.

Upon hearing of Milal’s reaction, Agnos became upset. Having concluded that she was right after all about Milal no longer loving her, she ordered the two servants to go back and deliver to Milal a few hurtful words from her. Agnos regretted her actions almost right after the servants had left. However, a few days later, the servants came back with even more hurtful words from Milal.

The couple went on that way for weeks. The two maidservants who acted as the couple’s courier of hate were already crying from having to absorb all that anger from the warring couple. They pleaded for their fellow maidservants to take their place, but nobody wanted anything to do with their burden.

The mountain god Tukruk decided he could no longer tolerate the couple’s childishness and stepped in to stop their dramatic antics. He threw down his helmet and raised a mountain range from it while offering a sacrifice to Lantig. Next, he asked Samaya for help and the forest goddess sprung a very thick forest near the mountains to lead Milal towards the mountain range.

When Milal and Agnos arrived at the juncture, their parents and godparents were already there, looking totally unhappy and even somewhat angry.

The couple hardly noticed the others though. They could only be aware of the hard thumping of their hearts as they looked at each other. All the mean things they had imagined saying to the other in their minds were all forgotten. Only the inexplicable joy of seeing each other again after months of separation could remain in their hearts. They wanted so much to rush into each other’s arms but knew better than to invite the wrath of the elders around them.