Feyaga Hush (Fay-YAH-guh)

The Fisherman’s Herald

Written by J. L. Gryphon

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Ambient sounds courtesy of tosha73 and EminYILDIRIM

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Greetings to those below. I am Death, though Azrael is the name that keeps you on my good side. Hmph. Just kidding. Sort of. Unlike me, though, Feyaga Hush never joked about anything. He was far too fanatical for anything so distorting as “humor.”

That’s not to say he never laughed. Feyaga laughed quite a lot actually. But that’s what I mean when I say he was too fanatical for humor. He would laugh, his mouth would grin, his feet would dance, but his eyes . . . his eyes would crawl inside your soul and just . . . stare.

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Strings of Language

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by Cdd20 from Pixabay

I liken Feyaga to a child more than anything. To truly understand what it felt like for him to stare at you, picture a young boy sitting on the floor hugging his knees to his chest. All around him is a black void. He’s looking at something up ahead. A piece of a clock, in fact. The cog spins and spins—tick, tick, tick—and like a cat mesmerized by a toy, he watches it. Except the cog isn’t a cog. It’s your heart. Somehow he’s entered inside of you, and he’s studying it with crawling curiosity, as if he’s trying to figure the best method to pluck it out. No guilt. No recognition of what he’s doing really. You’re a machine he can take apart. Just to see how you work.
That’s the thing with Feyaga. He’s an undine. I have discussed the undine in the past, and though I did describe them as scribes, scholars, and linguists, I did not tread too much into their darker capabilities. Undine, as their unique identity permits, are masters of ever facet of communication. They are fluent in every Orostian language to the point they created the melting pot language known as Orostian. Orostian is a language that so perfectly combines all the others into one, all manner of people might speak it no matter what language is their first. So, technically, while everyone on Orosta seems bilingual, does it really count if your second language has been specifically designed for you to be able to speak it automatically? Hmph. Who can say?
But, I don’t think any of the undine have realized just how powerful their gift is. Language is . . . everything. In fact, it’s woven into ever inch of the universe. My master designed it that way. So, in theory, if you could understand language to such an extent, you could eventually learn to see the strings of language that make you . . . you. Then, like a harpist, you could start “playing” them. La Siella forbid your true name is discovered.
Feyaga was not a god; therefore, he could not speak the Divine Language even amidst being an undine. As such, he could never see the strings completely. But I’m convinced that he, unlike other undine, could at least see them a little bit. The way he would stare. He had to be looking at something. Or half of something.
So the cat grinned at the canary.

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Hush

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by Cdd20 from Pixabay

Speaking of canaries, I’ve heard a rather disturbing story from your land of elsewhere, those below. Is it true coal miners would bring canaries into coal mines to serve as an early warning for dangerous gases? Hmm. Well, I suppose it’s a functional system if nothing else. But it does remind me a bit too much of Feyaga’s particular talent.
His blood name—or “surname” as you would understand it, those below—is not actually Hush. In fact, I can’t tell you his real blood name. He erased it, which, considering my explanation about the power of language, says quite a lot about him. Due to Feyaga’s talents as an undine, he was adept at killing people in their sleep, the perfect secret weapon. Feyaga’s killings were said to bear a chilling silence, a reference to the soft breathing of the sleeper slowly fading as they suffocated. That’s because Feyaga could quite literally steal the air from someone’s lungs. This led to Feyaga being known as “Hush,” a title he eventually claimed had always been his name. Surprisingly, he’s not entirely wrong about that, which is both humorous and a little disturbing.
Hmm. Is that brushing a bit too close to the fourth wall? Ah well.

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Personal History

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Meeting the Fisherman

by J. L. Gryphon via Artbreeder

But how did Feyaga come to be? What made him what he became? Personally I think he was always . . . on the edge . . . though if you want someone to blame, then perhaps it’s not disingenuous to say Chabaal the Fisherman pushed him over that edge.
Feyaga was fifteen years old when he met Chabaal. This was a year after Chabaal established himself and met the Hood. Chabaal recognized the usefulness of having an undine follower and allowed Feyaga, just an apprentice at the time, to accompany the growing gang. Also, the fact that Feyaga was fifteen was not lost on Chabaal, and he stated Feyaga’s age was a sign. He was “meant to join,” his age being a symbol of the day the world “as it should have been” was destroyed. I’ll translate those ramblings for you, those below, and tell you plainly that Chabaal was referencing the Battle of the Royals Dead here.
Uplifted as he was, Feyaga idolized Chabaal, quickly becoming his most loyal follower—unfortunately to the point of obsession. Feyaga worked as both Chabaal’s scribe and record-keeper, as well as an undercover assassin. So he became Feyaga “Hush.”

The Fisherman’s Herald

by Cdd20 from Pixabay

Being an undine, Feyaga was naturally fluent in every language except, as I said, the Divine Language. This made him an invaluable asset for Chabaal, his mastery with words making him an influential and prominent spokesperson for Chabaal’s cause. I do think, though charismatic in his own right, that Chabaal had as many followers as he did because of the skillfully phrased speeches and propaganda Feyaga was able to craft.
To make matters worse, Feyaga was able to hide just how fanatical he was under a skin-deep layer of charm, flattery, and silver-tongued praise that all too many found irresistible. He was loved, believe it or not. He made sure people loved him. He was even attractive in certain lights . . . well, in a slippery sort of way. It was only those closest to him, namely the Hood and Raniero (a much younger man in those days) who began to see past the shining mask. They started noticing his staring eyes.
Feyaga also worked as Chabaal’s personal researcher. If they were going to “restore the world to what it had been,” they needed to know as much about that world as possible. This naturally resulted in the creation of the Fisherhook Vault where old texts, ancient tomes, black market weapons, pieces of fine art, or anything else deemed “illegal” were liberated from either Vānima the Veldriss or the dragons intent on destroying them. This is, perhaps, the one good thing Feyaga did. I do at least agree with him on his low opinion of book burning.

No More Words

by J. L. Gryphon via Artbreeder

But all the rescued books in the world cannot make up for everything else Feyaga did. Or helped Chabaal do. There was a certain . . . incident . . . involving Sicarius assassins that I won’t detail here, if only because I’d rather not relive the memory. But I will say Jorn Etziah was there. She, if you recall, those below, was the lover of Jezryn Sulissurn, the same Jezryn who would go on to kill Chabaal in revenge for Chabaal murdering Jorn.
Though I hate to admit it, Chabaal didn’t entirely kill Jorn without cause. You see, it was Jorn who killed Feyaga. In that blown-apart clearing, broken, tortured, and bleeding as she was, she managed to summon just enough strength to strangle him. Chabaal missed killing her that day. He didn’t miss two years later.
Of course, I was there.
Cheers to you, Jorn. We still miss you.

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Another Historical Stain

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by Willgard Krause from Pixabay

So you see. In my discussion of the Fisherhook Gang, I mentioned its bloody history and mainly focused on Chabaal. Because as bad as Feyaga was, Chabaal was worse. However, Feyaga’s mark is on the gang, as well. Which is why many, despite their opposition of Vānima the Veldriss, will not go within ten leagues of the Fisherhook Gang. Then there’s Silas who isn’t helping matters either, but I’m getting to that.
I do not envy Raniero’s position. Or the Hood’s.
Personally, I’m glad Feyaga’s dead. Even at the end when I collected him, he tried to stare at me, too. As if he could see the strings that make even me. Feyaga Hush. I did collect him. I know I did. But there’s still something about the whole thing that makes me shiver. Like I missed something. I’ll leave you, then, those below, with the last words he said to me:
“Until next time. Shhh.”

Signed your silent narrator,
Azrael the Star of Death

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Book Information

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Related Articles

Image by J. L. Gryphon via Artbreeder

Alignment

Chaotic Evil

Species

Undine

Ethnicity

Rhyonian

Honorary & Occupational Titles

• The Fisherman's Herald
• Hush

Date of Birth

The Month of Mara, Day 35, 14880 NS

Life

14880 14986 106 years old

Circumstances of Death

Strangled by Jorn Etziah.

Birthplace

Gahagan

Gender

Male

Eyes

Silver

Hair

Silver

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Pale silvery gold

Belief/Deity

The Children of Le Sair

Aligned Organization

The Fisherhook Gang

Related Myths

• The Black Unicorn

Known Languages

• The Deep Language (1st - fluent)
• Faolainn (2nd - fluent)
• Sithuli (3rd - fluent)
• Lingua (4th - fluent)
• Zishlyn (5th - fluent)
• Orostian (6th - fluent)