Legomenon for an unknown EXILE

The whole of this Author's 'story' is difficult to establish with any certainty: no external clue has yet been found to definitively link him to any other person in the Archives (with the obvious — but unverified — exception of the Author of {purple berries}), and the overall narrative roughed out by this clutch of fragmentary Writings proffers only tantalizing hints.

As elsewhere, however, this has not prevented — indeed it has certainly inspired — extensive theorization, about where he fled from, where he fled to, what precipitated his flight, and, most mysterious of all, how his Writings came to be part of the Archives Pertaining to Egderus Scriptor at all.

One of the most tenacious theories links the Author here called the Exile with the Writing {this work}, most often attributed to Egderus — the hypothesis being that this person was one of the band of insurgents mentioned in that Writing who are about to leave on a mission to 'carry out acts of interference' against 'the enemy', a powerful figure tyrannizing the world, or so he is described there. Presumably, in this postulation, these acts of resistance were unsuccessful, and the Exile was forced to flee alone, perhaps the only survivor of the expedition.

However, the fragmentary profile provided by the Exile's Writings could fit any number of similar scenarios, including a more recent theory (preferred here) that places him among the 'terrorists' who brought down the Temple during the Scholar's time, generations after Egderus.

Although this latter story line presents fewer problems, it affords no more concrete evidence to support its surmises than any other.

The sequence in which these Writings are here presented is speculative, of course, but it does seem to make general sense on the basis of internal evidence.

The first Writing, {fog} sketches in the Exile's situation: escaping capture, he has, after a long and arduous flight, found temporary haven in a foreign town, a stranger who knows nothing of the local language or customs, but nontheless feels safe, at least for the time being.

The lyrical {drawn} describes how the Exile's day begins, and the ambivalence he feels about being pulled into the town's life: even though he knows no one and no one knows him, for the moment at least, he still feels that he might be a danger to the community in which he has found temporary refuge...

In the next Writing, {stars}, the Exile remembers with fondness and longing his early adventures in a large city where he made a life as a performing artist...

But an unexpected {fire} breaks out in the town, and the Exile becomes involved, against his will, for he fears 'discovery' by (or through) his engagement in this emergency...

Then, in {place}, he witnesses a traditional ceremony that re-enacts another search for refuge...

Eventually, in {Manhunter Moon} the Exile is welcomed tentatively into his community, causing him to offer up a kind of prayer of thanksgiving.

Soon, however — as he foresaw from the beginning — his sanctuary is wrecked, most likely by his pursuers, as recounted in {attack}. But he is able to aid a small number of his new companions to escape, among whom he forms an odd friendship, with the {grandmother} or elder of the group, who reappears briefly in the last extant Writing of the Exile, the tragic {flight} — and may figure in the possibly related story {purple berries}, a supposition addressed in its proper place, the {Legomenon for SOLDIER}.