One Hundred Days

The One Hundred Days are the earrings of the Hundred-Year Circle — thirty colorways representing the full spectrum of directions the loom can weave. Once every hundred years, they appear in a circle around the Ouroboros at the center of the Soraveen village on the Sunrise Steppes mesa. One day. Then they are gone. The loom has read them. The next hundred years are set.

Black and deep red fan to the west — toward the canyon, the last light, the man who faces west and works in the dusk above the Becoming Places. White and blue and turquoise fan to the east — toward the first light, the blue eagle feathers, the crystal beads, the old woman who reads hands and not faces. Purples, pinks, and the intermediate colors fan north and south, filling the spaces between the cardinal directions, the colors that exist in the hours between dawn and dusk when the stone country is neither one thing nor the other but something in between that has no name yet. All thirty surround the Ouroboros at the center. The loop completing itself. The way it always has.

This is the hundredth appearance since Ka-petal fell. A thousand years of the loom. A thousand years of the Soraveen at the waterline, watching centuries burn away to the next,waiting for the earth to offer rather than taking from it. Watching the world perform it's cycle.The stone country does not rush. It never has. The Becoming Places below the mesa release what the earth has finished making at the precise moment it is ready — and the Soraveen receive it, and the loom weaves it into the next century, and the circle appears again, and the Ouroboros turns, and the hundred years begin again.

The man who faces west made the black and red and deep blue pieces — the colors of the canyon at the last light, the hour when the sun has gone below the rim and the light has not yet decided to leave. He gathered his materials on the eastern slopes forty years before he came to the west rim: blue eagle feathers, rhinestones surfacing from the earth where the ground ran thin over the mineral deposits below. He carried them west. He has been at the west rim for ten years. He does not age. The Soraveen notice and do not speak of it directly.

The old woman who faces east made the white and the pastels — the colors of the first light, the canyon waking up, the Becoming Places when the dawn catches the shallows and the round polished stones catch the light from below the water. She has been at the east rim longer than anyone on the mesa can remember. She reads hands, not faces. She does not teach. She witnesses. The stone country teaches.

Chelle has been to both rims. She knows the old woman's hands. She knows the west rim and the man who works there and the particular quality of the dusk light above the Becoming Places and the way the blue earring at the far edge of the flat stone caught the last light in a way that made the color look like it was coming from inside the stone rather than reflecting off it. She bought thirteen that evening. She wanted them all. She knew how hasty an action that would be in the Soraveen village. The other half found where they belonged on their own.

Midnight keeps vigil over the Steppes on the mornings Chelle goes. He was there for the last circle, a hundred years ago. He will be there for this one. The hundredth. He has never told anyone what he saw the first time. He never will.

It will soon be time for the circle to appear again. The Soraveen are already at the waterline. The stone country is already deciding. The Ouroboros is already turning. The hundred years are almost up. Thirty colorways. One for each direction the loom can weave. Select yours.

About This Piece

• What it is: Boho long feather and bead dangle earrings — 30 colorways
• Colors: Black, red, white, blue, turquoise, purple, pink, peacock blue, multicolor blends, and more
• Series: The Hundred-Year Circle | Earthsong Enchantress
• Location: The Sunrise Steppes mesa, Soraveen village, the Ouroboros circle
• Character lead: Chelle. The man who faces west. The old woman who faces east. The loom.
• Select your colorway at checkout

The Sunrise Steppes Canon

• The Sunrise Steppes — Canon Index & The Hundred-Year Loom — the full world, every story, every link
• The Hundred Mornings and the Hundred Evenings — An Origin Story of the Mesa
• The Stalker of the Sunrise Steppes — What the Canyon Keeps
• The Song of the Hundred Evenings — the west rim, the blue earring, the blush
• The Hundred Evenings — Boho Water Drop & Feather Earrings — the companion collection

What is the Hundred-Year Circle?
Once every hundred years, a circle of feathered earrings appears around the Ouroboros at the center of the Soraveen village — one for each of the hundred directions the loom can weave toward the fate of all. They appear at dawn and are gone by the following dawn. The loom reads the circle and sets the direction for the next hundred years. This is the hundredth appearance since Ka-petal fell.

Who are the Soraveen?
The people of the Sunrise Steppes — ancient, Anasazi in spirit, friends of dragons. They do not teach. They witness. The stone country teaches. They have been at the waterline since before the Steppes had a name.

What are the Becoming Places?
The river canyon valleys below the Sunrise Steppes mesa, where the earth releases what it has finished making — round polished stones found in the shallows at the precise moment the earth is ready to let them go. The Soraveen wait. They receive.

What will you find?: One Hundred Days — The Hundred-Year Circle Earrings, 30 colorways