Grandfather and Grandmother Danais

A short time after the Desolation, people were huddled together in various places around Tellus. There were a few such groups on the large island that we now know as Beleterra. One small village was near the shore. On one rare, beautiful day, people were out on the beach fishing and clamming, when a person they did not know walked out of the waves, and onto shore.   The stranger seemed to be a young adult, and did not know their language at first. But, they quickly learned, and just as quickly, became an active, productive member of their community. However, they never expressed a name for themselves. So everyone simply called them, "Stranger". Then at dusk one day, a few years later, Stranger simply ran back into the waves, and did not immediately return.   The people didn't know what to make of it. Stranger had been a strong swimmer, and there were no signs of struggle when they left. So the people waited, and the days passed.   One moon passed, and on the morning of the first day of the next moon, a fisherwoman looked up, and saw two people out in the water. Their heads bobbed around playfully, and they gradually came closer to shore, until they finally emerged. The Stranger had returned! But, which of them was it? They both looked like Stranger, but one was a woman, and one was a man, where Stranger had been neither--and both. She ran to tell the other villagers the news.   The two people who were, and were not, the Stranger, could speak the villagers' language, and knew everything the Stranger had known when they left. They quickly became a part of village life again, and very quickly becmae villege leaders. Soon after, they became known and loved at all the little huddles of people, helping them organize, build, and protect themselves. And as they aged, the people called them Grandfather and Grandmother.   Eventually, they came to rule the entire island of Beleterra, establishing their home in Kianini. They began House Danais, and the Danais family today, as well as various others from Beleterra, are descended from Grandfather and Grandmother.