by Historian Talertoril of the College of Tomes

It is largely accepted that the Stone-Nest are the oldest tribe on Solstice, as they have a direct connection with the Builders who first made landfall on the island. The Stone-Nest have long been custodians of the island's xanmeers and have been vocal about the grief stemming from the destruction of such cultural sites following the arrival of Clan Corelanya.

Many of these sites housed great troves of history, whether recorded in texts or stone carvings, or suspended from their ceilings by way of the Stone-Nest's knotted cords. The loss of these records is a black stain which mars the storied history of the island.

It is because of this that we must examine every surviving record with unbound curiosity so that we may glimpse these lost stories.

The following text was discovered within the ruins of a Stone-Nest temple. The temple itself, whose name has been lost to time, sat on the cliffs lining the divide between western and eastern Solstice. The text itself survived thanks to it being placed beneath a carved, stone cube which protected it from the fires that destroyed the temple during the early Stone-Nest and Corelanya conflicts.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the text before engaging with the following analysis.

* * *
Stone guide me. I feel the jaws of a sinkhole are ready to open wide beneath my feet and swallow me whole.

My dear husband, Ah-Tee, has decided to leave the tribe. He is not alone in making this decision. There are others who wish to split from stone and search for something new.

I do not understand it. He speaks of dreams. Churning water. The Void. He tells me the others understand him, but he does not answer when I ask if they have had the same dreams.

Ah-Tee has always been excitable. It is what drew me to him. Always the first to climb a rockface or leap into a cenote. How many times has he plunged his grave-stake only to change his mind moments later to dedicate himself to another cause.

I would worry that this was yet another passing fancy if it were not for his decision to leave me.

There was no gleam in his eye. No smile to part his worried scales. He seemed as shaken as I am now.

I followed him and the others. Came as far as this temple where I now write this note. He knows I followed him, I'm certain of it. But he made it clear that the decision was mine to make. He would not beg me to leave the stone. He only asked that I understand that he can no longer give himself to it.

The stone beneath me holds a number of my ancestors. A few of Ah-Tee's as well. How can he—how can I—abandon all those that came before?

By the same stone, how can I abandon my Ah-Tee?

Would it be enough to give my burial stone to this temple so that I may watch over him and the others in death? Or, do I follow him into that great unknown beyond the promises of stone?

* * *
While it is impossible to determine the exact date this note was written, we can at least posit that it was some time before the island was consumed by conflicts between Argonian and Mer, as the stone which protected it was covered in thick ash and soot.

Furthermore, I believe this note marks the schism which eventually birthed the Tide-Born tribe. The author, who at the time of this publication is still unknown, mentions their husband's dreams. Particularly, churning water and the Void. We know from our time studying the Tide-Born that they believe whispers, coming from Sithis no less, derive not from Hist or Stone, but from the Tide. Do Ah-Tee's dreams point to the birth of this belief system?

The author does mention that Ah-Tee refused to say whether the others who left also shared these dreams. Do we then dismiss his dreams as mere coincidence?

Additionally, the temple this letter was discovered in borders western and eastern Solstice and sits atop the rocky crags which overlook the tropical beaches of the island. This temple would have watched over the flourishing Tide-Born people as their tribe grew over the following centuries.

We have no surviving records which say with certainty why the Tide-Born splintered from the Stone-Nest, but this note offers a clue. The author mentions that Ah-Tee was no longer willing to give himself to the stone. I take this to mean that he could no longer see himself being buried in the tribe's customary stone coffins. Perhaps this was a long-held anxiety, hinted at through his inability to dedicate his grave-stake, and therefore burial stone, to a singular cause.

With this in mind, I believe there was a growing discomfort, or rather dissatisfaction, with the tribe's burial traditions. And, over time, this sentiment grew into a yearning for something different. A new voice to guide them where the Stone, and the Hist, could not.

We may never know who this author was, or whether they chose Stone or Tide in the end, but we can still thank them for the care and effort it took to put pen to paper when, for all intents and purposes, their life had just been split in two.

A closing note. The stone cube which protected this letter? Carved on its sides were two alternating symbols. Branching geometry, not unlike those which adorn xanmeers, and circular spirals. Stone and Tide.