Ruqyaq was a Yachachiyruna on the planet Nest.[1] He was first introduced in The Last Shadow.
History[]
Past[]
In 3160 AX, Ruqyaq designed a weapon for The Folk that was a combination of ultrasound and infrasound for riot control to keep the peace underground.[1]
The Last Shadow[]
In 3180 AX, Ruqyaq was asked by the Kea Royal Son if he would meet a human from The Box and explain his history to him. The boy was named Brussels Delphiki, also known as Sprout. Royal Son enticed Ruqyaq to introduce himself to Sprout, but he said he was not deserving of a name, but said that he noticed Sprout observing his unusual features. Sprout asked if he was unique or did everybody from Earth on the planet look like him, to which he expressed surprise that Sprout believed in Earth. Sprout explained that his parents were born on Earth, which he explained by mentioning the centuries of relatavistic travel. When Royal Son spoke, the man told him to shut up and not to try his patience. The man told Sprout that the Keas are usually much more rude to his people than Royal Son was being at the time. The man explained that he was sent because he speaks unusually clearly, so Sprout asked if he should call him Clear Storyteller, but the man said to call him Ruqyaq, a powerful name in Quechua. Beginning his questions, Sprout asked when Ruqyaq's people changed from being normal humans. Sprout explained the story behind the Leguminids which surprised Royal Son and Ruqyaq, hoping that his story would encourage him to open up. Ruqyaq explained the orgins of his people, who were called the Yachachiyruna, as well as the normal humans who lived underground on Nest (known as the Folk) as well as the Keas and Ravens, and how they came to be sentient. Ruqyaq explained that they had sent the Box a transmission of a virus as they assumed that the people in the Box were the ones who had sent it to them, to ask them if it was them. Ruqyaq explained that they encountered the virus but it caused no destruction, and called it the Recorder because it records genomes. Sprout then returned to Lusitania.[1]
The next day, Sprout met again with Ruqyaq, who passed along to him an invitation from The Folk for a banquet later that night given in the Lusitanians' honor. However, the Folk used a biological weapon and attempted to kill the Lusitanians. When they escaped, they turned against the other species of Nest with the same riot control weapon that Ruqyaq had created. Soon after, the Lusitanians arrived with a Box to rescue the birds and Yachachi. They walked toward the Council trees, where Ruqyaq emerged, and he asked if they could take Keas and Ravens to escape. Ruqyaq took them to an area with some Keas and Ravens still alive, and Sprout invited them into the Box. Jane sent the Box full with birds back and forth dozens of times. Eventually there was no birds left except for a few that hovered off in the distance, apparently with no wish to go even under threat of death. Then the Yachachi emerged from the trees, and Jane teleported them away, and the group Detoured back to the Q-Bay.[1]
The humans then went to the meadow on Lusitania to sort the birds. Jane told them to divide themselves into their breeding populations, then instructed the Keas to form a group who wanted to be alone and a group that wished to be with the Ravens, as they could not be trusted with humans. One by one the patches of birds disappeared as Jane sent them to the colonies. The Yachachi sat on the edge, and Ruqyaq asked Jane if they could stay on Lusitania, but she said no as the only trees on Lusitania were the sacred Fathertrees. Jane also instructed them to make clothes for themselves, so they asked to stay for a few more days. Later, the Yachachi were sent to a colony.[1]
Some time later, Sprout and Blue Delphiki came to visit Ruqyaq. Ruqyaq expressed that Nest was merely a training ground, where they learned our science and engineering and languages, but on the colony they could become one nation and later many nations, with languages developing freely. Ruqyaq began to tell a story that was an allegory for the life of Sprout and Blue, which praised them for saving the species of Nest from the Folk. Ruqyaq then told a story about their ancestors, the Huapaya people of the mountains. He explained how they selectively bred a certain kind of berry in the mountains that eventually became corn, potatoes and tomatoes, explaining that this ability for breeding led them to become great breeders, though now they chose to be breeders of birds. Sprout asked if the Yachachiyruna would teach them their genetic science, and they agreed if Sprout would share theirs. Bidding farewell to Ruqyaq, and acknowledging and saluting Yachachiyruna and Ravens alike, Sprout and Blue returned home to their mother's house.[1]