Chapter 359 (1/2)

Chapter 359: Potentials

ELEANOR LEYWIN

The long tunnels between the sanctuary cavern and Elder Rinia’s little cave were empty and devoid of life We had already hunted the cave rats to extinction, apparently There were a few hundred people to feed in the sanctuary now, and even though the mana beasts tasted like a treeskunk smells, they were edible—if you burned the meat black and didn’t think too hard about what you were eating

Although Elder Rinia had said she was too ill for visitors, I couldn’t just stay away after what I’d overheard between Virion and Windsom I had to talk to someone, but I was terrified to tell anyone else Since Rinia would already know—she was a seer after all—at least I wouldn’t be endangering her by revealing what I’d learned

When we reached the mouth of the narrow crevice that served as an entrance to Rinia’s home, I scratched Boo under his chin and behind his ear “You wait here, big guy I’ll be right back”

There was a bitter, earthy s out of the cave that reh the crack in the solid stone Before I even pokedvoice said, “Well, co in the far wall, and Rinia was sitting in front of it in her wicker chair, covered in a thick blanket The cave eltering hot and thick with the bitter scent

“I see you I wasn’t in the mood for visitors,” Rinia rasped, her back to me “And yet, the curse of the seer is that I can’t even be surprised that you didn’t listen”

I glanced around the cave before responding Aside from the natural alcove in which Rinia’s fire blazed, she had a small checker-board table covered in stones, a ainst one wall, and a low stone table that was covered in cuttings and pulped plants, likely to brehatever was bubbling away in the pot over her fire A small alcove contained her bed and a very fine, very out-of-place dresser

“I’ you, Elder Rinia, but I needed to…” I hesitated, taking in her current status, “Are you okay?” As much as I wanted to speak to her about Elenoir, I couldn’t suppress the feeling that so

“Fit as a flitter flea,” she japed, pulling the blanket htly around her

I slowly crossed the rooet a better look at her Her skin ithered and dry, and her eye sockets sunken and dark Thin, white hair draped over her face and loose strands clung to the blanket, having fallen froh, were her eyes: they stared at the fire, htless

“Rinia…” I started, but ather , child,” she said, her voice low and croaking “Always looking”

I went to my knees in front of her and took her hand in both of ainst it Her skin was dry as parch heat in the cave “For what? What could possibly be worth this?”

“It’s all in the balance, now My hoainstDicathian, Alacryan…hu Our homes—our entire world—will burn unless I see…”

“See what?” I asked after a prolonged pause “What are you looking for?”

“Everything,” she whispered

We sat there in silence for a long tiht for a while that she had fallen asleep My mind felt numb, and I realized that I hadn’t really believed Virion or Rinia when they talked about her being ill Seeing her now…she was like a ghost of herself, barely clinging to life I couldn’t help but wonder at how much she must have used her power to decline so rapidly

Our homes—our entire world—will burn…

A shi+ver ran through me as those words echoed inmy lips as little ht place at the right ti me jump

I scooted away fro up at Rinia’s craggy face “Where is the right place, and when is the right tiuely

My heart was haames, but felt more pity for the old woman than frustration It wasto help “This has so, doesn’t it?”

She turned, shi+fting her body under the blanket to a chorus of popping and creaking “Don’t get involved, child It is a…delicate situation Your instincts on this were right: just keep it to yourself Whatever we think about as done, fighting against Virion now only leads to catastrophe We both know you didn’t need to coled against the urge to press her on what she’d known and when It see bitterly disappointed But the tension built up inside me until the words just kind of tumbled out “Did you knoould happen to Tessia—to me—when I asked you about the h that quickly turned into a cough “Every choice, every future, all leading to a single outcome Always, always”

“What do you mean?” I asked, insistent

“It was fate that Tessia would fulfill her role as vessel for Agrona’s weapon,” she said, closing her eyes and sinking back into her chair “All I could do was attee for the most positive circumstances in which that would happen”

“You could have said You could have told o Virion would have stopped her, he—”

“In the future you describe,” she snapped, “the slave caravan is saved, but Curtis Glayder elects not to go on to Eidelholm and rescue the rest of the elves held there One of those young wo her new e, the only thing she has of value: the name of a man who has helped others escape the Alacryans

“They find him Then they find us Many of us die And Tessia is taken anyway,” Rinia finished bitterly

“Then what about Arthur? Why tell him not to let the Alacryans have her?” I asked,a little when I said my brother’s name “Why did he have to…have to…” I choked on the sentence, turning away from the elder to hide hed

I stared at her, er quickly took over “But he died!” I hissed “And they captured her anyway!”

“I know, child” She reached a tre hand out toward me, but I scooted a few inches farther away, and eventually her hand slowly fell “I know”

“Was it his fate to die?” I asked quietly “Did it have to happen?”

Rinia shi+vered, a slow tremble that seemed to start in her chest and work outward until it had passed through her toes “Oh, how the hell should I know A puzzle piece that doesn’t fit, that’s what your brother was I could never really see his future, not like everyone else”

“It’s always ga the better of ame board He was uilty as Rinia’s blind eyes slowly fluttered open “I’m sorry”

She only shook her head “It’s not easy, child Your entire life isin a pond, from one side of the water to the other But you can onlyit ride the ripples And the thing is—you’re blindfolded Sometimes the wind kicks up and blows the stick about I’m no different One eye open, maybe, and I can see all your little sticks and the ripples thatthe flow by throwing their stones in at rando my knees up to , round my teeth and pinched myself The suppressed tears weren’t for my brother, or Tessia, or evenA deep-rooted sadness had settled over , like a blanket of snow I felt the pressure, the drive to do so away The world’s proble else I could do to save it

The realization that I could just let go brought me a kind of peace

But I didn’t want to be hopeless I didn’t want to give up, to let everyone else fight to take back our future while I hid, comfortable in my hopelessness

Mentally, I called out to Boo, and a e bulk popped into the cave, just behind me He filled the se of Rinia’s things, but he seemed to sense that I needed comfort instead of protection; he lay down behind h his fur

“Well, that’s new,” Rinia said, the ghost of a smile on her lips

A flood of war away the cold blanket of apathy

“Give , you limmer…”

The old wo it fall to the floor I would have sworn I could hear her bones creaking as she began to stand, but when I moved to help her, she waved me back down Once free of the chair, she took a fe, shuffling steps toward me, until she could rest her hand on Boo’s back Very carefully, the old seer began to lower herself down next to ine you can tell me what I should or shouldn’t do, child,” she snapped

I helped to guide her as best I could, until she was resting on the ground next to ainst Boo’s side, just like ,” she said, panting slightly “When lost, it can break a person’s spirit When false, itcare of the for her hand again and squeezing very gently

Rinia leaned sideways so that her head was resting on ht time And I knohen and where that is”

I stayed with Grand her back into her chair, getting her a bowl of soup, and re about the time when Mother, Father, and I had hidden with her in a different secret cavern But eventually she grew tired, so I helped her to her bed and left

The conversation had wornto wrap my head around Rinia’s seer-talk of potential futures and positive circumstances that exhausted my mind and made me feel small and childish But then I reminded myself that when Arthur was fourteen he was off in the land of Gods, training with deities to fight a war that would change the entire world

I patted Boo’s side as we hiked silently through the winding tunnels “Mind if I ride, big guy?”

The guardian bear grunted an affirmative and stopped I sidled up onto his back and leaned forward to restmyself float atop his broad frame “Whatever happens, we’ll always take care of each other, right Boo?”

Another grunt

“Just like Arthur and Sylvie, together until the end”

He huffed at the couidance from me to find the sanctuary, so I closed my eyes and replayedoverdue, and I was glad to have left her on positive ter her had made me realize just how little time she likely had left I wished she could have told ht ti about If she slipped away before the time came… I could only trust that she knehen the end would come

ELDER RINIA

Once the Leywin child and her beast had finally left, I returned to , my physical eyes now useless But that hardly mattered Only my third eye was needed, the one that could see beyond the here and nohat could be

My core ached when I reached for the th to cast the spell damned old body, I cursed to myself But I knew that, in truth, er than it ever should have

It had been then our bodies, even as our life force faded Too late to do herself ood—but then, even in the midst of her impassioned efforts to save Virion’s life, she had never pressed herself the way I did now

I sent a silent thanks to her, wherever her spirit rested in the afterlife I couldn’t yet be sure if ainedover ht, I felt h thisan infinitely co out into the future Just seeing theht me, I reached out toward the aevum…slowly, tentatively, like one would approach a half-wild aniave me my diviner’s powers, and as it had a thousand ti towardmy mind to the tapestry of possible futures that was laid out before nored the way they all cut off at the sa a thread, I plucked on it It pulled back, drawingthe timeline it represented

When I didn't like what I saw, I found a branching thread and plucked it instead