Authors: Miyuki Miyabe
“So…so what?”
Wataru couldn’t bring himself to share Meena’s joy. But she grabbed both his hands in hers tightly and pulled him toward her. “Listen, I wrote her a letter after what happened in Sono. I asked her to read your future. And I asked her to tell me if there was any way to change that future. Well, the letter got to her, and she looked. She used a great crystal she uses for her divinations, and she says she saw you, walking up the steps to the Tower of Destiny!”
Wataru drew back and stared at Meena’s face. “What do you mean?”
“It means that’s your future!” Meena was exuberant. “You’ll make it to the tower! You won’t have to be the sacrifice! You’ll get to meet the Goddess and complete your journey!”
Bubuho had written the letter in great haste, telling Meena the good news. They had planned this trip to Gasara so that Granny could tell him in person.
“Isn’t that great? I’m so happy! I always thought it would be a horrible shame for Mitsuru to win. It should be you, Wataru. It has to be! Granny has never been wrong before!”
Kee Keema, too, had insisted that it wasn’t over yet.
You need only two more gemstones and you’re home free!
Wataru would simply smile and shake his head in defeat. After a while, the waterkin stopped talking about it.
But Meena was different. She was persistent. She was all smiles and hope when she spoke to Wataru. Even when Wataru tried to steer the conversation in another direction, Meena kept things on track.
“Well, you sure look out of it,” Meena said, waving her hand in front of Wataru’s face. “Did you understand what I just said? I mean, isn’t it great news? She said she saw many other things in the crystal too. I’ll bet they’re clues for you to find the next two gemstones! Let’s talk to Granny and get the details, and leave as soon as we can. I’m sure we’ll find them. You’re going to the Tower of Destiny after all!”
In her enthusiasm, Meena jumped back up on her stool and cheered, thrusting her little fists into the air.
The innkeeper came rushing out of the kitchen. “Whatever is the matter?”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Sorry.”
Wataru hurriedly pulled Meena down from her stool, holding her firmly so she wouldn’t be able to get up and dance again. “Meena… thank you, Meena.” Wataru wasn’t sure where to begin. He decided to just let the words fall out from his mouth as they would. “Thank you for worrying so much about me. I’m really grateful.”
“What are you talking about? We’re friends! And, I decided, like I said in Lourdes, I’ll be with you no matter where you go.”
Meena tensed with such excitement Wataru was afraid she was going to lift him up and dance around in circles.
“You have to calm down. There’s something I need to tell you. Okay?”
Meena’s dancing eyes stopped, though they still glimmered with joyous expectation. She tilted her head and placed her hand on Wataru’s shoulder. “What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy?”
“I am happy,” Wataru said, choosing his words carefully. “I still have a chance, I see that.”
“That’s right!”
“But, Meena,” Wataru took a deep breath and continued, “I can’t go searching for the remaining gemstones now. There’s something else I have to do.”
Meena’s eyes froze. “Something else? What are you talking about?”
“I’m going north. To the Empire.”
Wataru looked around the eating hall. There was nobody else around. The innkeeper was tucked away inside her kitchen.
“I’ve been given a mission, which, as a Highlander, I can’t refuse. I’m going north with the help of Jozo. Kutz is going too—she’ll be leading a team. If we achieve our objective we can come back. But it’s going to be very difficult, so I can’t say what will happen…still, I have to do it. I’ve decided.”
Wataru took three deep breaths. The two stared at each other in silence, their stares turning to glares in the uncomfortable silence. The rich smell of food from the kitchen seemed strangely out of place.
“You’re going north?” Meena asked quietly.
“Yes.”
“As a Highlander?”
“That’s right. We’re going to assassinate Gama Agrilius VII, that’s why…”
Meena laughed in his face. “That’s silly! Why would anyone want to do that? Is the South going to bring war to the North? That’s impossible! They already have the designs for the powered boats. We’ll lose.”
“This will buy us time,” Wataru explained. “If the emperor is assassinated, there will be some degree of confusion and chaos in the Empire. The Empire is a dictatorship—if they lose their dictator, it will be like a ship without a rudder. Gama Agrilius VII is only forty years old, so his successor is bound to be quite young. Even if he takes the throne, he won’t be able to exert his power to the fullest. If the Empire falls into chaos it will be a while before they can organize an attack across the sea. During that time, the South can bolster their defenses and get ready to repel the invasion. There may even be a diplomatic solution—some kind of trade we can make. There may even be a chance for peace. Either way, what we need is more time.”
That was the basis of the plan as Kutz had explained it, and Wataru agreed fully. “I just heard about the plan last night. Kutz said they needed my help. I think so too. I’m the only one who can call Jozo. And if he’s involved, then I feel compelled to tag along.”
All expression drained from Meena’s face. She looked like a newly minted doll. It was all so sudden. She wasn’t sure how to respond.
Her face still a blank, Meena sighed. “Then I’ll go too.” With those words, the life returned to her face and her eyes blazed red hot. “I’m going north with you, Wataru. I’ll help.”
She smiled, and her grip on Wataru’s hand tightened. “I said I’d follow you anywhere and I meant it—even to the Northern Empire. Why, I’m sure this was all in Granny’s vision. You’ll go after Mitsuru, collect the remaining gemstones before he does, and make it to the tower. It has to be…”
As words came streaming out of Meena’s mouth, Wataru was shaking his head. But Meena didn’t seem to notice. When she finally ran out of things to say, she looked up to see Wataru still shaking his head. “Huh?”
“No, you’re not,” he said firmly, surprising even himself. There wasn’t a trace of hesitation in his voice. He sounded almost like an adult. “You can’t come with me. You have to stay here, in the south.”
After one single heartbeat, Meena threw herself at Wataru. “Why? What do you mean? Why can’t I go with you? Why are you being so stubborn?”
“I’m not being stubborn.”
“You are!” Meena gave Wataru a shove. He would have fallen off his stool entirely if she hadn’t caught him.
“I get it! Kutz ordered this, didn’t she? She told you to leave me here. Fine, I’ll just go to the source. I’ll make her let me go!”
“No, Meena. It was my decision.”
Meena’s hand on Wataru’s collar was trembling. “I…”
“I’m sorry. I can’t put you and Kee Keema in any more danger than I already have. That’s why I can’t take you with me.”
“Danger…but I…I’m not afraid!”
“It’s me who’s afraid,” Wataru said. That was the honest truth. “If I brought you and Kee Keema with me, you might die. That’s what I’m afraid of. It scares me more than anything else. If it was me, I could come to terms with it. But you’re my friends. I don’t want you to die on my account.”
“Who says we’re going to die anyway?” Meena muttered.
“You’re right, but I have to be prepared for the worst.”
Wataru did his best to steady his breathing. He was more afraid than he had ever been in his life, but he needed to stay calm.
“If everything goes well and the emperor dies, then maybe I will be able to beat Mitsuru to the tower.”
“Yes, you will.”
“But if I did that, and you or Kee Keema died along the way, I would regret it for the rest of my life. Even if I meet the Goddess and she changes my fate, I don’t think I would be happy. Not ever.”
Even though he knew it was a mean trick to play, he had no other means to convince her. “Please stay here. You’re my friend, and I care so much about you. Be safe, for me. Please.”
Meena buried her face in her hands and began to cry. “I don’t know when I’ll be leaving,” said Wataru. “We’ll take off as soon as High Chief Gil arrives in Gasara. That’s why I wanted to say my farewells now. Thank you. Thank you for everything. I’m so grateful, I can’t put it into words. Really.”
“And Kee Keema?” Meena whispered between gentle sobs.
“I’m going to tell him now.” Wataru quietly stood up from his stool. “Thank you, Meena. I want you to be safe here, and happy. You should rejoin the Spectacle Machine and bring smiles to the faces throughout the south—no, throughout all of Vision. Okay? Promise?”
Meena made no reply.
Wataru couldn’t summon up the strength to meet with Kee Keema right after talking to Meena.
I’ll do it later,
he thought. Thankfully, there were other things to keep him busy.
In the area around Gasara, there were several smaller towns that helped facilitate local trade. Refugees from these places were arriving daily at the town’s gates. Wataru, along with his fellow Highlanders, had his hands full with all the incoming traffic.
“If all this confusion continues much longer, then I’d gladly give myself up as the Halnera sacrifice just to get back a little peace and quiet,” one of the refugees said with a sideways glance at his exhausted wife. He led a small child by the hand. The simple lodgings that had been set up for refugees had only the barest necessities, yet still, many were glad to be able to bathe and eat a proper meal after four days on the road.
“You don’t have much longer to wait. Halnera will soon be over,” Wataru told them.
The man nodded slowly. “I hope so…” he said with a sigh. “You get to wondering if they really need a sacrifice. I’d think the Goddess in all her power would be able to make a Great Barrier of Light by herself. I started thinking that maybe the Goddess’s intent with this whole Halnera thing lies elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?”
“Yep. Look how we struggle and tremble just hearing that one of us is to be chosen as a sacrifice. We’re so weak. And in the end, all we care about is our own hides. That’s why there’s all this chaos. And of course, some people have tried to make a profit off it. Some have even used the confusion as a cover to do away with people they don’t like. It’s all greed, and it runs deep. Ugly stuff. That’s why the Goddess has to shake us up a little bit every now and then. She wants to remind us of our weakness, and our ugliness. She wants to make sure that we don’t fall any more in love with ourselves than we already are. That’s why she started this whole Halnera thing—at least that’s what I think.”
The thought hadn’t occurred to Wataru.
“Wouldn’t that make the Goddess a little harsh toward her own people?”
“Harsh? You bet. But, I figure she has to be strict. If she was nice all the time, nothing would ever get fixed. Words are empty. You can pass the greatest teachings of the sages down, but if all they see is prosperity day in and day out, they’ll forget what the words mean. People are forgetful creatures, you see. That’s why at least once every thousand years the Goddess has to come down and give us a jolt—something to remind us of what the teachings really mean.”
They spent so much time talking that it was late into the afternoon by the time Wataru could take a break from the refugee camps. The man’s heavy questions weighted down his already laden heart, and his feet trudged across the ground as he walked back toward the branch office.
Then he noticed something odd. People were gathered out in front of their houses and talking in hushed voices.
What’s going on?
Just then Wataru turned a corner and ran into the doctor from the hospital. His medicine bag was tucked under one arm, and he was speaking with some of the townspeople. Wataru called out to him, but the man was so engrossed in his conversation he didn’t even notice.
“Hello there! Has something happened?”
“Oh, it’s you!” the doctor said, blinking eyes half-buried under thick brows. “You mean you don’t know?”
“I see people standing around…”
Everyone, including the doctor, looked at him in surprise. “You’re a Highlander, aren’t you? How can you say you don’t know! Gasara has been surrounded by a company of the Knights of Stengel for the past hour!”
Wataru gaped. “Surrounded—what’s this all about? Didn’t the guards do anything?”
“What was there to do? They saw a company of the Knights of Stengel approaching from across the grasslands, and they thought maybe they were coming for supplies or just to visit. The next thing you know, they had us all surrounded.”
“The town gate is closed,” the doctor said. “No one is getting out or coming in.”
“I’ve been with the refugees this whole time.”
“Aye,” said one of the townspeople, “and the Knights of Stengel move fast—faster than the wind. That group is quiet as a snake ready to strike.”
“I need to get back to the branch!” Wataru made to run off, when the doctor grabbed his collar from behind. “Wait. You might want to see how things develop first.”