Chapter Fourteen: The Difference Between Seers and Innis

 

Eventually the Seers led them to a treehouse to sleep in. The crowd they led behind still murmured discontent against Galveston and her betrayal.

Personally, Kyosti had never felt more content. Even having to climb a set of rickety, thin steps up the side of a tree and into the little house wasn’t enough to cramp his mood, even if Sanji and one of the Seers had to practically carry him up.

The elder who had spoken with them earlier also came up into the treehouse. Once Sanji and Kyosti were somewhat settled on the cold floor, he ordered all the other Seers out.

“I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting to actually send someone back to Chithoobra,” he said, all formality gone out of his tone. Instead, he sounded sad and defeated. “We’ll meet as a council tonight and send someone back with you tomorrow.”

“What exactly were you expecting?” Sanji asked. Kyosti could hear her shifting around, probably uncomfortable in the chill. “I thought....well I don’t know too much about Seers, but I thought you could, uh, See things. Like, the future. Or, that you could see anything in the world.”

The elder chuckled a little. “I’m not surprised that someone in the north would think that. As I understand it, the powers of a Seer are a closely guarded secret in Kenji? Perhaps you don’t even know how it works. We Seers, whether in the north or south, see only what the Great Eye of Rokolo sees.”

“The Sun God?” Sanji asked, startled.

“Yes, indeed. Even he cannot see the future. And if his Eye is blocked by anything---clouds, mist, buildings---we can’t see either.”

There was a moment of silence from Sanji. “I see. And that’s why you also have a special relationship with birds. Can you see through their eyes too, since they are the servants of Rokolo?”

“In the north Seers may have a special relationship with birds,” the elder answered sharply. “We hold no love for them, and never have. Not every servant of Rokolo interprets his words in the same way.”

Sanji shifted again. “You call yourself a servant of Rokolo? Surely you don’t put yourself on the same level as the birds? As the Windfeller Eagles? Perhaps you also believe those lies that I have heard so many southerners tell about Rokolo.”

Kyosti realized his hands were clenched into fists and made the effort to relax them.

The elder sounded tired and defeated again as he cut in. “You know as well as I do that Rokolo was a southerner. Perhaps you should think twice before assuming you know more than I do about him.”

He swept out before Sanji could do more than sputter out a few angry words, his heavy coat dragging on the thick floor, his footsteps clunking down the creaky steps.

Then, silence.

The silence of snow.

Finally, she spoke. “And do you believe that too? About Rokolo?”

Kyosti could make a pretty educated guess about what she meant. “Do you mean that he was Innis? Yes, it’s true. What’s wrong with that? I’m Innis.”

She seemed not to have an answer for that, or at least one she wanted to say out loud. Instead, “Are you a Seer? I can’t hardly tell you apart from them.”

He clenched his teeth. “No, I’m Innis.”

“But you’re both southerners,” she said. “And you look a lot alike.”

“I’m not a Seer,” he said firmly. “And these people---” waving his arm vaguely around “---are not Innis. They lost the right to be Innis when they chose to follow Rokolo.”

Sanji huffed. “And what does that make me? Am I damned because I was taught to follow Rokolo the Limitless?”

Kyosti turned his face to her. “I’m sure that one day you will join him in some far, green country. But I’ll take the Icefields over that any day. That is the difference between the Innis and the Seers. We didn’t leave our Queen in the day of her need.”

He heard her draw in and then let out a breath. “Well, she’s not my Queen. Perhaps she couldn’t have been so great if Rokolo decided to leave.”

Kyosti had had this argument many times with Chith. Most of the Chith didn’t follow Rokolo---that was more a Kenji or Maynan tradition---but those who did certainly liked to pick at the Innis following the Leopard Queen. The goddess none of them had ever met? Who gave them no special powers? Who forbade them from leaving a cold, dark, icy place? And if they did choose to leave---like Rokolo did---they were branded as traitors and commanded to never return, under pain of death?

And, worse….even if they were forced to leave the Ice, like Kyosti had been, even then they couldn’t return?

Well, he just couldn’t go through it again, especially with someone as far removed from the Icelands as Sanji. There was no way she would understand.

“It’s late,” he said, reaching for his pack to open his bedroll. “We’ll need to be well-rested to meet that new Seer tomorrow.”

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Photo by Bradley Dunn on Unsplash