Scorpius (Stars and Sails, Book 2)

Five

The pounding resonated through the floorboards. It shook at the seams of Naqi's little cabin. The birds would not trill. The orangutans would not laugh. Naqi would not breathe.

But he had to, so sitting on his coffer, comforted only by a bright piece of silk, he meditated. First, he focused his breathing. Then he let his thoughts slip. And slowly, slowly, he was all aflame. One end of his being the wick, the other end a great plume of smoke disappearing into the cosmos. He burnt out and there was nothing physical left to him, just him in the atmosphere floating and dissolving. This was how he imagined daarwah to be. Nothing and everything all in the same plane of existence.

The cabin door swung open. He breathed in sharply and sat up straighter, his blurry vision focusing on Governor Carneus Oriol and the army of men he left on the porch. Naqi did not personally know him, but he had seen visions of this man. This could only mean that he would play a role in Naqi's fate.

Governor Oriol turned to the two tan men that escorted him into the room. "Leave," he said. He himself was tan-skinned, The tip of his nose and his forehead red. A curious marker. It must mean he traveled a good deal in the sun. Naqi had only seen flashes of Oriol's journey to New Jhatari in the days previous, which was enough to confirm his suspicions.

"My name is Governor Carneus Oriol," he said. Naqi narrowed his eyes at the unnecessary introduction. Not many people knew what the Governor looked like, let alone received an audience with him. He was a private man. The boy still sat in a meditative position. He had not dropped his hand mudras or spoken a word yet. "Speak to me, jaat!"

Naqi continued his breathing exercise. Many foreign travelers had called him a jaat before. When he was younger, it angered him. Now he imagined himself letting the insult go as a butterfly from his hands. "You have journeyed here because the Oracle is valuable to you," Naqi said.

"I find myself having to turn to a child. Fate is horrifying." The Governor sat before Naqi, right on the bare floor, clearly upset that Naqi had the higher ground. Naqi reached out his palms and closed his eyes, but popped one open at a shuffling. Oriol was off the floor immediately. Opening the door, he called out onto the crowded porch, "Seiryu, please come in here." Standing before Naqi, he only sat when the tall woman entered the room.

Oriol sat down finally. "Make sure that this jaat doesn't harm me.."

"This is a child. The Oracle. There is no murder in his eyes nor his hands," Seiryu replied.

"You murder me, you murder a king," Oriol said, but there was an amused tinge to his voice that made Naqi wonder if Oriol even thought the success of an assassination would be possible.

"You are tempting him now," she said, crossing her arms. Her voice was a bit strange, a mix of many things. She had the face and the voice of the Shanyingyan travelers that he had met, but there was something Durantan about her as well. Her dark eyes were partially hidden by an emerald-colored hood that covered her head.

"I do not know temptation," Naqi replied in a whisper. He placed his palms up and Oriol reciprocated, placing his hands on top. Naqi felt the lines--the heart, the life--then swept his thumb over the Mount of Jupiter, The Plane of Mars, then down to Pluto.

The back of Naqi's head burned and an explosion of white sparked across his vision. And then, he was gone. Naqi was somewhere else, with visions of spirits--bright white bundles of light, flickering away at the ends like flames. The world was blue-coated. Often, Naqi could recognize a spirit's energy in his visions. He could feel this spirit--a girl, lost, forgetful, full of life. "Dejah," a voice said, echoing in the infinite space.

He became her. For a second, in the dimension of spirits, he could feel everything that she felt in the living dimension. He was the Jhataran Oracle, the arbiter between Gods, spirits, and men. Clouds filled his head, birds filled his mouth, his hands were unfamiliar with everything. He felt other spirits around him. Some that he did not recognize and then one that he was very familiar with. Sabik.