Chapter 24:

Reconnaissance

In the Service of Gods


During the next two weeks, I settled into an uneasy routine. Wake, dress, eat, train, sleep. There were small pockets of time just after dinner and before bed to do as I liked. Except of course, I couldn’t leave Sparrow Hall unchaperoned and could only visit certain places. Most days, I was too exhausted to care. But as my body responded to the relentless training, and it grew fractionally easier, my need to know about my surroundings grew. The words of Seer Mei and the old prisoner haunted me. I had accepted a truce with my captors for now, but there were still things that didn’t add up.

I was given no more opportunities to go to the Royal Archive, despite asking Seeker Len multiple times. I also asked where he went when he was away from the palace, which he declined to answer. He was dancing around, using the fact that I had next to no time to bother him to avoid me at every turn. It was infuriating.

One evening, I managed to pull out a piece of information from Seeker Len that had been bothering me since the beginning.

“I am here to avert the End of Days,” I had said after successfully cornering him outside his tower.

“Yes,” he said slowly, unsure where this was going.

“And all the other Seers were brought here to avert the End of Days too?” I pressed, knowing I only had a few minutes at most until Vris found me and dragged me back to Sparrow Hall. I had slipped away from Daisuke a few minutes early and gone to the palace for answers.

“That is correct.” His shoulders were hunched, his eyes darting left and right.

“So the End of Days is just being postponed, it’s not really being prevented.”

“The End of Days is not something that can be prevented,” Seeker Len said wearily. “Its strength is immeasurable and it isn’t bound to time as mortals are. The best we can do is delay it until such time that we can summon another Seer.”

“But how did it start?” I pressed. “If Wosurei is thousands of years old and the first Seer came around six hundred years ago, what changed?”

Seeker Len wiped at his brow. “The matter is a complicated one, filled with elaborate context.”

A cop out answer. I moved to a new question in case that would yield more results. “Somethign else has bothered me. The solution to this problem changes with each individual Seer, so no matter what, the new Seer must speak to the gods on their mountain and only then solve this problem?”

“I can provide you with some records taken from the Royal Archive, if that would set your mind at ease,” he said.

“You said that three days ago and I’ve yet to receive anything.” I worked hard to keep my anger in check.

He opened his mouth, then shut it.

“My point is,” I pushed on before he could think of some other excuse to give. “If all the Seers are meant to prevent the End of Days, this same calamity, then how can the answer always be different?”

“The End of Days is ever evolving,” Seeker Len said. “The records call it a storm, but it is more than any storm ever experienced. This is likely due to its consciousness.”

Out of all the possible answers, that wasn’t one I ever anticipated hearing. “The End of Days is alive?”

“My lady,” Vris’s voice rang out from down the hall. I was distracted as she approached and Seeker Len took that as his opportunity to slink away. I hadn't managed to speak to him again since, though I had caught glimpses of him from time to time.

This meant I had to change tactics.

I discovered that Fumi was guarded and refused to speak about much beyond my training. However, Daisuke could, a few times per day, be persuaded to give me information so long as he found it innocuous.

“So, did you train the last Seer?” I asked as I hiked next to him. I adjusted the strap on my pack, wincing as the rocks shifted around. We were halfway down the trail, which I had come to memorize. It wove between a grove of maple trees, down to a brook, past a rock that resembled a wolf, then back up to Sparrow Hall.

He laughed. “How old do you think I am? No no, he was trained by my predecessor.” Daisuke’s pack was twice as heavy as mine though he carried it as if it weighed almost nothing.

“What did you do before I got here?”

“Fumi and I are in charge of the health and wellbeing of the entire royal family.” Daisuke puffed out his chest as he spoke. “When any of the princesses are sick, or the Empress was pregnant, or when the Emperor can’t sleep, we’re there. That and we also help out with the training regimens for the royal guard.”

I looked at Daisuke with new eyes. “Wait, you’re a doctor?” He sounded like the world’s most qualified personal trainer.

“Yup, Fumi and I are licensed physicians. It’s critical for our work to understand the human body in detail.”

The sound of water running over stone rose ahead of us. The brook was small, but pleasant to look at, winding its way around tree roots.

“It’s good that you can talk without panting now,” Daisuke said. He reached down and picked up a rock the size of his palm. “Let’s add another rock to your pack.”

I removed my pack, knowing better than to argue. Trying to talk Daisuke out of anything was like speaking to a wall. With that, I’d run out of my daily allotment of questions.

Vris was another source of information, and one that I needed to handle delicately. She, like Daisuke, had a limit for how many questions you could ask. After returning from my training, Vris walked me back to Sparrow Hall. It was the best place to ask something, away from the eyes and ears of the palace.

“Every time I pass someone in the halls, they look down. I can’t help but feel that no one likes me,” I said. I affected a tone and facial expression that conveyed that I was pouting, at least outwardly.

“Oh, that isn’t true, my lady,” Vris said, quick to reassure me. “To speak to you or look you in the eye would be gravely inappropriate. You are the highest ranked individual in Sparrow Hall. Their silence is respect.”

“But you talk to me,” I pointed out.

“Yes, because I am your assigned servant. It would be impossible to anticipate your needs without communicating with you, and so I am given dispensation. Any person of lower rank deals with me as your representative.”

That explained why the stable hand hadn’t even acknowledged I existed when Vris and I collected the elk for our journey to the Eternity Temple.

I let out an overly dramatic sigh. “How am I supposed to make friends under these conditions?” I didn’t need friends, of course. I needed allies, or at the very least people with information.

Vris nodded, her solemnity at odds with my theatrics. “I’m sure it can seem unfair. It’s important that you be protected from influence and harm.”

Influence? I wanted to poke at that, but it was too late. We’d arrived back at Sparrow Hall.

I gave Vris a tight smile. “Thank you for explaining. I understand it much better now.”

Vris smiled back. “Of course. I am here to serve you.”

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