Page 33 of All That Has Flown Beyond
Nothing more. Nothing less. It was what it was.
Kaiyo looked back. A few paces away, Akiko stood with her now-familiar smile, corners tucked upwards and eyes bright with silent approval. Kaiyo grinned.
For the first time in a long time, it felt good to just be.
**********
Those with conductive Ousía could of coursefeelOusía, but they couldn’t gather any detailed information from it. Seers, or those with receptive Ousía, were the ones that could. Shamans were those lucky enough to have both conductive and receptive Ousía and had to hold the balance between both.
“If I let go of this pebble, what will happen?” Akiko asked, sitting casually in front of Kaiyo. Her fist was held out to the side of her, curled fingers down.
“It’ll fall to the floor.”
“Let’s see.” Akiko let go of the pebble, her hand moving quickly to catch it before it fell more than a few inches. “Wrong.”
Kaiyo fought not to roll his eyes. Akiko returned her fist into dropping position.
“If I let go of this pebble, what will happen?”
“You’ll catch it.”
“Let’s see.” She let go. The pebble hit the wooden floor with a clunk. “Wrong.”
Kaiyo huffed. Akiko picked up the pebble.
“Now, seers can see into the future. How?” Akiko asked.
“Well, it’s not that they’re actually seeing into the future, right? They’re just gathering so much information from the present that they can accurately predict the future. The more information they gather, and the more complex it is, the better their predictions are. So, like…if I know that a dog barks at a mailman, and I see the mailman approach the dog, I can predict that the dog will bark. Doesn’t mean that I can see into the future.”
“Good. Now. If I let go of this pebble, what will happen?”
“You want me to use my Ousía?”
Akiko actually laughed. “If you think you have the knowledge and skill to do something as complex as gather information about someone’s inner thoughts and intentions, then give it a go.”
“Well then, what?” Kaiyo huffed.
“Use the information available. Tell me what will happen.”
“But…I don’t know your thoughts if you don’t tell them to me,” Kaiyo protested. Akiko raised her eyebrows. Suddenly it clicked. “Oh. Um. Are you going to catch the pebble if you drop it?”
“No.”
“Okay, then. If you let go of the pebble, it’ll drop.”
“Let’s see.” Akiko let go of the pebble, catching it a second later.
“Hey!”
“What?”
“You said you wouldn’t catch it.”
“I was lying,” Akiko said, returning her hand to a dropping position.
Kaiyo gaped at her. “Fine. If you let go of the pebble, are you going to catch it?”
“Yes.”
