Page 39 of Of Serpents and Ruins
"Betrayal. Darkness. Mourning. The life of everything we hold dear drained away like the remnants of Taiven when it and the strip of land it stood upon slid into the sea, blackened and ruined. The sky went dark from the oppressive force that covered us. It sealed us in like the tephra from a volcano. The waters turned dull."
I bit the inside of my lip. It seemed rude to ask her how she could know for certain, but wasn’t it possible there was a misunderstanding?
Auntie Runa’s mouth quirked up. She tilted her head forward slightly, her eyes narrowing. The skin around her eyes wrinkled even more. "A reminder in lessons from long ago, my dear. When a seer or a prophet receives a vision or foresight, the clearer and more vivid it is, the more certain it is to happen and the less likely there is to be deviation. So if we ask a question and the Creator deems to answer us in a vision bold and vivid, it means…"
"It means it only ends in one way." My shoulders straightened, and my spine stiffened once I remembered. "It came to you in oil paints?"
Auntie Runa nodded. She sucked her teeth as she settled back. Her lips pressed into a hard line. "It was so clear it was like living it, as if I stood on the marble cliffs at Southern Fire Point and watched all the life be drained out of our lands and waters like a giant sucking it up with a straw. So real I felt my own life leaving me. It burned like fire in my veins until it turned coldand froze me there as all our world became ash and death." She fixed her gaze on me. "The Gola Resh cannot be trusted, girl. She gains power untold through draining Sepeazia of all its life. She won't release it. Remember that."
"She was toying with me in the cavern. It’s a game to her."
She snapped her fingers at me. Her murky, golden eyes narrowed as she leaned closer to me. "Not a game. Revenge. Never forget that, my dear. Always remember her motive. This is about vengeance, pure and simple, a desire to cause the most harm and pain possible. Her and that Babadon were going to take the life force of all who live in this place, and they would have succeeded if not for us. They are cruel and vicious, greedy, and above all, concerned only with their own comfort. Now that her love is taken from her, there is no comfort, only sorrow, and she is intent upon spreading that to all she can. That motive is second to her desire to thrive and increase in power. Were the Babadon still here, she might give up her plans for vengeance if she could be reunited with him. That is the only thing she might want more, but with him gone, remember that it is about power and vengeance."
"Do I…do I have visions like you?" I asked cautiously. It didn't feel like something I had. My gift was subtler.
Auntie Runa chuckled. She patted my hand. Though her hand was wrinkled and thin, its strength and warmth could not be denied. "Not exactly. Or not usually. You were never particularly strong with imagining scenes in visions. You feel more than you see in your mind’s eye with a few exceptions, usually objects. The world is something you experience through sensation and emotion, and your foresight would either involve an object or an impression. Generally something that needed to be done in the near future rather than far future. In the past, you described it to me as an impression and weight in different parts of your body."
"Hm." I frowned at this. "When I was with Brandt, I felt that weight, but I wanted to be with him."
"Yes, well, not all pressures and weights are the same. It doesn't surprise me that the Gola Resh's magic is warping your own intuition and intensifying your more…physical desires."
"So how do I tell the difference in pressures and sensations?" I asked, leaning forward. "How would I tell how vivid it is? It seems like that isn’t like watercolors versus oil paints."
Auntie Runa just chuckled as Kine offered a shrug of commiseration. Elias shook his head, a small smile tweaking at his mouth.
"Intuition, dearie," she said. "You're just going to have to keep practicing and listening. You'll get it wrong sometimes. You'll get it right others." She strode over to one of the shelves and removed a polished wood box. The lock snicked open, and she removed a leather-bound sketchbook with pressed leaf pages. She then fished out something that resembled a blackwood pencil. "Here. You should practice drawing your intuitions and whatever you see. Even if it doesn’t reveal anything to you, it will help you calm and process the world around you and learn better what you are sensing."
"That sounds like my foresight would be hard for others to verify." I frowned as I accepted them. The pages had a soft yet almost coarse texture to them that would grip the graphite well. I’d always loved doodling and sketching random nonsense. But it hadn’t ever meant anything. How could I have ever hope to gain mastery over a skill like this when I couldn’t even draw what I saw?
"Precisely." She returned to her seat and lifted her teacup. "That is why your mastery requires that you act on it and prove it. All must be proved, but it is so tricky for those like you. Not impossible, though. None of this is impossible. Just stay aware and listen."
I opened my mouth to ask another question. The ground shook. Silt and dust sifted from the ceiling. Everything swayed.
I froze, my eyes widening.
"Earthquake?" Elias started to his feet, looking around as if it were off somehow.
Kine steadied the teacup before it spilled over onto the baby triceratops. Auntie Runa simply stiffened, her gaze turning to the well and the thick mist that coiled up from it. The animals did not move though the waters churned in the canals.
The shaking ceased within seconds.
Something was wrong. The space between my shoulders and down my neck burned like an electrical shock.
Auntie Runa collapsed onto one of the dark rush rugs. Her body twitched as her eyes rolled back into their sockets.
"Auntie Runa!" The teacup fell from my hand and smashed on the stone. I dropped beside her and swept my hand beneath her head and tried to cradle her as her body convulsed.
BRANDT
I'd sent Cahji to fetch the council heads again. They weren't going to be thrilled about another meeting, but with word of the Gola Resh's return, there was new information that would perhaps transform our search. It had to be so. By all that was good and holy, it had to be so.
Hands clasped behind my back, I paced.
This second discussion with the council members was not likely to be brief. Informing them of Stella's return still felt like a mistake. For now, there was plausible deniability. Sort of. Enough.
I halted. It was the fifth day of the week. Crossing to the back of the room, I returned to the shallow basin that held the water mirror. Swishing my hand over the surface, I focused on the corresponding water mirror. Its tenuous connection attached to mine, the magic far stronger and stable than any water mirror here. The waters swirled in response. My reflection wavered, the waters shimmering. Then another chamber was revealed. An almost unearthly stillness spread through the connection.
I clasped my hands behind my back. "Fine?" I asked the water mirror.
