Saturday, March 21, 2015

Three Loves Seven, Chapter 22, Part 9 - "The Witches' Path Leads to Answers that Are Not Answers"

Dear Gentle Readers,

Today Clete wraps up his first "conscious" visit with the Sea Witch (you will remember that she tended to his injuries when he tumbled off a cliff), and he finally has a chance to talk with her. However, if you think you are going to get a lot of exposition here, I must apologize in advance.

Crete's recollection collected here will end, but we will not leave this day yet. In this work, one chapter equals the events of one day. We're up to nine parts because a lot has happened in this day starting from when Clete got either rescued or kidnapped depending on your point of view.

We will have a change in the point of view when we take a look at how the day actually wraps up. Whose point of view? You'll just have to click in next week to find out.

Love,
Pops


And so, the story continues ...


We just sat for a time. I had a hard time making any sense of the ritual I’d just been put through. I hope I had not made any implicit promises I could not keep. The Sea Witch finally broke the silence.

     “What are you thinking?
     “I feel like I’ve been initiated into a street gang. So now are you going to tell me to go out and boost a Beamer as my first job?”
     “When you are ready to be serious, we can talk. You have questions?”
     “Actually, I have many.”
     “Since I must return you to The Empire, I only have time to answer three.”
     “What is binding you all to this Island?”
     “Loyalty.”


Her answer was automatic.


     “And?”
     There’s no more than that.”
     That’s it?”
     “Yes.”
     “Am I allowed a followup question?”
     “I will not count that as Question 2.”

Now she was acting like a witch in some Grimm’s fairy tale. I continued.

     “OK, tell me this Island’s biggest secret.”
     “It is the same answer as to your Question 1. Loyalty.”
     “Lady, this is not very helpful.”
     “What do you really want to know? Answer that to yourself and then you will know what to ask of me and the others.”
     “I AM asking what I want to know. Your friggin’ one-word answers are not doing it.”
     “Something that may help you. Learn everyone’s date of birth.”
     “Birthdays! Is this some sort of horoscope bullshit? What’s that going to tell me? When to get everyone a card or present? Anyway, these girls don’t tell me anything. I’m sick of being of a status that I’m not allowed to known anything. An Outsider.”
     “Be happy that you are not an Insider. Much would attach to you if you were. I am an Outsider too.”
     “So why is there Sea Witch? What is it that you do for this Island? Is it beyond your first responder duties?”
     “Is that your third question? Is that what you really want to know?”

Man, she nailed me. I had not thought this through. I tell my students all the time that for their theses that they need to come up with a specific question that needs to be answered. I could ask something like “Who is Qin Qin’s father?” But I suspect I’d only get a name which would be meaningless to me. In my defense, had I known I would have an audience with the Sea Witch who would be willing to talk, I would have come up with something.

     “No, it’s not. That can wait until I get here to The Outside, excuse me, The Center, when I will conduct my survey in your domain.”
     “Ah that. Do let me share something. When next we speak, I will not be the Sea Witch.”
     “You’re retiring then? Natsuki said she was your understudy.”
     “No.”
     “And?”
     “Just no.”
      “I suspect this is what it was like to go to the Delphic Oracle. You've given me nothing but open-ended vagueness. You are NOT any more informative than the princesses. At least they don’t pretend to give an answer.”
     I have not lied to you have I?”
     “Who knows if you've lied or not? Lying has nothing to do with it. Natsuki at least told me a couple of things. By the way, where is your daughter?”
     “She is at the Cleansing Hut.”
     “The Cleansing Hut?”
     “All the young women go there once a month for two to three days. It is common ground.
     “Oh. I heard some of the Seconds mention it. What do they do there?”
     “They are free to do anything they want. They are exempted from work on those days.”
     "Why?"
     "I believe the original reason was to accommodate pain and discomfort, but now it is our practice."
     “Where is it?”
     “North Island. But you are not allowed there. Ever. Women only. Did you need to speak to Natsuki?”
     “No, I just thought I’d say hello if she was around. She was very polite and very thorough. I recommend her for a raise.”
      “You need to be getting back to the Hall of Justice.”
      “Can I save my third question for another time?”
     “Three questions were only a limitation of time. You may speak to me at any time. Ring the large the gong at the shrine and I will come to you.”
     “So you and the Cousins enemies or something like that?”
     “There is an ancient barrier between our people, but we also have an ancient alliance.”
     “But there are so few of you. Does this adversarial separation make sense?”
     “The boundary is important. My people were once segregated as the outcasts and criminals, but we became the spiritual leaders. The day is coming when I can fully share the story with you. Now I must return you. You may borrow that robe if you wish. I will retrieve it later.”

I’m glad she mentioned that. While I had become somewhat accustomed to walking around the last three days in what is basically a thong bikini bottom, it felt so good to have the modest cover-up. The Witch had discarded the nest and had bundled up the eggs in a quilted sort of cloth. There was just as much insulation against breakage and it took up less space as I tied them back into my groin area.  The Witch studied my uneasiness as I handled the eggs.

     “You fear Qi.”
     “She has a mean streak.  AND she’s cruel at times. AND she’s flighty, flaky, and unpredictable.”
     “You do not have to return to her.”
     “I am under her judgment, subject to the law.”
     “Not in The Grove nor in any part of The Center. We have no agreement on mutual right of extradition. You are welcome to stay here. There is more than enough for you to study here with the balance of your time.”
     “You’re offering sanctuary?”
     “That has always been the work of The Center, whether refuge from the outside world or from The Qing.”

The Sea Witch seemed quite hospitable to me. Her spaces were clean, logical, spare, and orderly. The “Outside” offered a range of terrain that would easily occupy my remaining time. The Witch was just as mysterious as the Princesses, but with just one mother-daughter pair to deal with, it would greatly simplify dealing with local politics. Plus, ambient temperature seemed at least 5-8 degrees cooler in The Grove than everywhere else I’d been.

And yet I had the nagging feeling that I needed to address unfinished business. But what business? Qin Qin had her glasses. Hadn’t that become my goal? My purpose for being here? My job was done. Wasn’t it?

On the other hand, I had no idea who or what the Sea Witch was either. There had to be a reason that even clever Feng and wise Mu gave her great deference. It’s possible she was even more cruel and irrational than Qi. Do the knives come out here after sundown? But if level-headed Natsuki was any indication, she could NOT have been raised that way by a sociopath. STILL … even with Qi’s stench, and filth, and sadism, and bugs, and all of it, her wildness seemed to call me back. It made no sense.

     “Sea Witch-sama, your offer of sanctuary is very generous. There is a lot of merit in spending the balance of my time in your domain. But I feel I have to go and finish paying this debt.”
     “Even an unjust debt?”
     “For some reason, I don’t want to disappoint Qi. She’s aggressive, but she seems almost fragile. Like if I make the wrong move she’s going to do something crazy. And she almost seems to be counting on me to do something.”
     “You are an astute judge. She is unstable. I don’t understand how you can feel charitable to anyone like that. Really I don’t, but very well. When you return to me, I promise that I will reveal an important truth. We must leave now if you wish to keep your absence a secret from her.”

She escorted me through The Grove and we crossed the border into The Empire as she had called it. She followed a highly circuitous path that led by every active residence, as well as to supply areas for food and water. Though highly indirect, it avoided sightlines in areas regularly frequented by the Cousins and their daughters. We encountered two of the Second Princesses along the way, Newton and Eight, but they acted as if they did not see us while we were on that path.

     “They act like they don’t see us.”
     “They don’t.”
     “How is that possible?”
     “This is the Witches’ Path. Only Sea Witches see it and know how to take it. It is the only path on which we are allowed unlimited access into the Empire. They know not to see us. They can sense us though. Nu looked particularly apprehensive did she not?”

I had read of similar cultural practices where populations choose not to see something that should be plainly visible. Cognitive scientists do say that we have much more visual input than we perceive, and that it is only our cultural training that channels and limits our brains to see what we need to see. We eventually wound up at the rear side of Qi’s home.

     “I return you to the care of Qi. I want you to know I disapprove of her wantonness, but you have been honorable. Likewise with Ting Ting. She has always been a shameless exhibitionist. Be wary of her too. Know that they are hungry for someone like you. I leave you now.”

She made her way back toward The Outside. I watched her until she turned a curve into some trees. And yes, I did make it back before Qi, but not before I fetched something I needed from the lab. My time spent in the Witch’s cultic practices had not gone without their effect on me.


© Copyright by Vincent Way, all rights reserved.


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Be truthful and frank, but be polite. If you use excessive profanity, I'll assume you have some kind of character flaw like Dr. Wong. Tks!