“He was the Seer, wasn’t he? He bears all the signs.”
“Yes, and he seemed familiar with that form of address. He must be the one we are looking for.”
“He did not seem to agree.” There was a teasing lilt to Yahanni’s tone that failed to elicit a reaction from Ursula.
“Would you not react the same way in his position? I think he was rather calm, given his age.”
“Yes... No child could do what we are asking of him.” Yahanni let out a resigned sigh.
The same held true for his vigilance. Arcus’s alertness had struck both Ursula and Yahanni as being far beyond his years.
“Look into Arcus,” Ursula instructed her companion, “but do so within the confines of courtesy.”
“Are you certain? Wouldn’t sneaking around in his shadow make him even more wary?”
“We must know the Seer well before we can do anything else. Only then can we be sure not to offend him.”
“Likewise, I must avoid offending him as I go about my investigation.”
“Exactly.”
“That will not be easy.” But Yahanni did not say that it would be impossible. “I do have to wonder whether that child truly is the magnificent Seer the prophecy speaks of.”
“Do you distrust our lore, Yahanni?”
Despite Ursula’s sharp gaze, Yahanni came back with a jovial response. “I have heard it enough to make my ears drop off. But seeing it all with my own eyes, I am forced to wonder.”
“Did he not seem like the Seer to you?”
“No. What about you?”
Ursula did not respond. She was particularly devout, even among the Heoga Tribe. Yahanni knew well the resolute faith she held for the legend.
“Do we even need to play along with prophecy?” Yahanni went on. “The Seer himself suggested invasion as an option; he wasn’t wrong.”
“That would break the taboos set by our tribe’s founders.”
“It does not make sense to me to let our clans suffer so for tradition’s sake alone.”
Indeed, the Heoga Tribe was on the decline. It was partly due to their lack of a permanent home, and the pressure placed on them by the surrounding nations had recently led to skirmishes that’d exacerbated the problem. It didn’t make sense to wait for the prophecy’s fulfillment if it meant the Heoga Tribe would be wiped out in the meantime. Yahanni was far from the only one who felt that was a concern.
“You are far from the first tribemate of mine to so openly chafe against our ways,” Ursula said. “It speaks to the desperation of our situation.”
“A situation that now looks all the bleaker. Our ‘Seer’ is the spitting image of a pampered child.”
Ursula shook her head. “It seems our opinions differ on that front.”
“Did you see something in him that I did not?”
“I agree that he looked like a pampered child on the outside, but his spirit was genuine. It was as though he could judge the threat I might pose to him from the subtlest of my cues.”
“That explains his peculiar reactions. And why he was granted the Order of the Silver Cross.”
Still, it wasn’t enough to convince Yahanni that Arcus was worthy of being their Seer. In her eyes, he simply didn’t look the part.
“And then there was the lantern on his hip,” Ursula continued.
“Oh? Oh, yes—he had two of them, didn’t he? What about it?”
“What need would a person have for two lanterns?”
“I’m guessing you aren’t about to tell me that one is simply a spare.” Yahanni gave a puzzled look. The boy had seemed too prudent to carry around a lantern that was on the verge of breaking and the weight of an extra one besides.
“I recognized the one on his hip.”
“From where?”
“It was identical to that carried by the Grave Sprite, Gown.”
“It was? Is Gown’s lantern not a tool meant to call on Tribe? I thought the dog’s purpose was to punish grave robbers.”
“Before he drew his sword, the Seer’s eyes kept darting to the lantern on his hip. That was the impression I had, at least.”
“But why would the Seer carry Gown’s lantern?”
“Because he is the Seer...”
Yahanni fell silent. Tribe was said to be a hunting dog that flickered with mesmerizing blue-white flames and absorbed the life force of thieves. If the lantern the boy held was truly its window of summons, then perhaps the prophecy was true after all.
Yahanni said no more, and so Ursula continued.
“I shall return home. You know who to contact now, don’t you?”
“We are going ahead as planned?”
“Yes, I think we have just seen that it is our best option. Be vigilant, and keep what we have spoken of here ever in mind as you carry out my instructions.”
“Understood.”
With that, the pair vanished into the capital’s darkest shadows.
At thirteen years old, Arcus would be enrolling in the Institute of Magic in a matter of months. But first he had the announcement of the aethometer to contend with, which was scheduled for the very beginning of the year.
The Magician’s Guild was set to make the existence of the device public and, where it had so far been limited to military and medical use, it would now be available for the authorities, the Institute, and magical noble houses to benefit from. So that knowledge of the aethometer would be spread both domestically and internationally, there would be a large-scale launch party at the palace. The invitation list didn’t stop at Lainur’s nobility, reaching out to include the head of House Darnénes from the Northern Confederation, Sapphireberg’s monarch, a scholar-bureaucrat from Bǎi Liánbāng sympathetic to the kingdom, and Lainur’s ten monarchs.
The party was held in a reception hall in the palace, and its scope was just as impressive as the order ceremony. Lavish decorations adorned every inch of the hall, and the tables were laden with food. The sheer number of esteemed guests meant that the palace courtyard had also been opened. The enormous aethometer that Arcus had gifted the royal family sat in one corner of the hall.
Despite its designation as a launch party, it seemed more like a social banquet, rather than a reception to share in the kingdom’s success. Arcus supposed it was human nature to find any excuse to celebrate, and this was a chance for Lainur to use its magnificent entertainments to show off its wondrous prosperity to those within and without its borders. More importantly, the aethometer was set to make great contributions to the magical industry. The party had to match the device’s prestige, lest people claim it to be a waste of taxes.