by Jeremy Dwyer
Caroline knew that her daughter, Taesa, was musically gifted and – to multiply her abilities – she drank the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean. Those waters gave Taesa many powers, including a voice with all the richness of a full symphony orchestra, such that she did not need musical instruments. Beyond that, her songs had the power to do more, including healing the skin of hundreds of sick children and youth who had been affected by the burn of the inferno. It didn’t work for everyone, but it did work to heal a significant number of people, and this was witnessed by many people, including Caroline. She didn’t know precisely how the healing process worked – and didn’t exactly agree with Taesa’s belief in the power of the Pirovalen Ocean waters being some kind of supernatural magic – but it definitely worked and many of the deathly ill were made well.
What Caroline did not know about her daughter was that Taesa also knew songs to do more magical things. A religious woman, known as Lady Onora, mentored Taesa while she studied in the ancient City of Emeth. Caroline did not approve of religion – in fact, she utterly hated it, thinking all religion to be lies and fairy tales – but the religious woman was a talented singer, and Taesa did spend two (2) years as her music student before leaving Emeth to help the sick at the Port of Kemalorin. Caroline hadn’t seen her daughter in the past year, after they had their terrible argument over Sebastian, so she wondered if Taesa had returned to Emeth. She decided to find her daughter again, and would not be joining Sebastian on his journey or be spending any more time with him before he departed.
“I have to find her. We need to talk, mother and daughter. I’m sorry, but I can’t go with you now,” Caroline said to him.
Sebastian understood, because he realized that Caroline had to have a better relationship with her daughter, and did not want that altercation between mother and daughter to become a driving wedge between him and Caroline. For the little that their relationship was worth to him, there was no sense in having to spend time and struggle to win Caroline’s focus. Telepathically controlling her was possible, but not satisfying, because he wanted her true love and commitment, which he could not have. Also, he was glad, because he didn’t want Caroline to see what was to be done on this business trip, or how, or where, or with whom, he conducted his business.
“I understand. You’ll find your daughter, and make things right. This is something that I can’t interfere with, so I’ll leave you to do what you know is best,” Sebastian said while putting his hands on her shoulders for comfort, and then he kissed her on the lips.
Caroline returned the kiss with little passion and then turned away. She left Sebastian’s sailing ship and went in search of a different captain and ship for transport to Emeth.
~~~
Another brilliant mind, in the nearby continent of Revod, was also hard at work making calculations for safety. Nathan, one of the chief resource coordinators of the Jenaldej Empire, was positioning star-readers – drinkers of the waters of the Atrejan Ocean – to listen to the movements of the many suns. They charted out the paths of the suns, indicating where and when the shifting solar alignment was going to be most intense. This activity provided information on where to build new protective crystal structures for greatest efficacy and least consumption of resources. The engineers of the Jenaldej Empire were highly familiar with the design of the crystal archways because they had often consulted with the architect, Fantine, for innovations and insights. There were numerous drinkers of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean in the Jenaldej Empire, and they could quickly and reliably replicate the crystal archways to obtain their full effect of protection from the intense heat and light of the many aligned suns. The citizens of the empire would be safe from the burning sickness caused by the solar alignment and from wasteful expenditure of resources.
CHAPTER 8: Search for Answers
A year prior, Taesa had returned to the ancient City of Emeth with her mentor, Lady Onora. However, Onora believed that it was time for the young scholar to learn new things, guided by a new mentor, so she led Taesa to Daven.
Taesa was now twenty (20) years old, and Daven was now fifty-two (52) years old, and had trained a number of singers of various ages, as well as having taken time to further develop his own finely-tuned abilities. She and Daven were both drinkers of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean, which multiplied their already high innate musical powers to supernatural levels.
Daven was independently wealthy, having been left a small, but sizable fortune by his parents. They were immensely wealthy, but had recently disappeared. Daven suspected that they had been murdered by someone who then stole their assets. However, he could find no proof of it. He often seemed distracted, despite being a powerful singer of joyful and, usually, uplifting songs. His wondering about his parents took his mind away from his songs, and Taesa could see it in his eyes while she watched him.
“What is it? You just seem so far away,” Taesa said to him, while they were in one of the gardens of Emeth, and he was demonstrating a powerful musical ability known as “the imprint.” With it, he could sing a song while writing it into a book, and have it wait, and then have a person hear it again while reading the book. This was a technique Taesa was particularly interested in learning, and she had a use in mind for it, for later.
“I’m sorry. You deserve my full attention – I can’t keep letting my mind wander. There’s something else you need to know that I almost forgot to mention. When you sing to make an imprint into a book, the song will only have its acoustic properties – the vocals, melody and harmony will all be there, but nothing else. None of the extra effects. You know the Summoning of the Wild song, right?” Daven asked.
“Yes. The animals gathered around me when I sang it – after drinking the Pirovalen waters, of course,” Taesa said.
“An imprint of that song wouldn’t have that effect – the animals wouldn’t respond to it like that. It would sound the same, but the extra effect would be lost when anyone listened to it by reading the imprint in the book. That’s also true when making the imprint in the first place – you’re losing all but the sound of it,” Daven said.
“If the song sounds the same, that might be enough to share its meaning…the emotion would still be there, wouldn’t it?” Taesa asked.
“Well, if the words are carefully chosen, and the vocal melody is just right, and the person reading and listening is emotionally ready, then yes. But those depend on the personalities of the singer and the listener,” Daven said.
“What is the imprint used for, anyway?” Taesa asked.
“The imprint is usually just for teaching vocal lessons, so a student can adjust their voice to create harmonies and melodies properly,” Daven said.
“Is that how you learned?” Taesa asked.
“Only a couple of times. It’s really not the best way. I just teach it so that my students can broaden their knowledge. Having an instructor present with the student is much better, so they can critique the actual performance and focus on the student’s individual weaknesses,” Daven said.
“Learning from you is better. Only, you’re not present…not right now, anyway. I can see it in how your eyes wander. Your mind is somewhere else,” Taesa said.
“I think of them, and I wonder about them,” Daven said to her.
Taesa knew he was referring to his parents, whom he had mentioned more than once before. They had disappeared less than a year ago. “If you want answers, you’ll have to search diligently, possibly for a long time,” Taesa said to him.
Daven couldn’t deeply focus on anything lately: he couldn’t concentrate on songs, and he couldn’t focus on the details. He had a divided mind, and was making no progress in any direction. Taesa could see this from time to time, and it had only gotten worse.
“You’re right. I suppose that I’ve been avoiding that. Afraid of what I might find. Or how long it might take. I searched before, and couldn’t find any proof. But what happened didn’t make any sense. They were on their way to make a purchase of land, an
d there was no report of any storm at sea, or pirates, or anything. They just disappeared. And their wealth vanished. I’m sure that this was more than an accident, but I need proof, or good evidence, at least,” Daven said.
“You haven’t focused on music in a while, and that’s because your mind wants answers. But if you don’t put all your energy into finding the answers, you won’t, and you won’t be able to think much about music, either,” Taesa said to him, hoping he would make a decision.
Daven considered this for a while.
Taesa considered Daven’s situation, and realized she knew more than she really ought to know about her teacher. Although she was much younger, she was much more disciplined. He was used to a wealthy and comfortable life, with little effort required to do anything. Daven succeeded in music because of his immense innate potential combined with the powers of the waters of the Pirovalen Ocean, at a high level of purity, which was more expensive to purchase. However, he did not put much effort into study, despite having few distracting burdens in life due to inherited wealth. Taesa wondered what would happen if he put forth tremendous effort to match his abilities. His voice would be legendary, instead of merely wonderful. He needed to focus.
“You’re right. I need answers. It’s time for me to find them,” Daven said.
“Where do you think you should begin?” Taesa asked, wondering if he would now focus.
“The Hall of Land and Commerce. That’s where the answer should be, anyway,” Daven said.
“That’s a start,” Taesa said, and the pair walked together toward an immense and ancient building. Like many other halls, it was the sum total of several adjoined buildings, whose different parts were from different ages in history, reflecting different architectural styles. This particular building contained records of business transactions and land surveys, which were relevant as his parents were wealthy and on their way to purchase land, and their wealth disappeared, which probably occurred through some banking transaction. Those were recorded here, as well. Taesa had other interests regarding the knowledge contained in this hall, and planned to do some of her own research.
~~~
The pair made their way to, and then through, the Sixteenth (16th) Hall, as “The Hall of Land and Commerce” was also known. It contained records of land surveys and ownership, but as far as Daven knew, and told her, the land purchase most likely never took place. It was the commerce – the banking transaction, specifically – that would be helpful. If they could trace it, that is.
“Where, exactly, were they going to make this purchase of land?” Taesa asked.
“Av-Tovenka Island. Their plan, if I remember correctly, was to meet with Baron Vladimir, a very trustworthy land broker. Any transactions he carried out should have been recorded and the records should have eventually made it here. Also, the money he would have received would have been recorded here, as well. The Chroniclers record everything the banks do, and so the records would be duplicated here…eventually,” Daven said. He had been in this hall before, but was not successful in his research.
Taesa looked at the various markers – stone obelisks that were six (6) feet tall – that were at the main entry way to the enormous building. The tens of thousands (10000) of markers had arrows directing the visitor toward different sections of the building, and indicators of which year, and city the transactions in that section were associated with. The information was organized well enough by the librarians. It had to be, or any researcher would have little chance to find a single transaction amidst over two hundred thousand (200000) years’ worth of transactions. The City of Emeth was far older than that, but the detailed financial records did not go back as far.
Taesa found the section of the hall that covered the records of the previous forty-five (45) years, and the far western region of the continent of Baradaxa and the far eastern regions of the continent of Javanda, as these were grouped together due to having the same longitudes.
Here, they began searching through different tablets embedded into sections of the wall, since information was inscribed onto tablets of stone or metal for permanence. The librarians, as well as the Verifiers of the Oath, throughout history had insisted on records being inscribed indelibly, which limited the choices of materials. Inscribing them on diamond would have been a suitable choice, except that diamond was far too valuable.
Taesa looked through records relating to transactions that occurred in Baradaxa. Daven looked through records relating to transactions that occurred in Javanda and one of the islands south of it, Av-Tovenka Island, which was in the Ikkith Tar Ocean.
Neither one of them found anything, but they searched for hours.
“This is what I was afraid of. I looked before, and found the same thing. Nothing,” Daven said.
Taesa then considered some alternatives. “Let’s let go of some assumptions,” Taesa said.
“What do you mean?” Daven asked.
“Let’s let go of the assumption they ever made it to Av-Tovenka Island at all. Are there any other islands in the Ikkith Tar Ocean?” Taesa asked.
“They wouldn’t have gone to any of the other islands. Baron Vladimir conducts all of his business there,” Daven answered.
“Let’s suppose they accidentally ended up somewhere else. Where else could they have gone?” Taesa asked.
“There are other islands listed in this bank transaction register. Once of them is Udovedaj-Pren,” Daven said.
“Oh no! That is not what I wanted to hear,” Taesa said, annoyed by the answer.
“What do you mean? Oh, are you talking about those rumors about that woman with the tiara?” Daven asked.
“Yes. Her. If she’s on that island, anywhere, I don’t think getting answers is going to be easy. It could be a dangerous place to visit,” Taesa said.
“Then we shouldn’t pursue this any further, in case we find what we don’t want to find,” Daven said.
“No. We have to keep looking. We have to accept even the rotten truths. Let’s read this together,” Taesa said.
Together, they read through the various banking transactions. They spent hours, and hours, and hours in this pursuit. They found some names of interest, one of them being Oliver, and another of them being Angela, both of whom had received numerous deposits of large sums of money, totaling over ten trillion (10000000000000) each in platinum coins, but these people were not well known as land owners. Taesa and Daven went searching further, but could not find any particular details about those two names other than that.
“Maybe we should study something of their family history. We should learn if this was an inheritance of money or if was related to a business,” Taesa said.
“That makes sense. You must spend a lot of time researching. You’re curious and very detail-oriented at such a young age,” Daven said.
“My mind wanders toward answers, and keeps wandering. The Fifteenth (15th) Hall has records of births, deaths and marriages. That may have the inheritance information, as well.” Taesa said.
“Assuming, of course, we are talking about inheritance,” Daven said.
“We’re not getting any further just waiting here and hoping for answers, are we?” Taesa asked.
“I admit it. You’re right. Let’s go there and take a look,” Daven said.
~~~
Taesa and Daven made their way back through the long corridors leading out of the building and then they entered the Fifteenth (15th) Hall. There, they began researching the names, which were organized by the length of the name, but using the classical language alphabet. After a careful job translating the names into that alphabet, they were able to identify a few possible matches.
“There are several women named Angela. However, one of them lived in that vicinity, and had a daughter named Madeline, who is indicated to have lived on Udovedaj-Pren Island. This Angela was very poor in her lifetime, leaving no records of passing on a large inheritance. Yet, her bank account received enormous sums of money, in the trillions (100000000
0000), after her death.” Daven said.
“There are several men named Oliver. One of them was married to a woman named Helen. They had a son named Sebastian. They were rich, even in their lifetime. The bank account continued to grow, even after death,” Taesa said. She wasn’t sure if this was the Sebastian she so distrusted and her mother loved, but it was suspicious.
“These bank accounts were kept in the parents’ names to conceal something, or to make it at least require an effort to find,” Taesa said.
“Wouldn’t the fact that a deceased person’s account was still receiving money make people ask more questions?” Daven asked.
“If the questions being asked are about someone other than yourself, then that can be to your advantage, at least for a little while. We had to look very carefully and look at an unknown island we had no reason to suspect – we just made a guess. Someone would have to suspect something was wrong to look there, and then look carefully. You lost your parents, so you had a reason to suspect something,” Taesa said.
“I agree with your logic, I think. Why are you so interested, though?” Daven asked.
“You’re my teacher. If you’re distracted, it’s harder for you to teach me,” Taesa said, with an impish smile.
“We’ve been at this for a while. Let’s take a break and get some rest for now,” Daven said.
“Agreed,” Taesa said.
~~~