Traveler of the Void - Part 3 Chapter 1 - Storm Clouds Gather

  Traveler of the Void

(Book 4 of the Guardian of the Spirit Series)

Author: Uehashi Nahoko

Translator: Ainikki the Archivist

 

Part 3 - The Night of the Ceremony

Chapter 1 - Storm Clouds Gather

     

    Chagum was dead tired at the end of another night of feasting. He walked through the annex of the main dining hall and navigated back to his rooms. Shuga followed fast at his heels, along with a train of servants and guards.

    The moon shone huge and round in the sky. Wind stirred the leaves of the trees in the courtyard gardens, then died down. The gardens were eerily silent as he passed them by. He scented water in the air and muttered, "Will it rain?"

    He looked up. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but the smell of water lingered. Chagum felt like someone had poured it over him. He thought he heard someone cry out, but it was only the voice of a songbird, melancholy and sad. Throbbing pain shot from his forehead to the rest of his body; goosebumps prickled his skin. The smell of water became overwhelming; he tried to call out for help, but no sound came out.

    And then Chagum saw it: bright, beautiful blue water superimposed over the flowers in the courtyard's garden. In the water, he saw a young girl dancing. Her eyes were open wide. The expression in them was hopeless; she looked like a lost child. A thread of white light emerged from her forehead, extending in the direction of the palace, where Chagum had just been. The overpowering scent of water came from this thread. As Chagum watched, the thread was yanked away from her forehead in a recoiling motion; a few moments later, it returned to her head, firmly attached. This disturbing scene played out over and over again.

    When he tried to trace the light of the girl's Soul Thread to its source, he smelled something rancid burning and nearly threw up. He tore his eyes from the Soul Thread with a gasp.

    He looked into the girl's eyes and received a shock as if he'd been struck by lightning.

    Her soul was trapped between the worlds--unable to go to Nayugu, and unable to return to Sagu. Her soul was being yanked between the two worlds. Chagum didn’t know what would happen to her if she remained in that state, but his heart ached just thinking about it.

    “Your Majesty?” Shuga’s voice echoed in his ears. Chagum’s vision of the world between worlds swirled into a spiral that moved farther and farther away from him until it vanished completely.

    “You’re dead on your feet,” Shuga said. “Are you all right?”

    Chagum composed himself quickly. His head hurt horridly; a buzzing sound lingered in his ears. The source of the irritation seemed to be coming from behind him. Chagum gritted his teeth and stood up straight. The Crown Prince of New Yogo was not allowed to collapse. He would become the sacred soul of his nation one day; if he collapsed now, his attendants would take it as an ill omen and shrink back from him in fear.

    Chagum took a deep breath, closed his eyes and opened them again. He plastered on a fake smile and turned to face his servants and guards. “I’m perfectly fine,” he said. “Please ease your minds.”

    His face was covered in thin white cloth, so his smile was barely visible. He felt a wave of relief pass over his people as he reassured them.

    Chagum started walking again. Shuga whispered, “Your Majesty? Are you really all right?”

    Chagum nodded, but his thoughts were spiraling out of control. He felt himself trembling slightly. “Shuga, the Eyes of the Nayugul Raita is in the courtyard we passed. Just now.”

    Shuga jerked his head over his shoulder to look.

    Chagum shook his head. “Not the girl herself. I saw her soul.” Chagum fixed his eyes straight ahead and kept walking. “I think she was asking me to save her. It was only for a second, but it felt like I’d been hit by lightning, and suddenly I could understand what she wanted. She wants to go home. She wants to be rescued. I got the sense that she’s not able to return to her body... She was crying.”

    Shuga processed Chagum’s revelations in blank silence.

    “I also think I smelled dolga root,” Chagum said. “It was awful.” He looked at Shuga with hooded eyes and said in an agitated tone, “That girl’s body is going to be thrown into the ocean at the Soul Return Ceremony two nights from now.”

    “Yes. But, Your Majesty--”

    “Don’t say it, Shuga. I know.” Chagum frowned deeply and stared into the air in front of him as if it were a void.

    “I won’t say anything.”

    “There has to be a way to save her,” Chagum said. Why would I be able to hear her call for help if there was nothing I could do? Chagum sucked in another breath. His jaw hurt from grinding his teeth. He returned to his rooms, unable to shake Eshana from his thoughts. He decided to talk to Saluna.

    Saluna emerged from hiding after verifying that it was only Chagum that had returned. “Your Highness, you must hear this.” Her face was pinched and drained of color. She extended a hand to him, and Chagum took it. He was not accustomed to touching people, so the sensation was something of a shock.

    “I think we’ve figured out who’s behind this plot.” Saluna spoke animatedly, relaying to Chagum everything that she and Tarsan had discussed regarding Yogo and Talsh. Chagum, Shuga and Tarsan stood still and listened quietly, without interruption.

    As he listened, Chagum felt himself getting colder. Out the window in the far distance, dark clouds gathered over the surface of the ocean. Chagum had a premonition that these dark clouds were coming to swallow up New Yogo as well as Sangal. Until now, Chagum’s impression of the old kingdom of Yogo had been vague and impersonal: he knew that New Yogo’s gods came from there and that his ancestors had fled the kingdom during the time of a terrible war. Even when he’d learned about Talsh conquering Yogo, the knowledge had not been impactful: it had been a passage written in a history book.

    But now, in this nation of many islands, he’d seen the fingers of the old Yogo kingdom manipulating events, with the shadow of the Talsh empire behind them. Those fingers were pointing north, to his own homeland. His heart faltered. If Sangal fell, it would become Talsh’s bridge to the north. New Yogo would be attacked.

    Chagum had never known war. He couldn’t even imagine it. But if things kept going as they were, he would become intimately familiar with it as a matter of necessity. If New Yogo went to war, what would he do? What would be the best course of action to take?

    He had no desire to become the pure soul of his nation, like the current Mikado. From the bottom of his soul, he considered such an aspiration to be utterly worthless. He had only ever considered his rank as the Crown Prince to be a cold metal chain that separated him from the warmth and affection of ordinary people. The chain moved with him whenever he took a step, and from each link, hanging heavily, were all the lives of the people of New Yogo.

    Even one small stumble had terrified his guards and servants. They revered him as if he were some kind of god or sage, but they were sorely mistaken. Their misconceptions bound Chagum to a life he wasn’t suited to and didn’t want. He thought of all the people he would rule: a whole sea of them, nameless, faceless...and the shadow of the terrifying Talsh empire passing over their heads.

    Chagum looked at Saluna. “I could never have anticipated any of this, but I do believe that you’re right. I feel it. We can’t just leave this alone. I’d like to strike a blow in Sangal’s defense, but I’m foreign and ignorant of the proper way to do things, and if I meddle too much I’d be suspected of interfering for selfish or nefarious ends. I don’t know how to share what you’ve learned with the the rest of the royal family in a way that would keep us all safe.”

    He frowned, then asked, “What about Princess Karina? Can she be trusted?”

    Saluna blinked. “She is...very intelligent. Very. And the other women in the palace would follow her, if we could convince her. She does not easily display her true emotions or intentions, but...I think she might believe me.”

    Chagum looked into Saluna’s eyes.

    “Have you...spoken to her?” Saluna asked.

    Karina had asked Chagum to abandon Tarsan and save Saluna. It was good to hear that she would likely believe Saluna, but there was a significant chance that she wouldn’t. And if she heard them out and didn’t believe them, Tarsan would be executed as his sentence demanded.

    Saluna seemed to have made up her mind, but then she hesitated.

    Tarsan put his hand on Saluna’s shoulder. “Saluna. Don’t sacrifice the safety of Sangal for my personal safety. I’m not worth it.”

    Saluna glanced up at him, then faced Chagum and nodded decisively. “I will arrange a meeting with Karina as swiftly as possible.”

    “Is there any way you can meet her without being seen?”

    Saluna’s face clouded over. “I can get to the inner courtyard without being seen, but after that...”

    Chagum looked to Shuga. “What do you think?”

    Shuga offered him a tight smile. “I think that we have no viable options except to invite Princess Karina to come here.”

    Chagum’s face relaxed in an expression of relief. He’d been prepared for Shuga to oppose him on this. His forehead crinkled in a frown. “But there’s also something else we have to do.”

    “Yes. I expect that after we meet with Princess Karina, we’ll all understand this situation a lot more clearly. Then we must send a messenger to New Yogo in secret, telling them to be watchful over events in the south.” 

When Princess Karina greeted Chagum that day, he expressed a desire to offer thanks for her previous consideration by inviting her to visit him. Karina immediately understood the invitation for what it was. When she made her visit soon afterward, Saluna told her all about the plot that she, Tarsan and Chagum had uncovered, and Karina did not seem in the least bit surprised by any of it--except for one thing.

“Did you say a magic weaver? A magic weaver from Yogo placed a curse on Tarsan?” Karina addressed these questions to Shuga.

“We can’t verify that they did come from Yogo,” Shuga said. “But I guarantee that the magic weaver cursed Prince Tarsan. I saw it with my own eyes.”

As she looked at Shuga, the dull gleam of casual interest in her eyes intensified to a steady flame hungry for knowledge. She faced Saluna. “You know that Adol consults a magic weaver matching this description.”

Saluna nodded, but did not raise her eyes. She was afraid to look directly at her sister.

Karina remained silent for a few moments, and blinked. “But you have no direct evidence to back up this information. You have made a plausible guess based on circumstantial evidence; that is all...though some of what you’ve said supports what I’ve observed myself.” She shook her head a little.

“My husband is easily led. I’ve long suspected that he’s been up to something, but if he really did set up Tarsan to kill Karnan, I’ll never forgive him.”

Karina grumbled to herself: You idiot. I don’ t know what you were promised, but all you’ve become is a Talsh stooge. I don ’t even understand what you could have hoped to achieve. Karina shook her head to clear her thoughts, then faced Saluna.

“If your guess is correct--and it is indeed plausible--then we are all in danger. We must be cautious. If the Talsh are behind all this, then they will never have a better opportunity to seize power. If Lord Shuga is correct, and this magic weaver is able to observe our actions in some way, they may be able to strike at us before we can even act.”

“If I ruled the Talsh empire,” Chagum said, “I wouldn’t wait for this plot against the royal family to succeed. I’d send my armies to Sangal now, as a contingency if nothing else. Has there been any news from the islands to the south?”

Karina’s eyes shone with admiration. “I am impressed, Your Majesty. It is as you say. Talsh forces have been spotted mustering at our southern border. We have obtained detailed information regarding their invasion plan.”

Everyone except Karina gasped at this revelation.

“What did you say?” Saluna asked. “Karina, how can you be so calm about something like that?”

Karina shifted her gaze to Saluna briefly before focusing back on Chagum. “Sangal is already preparing for war,” she said. “Thanks to the detailed report we have received, we are forewarned. Every island guardian will be sent back to their islands and ordered to mobilize. If there are any traitors among the island guardians, they must be rooted out and eliminated to prevent Sangal from collapsing from within.” 

Karina huffed out a breath. “The islands of the Sagan sea are most vulnerable to attack. The Talsh will find it difficult to take all of Sangal in one sweep--the territory is too vast and disconnected. But the islands of the Sagan sea border their own empire, and the Talsh are already moving. By my estimation, the Talsh will arrive at the capital in three days. I have given up on the Sagan islands as lost.”

Chagum looked up at Karina in surprise. He thought it strange that this beautiful and powerful woman could speak of the islands of her own nation like stones skipped over water--she didn’t care if they sank beneath the waves.

“I see,” Shuga said. “So that’s how things are.”

Chagum glanced over at Shuga, looking puzzled.

“The Sagan islands will fall to conquest, giving the rest of Sangal time to prepare and to fortify itself,” Shuga said. “That time could be the difference between victory and defeat. The Talsh are powerful, but they are not, by and large, a seafaring people. They have never met the Sangal navy in combat up until now. No matter the outcome of that battle, the Talsh side would inevitably sustain heavy losses. This would weaken the Talsh considerably, maybe even enough for some of the independent nations they’ve conquered to revolt.” Shuga spoke continuously without stopping for air, then finally fell silent. He had narrowly avoided saying the part that Chagum was probably thinking about: If Sangal has three days to prepare, why not at least try to protect the Sagan islands as well? But this was not a tactful question, and Shuga did not ask it.

Karina smiled at him. “Exactly as you say.”

Shuga bowed his head.

Tarsan sighed. “But why would any island guardians even support Talsh in the first place? I don’t understand it. Why would they betray us? Wouldn’t that be like betraying themselves?”

Karina looked straight at Tarsan. She thought he seemed impossibly young and naive. “The hermit crab discards its shell when it grows too large for it, and seeks another. I suspect something of the sort is happening with the Island Guardians.

“I also suspect that the Talsh desire to conquer Sangal without much bloodshed. They’ve likely enticed the island guardians with honeyed words and impossible promises. No one knows the full extent of the wealth of the southern continent. They undoubtedly believe that they can become richer under Talsh rule than they are currently. And if you consider it from the Talsh perspective, if the Island Guardians betray the royal family, there would be no need to conquer Sangal at all. The Island Guardians would deliver it to them on a plate--and the Talsh would gain vast wealth and territory without weakening itself in the least.”

Karina fixed her gaze on Chagum and Shuga. “The women of the royal family marry island guardians in order to prevent such treason. But Sangal has been at peace for generations, and we have relaxed our vigilance.”

Chagum nodded shallowly, but could not craft a suitable response. The situation was too dire for ordinary words. The idea of the Island Guardians being like hermit crabs discarding the shells that they had considered home for so long surprised him greatly. He hadn’t thought of Sangal’s people as being motivated purely by greed. Could they really change their allegiance as easily as they changed clothes?

If that’s so, the Sangal kingdom is a lot more vulnerable than I thought.

The islands of Sangal were separated from one another, sometimes by vast stretches of ocean. In the end, despite all attempts at unification, geographical isolation had evolved into true independent isolation, with each Island Guardian only looking out for their and their islands’ own best interests.

The capital of Sangal was beautiful. The Island Guardians’ ties to the royal family were strong. But without the royal family itself to unite them, the Island Guardians would all be governing independent territories. In many ways, they already were--except that they had to give a share of their wealth to the royal family. They did not consider themselves as a shield protecting the north from the warlike south, and their lack of consideration made Chagum deeply nervous.

Karina felt as if her heart was surrounded by a ring of cold and bitter loneliness. She disciplined herself, trying to make herself as still as the surface of a becalmed sea. She still wasn’t convinced of Saluna’s conclusion that the Yogo magic weaver was in league with the Island Guardians. If there was such a neat line between Tarsan’s attack on Karnan and the movements of the Talsh navy, then Sangal was definitely in more trouble than she’d anticipated.

But so far, there was little evidence that many of the Island Guardians had joined the Talsh. That could be a bright spot of good news, though it was obvious that a sophisticated and complex Talsh conspiracy existed. If Sangal could keep the Island Guardians on their side, the Talsh would be forced to fight the Sangal navy. That battle wouldn’t go well for the Talsh, and they didn’t want an all-out war. Sangal didn’t, either. There might still be a path to peace.

If the Island Guardians had switched sides already, Karina could only applaud Talsh’s skill as negotiators. She could imagine how they could have done it: making promises laced with threats. The Talsh were in a position to threaten them with both military and economic defeat if they were rejected or opposed. Karina realized that the Talsh were entirely capable of backing the Island Guardians into a corner and pressuring them until they had no choice.

Maybe I’ m trying to figure all of this out in the wrong order. I need to find out if the island guardians are loyal or not first. Every hope we have depends on them. I must root out the traitors and wreak swift and terrible justice upon them. And then...

Well, ensuring the future loyalty of the new Island Guardians was a problem for the future.

Adol’s face rose up in her mind’s eye. Her chest felt tight. She smiled bitterly at Chagum. “Your Majesty, the future survival of Sangal as a nation is in our hands. I humbly request your assistance.” As she spoke, Karina rose from her seat and gestured to her attendants, who were waiting for her in the hall. She turned to leave, but Tarsan called her back.

“Karina.”

Karina turned to face him.

“Do you believe us?” Tarsan asked. “Do you believe that I was cursed, at least?”

Karina stared straight at him. “Yes. But it doesn’t really matter what I believe. That’s not the problem. The problem is whether or not you’ll be believed by others--especially the king.”

Tarsan frowned deeply. “So there is nothing I can do to counter the false accusations against me?”

“First, we must expose the traitorous actions of any island guardians,” Karina said. “If we can get the traitors to talk, or return to our side, we may gain testimony that concerns Adol’s involvement with the magic weaver. Then we may be able to clear your name.” Karina sighed. “I am sorry about Eshana. I understand how you must feel about her, but you must understand that such feelings are a weakness that can be exploited. That’s your only crime--you were taken advantage of.”

Tarsan felt like Karina had ripped his heart out.

Chagum’s eyes flicked to Karina. Now might be the best time to persuade her not to throw Eshana from the cliffs at the Soul Return Ceremony.

“Princess Karina,” he said, “about Eshana...” Chagum felt Shuga’s eyes on him, but he ignored Shuga. “If her soul returns to her body before the night of the ceremony, she won’t be given to the sea. Isn’t that right?”

Karina frowned at Chagum in confusion. Her eyebrows knitted together. “Yes.”

“Princess Karina,” Chagum said, “what I have to say may seem unbelievable, but I know that Eshana’s soul is here, in the palace.” 

Karina’s frown grew deeper. Chagum tried once more to explain. When he finished telling her what he had seen in the courtyard garden, everyone remained silent for a few moments. It took time to make the connections between the Talsh plot they had been speaking of and the implications of Eshana’s soul being at the palace, but not in her body.

After a while, Karina said, “Crown Prince Chagum, I believe you as well.”

Tarsan, who had been listening with bated breath, relaxed all at once. But Karina wasn’t finished speaking.

“Prince Chagum, do you know how to return Eshana’s soul to her body?”

Chagum blinked. “Uh, I don’t know the exact method. But if we can drive the magic weaver’s soul from her body, I’m sure her own would be able to return.”

“Would you and Lord Shuga be capable of doing such a thing? Do you truly believe Eshana’s soul would return if the magic weaver was driven off?”

Chagum and Shuga exchanged glances. Neither one of them wanted to lie.

“We can try,” Chagum said. “But we don’t know for absolute certain that she’ll return. And we only have until tomorrow night to make the attempt. I wish we had more time.”

Karina fixed Chagum with a stern expression. “I am sorry to say this, but I suspect that your efforts will be unsuccessful. If this magic weaver truly does control this girl's body, he will attempt to retain control of it at all costs, to cover his own tracks and prevent any evidence of a Talsh conspiracy from coming to light. If the magic weaver doesn’t find some way to kill her, his part in this whole affair will be exposed. The situation is also convenient for him--he can use our own myths and legends to ensure that she’s given to the sea.”

Karina’s cold and uncompromising eyes reminded Chagum strongly of the Mikado’s. They were the same eyes his father had cast on him when he was eleven years old and had ordered his assassination to protect the illusion of his own pure reputation.

Suppressing rage, Chagum stared back at Karina. The light in his own eyes was bright and forbidding. “Eshana is a very young child. She is not a tool to be used by other people. Her life belongs to no one but herself.”

Karina shook her head slightly and said frankly, “Forgive me, Your Majesty, but you are mistaken. Right now she is potentially an incredibly dangerous tool.” She bowed her head gracefully and once again moved to withdraw from the room.

Tarsan called her back again. “Karina, please wait.” His hands were balled into fists. “Your words wound me. You think me weak. But you don’t seem to understand that it’s not just Eshana I care for. I care for everyone on Kalsh--and for all the people of Sangal’s islands. I believe in and love all of Sangal’s people. Uncle Yunan did, too.

“If uncle Yunan were still alive, I think he would have said the same thing to you as Prince Chagum. I could never use someone I cared about as a tool. All of my personal guards and servants know that. We are Yaltash Shuri--brothers of the sea. That’s a bond as strong as family.”

Karina looked skeptical. Tarsan’s face went bright red from intensity; his voice increased in volume as he spoke. “Even if Adol has betrayed us, do you really think his soldiers would obey him? They are brothers of the sea, as I am. They would listen to me over him. I’m certain that they still believe in me. Please, Karina, let me talk to them!”

Karina tilted her head and sighed. “Tarsan. You are...hopelessly immature.” She bowed to Chagum once more, then left the room.

Tarsan stared at her as she left. He was trembling violently. When she was out of sight, he turned to Saluna. “I’m...immature? What did she mean by that?”

“That in order to expose treachery, you must be capable of treachery yourself. I think.”

Tarsan nodded in understanding, but his expression displayed his disgust at the idea. “She won’t even give Adol’s soldiers a chance to help us. She’s given up on them. She may as well be helping the Talsh. Does she intend to condemn the soldiers to teach me a lesson?”

Tarsan met Chagum’s eyes. He looked like he was about to throw up. “Is it immature to believe that we’ll need the help of the army to save Sangal?”

Chagum didn’t have a good answer for him. Tarsan looked at him, and he looked back.
 

Chagum sent a letter to the Mikado and passed it into the keeping of three of the guards that had accompanied him to Sangal. Karina had arranged to dress these guards in the colors and livery of the royal palace so that they could leave through the messengers’ gate without arousing suspicion. Chagum wondered how long the message would take to reach New Yogo. The message contained explosive information; what happened after the Mikado received it was anyone’s guess.

Chagum’s impatience moved in him like a living thing. Aside from sending off the letter, there was nothing he could do except wait. He stretched out on the floor of his room and tried to rest.

He’d loaned his bedding to Tarsan and Saluna so that they might get a better night’s sleep. They were still concealed in his closet. A single salu lamp cast a dim corona of illumination from the corner of his room. Chagum laid awake in the half-dark and considered the events of the day.

Karina would do anything to protect Sangal, even if it meant using people to achieve her own ends. Tarsan refused to give up on Sangal’s soldiers. And then there was Eshana--just a little girl. In the grand scheme of things, she had no more agency than a grain of sand. If Chagum was a good statesman and politician, he probably would think of her that way: lacking in agency and choices, and therefore unimportant.

But he couldn’t think of her that way, even if he tried. She was probably still in the courtyard, crying and floating in the waters of Nayugu, begging to go home. The muscles of his back stiffened as he stared up into the gloom.

If I were a spirit, could I save her?

Chagum’s soul had left his body and traveled to another world before. Tanda, an apprentice magic weaver, had saved him by teaching him how to return to his body. Tanda had transformed him into a falcon. On strong wings, he had made his way swiftly in a straight line back to his body. As he remembered that time, he remembered what Tanda had told him when he’d found him in the other world.

Changing your shape changes the capabilities of your soul. It takes power, but it also frees you from limitations. He could hear Tanda’s voice, as close as if he were speaking in his ear. A soul’ s shape represents certain traits and abilities. In human shape, you can run and jump and do all the same things a human can. And as a bird, you can fly.

The power to fly as a soul comes from a strong desire to live. It is the desire to keep going, keep struggling, even through darkness and pain. Balsa and I understand that desire very well.

Chagum closed his eyes. He felt Nayugu calling out to him: the cry resonated through his entire body. The call provided a certain amount of encouragement: he might be able to banish the magic weaver from Eshana’s body. The magic weaver was undoubtedly very powerful, but he wouldn’t be fighting the magic weaver’s magic: he’d be fighting his soul. And in a battle between souls, whoever had the strongest will prevailed.

But...is it right for me to stake my life to save this girl?

The perception of him as a saint or a god was pure delusion, but he was still New Yogo’s Crown Prince. By putting himself in danger, he could die, and all of New Yogo would interpret that as an evil omen. People would suffer because of him. He didn’t even know how many.

But the Mikado was still young. So was Chagum: he hadn’t really had time to gain much of an influence in politics or governance yet. If he died, the son of the Third Queen, Tugum, would inherit his place, but Tugum would have no conception of what that even meant for ten years or more. He’d only just been born.

Chagum had the choice of ignoring the needs of his people and his responsibilities to follow his own feelings, or discarding his own feelings in favor of duty.

Nayugu is so far away from all of this...

Behind his closed eyelids, Chagum saw Nayugu spread out before him: a vast landscape of mountains and rivers. Nayugu was alive, just as Sagu was. Life set everything into motion and kept everything in balance. Eshana was now caught between Nayugu and Sagu, as he’d been once. Given the choice, would she prefer to be in Nayugu? Or had she been lured there deceptively by the beautiful voices of the water dwellers?

He considered himself objectively, as the guardian of the water spirit that had brought forth the clouds and blessings of rain upon Sagu. Was the fact that he still seemed connected to Nayugu a coincidence, or was there a reason?

I don’t know. I don’t know anything.

He reached up to Nayugu’s endless night sky and tried to hold a star in his hand. The stars held no answers for him. The world of Nayugu surrounded him, boundlessly vast and utterly silent.

He felt the huge weight of something like destiny upon him, but it wasn’t quite destiny, or fate. The worlds of Nayugu and Sagu revolved around one another. Some points of intersection were like knots that bound Sagu and Nayugu together, or like blood vessels that passed resources back and forth. Chagum thought of people like Eshana and himself as these knots, these points of connection. But no matter what Chagum thought--and no matter how much he valued Eshana--the rest of the world would not be moved by his desire to save one girl’s life at the potential expense of his own.

By the rest of the world’s standards, it would be perfectly reasonable for Chagum to allow Eshana to be sacrificed in order to better extricate himself from intricate foreign plots and the threat of war. That’s what a politician would do.

I wonder why people are like this? Why are my choices like this?

Chagum could still hear Eshana crying. The sound captured his heart. He spent the entire night listening to it, wide awake, and did not answer the call from Nayugu to go and save her.

 

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