Page 39 of Stranger's Choice
Sebin left the tavern, satisfied with how the evening had gone. Hopefully, his trip to the oracle village would prove as promising.
Sebin handed overthe reins of the horse he had acquired for his trip to see the oracles and rubbed at the small of his back. It took a day and a half to reach Opiesa, the only oracle village that welcomed human visitors. Not that they admitted to banning humans from their other villages, but from everything Sebin had heard in Kalitalo, Opiesa was the only place a human could petition the oracles for visions of the future. He wondered if they welcomed humans in the villages further from the capital, unbeknownst to the citizens of Kalitalo.
“The inn is on the left and the petition hall on the right,” the stable hand told him. The boy’s hand never touched Sebin as he accepted the reins, but based on the frown crossing his features before he turned away, he had attempted to scan Sebin’s future even without that contact. Auraelie claimed every oracle’s power worked a little differently.
He didn’t really care if the oracles of Opiesa could see his future. Sebin had worn the charm to protect Tjalik’s secrets at first. The magic on that first charm had faded recently, and Sebin could have stopped wearing it. The Emperor no longer expected reports from Auraelie about Sebin’s future; he thought Sebin had natural immunity. Nevertheless, Sebin had transferred the ruby from his ring onto a new band, activating a fresh charm.
He had a dozen of them. Enough to keep him protected even if he stayed in Pynth for a whole year. He didn’t like to waste them, not when he knew how much of a difference they might make in Auraelie’s life if he could safely give them to her. Still, he wore a new charm, using up one more from his stash, to make sure he never hurt Auraelie. She had to spend so much time with him, often in such close proximity, that the odds of accidental contact were high.
She didn’t know that he wasn’t truly immune—he wouldn’t stop wearing the charm until he warned her. And he couldn’t warn her until he knew it wouldn’t make things worse for her with the Emperor.
Sebin looked at the two buildings the stable hand had indicated. He didn’t want to petition the oracles, but he needed to talk to someone with authority. He turned to the right.
The people Sebin needed to talk to probably kept far away from Opiesa and the stream of humans looking to use oracle magic for their own benefit. He didn’t have the time to seek out other villages, though. He’d have to make do with whomever he found here. If he traveled to a different village, or left Kalitalo again shortly after finishing this trip, the Emperor would be suspicious.
It had taken a solid week of careful conversations before Sebin built up a solid impression that his primary interest in Pynth was magical trade goods. He spoke of his envy of the soil quality and desire to buy earth sprite artifacts to improve the farmlands of Moial. He tempered his interest in such practical items by going on at length about the less useful, but flashier pieces like the waterstones used along the fountain path. And always, he mentioned oracular crystals.
When he expressed an interest in visiting the oracle’s village, no one wondered why.
The woman in front of the petition hall looked Sebin up and down. “What type of prophecy do you seek?”
“I’m not seeking a prophecy.”
She pointed to her right. “Then the inn is over there.”
“I don’t need my future scanned, but I need to talk to the mayor, or whatever the equivalent is in this village.”
She sighed. “If you’ll just tell me what sort of prophecy you are after, I can direct you to the best oracle for the task.”
“I’m not—” Sebin cut himself off. Based on the woman’s expression, she wouldn’t believe that he had come to Opiesa for anything other than having his fortune told. He needed her to pass him on to someone with authority. Sebin smiled and held out his hand. “Which oracle do you think I should visit? What type of prophecy would do me the most good?”
She looked at his hand with distaste. “I can’t scan humans. That’s why I am out here, telling people where to go.”
“You can’t?” Sebin hadn’t realized that the differences in oracles’ powers extended so far. “Who can you read, then?”
“Not you, and the rest isn’t your concern.”
“I apologize.” Sebin softened his smile, trying to look sheepish. “I didn’t mean to pry. The intricacies of magic are so fascinating, though.”
“If you want to talk about the intricacies of magic, go find yourself a scholar, not me.”
A scholar might be a step in the right direction. “Is there one here I can speak with?”
The oracle sighed again. “Ask for Pajwar at the inn. Now if you’ll excuse me, there are other people waiting who do wish to seek out a prophecy.”
Sebin stepped aside. A young couple, the woman’s hands clutched tight in the man’s, stood behind him, waiting to enter the petition hall.
He made his way over to the inn, the conversation behind him clear.
“What type of prophecy do you seek?”
“We want to know if we will have children,” the man answered, his voice shaking.
“Go to the third door on your left,” the oracle told him, her voice softening for the first time. “Make an offering, and your future will be told.”
The woman spoke for the first time, her voice quiet. “Thank you.”
