Page 40 of Stranger's Choice
Chapter 13
When Sebin askedthe innkeeper to point Pajwar out, her brow furrowed. “Why do you want to know?”
“The woman in front of the petition hall suggested he might be of interest to me.”
The innkeeper laughed. “Pajwar? Interesting? If you find his stories interesting, then, please, keep him entertained. He’s over in the corner.”
Sebin looked where the innkeeper pointed. The oracle sitting in the corner was older. The little Sebin could make out was his bald head where he hunched over the table and the wrinkled hands that clutched his tankard of ale.
“Thank you,” Sebin told the innkeeper and made his way to the corner.
“Pajwar?” Sebin sat across from him. “My name is Sebin Velor.”
The oracle looked up, but his eyes didn’t focus on Sebin. They didn’t focus on anything. Sebin realized with a start that the man was blind. This must have been the oracle who had given Tjalik his prophecy.
“Sebin.” Pajwar repeated, the name forming slowly on his lips. “Sebin Velor, Prince of Moial. I’ve Seen you.”
“You have?” Sebin looked down at the ring on his right hand.
“I sent him to you, you know. I saw what you could do.” Pajwar tapped his own finger, right where Sebin wore his null charm. “I saw the protection you would don. The advantages are yours, but will you live up to your potential or fall short?”
“Sent whom to me?” Sebin already suspected the answer, but the way Tjalik had explained things, it hadn’t sounded like the oracle had sent him to Sebin. “When did you see me?”
“Yes,” Pajwar continued, and he seemed to be talking more to himself than Sebin. “I set the events in motion, but others paved the way. Now the path is dark. It is up to you to make sure you do not rob her of a home. Yes. It is time.”
As he said the final sentence, Pajwar stood up. He shuffled around the table and out of the inn. Sebin watched him go, unsure what had happened or what he should do.
The innkeeper hurried over. “What did you say to him?”
“My name. All I said was my name, and he started talking about having visions of me.”
She went even tenser. “Pajwar scanned you?”
“No. It sounded like he had seen me in a vision before I ever came to Pynth.”
“Before you ever came to Pynth . . .” She inhaled sharply. “You come from across the Mladin Ocean?”
Sebin nodded.
“And Pajwar said he had seen you in a vision?”
“That’s what I think he said.” Sebin was feeling a little nervous about the way the innkeeper was looking at him. Five hells, he was unsettled about what had happened with Pajwar, too. Something about the way the man spoke gave his words extra weight. Sebin could understand why Tjalik had dropped everything to move to Reslin Harbor after hearing a prophecy from Pajwar.
“Come,” the innkeeper held out her hand. “You must see Timben right away.”
Sebin stood up, but didn’t take her hand. “Who is Timben?”
“He’s the head of the village. If you are the one Pajwar saw all those months ago, you need to talk to Timben immediately. Please.”
Well, Sebin had wanted to talk to someone with authority. He swept his arm out in front of him. “Lead the way.”
The innkeeper led him back over to the petition hall, past the woman who had given Sebin Pajwar’s name in the first place, and up a flight of stairs. The wood was worn smooth and shiny and creaked with every step. Sebin found the noise oddly reassuring. The oracles saw the future—one had seen his future while he was on the other side of the ocean—but they still lived in buildings with squeaky stairs. They were different, but also the same. Magical and yet mundane.
The oracle led him to the last door on the left, then knocked.
“Come in.”
She opened the door. “Timben this is . . . oh good, Pajwar is already here. I’ll just leave the human with you, then.”
