Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [125]
“Kee Keema, do you think you could tell me some things about Vision?”
“Sure. But, you should know I dropped out of school kinda early, so I might not be able to teach you very good.”
“You were talking about an empire before, right?” Wataru asked. “That’s in a different place from here?”
“That it is. And a good thing too.”
Kee Keema explained that, back before time flowed in an orderly fashion, the land of Vision was born from a swirling rainbow sea. It was the Goddess who first reached down and drew the new land from the waters.
“And this goddess is the same one that Travelers go to see in the tower? The Goddess of Fate?”
“Think so. But no one knows the truth of it. No one’s met the Goddess, you see—we don’t even know quite where she is. We only know there’s a place called the Tower of Destiny, somewhere, and that’s her home. It’s a legend.”
“A legend…”
It seemed odd to Wataru to find that this land that was something like legends and myths and a fantasy world all jumbled into one would have legends of its own.
“Does this goddess have a name?”
“That, I don’t know. Most of the races consider calling her by name a taboo. They don’t teach it in school, and I’m sure no scholar would dare try to research it. But, we waterkin have an old word for the Goddess, it’s Upa de shalba. Means “the one who is beautiful like the light,” he said.
One as beautiful as the light. An image of Venus, the goddess of beauty, rose in Wataru’s mind. Whatever she really looked like, she was certainly kind. She would have to be if she really sat in the tower waiting for Travelers to arrive and then honored them with any wish they desired.
“There are two great lands, continents, in Vision,” Kee Keema began to explain. Turbo had slowed somewhat, until he was trotting amiably along.
“One in the north, and one in the south. They’re about the same size, but that’s where the similarities end. Down in the southern lands, we’ve got mountains aplenty, and the seasons bring all sorts of weather. It’s warm though, so there’s lots of animals and greenery. They say the northern continent is covered in ice and snow for near half the year.”
The two continents, he explained, were separated by a vast sea. And this sea, he said, was shrouded in a thick, nearly impenetrable mist.
“It’s hard to see much in that mist, so not a whole lot is known about the open sea. The sailors say there’s a cluster of tiny islands right between the northern continent and the south, but no ships sent out to find ’em have ever returned. Now, some say that right where those islands are, that’s where you’ll find the Tower of Destiny, but if you ask me they’ve got it all wrong. Those islands are where the monsters and villains and enemies of the Goddess are bound in chains. A prison colony, it is.”
Wataru just hoped the Tower of Destiny wasn’t in such a hard-to-get-to place. “But you can travel between the two continents, right?”
“Of course you can. There are several known trade routes between the two lands, and merchant sailships ride them pretty often. Sailships ride the waves by the power of the wind, you see. Of course, when there is no wind to be had, they don’t move. That’s why it’s so important to know just how much wind you need for how many days to cross by a certain route, and knowing when that wind’s going to blow, well, that’s the most important thing of all.”
Kee Keema explained that the ones in charge of foretelling the winds were called “starseers.”
“They can tell which way and how hard the winds can blow just by reading the stars, see—thus the name. And knowing about the wind isn’t their only job. Why, they know all sorts of things about the world. They’re virtual treasure houses of information. Should you need anything on your travels, you might try asking one of them a question. The largest towns’ll have at least one set up in a fancy old Seerhall. You’ll find it in no time.”
“So we’re on the southern continent? It must be, with grass like this.”
“Exactly!” Kee Keema said brightly. “Nacht is one of the United Southern Nations,