Brave Story - Miyuki Miyabe [237]
“I know that I may be chosen as one of two sacrifices.”
“Hrm, yes.” Dr. Baksan let go of Wataru’s hand and wound his fingers together in front of him, as though in prayer. “And your two friends, they do not know what you know. Is this so?”
“Yes. I haven’t told them yet.”
“So. What is it you have come here for?”
Finding the answer to that question was the reason he had come. Wataru paused a moment, then said, “It’s a long story.”
“Good, I like a long story,” the scholar said, smiling.
Wataru started from the beginning—from when Mitsuru saved his life, when he became a Traveler, up to his discussion with the Elder in Sakawa.
Perched motionless atop his wooden platform boots, Dr. Baksan listened intently to every word.
Finally he said, “We starseers compare the movement of the heavens with events here in Vision to divine the principles and workings of this world.” His voice rang with weight and authority. “Yet, it is my deepest regret to inform you that the Elder of Sakawa overestimates us. No one in my school knows of the location of this gemstone that will reveal the path to the Tower of Destiny. Nor is there any record of such a thing in the ancient tomes. In fact, this is only my first time ever meeting a Traveler such as yourself.” The scholar gave Wataru a curt bow.
“Oh…” said Wataru with obvious disappointment. But at the same time he was relieved. Even if a miracle should occur, and he suddenly came into possession of all the gemstones, he lacked the confidence in his ability to face the trials on the path to the tower.
“The Elder said that when I stood before the Goddess, I would know what to ask of her.”
“Yet you do not believe his words. Am I right?”
“No, I don’t.”
“That’s because you do not believe in yourself,” the scholar replied quietly.
“What should I do?”
Dr. Baksan’s whiskers twitched. He seemed to be smiling. “Were I to tell you, would you do it?”
Wataru couldn’t answer.
Dr. Baksan assumed a lecturing pose, his arms crossed at his chest. “As I said before, we have spent many ages attempting to divine the principles that move our world. It goes without saying that the road ahead of us is still long, and there is more that we do not know than we do. Were you to compare our knowledge now to a spoonful of sugar, that which we do not know would be a field of sugar cane stretching as far as the eye can see.”
“I was expecting you to say a mountain of sugar.”
“No, because it is not enough to add to what we know. To obtain knowledge from that field, we must cut it and refine it. We must learn the most effective ways of harvesting and the methods of removing impurities. All this we must obtain as well as simply the knowledge we seek. That is what it means to study and learn.”
Wataru had never heard this in school.
“If there were a grain I could give you from the spoonful in my hand now, it would be…”
Dr. Baksan swiveled on top of his boots, turning his back to Wataru. “Vision reflects the heart of the Traveler, and changes accordingly. That is what you must know.”
Wataru recalled having heard those exact words before. That’s right, Wayfinder Lau. That’s what he told me before I set off for the Cave of Trials.
—Vision changes for each person who comes to it.
That’s why the Vision he saw and the Vision Mitsuru saw were different. But something was wrong, because he and Mitsuru were definitely in the same place.
“It is very rare for two Travelers in Vision to be friends in the real world,” Dr. Baksan continued. “This is why, in the two Visions that you both see, there are many similarities, and these similarities overlap. Because you each think of each other, this happens all the more frequently. That is why you will sometimes encounter each other—rub shoulders as it were. Do not think that Wayfinder Lau was