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Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Lacuna 5: You Will Breathe a Heavenly Breeze

“Ee,” cackled the old woman. “Mark my words, cap’n, there be great reward in it for they who spread the love of Poseidon to all corners!”

Kevan, the great tactician, wasn’t in the mood for this. “Look, Sister,” he replied in dismissive tones, looking her in the eye over the desk of his private cabin. “Ever since you had your epiphany you’ve been talking about spreading the love of Poseidon. A couple weeks ago you tried to incite the crew to sack ‘heathen Ismarus’ and practically got us chased out of town. Just the other day you tried to convert a school of trout, and Royce the long of hope says he’s getting uncomfortable with the way you have animated conversations with the mast all night.”

Second-sighted Keitalia was impervious to the captain’s words. “There was a time,” she said, waggling her finger, “ween I could see through earthly things and speak wi’ my mind alone. E’en now I wot I still hear th’ voices o’ th’ gods theyselves!”

“I don’t care if you’re the Oracle at Delphi,” replied Kevan coolly. “You are not wasting our valuable cargo on a ship with no one on it.”

“Eh?” Keitalia scratched her head. “‘Tis your will ta hamper Poseidon’s chosen in ‘er duty? Can’t say that seems oversharp of ye, cap’n…”

Kevan groaned inwardly. Crazy she might be, but Sister Keitalia had a cult following among the superstitious crew. Picking a fight with her would not be a smart political move. Fine. He’d cooperate for a while longer. It wasn’t like she was asking for half the hold.

***

An hour later, the ostensibly second-sighted one stood on the deck of the abandoned Calypso, tethered to the Odyssey by a strong rope. Foodstuffs from the hold were piled at her feet (“enough to feed us all for days,” thought Kevan wistfully). A small crowd watched from the Odyssey – but were careful not to stand too close. Keitalia hushed the crowd, and, with an authority that would have made Alexander proud, began the ceremony.

Even rational Kevan found himself oddly captivated by the passion with which Keitalia spoke, by the flamboyant arcs of her arms as they seemed to take in the entire derelict ship. The wild-haired old woman alternately exhorted as though to a mob and cooed as though to a child, in a voice which Kevan had to admit seemed somehow otherworldly. Converting the ship to Poseidon, he supposed. The men around him looked at each other in fear and reassurance, as if to say, “Good thing she’s not our enemy.”

“When someone behaves irrationally, you laugh at them,” reflected Kevan silently. “But when someone behaves that irrationally… well, you have to wonder whether maybe they really do know something you don’t.”

***

Not long after, the Odyssey had left the Calypso well behind. Kevan had finished administering the resetting of the sails, and was about to check on the steerage when Keitalia’s voice came from behind him. “Ye cannae tell me ye dinnae feel summat alongsides the Calypso,” she breathed slyly into his ear, giving the tactician a mild start. “That ship, she be on our side now, don’tcha know.”

“Whose side is that?” Kevan wondered.

“Poseidon only knows,” Keitalia replied serenely, and with that, she wandered off.