Seek: 2 - Kaiya

One day, I will know how to draw...
And shade...
Until then, you get this.

Kaiya is seventeen years old. She has dark hair, tan skin, and blue eyes. Her father, Jael, is from Kaios, and her mother, who died giving birth, was born in the village Secra, just southwest of Kaios. Kaiya grew up in Shibboleth, a ruined city among the western cliffs that was only recently resettled by Kaios's castaways--an amalgam of refugees, rebels, political agitators, and adventure seekers. Kaiya and Jael are in Secra at the time of the Salamander Legion's raids, and Kaiya is the one who rescues Jonah as he flees from the Watcher patrols following his escape from Kaios. Kaiya's initial response is one of revulsion when she realizes that she has just saved the boy whom she believes burned down her relatives' hut in Secra during the previous day's raid. Jonah explains himself, and she believes his story. "I don't want to believe you, but I feel like you're telling the truth."

When they get back to Secra, though, the villagers don't accept Jonah at all. An old woman recognizes him from the night of the raid and spits on him in disgust. Kaiya stands up for Jonah, but the old woman is adamant and incites the villagers to anger: "He can't be trusted. You're endangering us all in having him here. He is not one of us, and his presence can bring only sorrow." Kaiya: "He was running from the soldiers. He belongs here just as much as my father belonged when he first came here." Old woman: "You mark my words: the soldiers will come back, and it will be on your head!" The crowd erupts in shouts, and Kaiya and Jonah retreat to a makeshift shelter that Jael and the other men are setting up. Jael suggests that Kaiya and Jonah go ask Kaiya's grandmother for advice, so they set off for the southern swamps while Jael remains to try to placate the distraught villagers and complete repairs on the village, which is in shambles after the raid.



As they're walking, Jonah asks: "Why does your grandmother live in a swamp? Why doesn't she live in the village?" Kaiya: "The people think she's a witch. For a long time, they blamed all their misfortune on her, because she used the Onim. They are afraid of the old ways. The truth is, though, she's a great healer. When my father came to Secra years ago, she treated his wounds and cared for him. The people were cold at first, but they soon grew to respect him, despite her reputation as a witch. Jonah: "So she's not your real grandmother..." Kaiya: "Well, if a real grandmother is someone who gave birth to one of my parents, then no, but I still think of her as my grandmother. Prava is very old, though. No one really knows how old she is, but she remembers the fall of the four cities and was in Kaios the day that the governing council was instated. Jonah: "Well, that's impossible. She would have to be four or five hundred years old!" Kaiya: "I told you, she's a healer. There's something about the Onim that has kept her alive all these years. Just wait until you meet her, and you'll see. Oh, and don't let her read your palm."

Kaiya and Jonah arrive in the swamp. There's a ramshackle, wooden house perched on the edge of a hill leading down into the river. From the base of the hill extends a small pier with a canoe tied off. The rounded head of a beehive peeks from behind the house. An old woman, her skin dark and wrinkled like the warm toffee in the Inner-Ring candy shops, comes out of the shanty with her hands clasped in front of her. "Hello, Kaiya, dear." Then, looking to Jonah: Jonah... I've been expecting you." A broad grin spreads across her face, revealing two rows of worn, emerald teeth--each made from a bios shard salvaged from the fragments of larger bios spheres. Kaiya just smiles at the expression of disbelief on Jonah's face, trying to figure out if its because she knew his name or because he's now realized the source of her long years. "Please, come inside, come inside. There's no use standing around outside when there's a perfectly warm house and honey wine to drink. Come. Come inside."

Inside the hut is a vast loom, threaded with strands of all different colors and thicknesses. Some strands are thick and knotted, and others are as gossamer, a glimmer of light as the eye passes by. The Prava is bustling about, pouring small clay cups full to the brim with honey wine, an amber colored drink that tasted of cinnamon, ginger, wild cloves, and raw honey. "The walk from Secra is not a short one. Please, sit down," Prava says, gesturing toward a low bench. I prefer to stand while we talk so that I can continue working on my weaving. Already her bony fingers are flitting nimbly from strand to strand, her needle pulling a silver and then a light blue string through the forest of other strands as a flash of lightning or a pike through still water. "Grandmother," Kaiya begins. "We're here--"
"I know why you're here, and I'm afraid I can't offer you much of any good advice. Only that the way before you is yours to decide."

The needle stops, and just as fast as she had threaded the other strings, Prava snaps a string between her fingers and extracts it from the web of color. "No, no, that won't do at all. We'll just have to take it out and put a different one in. It won't work out right at all if that one goes there. After all, it would be waste of this perfectly beautiful green strand here. See how nicely it goes with the blue one next to it? That will be a much nicer way of finishing off this old thing."

Lets her read palm anyway: Jonah's 'call' to action
On way back, laughing
"What were the soldiers looking for anyway?"
"Looking for? They were trying to smoke out the Resistance forces in the village."
"Jonah, that might've been what they told you, but the first soldiers to arrive went through every house turned out every basket looking for something. They took my mother's amulet. It was made from a shard of a lucid orb that I found shattered in the ruins outside of Kaios, but it didn't do anything anyway."
"This could be bad. They did the same thing in Kaios when I was eleven or twelve--rounded up all the Onim fragments, because they said it was the cause of the Founders' War. etc."
....
Almost back. Screams ring out through the woods.
Hurry back. Raiders there again.
Cue first encounter with Lieutenant

"I don't know why you're reading this. In all honestly, I'm still not exactly sure why I'm writing it or to what it will all amount, but if nothing else, it is my effort to give meaning to an unintelligible world."