Page 87 of The Seeker
“Yes.” An earthen water jar sat near the door with a wide metal bowl next to it for washing. “She was prepared for guests.”
“Who? Us? How could she know?”
Rhys shrugged. “Maybe us. Maybe she’s ready at all times. She said there were many. I wonder if she collects lost people in the bayou.”
“It’s possible.” Meera sat on the edge of the bed and bounced a little. “Spanish moss,” she said with a smile. “It’ll be cool at night.”
“Thank heavens, because I don’t foresee any air-conditioning. Not even the magical variety.”
“No, but look at the windows.” Meera pointed up. “At night this place will be far cooler than our tent.”
It gave Rhys a little thrill every time she said something like “our tent.”
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
“Starving.” She opened her backpack and took out a bag of peanuts. “Share?”
“Please.”
He sat next to her on the bed, and they ate the small bag of roasted peanuts while sharing a bottle of water.
“Roch has most of the water,” Meera said. “I only have this bottle and one more.”
“She has to have a fresh water source here, or she’d never have built the mound.”
“Do you think she built it on her own?” Meera shook her head. “I don’t think she did. It’s too old. I can feel the earth magic here.”
“Then she has to have a water source. There was a vegetable garden and a ritual bathhouse.”
“Hopefully it’s not too far to walk.”
“How are you feeling?” he asked. “This wasn’t what we planned, but you must have imagined this meeting for years.”
Meera’s smile was bordering on giddy. “I feel good. She found us. She invited us here. She recognized my magic. That’s more than I imagined.”
“She called you asomasikara.”
“Yes,” Meera said. “That is what I am.”
Even with everything he’d learned about her, it came as a surprise. Rhys hadn’t put the heir of Anamitra together with the ancient magic of the memory keepers. Memory keepers were something out of stories and tales of the first children.
In Irina legend, thesomasikarawere the first daughters of heaven to receive the wisdom of the Forgiven. They were given the ability to remember all other magics the Irina would need on the earth to tame the soul voices of humanity, heal the sick, tend the earth.
All Irina magic was given to thesomasikarawho then taught it to the other singers. As new magic was found and developed, the memories were given to the singers with the ability to remember it. Mother passed the memory to daughter from generation to generation until the keepers became legends and the formal system of Irina library magic took over.
“So there are memory keepers still living,” he said. “It’s not just a legend.”
“As far as I know, I am the only one left,” Meera said. “That is why Anamitra was so closely guarded and so highly respected. Why my birth was such a long-awaited event. Anamitra was beginning to suspect another child wouldn’t be born with the necessary magic. But unless others are hidden around the world, I am the last. Even before the Rending, we were rare. After it…”
“What makes your magic different?” He asked. “Why can you do what you do?”
“It’s born in me. Hereditary magic.” Meera toed off her shoes and crossed her legs on the bed. “But not entirely. It takes very intense study. The magic to keep the memories is part of me, but learning how to use it is not. When I was young, I couldn’t understand what I was seeing and hearing. I tapped into ancient memory around my aunt, but I didn’t know what it was. It took years of study to absorb what she was teaching me.”
“So you are literally a walking library.”
“No. A librarian only records the words and some of the feeling.” Meera took his hand. “I carry the true memory.”
“I’m afraid I still don’t understand.”
