Chapter 95 - The Farm in Irttat
Chapter 95: Tower of Crows 03
Jorrona's earliest memories began more than forty years ago.
At that time, there were more people living in the northern part of the city. The fields bustled with activity. Dust drifted through the air, wheat husks clung to every garment, and the distant shouts of farmers echoed unhindered across the open land, reverberating through her soul.
Rows of brick-and-tile houses, small children chasing their shadows under trees, birds migrating south, a sky washed clean and clear, the earth clothed in gold, and wind rising from the edge of the world.
The vitality of the land surged through the human world. Sweet fruit was severed from its connection to the soil by the edge of a scythe, destined soon to become part of human lives.
Amid the endless cycle of life and death, faint sounds and colors drifted around her, and her soul first awakened to sensation within that tide, bewildered and uncertain.
Then a small blue dove landed tentatively on her shoulder, its bead-like eyes blinking at her with innocent curiosity.
This little creature was fragile.
The thought came to her for no particular reason. Something stirred within her chest. She steadied herself and stopped swaying in the wind.
The dove pecked at her twice. Finding that this strange "person" remained motionless, it grew bold enough to hop down into the wheat field, pick up a grain of wheat, then return to her shoulder and enjoy its prize at leisure.
And in the very instant that compassion arose within Jorrona, all sound and color suddenly became clear.
A scarecrow grew a heart, and from that heart, a mind.
She was born amid the tides of flourishing and withering. The life force of all things flowed before her eyes, and she saw it all without exception.
The blue dove on her shoulder ate its fill beneath her silent tolerance and settled comfortably to preen its feathers.
Jorrona watched it, seeing with her own eyes as its weakened vitality gradually replenished itself, crossing that difficult threshold and returning to the ordinary course of life.
She watched crop after crop grow and be harvested. She watched old trees bud anew. She watched children grow into adults. She watched hibernating field snakes stir again with the arrival of spring.
All living things had their end. Before that end arrived, they crept slowly like ants along their paths, and a planet traced its orbit for the ninety-ninth time.
Confined to this narrow patch of ground, even though her senses could reach for miles in every direction, the endless repetition of the same cycle year after year gradually gave rise to a deep weariness.
"The owner of this land back then has most likely been buried for many years now. "Jorrona glanced toward the consciousness beside them. It belonged to the woman currently working nearby. "Now it's her granddaughter who has inherited the field. Fortunately, after two changes of ownership, my vessel, or rather, my body, survived and was never cleared away. Probably because it always remained strangely well-preserved, and no one felt inclined to disturb it."
Something like Delphine, Lucita thought privately.
One born of space, the other born of flourishing and decline. Both were spirits nurtured by the natural world.
"Your turn, child," Jorrona said. "Now tell me why you can see me."
Lucita gathered her thoughts: "Do you know where this place is?"
Jorrona looked around, uncertain how to describe a world she had gotten used to: "I suppose... this is a dwelling place for souls?"
"More or less. The world has many layers, and this is one of them. It contains all the minds in the world that are capable of thought." Lucita said. "As for a soul — that is, a mind-body — unless I'm mistaken, this is where you were originally born."
"So?"
"I happen to be fairly familiar with this layer of the world." Lucita blinked.
The exchange left both of them holding something back. Jorrona had seen enough shrewd farmers to know that a wise negotiator never revealed everything at once. Lucita, meanwhile, sat upon a vast advantage in knowledge and found the conversation easy to steer.
She felt she was standing at the threshold of a great secret. The mystery of life's cycle seemed only one gentle push away from revealing itself.
She asked softly, as though afraid of startling some truth: "Then... what does the world look like, through your eyes?"
Jorrona said: "That's your second question. What secret are you prepared to offer in exchange this time?"
"What do you need?"
"Ha." Jorrona gave a soft laugh. "Big words from such a little girl. Whatever I ask for, you can provide?"
"Please. Tell me."
Jorrona raised an eyebrow.
"A body." Her voice carried a subtle mockery. "I want a warm heart. I want a body that bleeds, ages, and moves. I want to leave the patch of ground I've stood on for forty years and see where the geese that fly south over my head every autumn actually land."
"Can you do that, little girl?"
There was a faint edge of aggression concealed in the scarecrow's tone.
Unlike Delphine, who had entered the world shortly after her birth, Jorrona had been trapped from the very beginning of her existence inside her straw casing, motionless for years.
A spirit with desires, condemned to decades of solitude. How could such a being not harbor resentment?
Lucita paid little attention to Jorrona's mood and considered the request in silence.
After the concert in the abandoned cemetery, she had come to understand the nature of minds, gained mastery over spirit, and deepened her understanding of the realm of souls.
Jorrona's request was, in truth, achievable by one particular method. She could completely separate Jorrona's mind from its vessel and transfer it into a naturally living body.
For an ordinary living being, the mind could not exist independently of its vessel, and would likely dissolve the moment it was separated. But Jorrona was different.
She had been born independent.
And a natural living container... would simply require erasing the original soul already inside a body.
Lucita shook her head. That was an efficient method, but a profoundly evil one.
She could settle for a lesser alternative, waiting for a recently deceased, not-yet-deteriorated body, from some accident nearby, if Jorrona did not mind.
Out here on these fields, there would be many birds that would not survive the coming cold winter.
And besides...If Delphine ever wanted the same thing...
Her thoughts began to drift.
Lucita steadied herself, pulled her wandering thoughts back, and gave a measured nod: "It can be done."
"What did you say?"
Jorrona was not entirely sure she had heard correctly.
"It can be done. I can help you, though it will require time and the right circumstances." Lucita repeated. "If you don't mind becoming a bird, a rabbit, or even a field mouse."
"I will find you a suitable body," she said. "But you should understand something. Once a mind is joined to a living vessel, the process is irreversible. There are no second chances. When that body grows old and dies, your life will end with it."
Jorrona's breathing grew heavier.
If Lucita had agreed without condition, Jorrona would have been far more suspicious.
With stipulations in place, she suddenly felt the ground beneath her feet — oh, she had forgotten: she had no feet.
She knew exactly how precious such an opportunity was. Without Lucita, she might simply linger until her soul gradually wore away and disappeared.
"Deal." Jorrona agreed at once, afraid Lucita might change her mind.
The matter was important enough that Lucita asked again. "Is it worth it? Without a body, at your current level of spiritual strength, you could still exist for several hundred years."
Jorrona was in good spirits now, and couldn't help but smile more broadly at this, her voice unfolding with ease: "Of course. Freedom is priceless."
"Then it's a deal."
Lucita sealed the agreement. Jorrona let out a long breath.
She said: "The farthest I can see is only a few miles in every direction. I can barely see beyond that private orchard to the east..."
"Shh."
Lucita pressed two fingers to her lips, cutting off Jorrona's description, and stepped forward: "Lend me your eyes for a moment."
"Er, eyes?"
"Yes, your eyes." She said, extending her palm and tentatively pressing it to Jorrona's intangible forehead. "Let me see everything you see."
Jorrona paused, and chose not to pull away.
Lucita closed her eyes and sank into Jorrona's consciousness, searching for the frequency of her soul until she found a moment of perfect resonance.
Like a fish breaking free of the sea. Like a gull piercing the clouds. Like sunlight pouring through a gap in the sky.
She pushed open the horizon of the world and opened her eyes.
Life cycled endlessly. Rivers flowed. Seas turned.
The orchard to the east had been planted seven years earlier and now overflowed with vitality. Though the leaves had begun to fall, life continued flowing into the fruit, concentrating itself into dense sweetness.
Beside the creek at the edge of the fields, cattails and fragrant reeds spread their leaves. Three quarters of their lifespan had already passed. They stood at the height of their flourishing. After this season would come frost, withering, and the end of the little life remaining within them.
The wind blew gently. Ten thousand wheat ears swayed together, and countless dispersing traces of vitality swept on the wind into people's faces, then flowed away into the distance, dancing together with the forest, with rivers and sea, with the breathing of living beings.
Cycling endlessly, without cease.
It was not only in the soil, nor only in living creatures — vitality... was everywhere.
The barrier that had seemed impossible to break suddenly shattered.
Lucita's mind opened wide, and a flock of southward-flying geese gave their clear, bright calls.
She lowered her gaze to the earth beneath her feet.
The woman working this field had turned forty-five this year. Her vitality resembled the afternoon sun. Though it had passed its brightest hour, it still radiated warmth with tireless persistence.
Her heart pumped blood through her body to every limb. That was the center of her life.
With every breath, vitality flowed outward from her. Each passing second carried her an infinitesimal step closer to death.
And what she received in return for her fading youth were full stomachs for the coming year and the continuation of her bloodline.
Life sustaining life.
Without end.
Was this what Jorrona saw?
Lucita gave a quiet sigh.
To witness all flourishing and decline with such clarity. No wonder loneliness and bitterness took root.
She closed her eyes and sank back into the spiritual world.
"Thank you. Your world — the world of life — is remarkable."
Under Jorrona's somewhat expectant gaze, Lucita spoke with a hint of hesitation: "What I promised you... perhaps you won't have to wait after all."
Jorrona: "What?"
"Perhaps I know now how to create a body for you." A faint smile colored Lucita's voice. "What would you like to be?"
To Lucita's surprise, Jorrona answered: "A dove. I want to be a dove."
"A dove?" Lucita repeated with surprise. "You don't want to be human? Or even one of the legendary long-lived races? That might not be impossible to arrange."
Jorrona shook her head.
All the years she had been confined here, she had watched generation after generation of human beings. She had long since lost any longing for that kind of life.
She said: "I want a pair of wings. Wherever I want to fly, I fly."
A relatively simple request.
Lucita answered: "Then you will have what you want."
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