The 12th Day of Resplendent Wood, 602 in the Year of Our Empress
Iselsi Navia watched herself go with a strange mixture of regret, relief and nostalgia. It was an amazing opportunity, to truly see what she had been in a way no one else had ever accomplished. Still, she was glad for the distance of age. The marks of domination her father had left on her had faded to dust long ago but they were still fresh on that Navia. All of the painful adolescence of a new Sidereal, the doubt, and being without purpose...yes, those were experiences Navia was relieved to do without.
"She'll be fine," the pregnant Navia said next to her. The real Navia turned to her future self and bowed her head respectfully.
"We have much to talk about, Navia," she said to herself. "How much time do we have?"
"More than that one had," reassured the older Sidereal. "Which is well. There is much to talk about. I know you burn with the questions I had when I was you, so ask them."
"Do you know why I never mentioned the Great Contagion?" Iselsi Navia said at once. "You know how many people died. Why wouldn't I have tried to prevent that catastrophe?"
"An excellent question," observed the pregnant Navia. "Why didn't you warn her?"
"Because, when I was her, I was not warned by who I am now," Navia answered. She schooled her irritation, keeping her face composed with a millennia of practice. She was not the undisciplined child she'd been, no matter how fresh the reminder of her youth. "I was reluctant to deviate in the slightest from the script of things to come. What little has been unveiled from the Pivot Child Prophecy only convinces me all the more that it is essential the Child be born, critical to Creation's survival, and I would not risk that for even a million lives saved from the Great Contagion. Not for all who died."
"Very good," the older Navia agreed. "Nor did I. Now, let me tell you what I was told when I was you. The Great Contagion could not have been prevented."
"Do we ever find out how it started?" Iselsi Navia wondered.
"No," said her future self grimly, her mouth firming into a flat line. "And because of that, no warning of ours would be heeded by the Bureau. I will tell you what I was told when I was you by who I am now; we could not have changed anything."
"How can you be so sure?" Navia asked archly. "We both understand Fate perfectly well. We know how to weave Destiny and change the future."
"But we didn't. If true time travel were possible, if who I am now is actually real in the context of your reality, then changing the past is possible. We do understand Destiny, however, and we both know how impossible it is to change what has happened. Once woven, the Tapestry is immutable. It can be changed but it cannot be unwoven. Is there a possibility where we warned her and she changed the future? What do you think?"
"That cannot be a genuine possibility," Iselsi Navia said, shaking her head. "Because the past has already happened for me. I am not a possibility anymore. I am, for present purposes, the real Navia. After a thousand years, I understand more but not enough. This is my second question. How can this encounter be happening? If I am the real Navia, who was that young Sidereal I reassured and steered on the correct path? The past cannot change. So what was that? And if, someday I become you, who will I be right now when I'm talking to her? A...ghost of spent possibility?"
"Navia, consider this," said the older Navia, thoughtfully tapping her lips with an index finger. The mannerism was interesting. It was not one Navia herself presently used. "The Loom of Fate was not built by the Gods. The Primordials created it as the great Engine of the World, creating and sustaining the known. You told yourself that just now. The past cannot change, in part, because in a fundamental way the Loom says it cannot. Do you see?"
"So all of the strange things that have happened to people in here, ever, may be true impossibilities anywhere else but not necessarily so here," Navia mused aloud. "That is strange and it seems contradictory."
"Perhaps it is," the other one said. "Nonetheless, we are having this conversation. When you become me, you will believe as I do; that whether I am in some way determining my past or not is ultimately irrelevant. I tell you what I was told because I believe in this future, Navia, and have faith because the Pivot Child is almost ready to be born."
"That supercedes all else," Iselsi Navia agreed. "Now, tell me who the father is. No prophetic forecasting has revealed that information to me."
"Nor will it for a while yet. Despite that, you must find him and conceive a child before then." The older Navia smiled, a little sadly the present one thought. Iselsi Navia wondered at the long red hair. Had she promoted out of the Capital Convention altogether? Was she no longer the Spymaster of the All-Seeing Eye or one of the Immaculate Order's most revered monks? Was Iselsi Navia just Navia once again?
"Tell me what I must do."
"Several things must occur, Navia." The older one winced slightly and pressed a hand to her stomach. Navia stepped forward and, with a hesitation she could hardly have explained, she reached forward and touched the swell of her other self's stomach. Indeed, the child was kicking. Navia felt wonder bubble up inside of her, as fresh as the feelings of that child-self she'd just been talking to. That was her daughter inside of there. A daughter not yet conceived but hers. Hers and Creation's. A reverential awe swept over her, followed by a deep instinct to ward and protect the unborn child.
"She's amazing," Iselsi Navia whispered, feeling at the burgeoning thread of the child's life. If she looked over her shoulder at the Tapestry, would she be able to see the Pivot Child in it? How could she feel her daughter's destiny, indistinct as it was, when she hadn't been conceived yet? How was any of this possible?
"Only the Maiden knows," the older Navia answered, as if knowing her thoughts. Come to think of it, she likely did. Iselsi Navia straightened and gave a curt nod to her counterpart.
"Tell me."
"You will know him by his blood and by his name," her other self said. "The Pivot Child is to be born from the Dragons and he will be near enough. He will be named for his mother, yet not by his mother. He will be chaste, pure, and your eyes will reveal him to you. This is how you shall know who the father will be."
"There's more," Iselsi Navia said, following the intuition her mastery of Fate gave her.
"You cannot force him," the pregnant Navia said, looking a little more sad as she said it. What secret was she hiding? Navia was a manager of the Capital Convention now, on the verge of admittance to the Bronze Faction's Inner Circle. She was trusted by Kejak himself and she was very, very good at what she did. A pity this other Navia was at least as skilled.
If only the necessity of prophecy did not prevent her from pulling every fact she needed from this other Sidereal, whether it was herself or not. She would make any sacrifice for the Prophecy, even a self not yet her. This Navia was pregnant with the Pivot Child, though, and that was what mattered. She had to have faith in allowing this conversation to go its course, have faith that her success would be certain that way.
"What am I to do?" she asked respectfully, aware that her inner thoughts were known to this other woman and not caring in the least. If this future Navia was anything like she was now, she would understand the ruthless practicality that defined their very existence.
"He must fall in love with you," said her other self. "The Pivot Child can only be borne in love. You may bind him with Wanting and Fearing but you cannot compel him with it. You may create those feelings but he must be free to choose."
"I see," Navia said, concealing her irritation with practiced smoothness. "What else?"
"You must conceive. But not before you see the correct sign. You must wait for a Second Circle error in the Capital Convention to occur. You will know it for it will involve a Dragon-Blooded youth paradoxically Exalting. What you must remember, Navia, is to watch for the sign of paradoxical Exaltation. This is important. Even the Heavens will bear witness to this paradox for it will occur at the end of two sequential lunar eclipses. In fact...you will see the eclipses first."
Iselsi Navia wondered at her counterpart's words. Obviously, there was more to this sign that her words immediately showed. She wasn't an amateur at this. The only reason she would have emphasized the point in such a heavy-set way was to trigger the appropriate memory of those words when the real sign occurred. Why was she not being plain?
Obviously because the future Navia she had not been, when her counterpart had been her.
"I understand," she replied. The future Navia smiled a little more, as if understanding and approving of her masked internal reasoning.
"I have a few words of advice and then I must go, for you're already late for your dance and I...I will deliver Yezenjen sometime tomorrow."
"Yezenjen?" Iselsi Navia asked, wondering at the name. "That means Lion of Heaven, doesn't it?"
"It does," the older Navia said, with a slight smirk. "Perhaps pretentious but suitable for such a child as she will be. But we must hurry. You don't want to keep Ragara Yelaren waiting."
"I know," Iselsi Navia sighed. "I hoped that my promotion to manager in the Capital Convention would get me out of these annoying things. I'm relieved that my duties to instruct Iriszy will be done soon."
"I remember how time-consuming instruction was," her future self commiserated. "The burdens of our dealings with the Scarlet Throne. Put it from your mind for the moment. To permit the Pivot Child Prophecy to pass, you will have to do some hard things, harder than any you've ever done. No matter the price, remember that she is worth it. No life is more important than this one." She patted her stomach and smiled at the child inside of her. "Also...you will likely conceive our daughter and never see the father again. But..." Navia paused meaningfully. "Although that is usually the Division's approach to moving Destiny, to fade into memory, you may wish to consider treasuring what time you can snatch with him. You and I will know very little comfort for a great while, Navia. When all else fails, he may offer some."
"I will consider your advice," Navia said, folding her hands together and stretching her fingers out. "Have a safe delivery, Navia. We both know the stakes. I pray Heaven itself watches over this child."
"It will," the older Navia said, sighing softly. "It will. I will."
Iselsi Navia walked past her pregnant self and moved down the corridor until it turned straight down into another corridor. She set foot on the branch, feeling gravity twisting about her to reorient her, when she heard herself call back. Turning, she saw her counterpart lift a hand and wave.
"One thing more, Iselsi Navia," her other self said. "A day may come where you feel you can trust E'lial. Do so then for he has done much to further our cause in my day. But no one, absolutely no one else can know. At all costs, you and he are the only living people who can connect the Pivot Child to you until she is born. Afterwards, it will not matter but before then, you must avoid detection. At all costs," her counterpart enunciated clearly.
And then she was gone.