From Inside the Eddy: An Interview

It's the eighth day of Devaki; the year is 2068 in the Volcanic Era. I'm here talking to Ve, who will be telling me about his experiences at the Eddy of Seekers. Thanks again for doing this, Ve.

I quite understand the urgency and necessity of recording this information, Scribe Elan.

Come on, Ve, you don't have to go all High Eihlari on me. If you're sept-kin to my uncle, you're sept-kin to me.

Clarification: My father's brother Nkeba is the modern Water Seekers' new Dancinglight, and happens to be my favorite relative. Ve acts as his bodyguard, and will not explain why.

I am not speaking only to you, but to your readers as well, who are unknown to me.

I'm not publishing this. I'm just going to use it as a source.

Clarification:Ve gave his permission to make this interview public. My register of speech remains acceptable, since readers are in the position of overhearing someone addressing accepted kin.

Nevertheless, while it is certainly proper for you to use Common Eihlari with me, you will be using my statements in your work; therefore it would be inappropriate for me to speak so familiarly in return.

*sigh* Okay, fine. First thing I'll need to know is why you were there in the first place.

*a long pause* Scribe Elan, I agreed to this interview with the stipulation that you would not be asking me personal questions.

It's for context. Everybody knows the Water Seekers hated having too many people around, so it's important to know why you were there for so long when you aren't a Water Seeker yourself.

Ah. In that case, I was there under an obligation to be a protector to one of their number, in the same way as I am to your uncle.

Makes sense. *chuckle* Although I can't imagine there'd be a whole lot of danger in a place like the Eddy.

On the contrary, the Eddy at the time had no fixed foundation or roofed shelters. The Seekers lived in perpetual risk of exposure, malnutrition, injury, and drowning.

Drowning? How do people who live out on the ocean and walk on water worry about getting drowned?!

Not all Seekers have the ability to shape water. For those those who do, it requires energy and concentration. If you could not breathe except by consciously thinking about it, how long would you be able to keep breathing?

Oh. *long inhale* That's- *cough* That's actually a really nasty thought. So... *pause* Uh, I hate to ask this then, but...were there a lot of Seekers who drowned in their sleep, say?

Nothing of that sort occurred while I was there. I was told that the more Seekers there are at the Eddy at one time, the less common such accidents are. They are highly attuned to the discomfort of others, especially other Seekers, and would effect a quick rescue if one were in trouble.

Oh! Oh, of course! *uneasy laughter* Well, don't I feel stupid. I should have realized that. *shuffling pages* Well, I was going to finish up by asking about the Day of Shame, but since I've kind of accidentally brought it up, I'm going to skip ahead.

Clarification: In 935 Vol, an Eihlarian clan feud ended in deadly violence that drew the Water Seekers here to put a stop to it. They stayed long enough to establish a formal system for addressing grievances between clans, and from then until the destruction of the Eddy returned annually to participate in our remembrance ritual.

Just another quick factual question first: when and how long were you at the Eddy?

A little more than three years, from early 2003 to halfway through 2006.

Okay! So you must have been there for at least two of their visits to Eihlari.

Yes, although I must admit they were not at the forefront of my mind at the time.

Oh. Your friend wasn't part of any of them?

*pause* Not a friend, but my responsibility. Otherwise you are correct.

Ve... *hmph* Fine, I won't argue with you on that right now. Um... Well, do you at least know what the Water Seekers' feelings were about making the trip every year?

Their feelings? *pause* The Water Seekers strove to maintain a neutral emotional state regardless of what is happening. I don't believe they had any strong feelings regarding Eihlari...but perhaps I misunderstand your question?

Mmm... Yeah, that's not really what I... *thinking* Okay, it's that--well, you know what a big deal the massacre remembrance is here. And the way Davi-ma tells it, it was an even bigger deal back when the old Eddy's Seekers were part of it.

Clarification: Davili Rruend is my father's mother and Warden of her clan, to which my family owes sept allegiance.

I just...I'm wondering whether it was a big deal to the Seekers too, or whether it was something they did just because they thought they had to.

It was no mere obligation, though I doubt they understood the depth of its significance. I once heard it described as "an agreement with a local island". I can assure you it was an event all the Seekers looked forward to, even if only because it meant a comfortable stock of provisions afterward.

Really! You mean, the part Davi-ma tells about how they used to pile the extra food onto the Seekers to give them something to eat on the way back--that was feeding the whole Eddy?

For a time, yes.

*whistle* Wow--it doesn't seem like much. But then I guess we used to make more, before the Eddy blew up.

Clarification: In 2016 Vol the Eddy drifted over a submerged volcano that suddenly erupted, sending a blast of steam and rock up through the ocean above it. Although there is no proof, we are certain it was deliberately triggered.

Possibly, but the Water Seekers were also careful not to eat excessively. They considered hunger and fullness to be equally indesirable conditions.

Well, this is getting me back on track, anyway. *shuffling pages* I meant to start with the more general questions, like how did the Seekers live and eat. I mean, they couldn't have survived the whole year just on what we gave them, and I don't see how they could raise their own food. Unless they were farming fish and seaweed?

They were not, although sometimes food would come to them. The currents surrounding the Eddy readily gather floating debris, and at times that would include edible material.

Yurgh! That sounds absolutely disgusting!

It was rarely pleasant, but Seekers did not eat for the enjoyment of it. Please do not misunderstand me--that was not the Seekers' primary means of survival. Several times while I was there, they received supplies from tideriders in exchange for assistance.

Clarification: Tideriders are families who have lived on the ocean for generations.

The same tideriders they didn't like coming to visit them?

They were an unwelcome necessity, yes. That is why the Dancinglight's Dome existed.

Oh, yes, that! Did you ever see the dome yourself, Ve? I mean from the inside?

I did, twice; both when I arrived and when I left.

What was it like?

It was long enough ago that I cannot recall my impression of it. I can say that it was startling the first time I saw it. *pause* Do you really need my description of it? I would assume the phenomenon has been adequately recorded elsewhere.

Yeah, I've read about it in tiderider logs. A building big enough to hold a ship, made entirely out of water, and then it does this shimmy that makes the sunlight go dancing around. That's not the same as talking to someone who's seen it in person, y'know? But yeah, I guess that's one of those personal questions I promised I wouldn't ask, huh? So let me back up. Weren't you just saying they needed the dome because of the tideriders? Why was that?

Remember that the Eddy is an area of the ocean far from any inhabited island, in a region of relatively calm water. It is that calmness that draws Water Seekers there. Now consider that the human body is full of water, but in a much more active state. The arrival of a ship full of people is a disturbance to the Eddy's calm; the more excited they are, the greater the distraction. In such cases a small number of Seekers with the ability to shape water were tasked with raising the dome as a shield, to contain and conceal the agitated water within each person aboard the ship.

Ha! So it's like a temper room!

Clarification: A temper room is a small outbuilding where one may work out a rage without disturbing others.

*chuckling* I suppose it is--I hadn't made that connection. It's possible that's what inspired temper rooms in the first place.

So if I understand this, the Water Seekers didn't like dealing with tideriders, but had to in order to survive, so they figured out this way of...keeping the noise down?

An accurate assessment, I would say.

Hang on. If the Eddy floats around all the time, how do the tideriders know how to find it?

They rely on navigators with specialized knowledge of seasonal currents. The wealthier tideriders have such navigators in the family, but most often they must be hired. I have heard that some could maintain a good living doing nothing but guiding boats to the Eddy.

What kinds of things did they ask the Water Seekers to do?

I don't know. It was no business of mine, and so I did not ask. There are any number of possibilities. Seekers can sense contaminated water, find lost objects in shallows. There are also certain illnesses and ailments that Seekers are able to detect.

Well, why bother? They could go to Galtern for that.

Clarification: The island of Galtern, or more specifically its capital Stolc, is famous throughout the Cluster Islands for medical knowledge.

Perhaps so, but the cost could well be much steeper. Even a tiderider family of small means could reasonably prefer to hire a navigator and supply the Eddy than pay the fees that Galtern used to require.

Gotcha. Moving on, then. How did the Water Seekers spend their time?

Mostly in meditation, of the kind known as a float. You have observed your uncle in that state, I'm sure.

And they'd do that constantly, on purpose? I don't understand. That seems so boring.

Undoubtedly you would find it so. I have not met any native Eihlarian who I believe would be content there. Your spirits would have been starved by the austerity.

Were you content there?

That is a personal question.

You're right. I'm sorry. It wasn't even on my list, I just--

You are just concerned for the well-being of those you are close to. It is an admirable Eihlarian trait.

Well, you know, we have the Water Seekers to thank for that.

Not at all. Speaking in general, the Eddy's Seekers were solitary, each concerned only with their own state.

But--wait... Didn't you say earlier that they would help each other when they were in trouble? And why would they always be going around to the islands rescuing people after storms and earthquakes and stuff if they didn't care?

As I mentioned before, what the Water Seekers cared about was the calm. Strong emotions, especially pain and terror, disturb that calm. The greater the numbers in distress, or the nearer, the stronger the disturbance.

*long pause* ...What? *longer pause* You're kidding.

I am not.

You mean... So, wait--way back when all the other clans got together, rounded up the Halsuls and forced them into the bay, and then the Water Seekers came running over the ocean all the way to Eihlari from the Eddy just to make it all stop...you're telling me it's only because we were bothering them? *groan* That's so disillusioning.

That is the purpose of this interview, isn't it? To to find the truth of matters people think they understand but don't? That is rarely a satisfying quest. Rumors are only an illusion of truth, but they linger in people's minds longer because they are often more comfortable.

*laughing* Ve, that was perfectly put. You really oughta teach a description class. *sigh* All right, so it turns out the Water Seekers weren't so altruistic after all. Doesn't matter. Even if they were helping us just to help themselves, we needed that help. Okay. *exhale* Where was I, anyway? Um... Right. "How did the Water Seekers spend their time?" Got that one. "Why did they go to the Eddy?" *pause* You know, I feel like you've answered that one already. It was a calm place without a lot of people, and they really wanted to be alone.

Not quite. What they sought to achieve was a perfectly neutral emotional and physical state, to be as an equal with the ocean without the distraction of bodily needs, their own or others'.

*long pause* I'm sorry, Ve. I'm just...I don't get it. The ocean isn't even alive. What's the point of trying to...be friends with it?

That, I have no answer for. Their motives for seeking the ocean were as varied as were they themselves, and since they rarely engaged me in conversation, I can't give you a comprehensive list.

*snort* So, that means no personal questions about the Seekers, either. Got it.

I can tell you that the Seeker I was protecting had come to experience the full expanse of time and place that the ocean offered.

*speechless*

*waiting*

You know, I--I understand that even less.

I'm merely repeating what I heard. If it's any comfort, I found it equally incomprehensible.

I'll just go to my next question, then. What did the Eddy look like? You already said they didn't have houses, which I sort of guessed. But there had to have been something to stand on, right?

There were surfaces of various kinds, but nothing particularly solid. The only materials available to work with were whatever drifted in from the circulating currents. Some of it was old hulls, but mostly it was flotsam the Seekers roped together to make platforms. The most precarious were mats woven of seaweed.

Wasn't there any shade at all?

A few hulls still had at least partial top decks, but those were uncommon. There were two at the time I came, one of which later collapsed.

*shudder* The more you describe the place, the more horrifying it sounds.

Keep in mind Water Seekers have an entirely different idea of what constitutes comfort. These platforms existed solely to allow them to sleep safely. Most of the Seekers spent the majority of their time out in the water, away from the platforms.

But you said some couldn't walk on water, right? What did they do? Were they stuck there, not able to get away from each other?

When they wanted to meditate alone, they would go into the water as well, holding some floating material to support them. Otherwise, yes, they would remain on the platforms; but at the same time, no, that subset of Seekers had less of a solitary temperament and did not think of themselves as "stuck". As a matter of fact, some preferred being in company.

Really? Then why go to a place like the Eddy where there's hardly anyone?

As I have said, the Water Seekers did not share their thoughts with me, so I cannot elaborate. Certainly appreciating the ocean and appreciating the company of others are not necessarily mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, if one wishes to be with people who appreciate the ocean, the Eddy is the only place it would make sense to be.

Okay, I can see that. And as long as the people who want to be alone can be alone, it all works out for everyone. What about hierarchy? Did the Seekers have a pecking order?

Of sorts, yes, but not in the way most islanders seem to believe they did. They had no ranking among themselves, but there was a... *pause* I believe a "continuum of respect" might be the best way of putting it. Those with stronger affinity for the ocean held less esteem for those who, in their minds, were less committed to being at the Eddy.

Whaaat? *pause* Sorry, I guess I was expecting something more along the lines of seniority. The ones who had been there longest, y'know, getting priority over the newer ones.

The two conditions are very nearly the same. A Seeker who finds perfect fulfillment from the ocean would not want to be anywhere else, and may spend a near-lifetime at the Eddy. One who does not feel so intensely connected might not come until later in life, become surfeited on contemplation, and leave the Eddy voluntarily after only a short while. Those short-term comings and goings created slight instability in the Eddy's collective aura, with an effect on the more meditative Seekers similar to that of background hissing in a radio transmission.

So how did they decide who would be the Dancinglight?

That role was given to whoever was least unwilling to do it, usually one of the less connected Seekers.

*long pause* I'm sorry, did I hear that right? You just made being the Dancinglight sound like the worst chore on the list.

It was. There were few Seekers who could stand at all to be in the dome, engaging with outsiders. Those who did were usually among the short-term Seekers.

So, wait. The Dancinglight...is not the highest-ranking Seeker? Is the opposite of that?

In the old Eddy, yes, that was the case. The restored Eddy is entirely different. That the Dancinglight is held to be the leading Water Seeker may have stemmed from a misunderstanding, but has become truth. Similarly, the title of Sage was never used among Water Seekers, only by outsiders, but is now a recognized rank within the Eddy.

Does Uncle Nkeba know all this?

If he doesn't, he will when he reads your finished piece.

You never told him?!

I saw no reason to. The new Water Seekers serve a different purpose. There would not be any benefit in trying to repattern themselves after the old ones.

Okay. Last question, then--and, Ve, if you think it's too personal, you don't have to answer. What was the most interesting thing you saw at the Eddy? *chuckle* That's if anything.

Ah, yes! I witnessed a dome collapse.

A what? ...Oh, right, the boat that fell apart. I forgot you mentioned that.

You misunderstand me. Near the end of my time at the Eddy, a visiting boat came and was met by the Dancinglight under the dome. I was so accustomed to the sight by then that I hardly noticed them raising it. After some time, however, there was unusual agitation among the Seekers who were holding the dome in place. I glanced over in time to see the pillars drop, leaving only the top of the dome, which fell onto the boat immediately afterward. After that, the Seekers formed a tall wave that rolled away from the Eddy, pushing the boat ahead of it.

Whoa! Did you ever find out what happened?

Yes, the event interrupted everyone who had been meditating, and the Dancinglight at the time had to make an accounting of it. The visitor had made an impossible request, something the Seekers refused to do.

What was it?

I do not remember the specifics, only that nearly all agreed that the expulsion was warranted. It was an uncommon occurrence, usually reserved for visitors with trivial intentions, but I do recall the consensus that in this case it was because they considered the request abhorrent.

Wow. Good to know the Water Seekers didn't let anyone mess with them. Okay. Anyway, that takes care of my list of questions. And of course this went on far longer than I meant it to; sorry about that.

I expected no less.

I'm that predictable? *sigh* Don't answer that; I know I am. Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to talk with me. Just to warn you, though, after I process the transcript and notes I'll probably come up with more I want to ask.

I am perfectly willing to give a follow-up interview, should you need it.

Great. With that, I'll head out. End recording.