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How to Seer, Part 17

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Having lived for years with a variety of Spirits, I'd learned early on how to make successful Bargains to get what I wanted and to keep everyone behaving, but I had never actually created any real agreements with Spirits who weren't part of those with whom I kept company... not to mention any as large or imposing as the dragon. Still, he had offered it as an option for a way to know I could trust him; few Spirits willingly offered it up unless they really wanted something, and all he'd indicated was some time to talk.

Still, a Pact would be a much longer-lasting agreement, and would bind him to our arrangement for more than just 'a short time.' Then again, I reasoned, a Bargain would only bind him and not me, so it was a bit of a toss-up. Would I be willing to give up a portion of my freedom to see to it that he would remain a non-issue? Yes, I realized; I would. "If you really want to talk, and prove that I can trust you, what about a Pact?"

The request seemingly caught him by surprise, as he recoiled back, eye ridges raising. " Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating is wanting to be binding himself to I? Why is this being so?"

He didn't need me answering that question, and we both knew it. Was he testing me? I decided to provide an answer nevertheless, but I'm sure it wasn't what he was expecting. "It's a lot easier to talk when we're on equal footing... and if we're both bound to an agreement then I would call that fair... wouldn't you?"

The loud sound of the Dragon's massive rump slamming onto the asphalt should have made the ground shake but, I reminded myself, he wasn't really made of any physical substance, so I brushed it off as she spoke. "I is being not harmful to Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating and his Spirit Bird, and in return he gives I talking... much talking until I is heard and hears him."

The statement was vague enough that I was worried about the specifics. I provided that clarification. "I'll talk with you for up to a half an hour-- 30 minutes, or until we both agree that we have talked enough... and, in return, you let that man live."

The Dragon followed my finger as I pointed to the man collapsed atop his cardboard box shelter. The Spirit stared for many moments before looking back to me, and further clarified his part of the agreement. "I is letting man be living until the Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating says I doesn't have to be letting man be living."

There was something about the way he said the words that encouraged me to add "And you won't harm him in any way?"

In an alost comical manner the Dragon reared up and placed a fore-talon on his chest. "I is promising I is not hurting him in any way. I is leaving man be until the Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating says I can be doing otherwise."

Mitch remained off to the side, watching the exchange critically; I had a feeling if anything were overtly wrong he would warn me, and so, after a long pause, I made the agreement. "Very well. I'll talk with you for up to a half an hour-- 30 minutes, or until we both agree that we have talked enough... and, in return, you don't do anything to that man unless I tell you that you can... which I won't."

The Dragon seemed perfectly content with the Pact until I added the last three words. "Is those words being part of the Pact? The ones you was being saying last?"

I thought about it a moment, wondering if there was any specific reason to include or exclude them. After a few seconds I came to the conclusion that claiming I wouldn't do something would only negatively affect me and not restrict him in any way. Rather than answer the question I just repeated the pact, without the final words. I'll talk with you for up to a half an hour-- 30 minutes, or until we both agree that we have talked enough... and, in return, you don't do anything to that man unless I tell you that you can."

The Dragon bobbed its head up and down. "Yes. I can be making Pact with the Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating. Of this I be making Pact."

I reached my hand out to the offered talon and it extended a single finger. Mirroring the gesture, I likewise presented my index finger and as the two drew closer I saw the Dragon's single claw begin to glow a fierce purple while my own finger exhibited an aquamarine flare. The moment they touched I felt a wave of energy flow through me, connecting me to the strange, saurian spirit, and then it faded, leaving behind the faintest sensation of a tether-- an impression of a spiritual union impossible to describe to anyone who hasn't experienced it themselves.

Rather than rely on any formal pomp or circumstance, the Dragon immediately began launching into a series of questions. At first I'd expected that I'd need to be careful regarding what I spoke about, but the Spirit's questions were incredibly mundane in nature, like what my favorite kind of food was, and for me to describe it to him. He asked me about Human things, like cell phones, and cars and the way electricity worked. Ultimately, our discussion hit something a little more sensitive when he asked "Why is Humans putting stuffs into their bodies? Why does Humans using... word you was saying: drugs?"

It wasn't really an easy question to answer, not in any way that would make sense to a spirit. "I'm... not sure I can explain it in a way that a spirit could accept."

The Dragon lowered the front half of his body, folding his forelegs and laying his head atop them. "Then Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating can being telling I like he would to a Human, and I can being listening."

I took a second to formulate an explanation on different topics like 'self destructive tendencies', 'self medicating', 'finding comfortable numbness' or 'addiction' but my train of thought was interrupted when the man amidst the cardboard boxes began to moan, squirm, and thrash. Immediately I was ready to object. "We have a pact, spirit!"

The Dragon didn't so much as glance behind him. "I is not being doing anything, Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating... Like he being saying: we being having Pact."

It was difficult for me in that moment to try to figure out how he'd gotten around the Pact. "Stop it... whatever that is."

Finally, it did raise its head up again and glanced over its shoulder to him, speaking in that direction rather than at me. "Man is being dying... if I does not be taking his life he can being made to be not dying, but he is not being him. He is losing him to drug... he is not moving or talking or thinking... he is being losing soul... yes... body is living, but he is not being he."

I couldn't stop myself. "So... you're saying he'll either die, or he'll be in a coma or a vegetable or something?"

Not answering my question would not get the Dragon any spirit energy, and yet he still chose not to, electing instead for an enigmatic response. "I is letting man be living until the Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating says I doesn't have to be letting man be living. I is not hurting or harming or eating... and now man be doing what man be doing."

My mind didn't catch on for a few moments as what the Dragon said sunk in... and then, so did everything else. Spirits who ate Humans' souls-- or, hunted them, rather, had Red spirit energy, and the Dragon did not. Whatever he was doing-- however he was gaining the spirit energy from their souls, he wasn't hunting them... not in any traditional way. I understood in that moment what was going on, and I didn't like it. I didn't know the man, and yet I didn't want him to suffer. "I don't want him to die."

There was a strange sense of empathy and compassion in the Dragon's voice as he turned back to regard me. "And he is not being dying... but he is not being better."

I clenched my hands tightly by my sides. "Can... can I help him?"

The Dragon let out a long, deep sigh, cocking his head to the side just a little as he spoke. "You is wanting to being helping, Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating, and you is being doing what you can. You can be trying, but some things can't be being done. You IS trying, Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating, but not all things are being successful, no matter how much you is being trying."

Despite his strange method of talking, he wasn't wrong. I knew I would never be able to fly. I knew I would never be able to live 1000 years. In that moment, I realized that the Dragon acknowledged I would not be able to make that man better. I still had to ask. "If... if you don't do anything... will he be able to recover?"

The Dragon blinked. "If I is not eating his spirit energy then it is going and gone anyway... his body being living after it if Humans being keep it alive... but it is being dying if Humans don't being keeping it alive."

I let out a sigh, feeling a bitterness rise in the back of my mouth. Shaking my head and hating myself for my powerlessness, I turned to Mitch. "Come on... let's go home."

The other Spirit didn't miss a beat. "Are you being done talking to I, Human-Seer-Who-Doesn't-Wants-I-Eating?"

In respone I only answered "Just call me Human-Seer, Dragon... go do what you do."