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3amcorners · 2 years ago

Note

Unforeseen

finally works on a prompt

this kinda turned more into a bit of a ventfic...ish?

but warning for child death mention

one word prompt

35. Unforeseen

He saw his death coming. Perhaps this was what made him lucky on his last few days of living: to allow himself the preparation for the death to come…or maybe there was more to it than that.

Ion was a kind kid. And a self-aware one. He knew of the people’s views on the Sunchildren — knew that they would not take kindly to him. He knew of the Jibashiri’s reluctance towards him after facing the failures of Risutaiosu and then Surepio after, and it all weighed upon him.

He must have wondered: what could I do better for my people? What could I do that the other Sunchildren failed to do? It was a feat too much for a child like him, but he took it all the same in a way that a child would.

Ion was a skilled fortuneteller, or he claimed to be before his people, and people had their doubts at first — the same way they had doubted Surepio’s capabilities of tending to their wounds.

But Ion insisted, and he’d tell their fortunes, staring into the scry glass he had, waiting and waiting until it felt like time had frozen over him — that was when you knew that their fate had been revealed to him. And he’d take a few seconds more before a smile pushed its way across his face, and he’d gaze at the person and tell them, “There is good fortune ahead of you.”

Ion would say more than just that: he’d sprinkle in how it’d come to them, what to do to curry the fortune all the more, and what to avoid, and at the end of it, he would give the person a handcrafted sigil, made the night prior in his quarters.

People did like good fortunes. People enjoyed hearing good things for themselves, and therefore, they would become piqued by his fortunes. More and more people would come, and more and more fortunes would be told, and Ion would not reject any one person from a good fortune.

Perhaps we should have suspected it sooner, but we had never seen the people so happy when they interacted with the Sunchild. And so the fortunes stayed, and the sigils with them.

But soon enough, fate would bring these fortunes to light — the false fortunes to light, and in the face of these misfortunes, he would become a victim of his own making.

Ion was — that was how he could predict his own death. Whatever he had truly seen in the scry glass, it must not have been good for anyone if he had chosen to lie for their sake — not wanting to tell of their doom or the tragedy that would play out.

Our leader was a liar, but Ion was a kind kid.

The Solar Rite came, and his people couldn’t wait for the start of a new reign. The son returned to his father, and his people built a grave to honor Ion no Mikoto's name.

I wonder: Was he loved in the end?

He couldn’t be worse than those children of the past, gifting things instead of destroying them, giving hope instead of crushing it.

The rejections of these sigils he gifted say otherwise. The anger these adults would unleash against their leader — a child, no less — would say otherwise. They build this shrine to Ion no Mikoto, at the edge of Byakuyakoku, and lay the remnant of their former leader with it like they wash their hands of any relation to him.

But when he offered them these sigils and dreams of a bright future, there was love in the eyes of people — something that no other Sunchild would ever face. When people came to visit, seeking out more fortunetelling and he gave them happier things to hope for, there was love there. Despite the results of his short-acting kindness — despite the cruelty of his final days — wouldn’t these joyful moments be considered love?

Was he loved in the end? No, but I like to think he was, even for a brief moment. And maybe in future generations to come, the brevity of this love will echo in time, and they will see these rejections as gifts to a leader they had once adored.

That is all I could hope for for Ion.

I place my own sigil beside his grave.

#NEEDED TO FIX THIS BEFOREHAND bc the orientation of the piece is very important to me #child death mention #for the sunchildren #for other details: this was kinda meant to be written as a reflection by the caretaker of the sunchildren #i figured this caretaker wouldve been the first caretaker of the two present throughout the story #and she took care of surepio and risutaiosu #which is why both kids also get a mention here #the suns of helios #so i think i wrote this very early in the grieving process bc i felt like it was needed #and that it would be a good way to express that grief #i had to pause while doing so bc it became too much #ig bc it feels a lot like a eulogy in my head haha #two weeks after i finished it and it was cathartic in the way that i would find a conclusion for myself #'was he loved?' yes. even for a brief moment as all things in life are #re: the orientation #i have a habit of putting arguing quotes on opposing sides bc i think playing w the document space is fun lol #no one reads through these tags anyways so yknow LOL #what im saying is that the grieving process was surprisingly...ok for me #reaching a conclusion/the acceptance was easier than before bc there was love #i wont say that im out of grief #grief is a complicated and very ugly process lmao they say its stages but it feels more like waves that oscillate between themselves #the caretaker puts her own sigil by the grave in hopes that at least with her own sigil people later in the future will believe it was give #with love #even if she too was lied to #ah. well #i think thats all i really have to say about all this #just a lot of grief and processing. of writing something happier with grief than the ugliness in it

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3amcorners · 2 years ago

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