Nesiwe

Overview

Nesiwe is the mother of Lindiwe and a harvester of Arcolano Milk who works within Hypogea, the underground ecosystem beneath Caecaster. She plays a crucial role in her daughter’s story, both as a storyteller who helped Lin understand the world despite her blindness, and as a witness to the fateful encounter between Lin and the chimera worm Maw.

Life and Work

Nesiwe is fortunate to work within Hypogea, the underground world that sprawls beneath Caecaster and its environs. There, in the perpetual night of the depths, she harvests the precious Arcolano Milk, a psychotropic substance that Alterers sometimes use to enhance their demiurgic abilities.

Relationship with Lindiwe

When Lindiwe returned home in the evening after a grueling day of work, Nesiwe would tell her what she had seen, heard, and done that day. The underground rivers, the unreal silence of the abyss, the muffled chatter of her colleagues, the chilly air contrasting with the arid furnace of the desert—Nesiwe described each detail with care, emphasizing sensory aspects, especially hearing and smell.

She avoided mentioning colors or making comparisons with things Lin could not know or apprehend, for her daughter was born blind. Nesiwe’s careful descriptions helped Lin build a rich understanding of the world through sounds, smells, textures, temperatures, and movements of air.

The Hypogea Incident

One day, as Nesiwe and the other harvesters exchanged the latest gossip in Hypogea, Lin was drawn to a murmuring coming from the oozing rock. When the chimera worm Maw emerged and Lin fell into a puddle of Arcolano Milk, losing consciousness, Nesiwe could see that her daughter was drowning and suffocating. However, the chimera hovered around the young girl’s lifeless body, preventing anyone from approaching, including Nesiwe herself.

Nesiwe’s voice, screaming with a strange mixture of fear and anger, was one of the sounds Lin heard as she regained partial consciousness. Her mother’s arms eventually hoisted her onto the bank once Maw allowed them to approach.

Witnessing the Miracle

When Lin woke up in her bed after the incident, Nesiwe took her hands, crying. She told her daughter what had happened: how the worm had burst from a wall, how it had not allowed anyone to approach Lin’s body, and how it had seemed to watch over her rather than attack.

Later, despite her reluctance, Nesiwe watched as Lin drank another sip of Arcolano Milk to test whether it truly enabled her to see. She looked at her daughter’s face as Lin traced her gaze with her fingers to follow the lines and contours. Tears flowed down Nesiwe’s cheeks when she realized that thanks to the Milk, her daughter could finally see—not through her eyes, but through her mind, welcoming ideas directly into her consciousness.

Role in Lin’s Journey

Nesiwe’s work as an Arcolano Milk harvester inadvertently provided the key to her daughter’s ability to perceive the world. The psychotropic substance that she collected in the depths of Hypogea became the means by which Lindiwe gained sight through Eidomancy, changing her daughter’s life forever and eventually leading to her recruitment by the Yzmir.