The Islanders

Piqay (1) FOLLOWED PATH

PIQAY is the island of traces. A small and pretty wine-growing island, famous for its elevated views of the surrounding sea and other islands close by, Piqay is renowned throughout the Archipelago as the place no one can or will leave. In practical terms this is untrue, because there are no prohibitions on travel, and like most islands Piqay has a busy port constantly trading. Ferries depart every day for the adjacent islands. None the less there is a tradition amongst Piqayeans for staying. They are rarely encountered anywhere outside their own island.

In the minds of the superstitious, Piqay is a place of unrested spirits, of unquiet souls, caught languishing between the here and now and the great hereafter. They are the traces of life. In the minds of the rational, Piqay is a place of unresolved hopes, of unfinished work, of unbroken attention. They are the traces of the living. Both irrational and rational are trapped by their condition.

Wider understanding of this phenomenon came from the work of the Inclair Laureate for Literature, CHASTER KAMMESTON. His early novels, all set on Piqay, were at first misunderstood and neglected, because of what was taken to be the psychologically implausible behaviour of his characters.

Kammeston’s second novel, Terminality, is a perfect example. Terminality takes the form of a murder mystery. In fact, it is not a mystery at all, since the identities of both the murderer and the victim are made known to the reader from the start. And it is not entirely a murder, either. Ambiguity rests both in the victim, who seems to have a split personality, and in the murder itself, which is set up so that it might have been accidental. Equally, it might have been deliberate. The theatrical setting, where appearances deliberately deceive, adds to the feeling of uncertainty. After the death occurs, the killer appears to be incapable of leaving the scene of the crime. His escape is made possible and eventually achieved with the help of others, but although believing himself innocent of a deliberate killing he refuses to flee. He remains on the island until the Piqayean policier seignioral arrest him.

Although this was apparently normal behaviour to the character, most readers and reviewers found it perplexing and frustrating. Kammeston published eight such novels during this early period, then disappeared from view. Nothing more by him was published and his work was soon overlooked.

It was eventually realized that Kammeston had spent his many ‘lost’ years in a sustained period of literary output. He wrote five more long novels, but refused to let anyone read them. Even his publisher was not told of their existence until the last of the five was completed.

When they finally began to appear in print Kammeston was recognized as a world-class literary artiste. Through these five major novels, which took the outer form of a long saga involving several generations of two rival Piqayean families, Kammeston expanded, analysed and above all elucidated the Piqay concept of the trail of experiences, the trace of life, the echo of oral tradition.

This trail, this spoor, was individual and collective, emanating not only from each person but from the psychic heart of the island. Kammeston described Piqay as an island with an infinitude of crisscrossing paths laid by ancestors, sustained by stories about them and memories of them. To depart from the island was to become diffuse, wraithlike, a lost soul without trace. With the illuminating example of these five great symphonic works, Kammeston’s earlier novels were correctly understood at last.

He continued to write, but what followed was of a different quality. They were not at all minor works, but books that revealed the author’s diversity, the range of his concerns. He essayed two biographies. The first was the life of the controversial painter Dryd Bathurst, from which most of the general awareness and appreciation of Bathurst originally arose. A shorter book, which Kammeston described as a chamber piece, told the story of the tragically short life of the poet Kal Kapes. He also published two volumes of poetry, wrote three plays, all of which were performed in his lifetime, and a huge amount of journalism and essays: reviews, sketches, satirical pieces, autobiographical fragments.

Kammeston depicted himself as a true son of Piqay and never left the island during his lifetime. Even the ceremony for the Inclair Laureateship was exceptionally performed in a hall on his home island.

He died less than three years after the Laureateship was bestowed, from respiratory problems following an attack of pneumonia. He was interred, not cremated, and his grave is in the local churchyard. Kammeston’s house and grounds are now open to the public. The university library in Piqay Town is the repository of his papers, letters, books and personal effects, all housed in an extension specially built for the purpose.

It was during the transfer of the Kammeston effects that one of the library assistants came across the alleged testament of Chaster Kammeston’s estranged elder brother, Wolter.

This is a controversial document, whose authenticity has been challenged several times, but it has undergone forensic tests which show that it appears to be genuine in many respects. For instance, we know that the document was almost certainly penned after Chaster Kammeston’s death because of analysis results from the paper and ink.

The claims it makes about Kammeston are what cause the doubts about its veracity. It seems unlikely that a real member of his family would have written it.

It is certainly true that Kammeston had a brother called Wolter, but it was widely believed Wolter was Chaster’s identical twin, and not an older sibling. They were rarely seen together, for reasons dealt with in the document, but the comparatively rare photographs of them revealed the doubling effect of an uncannily close physical likeness.

In any event the Kammeston family was notoriously secretive, even before Chaster Kammeston became so celebrated. Little is known about his brother.

Wolter did not stay in the family home after he reached adulthood, but moved to a small house in Piqay Town until after his brother died. It is also true that Wolter survived Chaster, because he was seen at the funeral. He was later Chaster’s literary executor, but not for long. He died within a year of Chaster, which is the period in which he must have written the testament, if indeed he did write it.

If the document is a forgery, then we are left to wonder who might have made it and the reason for it. So it seems likely to be genuine. Even if that is so, we must always remember that passions can run high in families, and that grieving relatives sometimes grieve not only for the lost one but also as an expression of their guilt about what they see as their own misplaced actions or inaction.

Nothing now can detract from Chaster Kammeston’s immense reputation and standing, his literary achievements, his popularity with so many readers around the Archipelago.

Piqay is situated in the temperate zone of the northern Midway Sea, blessed by a warm oceanic current and sheltered by other islands from a prevailing northerly wind. Summers on Piqay are long, warm and benign, and the island welcomes many visitors throughout that season. Winters can be cold, but with only moderate amounts of snowfall. The island is popular with walkers and climbers, as the central range is low but interestingly rocky. The views of the adjacent islands are outstanding, with many excellent viewpoints all around the long coastline. Havenic and shelterate laws are enforced. A small artists’ colony, concentrating on the tourist trade, thrives in Piqay Town.

Currency: Archipelagian simoleon; Aubracian talent.