Arm Of Galemar (Book 2) (27 page)

“I was only mentioning it.  I think we’re all done. 
We’d better start on our way back.  If we’re lucky, we might return before
dark.”

In the clogged streets, the progress they made was as
slow as Marik feared.

“We’ll probably need to stay tonight with you after
all,” he said to Shalla, injecting the comment with a requesting tone.

“It is no burden.  You are welcome to stay as long as
you need to.”

Hilliard thanked her several times until they
reentered the rough district the Faith of the One Soul maintained its order
house in.  Landon and Marik kept a sharp eye on the environment as they
searched for that morning’s street rat.  Despite their caution, the group
arrived hale and whole.  The two glanced at each other, then simultaneously
shrugged.  Wherever the thugs who had chased them through the night were, they
were elsewhere and out of their hair.

Yet Marik still reclaimed the chair near the back door
after the evening meal, waiting for what, he knew not.

Shalla brought Marik a steaming mug.  The others,
tired from fording the packed streets, rested in their rooms on the next
floor.  Landon would take Marik’s place by the door at the midnight bell.

He inhaled the aroma of mulled cider.  The hot liquid
scorched his tongue.  She pulled a chair closer to his.

“You seem preoccupied.  Are these ruffians still
worrying you?”

“No, not so much.  Landon didn’t notice anyone waiting
for us when we returned.  I didn’t either, but Landon has a better eye for this
sort of thing.”

“Then what is bothering you?”  She toyed with the
brush-like end of her braids.

“Nothing in particular.  I guess I always seem
worried, especially if I’m letting my mind wander.  There’s not much else to do
while sitting by the back door, staring at nothing.”  Marik sipped at the drink
and watched her across the table.  Simply listening to her voice was
enjoyable.  He liked talking to her, so, for the sake of conversation, said,
“Earlier I ran through a problem I had back at home with an old book and a
mirror.  Just now I was picking at this ‘One Soul’ business.”

“Yes?  What about.”  She smiled that he had not
dismissed her beliefs without thought, as he might be expected to.  He liked
the way she smiled.

“Well, I wasn’t so much thinking about that as about
time
,”
he admitted, slightly embarrassed.  He had never pondered philosophical
thoughts overmuch, much less discussed them.

But Shalla saw nothing unusual in odd conversations. 
“That is a subject which receives much debate among us, ever since our order’s
inception.  Many of our greatest minds have studied the nature of time, though
little of substance has been learned.”

“Kind of hard to study something that doesn’t exist.”

“Doesn’t exist?”

“I mean, how can you study something without a
physical form?”  The instant he said that he thought of the etheric plane,
existing within the physical, yet at the same time nonexistent in the mortal
plane.  “I mean, something you can’t see?”

“Can you see the wind blowing through a springtime
morning?”

“No, but I can feel it.  You can feel the air too,
like this.”  He swept his hand back and forth.

Shalla’s smile took on a hint of amusement.  “Since
you can feel it, it must exist, yes?  And since you can see this table, it too
must therefor exist.”

“And you can’t taste time, or smell it either.  So
what’s left?  How do you study it?”

“That time exists is not in question.  Every person
knows it to be true.  As to what it is…that is where everyone varies.  While time
itself cannot be found, its effects are plain to see.  For instance,” she said,
plucking a pear from a bowl on the table.  “Were I to leave this untouched for
a candlemark, nothing would appear different.  But, were I to come back in
several days, the difference would be unmistakable.  That is how you study
time.  Since you cannot study the thing, you must study its effects and
consequences.”

“That’s away from what I was going to say.”  Marik
continued sipping at his cider.  “I wasn’t trying to figure it out, only
thinking about it generally.”

“In regards to the One Soul?”

“Only after a fashion.  I was thinking about what you
said, about how it might go back hundreds of years to be born in the past.”

“Or into the future,” she added.

“I haven’t bought into your theory,” he said, watching
closely to see how she would react.  “I’m not a very deep sort.”

She remained unfazed.  “I would hardly expect a person
to change their views based solely on the experience of a few days.”

He smiled back.  “Mostly I wondered what the point
would be.  Why jump around like that?”

“That delves to the heart of many discussions on
time’s nature.  What is the difference between the present and yesterday?  Why
does the Soul revisit the ages countless times?  It is unfortunate, but we are
no closer to answering these questions.  Many theories have been advanced.”

“What about ‘how does it do it’?  That’s what really
has me curious.”

“That, too, has been discussed.  As to the answer, it
depends on which theory on the nature of time you choose to place your faith
in.”  She placed her still half-full mug atop the table.  “Many like to view
time as a river.”

“Yeah,” he agreed.  “I’ve heard that phrase before.”

“But what does that mean, exactly?  It hearkens to the
flow of time, with one day following the next.  A river is smooth, constant. 
The flow of the water is relentless, never ceasing.  But that is merely
comparing likenesses.”

“Like comparing carts to carriages.”

“Only to a point.  In a very real sense, those two are
the same, except one is nicer than the other.  Since we know nothing of time’s
true nature, all we can do is study its effect.  If time is in fact a river,
then certain river-like effects should also be in play.”

“Such as?”

“A river erodes the bed through which it runs.  What
would happen should the river of time erode through reality’s fabric?”

“I’d rather not think like that.”

“Nor I.  Another point in debate is the flow.  What if
the flow’s direction should change?  Does tomorrow exist downstream?”

“I should think so.”

“Not all believe that is the case.  This theory has
found many followers among us as it explains many of the One Soul’s mysteries.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Imagine if tomorrow exists upstream, rather than
down.  Every moment following the next is a struggle against the flow.  Those
who support this theory also believe that time affects the One Soul even
between lives.  Without a physical form, it is vastly subject to the currents,
thus being swept away downstream.  Many times it is pushed beyond the point at
which it was last born, others not.”

“Wouldn’t that neuter the idea that the Soul is
traveling from time to time in order learn whatever it’s trying to?”  The
discussion bore similarities to Tollaf’s lectures on magecraft and the etheric
plane…in that Marik felt out of his depth.  But speaking with Shalla was a
great deal more enjoyable than enduring the old fart.  Marik smiled, asking
questions solely for the sake of keeping the silly conversation going.

“For the most part.  That is why I don’t support this
theory.  Especially if magic, as I believe, is an ability the Soul has learned
through the course of its existence.  Time as a river would preclude mages from
existing in the farther reaches of history.”

“And everyone around today would be mages,” Marik nodded.

“Here is a question of interest.  What connects each
moment of time?”

Marik frowned.  “I’m sorry?”

“One second exists after the previous,” she said,
raising one palm, then the next.  “First one, then the next.  Each moment
happens after the one preceding it.  But how long is the smallest unit of
time?  Where does one end and the next begin?  What exists between the two?”

“Uh…”  The conversation, as Tollaf’s lectures,
suddenly induced a mild throb behind his temples.  “Maybe it’s all of a piece. 
Like the river.  Seconds and minutes are only measurements made by us mortals,
after all.”

“Then how do you reach the next moment?  If you flowed
along with time, you would bob always with the same moments surrounding you,
eternally existing within that one instant.  You would never grow older, never
move.  It would not seem to last forever, because reaching an understanding
occurs over time.  You would be unable to think, and thus unable to realize the
truth.  Frozen forever in that single instant.”

“I don’t know.”  He rubbed his temples.  “What do you
think?”

“Me?”  She cocked her head.  “I’m still undecided.  I
have not yet found a theory that wholly appeals to my logic.”

“Which one comes closest?”

“I suppose it would have to be the all-at-once theory,
though there are ramifications I don’t agree with wholeheartedly.”

“You’ll have to explain that to me.”

The amusement in her smile deepened.  “Why don’t you
guess at that one.”

“I’ve always left the deeper thinking to others.”

“You should make the effort.  Deep thinking is a
wonderful way to discover facets to your nature you never guessed at.”

“Oh, I’ve worked my way through a brain buster or two
before, but there was always a reason.  We could spend all night talking about
this or that idea.  In the morning I’d still have to deal with my normal life,
same as always.”

“Nothing is ever a waste of time, especially in the
pursuit of knowledge.  You may never have a need to know about the true nature
of time, as there is little you could do about it one way or the other.  But
the knowledge will always be there.  The more you know, the better you exercise
your mind, the greater you will succeed in life.”

He agreed with the sentiment only so far.  For the
sake of argument he stated, “I’m a swordsman.  I don’t need to know much beyond
how to swing my sword, think fast and use my body to its fullest.”

“Swordsmen also benefit from using their minds.  I’d
like to see how you handle ‘brain busters’.”

Marik remembered that a well-known trait of Urliel
followers was that they enjoyed making others work for an answer.  Well, it
would still be three-quarters of a mark until Landon claimed the watch.  He may
as well kill the time.  “All right.  I’d start with the name.  What was that
you called it?”

“The all-at-once theory.”  Her eyes twinkled.

“Yeah, that’s it.  Since we were talking about why
things happen one after the other when you threw that out, I’d have to assume
it means those things happen ‘all-at-once’.”  He frowned.  “But that doesn’t
make any sense at all.”

“Keep going.”

Marik continued frowning.  He finished his cider while
he considered.  “If everything happened all at once, then everything would be a
giant mess.  Since everything doesn’t happen at once, then that’s not the case,
except then the name doesn’t fit.”  He rubbed his forehead from habit rather
than any increase in his headache.  “So everything happens at once, but then it
doesn’t either.”

Shalla offered a hint.  “Don’t forget the context in
which we’ve discussed time’s nature.”

Marik stared at her in the dim light, feeling stupid. 
Then, “Right.  The One Soul.  Things are different for us mortals than for it. 
So, everything happens all at once for it, but not for us.  But if it all
happened at once, then why don’t we experience it all at once?”  A phrase of Colbey’s
abruptly sprang to mind.  He said it aloud without thought.  “You’re not seeing
the forest for the trees.”

Shalla startled him by clapping three times.  “That is
very close to the heart of it.  See?  You can think clearly on complicated
matters!”

What exactly had he figured out so cleverly?  “Not
usually.  The only time I’m good at original thought is when it’s sure to annoy
a certain old man.”

She disregarded the statement.  “You are correct in
that human perception is the key to time, under this theory.  Imagine, “ Shalla
continued, gesturing at the grain sacks in the corner, “a giant pot, as large
as the city.  It is filled to the brim with grain.  If you were buried in the
center, what would you see?”

“Grain.”

“Yes, of course.  But only the grain directly before
your eyes.  The grain exists within the pot, all together, along with you.  But
you can only perceive the grain around you.  The grain miles away might as well
not exist for you.  Thus is it with time.  We exist within the entire mass, every
moment of it surrounding us.  But we can only perceive the moments nearest to
us.”

“Then how do we arrive at the next moment?  Are the
gods standing above us with a giant ladle stirring the pot?” he asked as a
joke.

“That may indeed be their true function,” Shalla
answered seriously.

Marik shifted on his chair, glancing through the
doorway into the hall while doing so.  He wanted to compose his features so she
could not see how humorous he found her straightforward manner.  “I guess that
would make it easy for the Soul to swim around in-between lives,” he said, his
back to her.  He heard the scrape of her lifting her mug from the tabletop.

“Yes and no, and that is the sticking point which
causes me not to adopt the theory.  Reaching to moments both future and past
would be easy for the One Soul, but then why do we all constantly exist
together?”

“You mean we’d all be swept away to different
moments?” Marik mused, facing her with a steady expression.  She leaned
forward, her hands clasped in concentration.

“Exactly!  If time was merely human perception, then
all of us would travel in different directions.  No two humans perceive
anything in entirely the same manner.  This would mean people you know today
would drift off in other directions and you would never see them again.”