Instructor Deneri
Prologue to Chaos, Chapter 4, Scene 3
The Calm Before the Storm, Scene 3
“So we can see that there are two kinds of fundamental truths,” Orion said. “There are truths of the outer world, which we may call ‘existence,’ and of the inner world, which we may call ‘awareness.’ This much we can know by simply opening our eyes on the one hand, or attending to our own thoughts on the other.”
He looked out over the class. A few wore pensive expressions, and some were dutifully taking notes in their assignment books. He saw that there were few quills and inkwells. Most of the students were using the new magical pens that he had heard about. It wasn’t surprising. They were all of the nobility, and their families could afford the expense.
At least they had settled down. The challenges had come in the first few minutes, as he’d expected, and mainly from the girls. The form had been teasing, trying to embarrass him and throw him off balance.
“He’s too pretty to be a scholar,” a raven-haired beauty opined aloud, in response to a jibe from one of her classmates. She was an older girl, and one of those who had been watching him before the lesson. She’d seen him look hastily away, then. A shy boy who could be made to blush at a pretty girl’s attention, he guessed at her thoughts, as she openly looked him up and down in front of the class.
He turned to her and smiled. To everyone’s astonishment, he responded by executing a flawless court bow with all the flourishes.
“I daresay that no man could but speak the same of you, My Lady,” he replied. “Though I warrant there is indeed more to you than meets the eye, as well.” His own glance of appraisal was too brief to mistake for presumption, but not quite brief enough to avoid notice.
The unexpected boldness had the desired effect. She flushed crimson, and the class’ laughter turned on her. Orion let out a barely concealed sigh of relief when he saw that they all seemed to approve of the jest.
One girl in particular, with a long shock of chestnut hair, looked right at him as she laughed. There was an intelligent glint in her bright green eyes. He met her gaze for a few moments, and she nodded to him with a wide grin.
Dame Marjeune leaped to her feet, sternly clapping her hands for order. Orion allowed the laughter to continue for a few moments, and then raised his own hand in a call for silence. The room quieted immediately. He had little trouble with the class acting up after that.
“But what is the relationship between existence and awareness?” he continued. “Are they equal, or does one come from the other? Does our inner world create or condition our experience of the outer world? Or does it merely observe it? These are the basic questions not only of philosophy, but of religion as well. And they are crucially important, because they will tell us how to look for answers to the rest of our questions.”
He noticed some confused looks, and paused. He needed to get them to see how ideas actually mattered in their lives. If they heard them merely as words, they would never appreciate their true meaning and power. He knew accomplished scholars who had never really understood that, who treated philosophy as a kind of game with no practical importance. He wanted to do better in his first experience as a teacher.
“Let’s take an example,” he said. “Lady Hawthorne, perhaps you would be good enough to assist us by answering a question. Have you ever wished upon a star?”
Lady Hawthorne looked up. Her expression was surprised, as though her mind had been wandering. “Why, yes, of course,” she said quickly.
Star-wishing was a Carlissan folk custom with a long history, so Orion wasn’t surprised at her response. “And have such wishes ever come true?” he continued.
“Well, sometimes,” she answered. “If they’re modest, of course. You can’t expect really greedy or outlandish wishes to come true, after all.”
A flutter of smiles rippled through the class. Orion opened his mouth to continue, but was suddenly interrupted by one of the young lords.
“But that’s just having a prayer answered,” he said stubbornly. He was one of the quieter and more sensitive boys, and the vehemence of his interjection seemed strangely out of character. “I mean, isn’t it? The gods live among the stars, and sometimes they hear our prayers. Don’t they?”
Orion smiled. “Many priests would agree with that,” he said. “The Order of Light, for example, holds precisely that view. Others in the Church consider it an appeal directly to the Divine for guidance or favor. Other scholars think it a subtle manifestation of the Magic. And there are some who deride both wishes and prayers as a superstition that imbues simple coincidence with unwarranted meaning.”
There was a rustle of whispers as the class digested his words. He had purposely used an example about which they would likely have been taught differing views. He could see that many of them were realizing it for the first time. He waited for their reaction to die down.
“The question ‘what should we do’ pervades our understanding not only of philosophy and religion, but of life as well,” he continued. “Even the simple query, ‘should we wish upon a star,’ is fraught with philosophical import. And the answer depends on the kind of world we live in. Is it a world in which wishes are granted by communion with the Divine? In which our prayers to the gods are heard and answered? In which magic can answer the call of our minds, and not merely the spells of mages? Or are miracles merely examples of coincidence, in a world that is what it is without …”
His voice trailed off. A commotion was becoming audible from over the wall at the far end of the garden. It bordered the streets of the High City north of the firth, and of the central marketplace. The students shifted, looking around. The guards were instantly on alert.
“That sounds like screaming in the distance,” one of the students said.
Orion nodded. He turned, gesturing for silence.
“Quiet, please. The guards and I will need to find out what’s causing this commotion, and if any action on our part is required.”
One of the guards nodded, looking at the scholar with renewed respect. It was clear that he was the officer in charge, and that he’d just remembered it.
“Instructor Deneri is right,” he said, pointing to one of his soldiers. “Trevane, go out to the streets and see what’s happening. Report back here immediately.”
Next: Chapter 5 - The Storm Breaks
