OtH 1.22 - Sky and Stars

A little bit longer chapter at ~2700 words.

Lurona’s eyes were only unfocused for a moment, the faint pattern of qi lasting for only a moment.

Aarick doubted he would have noticed at all, if he hadn’t been looking for it.

She blinked, and she smiled.

“Well! I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting such a fundamental node to branch that way.”

No idea what that means.

She turned to look at him for a moment, her smile radiant, and it hit him with almost physical force. He could feel her joy.

Good thing I’m gay. Some men would do anything to make a beautiful woman smile like that.

Is that an aspect of qi? The sheer projected feeling behind that smile?

Gay or not, he couldn’t resist grinning back; her enthusiasm was infectious.

Lurona took a deep breath and her grin dimmed back down to polite levels, like a cloud shielding the sun from view.

“In truth, when you started to discuss the historical meaning of fire from your own world, I wasn’t expecting much,” she said. “Apparently, that knowledge is more foundational and universal than I suspected. I was close to forming that branch anyway, but who knows how long it would have taken to form the rest?”

She nodded at me, her polite smile widening slightly, a tiny fraction of her joy leaking out.

“Well, you have done enough to seal the first part of our bargain, regardless of all other concerns. So, I will start to prepare you for the next step. It is a violation of tradition, but if you are unable to construct a dantian I will change my primary element to ice.”

She stood up, light moving around her, until it formed a dome around them.

“Once you have formed your dantian properly, you will have the first real connection to your qi. You will also gain access to at least the first and second spheres; the first will house all the enlightenments you have obtained until then. Any enlightenments gained after your dantian is formed will be housed in the second sphere. At least until you progress further. There are various names for the spheres, the most common being sky, because of these…”

Stars blossomed into existence on the dome in different colors, and slightly dimmer stars appeared on another dome outside it.

“Each enlightenment will form its own central node. That node can either grow in depth, like so-” A line of light connected the inner and outer domes, two nodes of the same color linking together. “Or, they can branch out, and attune to other aspects of enlightenment.”

A section of the dome came closer and became more than two-dimensional. A twisting three dimensional pathway carved through the dome in a line of shifting color, connecting the original node to another node of a different color hidden below the surface.

“All of this is a simplification, but it shows you the basic idea. The reality… can only be experienced. Nodes that are on closer spheres have a more powerful connection to their representative concept. It is possible, but very difficult, to start with a node that is farther away and increase in depth by moving inward. Each node and all its various connections is called an astron.”

He nodded before speaking.

“This is why getting enlightenments before forming the dantian is a big deal, right?”

She nodded as she replied.

“Exactly so. The children living down in the creches are taught history, language, mathematics, and so on… As a result, the more gifted among them will properly attune to a few aspects before they form their dantian.”

He raised his right hand slightly, his index finger pointed upward.

“Yes?” she said, her brows slightly elevated.

“Just to clarify, attuning is the same as getting an enlightenment, right? And what would an aspect be in that sense?” he asked.

“Ah, yes. Correct, and it is often used to describe qi as well. What I work with could be called fire qi, or fire attuned qi. Anything that you can possibly attune to is called an aspect. If you have a node that branches out to connect with another aspect, then you are attuning that node to that element. As an example, fire is my main aspect. If a branch went out from a node of fire to connect with something, like wind, then I would be attuning fire to wind, or have wind aspected fire.”

She paused and shook her head.

“Things are rarely so simple, and unfortunately the terminology often fails to properly encapsulate what is actually happening. Usually if someone is discussing a type of complex qi, they will just start with the primary element and then list the next one. So Fire-wind qi, for our previous example. Some people specialize in studying and categorizing such things, and they have very complicated names for everything.”

She quirked a smile.

“However, for most of us, saying exactly what we are doing or are capable of is a terrible idea. Whatever terminology you end up using in your head is what matters.

“Before we explored this idea, however, we were talking about the more typical experience. A normal child might be attuned to one or two aspects. The more gifted to a few.

“The nobility, however, are seldom satisfied with mediocrity. Those that are become relegated to the sidelines or become pawns in the schemes of others. Thus, noble children are directly exposed to various elements as well as receiving a superior education.

“This approach, while hardly perfect, tends to have the average noble child attuned to seven or eight aspects. The more gifted among them, the true prodigies, might manage to attune to double that. And, if any noble houses have managed to teach their children to fully attune to qi, they have been hiding that advantage spectacularly well.”

That actually reminded him… He lifted his hand again, asking his question when she acknowledged him.

“I had a… partial attunement to sound,” he said. “I hadn’t had a chance to follow up with it. You mentioned full attunement, so what exactly is a partial one?”

For a moment her smile quirked one side of her face further, and he almost thought she was about to burst into laughter. Instead her smile simply grew slightly as she answered.

“It is… a weak point in the sphere. If you had attuned to sound after forming your dantian, you would have an easier time connecting the second sphere upward to the first for the sound aspect. Obviously, a partial attunement also means you have made good progress in attuning to that aspect.

“You have already attuned to three aspects: fire, qi, and ziu; and partially attuned to sound and the Eldritch. Two of the full attunements, and the partial Eldritch were massively helped by unusual circumstances, but even so…” She paused for a moment, and she sighed. “What aspects do you think you might be able to attune to?”

He was silent for a moment, letting his thoughts come together.

“The four iconic elements should be easy enough. I already have fire, but water, earth, and air should be doable.” He started to list out others, dragging out each one as he continued to think of the next in the list. “Uh, sound, of course, lightning, light, metal, kinetics, uh, I mean motion, gravity, bio… uh life, not sure what you would call entropy, maybe stillness, decay, or something like that, time, space or void.”

When he stopped Lurona was shaking her head and smiling.

“If all you manage to do is connect to half of those, you will be a force to be reckoned with.”

“Uh, but then I wouldn’t really be reaching past what a gifted noble kid would do, right?” he said, his voice puzzled.

Lurona shook her head.

“Not in number’s but in scope. While there is no official designation, some aspects are considered more powerful than others. Qi, ziu, fire, air, sound, war, mind. Each of these is a major concept, while a concept like wind is a lesser one. Wind is merely a part of what makes up air, a lesser aspect of a greater concept.”

Except I am pretty sure that even some of these are fragments of greater concepts. Vibration would certainly encapsulate sound.

“You already have three major concepts. That will be as much as all but the greatest prodigies. If a child reached more than that… they would be celebrated. Some of this you can conceal. People naturally attune to more as they get older, allowing for dozens of concepts. The most powerful will have attuned to hundreds.”

She paused for a moment, and looked at him with a slight frown.

“Some concepts you wanted to attune to, did not translate well. You might find it difficult to attune properly to those. The nature of qi is complicated, but it is inherently related to intelligence and perception. What people see, believe, this flavors the qi. All things impact the qi around them. At this very moment, some qi is perfectly attuned to you as a person. It represents exactly who and what you are in this very moment.”

She smiled.

“At yet, I have never heard of anyone attuning to their own qi. Theoretically, it should be absolutely perfect for you. However, part of attunement, is amount of qi it is possible to attune to in the first place. There are vast amounts of qi in the world, and very little of it has anything to do with you.”

She waved her arm out and fire qi swirled inward to press against the floor and ceiling, outlining the barrier.

“Fire, on the other hand; it’s everywhere. The major concepts are vast, and so they are more difficult to properly attune to, even though they have so much aspected qi. Most find it easier to connect with the smaller and more understandable pieces that make them up.”

She waved her hand again, this time gesturing toward herself.

“You can sense the fire qi inside me, correct?”

He nodded, slightly uncertain, “Yes…”

“Of course,” she replied with a nod. “However, none of the qi inside me is pure fire qi. It is flavored with a multitude of different aspects. Still, because you are attuned to fire, you can sense it. That is the other major advantage to attuning to multiple major aspects. You will more easily be able to sense the qi in others. Almost all qi is going to be combined with major aspects in some fashion.

“If you can attune to air, you will easily sense the qi of someone attuned to wind, mist, or deadened air. They, however, would have a much harder time feeling aspects of air they are not attuned to.

“Being attuned to qi and ziu on your first sphere will also make your life much easier. They won’t do much until you build your dantian, but at that point their attunements will make your life substantially simpler. You will, in a limited fashion, be able to sense all types of qi and ziu.”

Odds are ziu has just as many aspects as qi. Just not something they deal with, since no one can actually use it. Or maybe she just doesn’t think about it, since she isn’t attuned to it.

After a moment of thought he asked a question.

“How easy is it to detect when someone attunes to a concept?” he asked.

She nodded slightly before responding.

“The answer varies between very and almost impossible. Which makes it a good question, and why we will be overseeing your attunements here.”

She gestured vaguely, and started to pace slightly.

“When attuning to a completely new concept, you will create a resonance with it. Anyone with any sort of qi sense will be able to feel it. It also generally take a several seconds and your perception of the world will be elsewhere. A partial attunement is nothing more than the barest ripple. Unless you knew to look for it specifically, it would be essentially impossible to notice.

“Increasing the depth or branching out from an existing node takes only a moment. Only those who are also attuned to that node or a greater version of it will be able to sense anything. And since it only lasts for an instant, it is easy to miss.”

Aarick nodded.

“How… exactly, would you like for me to attune here? Do you want me to do that now, or are we going to try that later? Is there a list of possible attunements I can examine?” Lurona opened her mouth to answer, but he raised a finger to prevent her interrupting. “There is some risk if I wait. Some of these concepts are simply… too present. Not really the word I am looking for.”

He shook his head and waved his hand in dismissal.

“Regardless, my partial attunement to sound came from a single thought. Reodan said something about sound, and I couldn’t help but correct him mentally.” He smiled perfunctorily. “I knew better than to say anything aloud.”

For a moment, Lurona’s eyes looked at him with hunger, before she closed her eyes and shook her head.

“How much education have you actually had?” She finally asked.

“Our years are a bit shorter; 365 days instead of 400. However, from the age of five or six we spend two-thirds of the year in school for eight hours a day. Twelve years of education is mandatory and free for everyone. After that you can go to a place of higher education, learn the more specific knowledge needed for a career. I was still doing that. Just started my third year, and would have need two more to learn the basics for my career. Another two after that to really focus in on my chosen specialty.”

Aarick smiled at her wryly.

“And then I would have needed to relearn much of that as I actually worked. Learned the actual practical applications and how theory and practice differed.”

He trailed off for a moment.

“We don’t think about it most of the time, but almost all of our knowledge has been shaped by ‘science.’ What I used to help you connect to fire came from the science of archaeology. The study of the past, reconstructing everything we can learn about how humankind began and grew.

“That filters into what we learn about history. We learn language and writing, rhetoric and debate. The arts and sciences of how to communicate, though that one is generally left more as an art, unless you get into very high levels of education that focus on it. The big ones, for understanding the material world, are expected of everyone to some degree.

“You need a certain amount of knowledge just to understand our society and all the tools that science has created.

“Mathematics, the most basic language of the universe. Then the study of life, the study of how things interact on a small scale, and the study...” He waved his hands around to indicated everything. “The study of the big forces. How and why things interact at all, why objects fall toward the ground or orbit in the heavens.”

He shook his head, though he quirked a smile at her.

“My higher education focused on that last one. How physical forces interact with each other, what things are made of, and how to use that to design machines.”

Lurona smiled at him, making sure he was finished before she replied.

“An impressive education. Your people probably understand more about the physical world than we could imagine. It sounds like that understanding goes further than anyone here would even think possible.

“I was planning to wait to do any new attunements, but your concerns have merit. Books will be provided on the various concepts, and I will make a list of any I have seen or heard about.

“In the mean time, I will stay here while you attune to any concepts you think could be too close to the surface.”

He nodded, closed his eyes, and began.