OtH 1.21 - Dealing With It

Was sick at the start of this week, so things were a bit delayed. Sorry about that.

Apparently, Aarick would need to apologize to his previous English teachers. While he had understood the importance of good grammar before, if only to not embarrass himself, he could now tell them that grammar had changed his life. Since he hadn’t chosen to pursue a career in law, teaching, or programming, he had considered the odds of that to be fairly low.

His conversation with Lurona continued for a while, covering the exact details of how a binding agreement actually worked. There was a specific word for it in their language, but it translated closest to geas or pact. And, like he had thought before, there was a reason they were not as common as legal contracts back home.

Firstly, there were certain social stigmas on using them. They were seen, in a paradoxical fashion, as either too impersonal or too intimate for most uses. That went back to their most common uses; when marrying into a family, or when enforcing a deal on a lesser party, and short term arrangements.

The second use was also the second reason for complications in their use. If he made a pact with Lurona, then at the moment only he would be bound. Well… actually, until he at least had a dantian, the binding wouldn’t even take.

The pact, like so much else, relied on qi.

If one person’s strength far outstripped the other, then the qi would only bind the weaker party. Eventually, if the weaker individual grew stronger than the other had been during the binding, they could break it. This meant it was considered unreliable for most uses in the long term, except on parties that were substantially weaker and likely to remain so. Servants, or lesser members of noble families, were often bound this way. This binding was considered reasonably intimate, and meant to bind the whole family together in trust. This type of binding usually had conditions in it. If the family failed to take care of the servants, etc… then the pact would be broken, allowing them to go elsewhere.

This was why it was more common to use a pact as a short term arrangement. However, using one in this fashion was considered a slight in noble circles. According to Lurona, they could be used as insults. Essentially the equivalent of saying an individual or family was so untrustworthy that, even in the short term, the only way to work with them was to force them.

Two individuals, or more, of approximately equal strength could form a mutual binding. This was very common for noble marriages, and seen as a very intimate act. Ideally, it was a symbol of their continued progression, with each being tied to the other. It was more symbolic than reality, since one of them was likely to outstrip the other(s) eventually, but the intent was what mattered.

And, of course, to make things confusing, Lurona was ultimately proposing something that was a mixture of all three.

Aarick sighed and shook his head.

“Okay, so if I understand things clearly, this is ultimately what you are proposing:” he said, gathering his thoughts together. He needed to be clinical for this.

“Firstly, the deal is conditional. If you don’t follow through, the deal will void, though I need to do my best to inform you if I feel the deal is being violated. Plus, you agree not to share the knowledge without my explicit permission.”

That seems reasonable enough. I am not really in a position to argue anyway. Of course, she is hoping for something permanent.

“Secondly, I become an ally of your family, though not a public one. That means I get resources funneled to me to help with my progression, and you assist me in my own enlightenments. As part of that alliance, for now I will help you progress in fire, and then help you deepen or create up to three enlightenments. Based on whichever ones I am able to form, you get to choose which ones you want, though I have the right to restrict up to two.

“Thirdly, whenever my nature as an Outsider, prodigy, or otherwise, makes me into a sufficiently public figure, I will become a public ally of your family. Your family will act to shield me and provide a more public demonstration of support.

“That leads into the fourth element. Whenever my personal progress slows down sufficiently, I will marry into your family. While I would need to marry at least a woman to spread my otherworldly lineage, I would also be able to pursue others freely. And, while I was there, we would carefully spread the knowledge from Earth to strengthen the house as a whole. Unless I am able to advance to create my own noble family, in which case we will work to create a new arrangement.”

If I ever get to that point, Lurona’s binding would have long since been eclipsed. And, if I ever get to that point, I will probably have been long associated with her family. Progressing far enough means that we will need a new agreement just for a marriage.

If his knowledge was enough of a power multiplier, he would insist on certain ethical restrictions as well. Knowledge could be acquired in horrible ways.

If I have enough power, I will get to choose how it is used.

“Yes that sounds roughly correct,” she said, bringing me out of my thoughts. “We would spell things out in far more detail, of course. And, all of this is contingent on your ability to teach me.”

She smiled at me for a moment.

“Prodigies generally can do more with less.”

He grinned and smirked a little.

“Well, I don’t like to brag…”

Lurona rolled her eyes at him, eliciting a laugh.

“Would you be able to teach me here?”

Aarick looked around the room. Other than the seats and some books, there wasn’t much.

“Sure, this is fine, but it would probably help to have something I can stand and draw on. Something like a large sheet of smooth, though not polished, dark slate and chalk, and a cloth to clean it.”

She raised her eyebrows, “Something from your world?” she asked.

“Yes,” I nodded, “part of the standard layout for teaching. A large sheet of stone that the teacher writes on at the front of a room. Large enough that many students can easily see it. Ideally, the class would be small for most subjects. Twenty students or so is ideal, but…” he shrugged a bit. “What’s ideal is seldom the reality.”

Not like America cares even a fraction of the amount they should about education. There is a reason so many of the wealthy don’t use public schools, and it has nothing to do with avoiding the poor… Well, there are a few bigoted exceptions, but still.

Of course, that kind of division only adds to the rest of the class divide.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and continued. He explained the lecture and classroom style of college; the large lecture halls which presented information and the small classrooms where things could be handled with more detail and interaction.

Not sure if she is actually interested or just humoring me.

“Those types are all attached to walls, what would you do for one in the middle of the room?” she said.

“Hmm,” he said, taking a moment to process her question. “Oh. Uh,” he looked around, “I could draw something…”

Paper and a pen appeared hanging in the air, as did a small flat wooden board.

“Ah, thank you,” he said as he absently grabbed the items and started to draw. A quick sketch showed the lower legs and where they went up to meet the wooden frame holding the long rectangle of slate, capturing a flat and three dimensional view. A quick addendum showed variations that could be made if the bottom included wheels.

He handed the sketch off to Lurona, causing her to raise her eyebrows.

“Very professional looking,” she said. “Is this type of drawing a part of your training?”

“Yeah,” he replied with a small smile. “I was originally going to design buildings as an architect, however, I fell in love with the smaller details. Plus, I wasn’t that great with all the art needed for that. The drawing styles are similar for both though.”

She nodded briskly.

“Getting one made will be easy enough. We will conduct our lessons here…”

She trailed off, and looked at him intensely.

“Would you be willing to teach me what you can about fire now?”

There was a seriousness to her question, and he could feel the intensity. This question wasn’t just about teaching, but rather the true beginning of their agreement.

He wanted to hesitate, to take a moment, but it was important that this actually begin. He had serious issues with what he was teaching, but it was evident that The Empire had great and terrible weapons already. Teaching about chemistry and atoms was a risk, but this was a route to power. And, if properly managed, he might be able to control how that knowledge spread and was used.

Maybe things can be better than back home.

That was part of the reason he was staying here, after all. That uncertainty was a reason he wasn’t rushing to get back. There was no guarantee that Earth would become the utopia it ought to be. There was already enough food to feed every person on the entire planet. The fact that people went hungry… well it said a lot about the systems that were already in place.

If he knew for sure that he would live long enough on Earth… That he would live to achieve one of the many potential types of immortality. That technology would properly benefit mankind and they would start to spread into space…

He would have stayed.

He still planned to check on Earth’s progress later, if he could. If Earth managed to destroy itself instead… maybe he would be strong enough to go back and set things right.

Lurona was patiently waiting for him when he gathered this thoughts back together, though she had a sardonic smile directed his way.

“Sorry,” he said. “I was just thinking about knowledge, and it made me think of home.”

She nodded.

“Perfectly understandable,” she said. “This has been a rather intense day on your part.”

He struggled to not zone out again as he recalled how insane this day had been so far.

Certainly feels like the longest day of my life.

“We will start with history from my world,” he finally managed. “Not the specifics, but instead the general place that fire had in it. I don’t know what you know about the history of mankind before your Empire. There may have been a time before they learned to properly wield qi, and then in the dawning days of mankind, fire was the light of civilization.”

His voice carried through the room in a steady cadence, reflecting many years of training.

He walked through the idea of fire, what it meant to the ancient people of his world, and likely meant to people on this world too, long long ago.

Here the concept of fire as a purifying force, as a protection against the evil spirits that lurked in the untamed places, could easily have been more than mere mythology. And so he explained the concepts where fire lurked at the heart of the very idea of creation and invention. Fire was the reason for civilization, allowing the working of metal and the cooking of food. The ability to cook food made true agricultural societies possible, moving on from merely hunting and gathering.

Fire as the center of the home and hearth. That the fire made it a home, instead of merely a place. The hearth where food was created, where the family gathered in the winter to endure the long days and nights of ice, and where the light of the fire matched the light of their presence.

He had just started to discuss fire as an element of the divine, telling various myths were the world had been without fire until it was stolen or gifted from the gods, and therefore it maintained an aspect of divinity…

Then he paused, because he could feel something in the qi. A faint rippling leading back to Lurona.

She didn’t seem to notice that he had stopped, her eyes distant.

As best Aarick could tell, he had succeeded.