V. Calpin's Pull
Calpin waited for one of the half
Rymians to appear. Time was relative for him. He'd lived millenia and
would continue to watch the members of his race as they travelled through
the galaxy.
Rymians were maybe a freak of nature. Nothing was meant to live forever.
And yet they did. Peculiarly, nature seemed to produce such freaks at
regular intervals. Most races of sentient life forms had their own myths
about immortality. But perhaps in her infinite wisdom, Nature had made
certain that these blessed (?) individuals did not reproduce very fast.
When you knew you had eternity, having children wasn't high up on the list
of priorities. And then when Rymians wanted children they had to find one
of their own species or be fortunate enough to find an alien individual
that was compatible enough to have your babies of impregnate you with it's
seed.
Calpin had tracked all the Rymians and part-Rymians since the day he'd
been old enough to be aware. The list was short. There were maybe a dozen
pure Rymians around, add to that about 100 half Rymians and if you went
really far, Calpin could give you statistics on about 1000 individuals who
were children or grandchildren to those halfbloods. Though they possessed
the Rymian blood they would hardly know it. They would live long lives for
their species, but not unusually so. The halfbloods however would know all
too well that they were different. Though they could be hurt and would
need time to heal, they healed better than most and they would hardly seem
to age after reaching maturity. Calpin had yet to see a half-Rymian die of
old age. Most succumbed to violence.
At times, like today, one of the threads that connected him to all of
those with Rymian blood pulsed and pulled. Calpin would not leave his
home. But if they so wished, the other could use to connection to come to
him. He opened the channel and watched a story unfold. Instantly aware of
the other's feelings, memories and situation.
"She has much to learn." he muttered and prepared food and tea
for the guest that was fast approaching.
Calpin had learned to tune out most of the connections, but he felt it was
his duty to keep tabs on everyone. Maybe he'd even tugged a connection on
purpose when one of his race was in dire need. But only then. Calpin did
not like to meddle in the grand design of things though he was certainly
able to. It just gave him a huge headache with everything being rewritten
and some outcomes weren't worth the trouble.
Like today. He could have snagged Agnaliz to him months earlier to her
sense of time. But Fate had brought a traveller with knowledge to her to
give her the information she needed. Really, there was a time and place
for everything and Calpin wouldn't dare claim he knew why things happened
the way they did. If there was a higher power he'd not met them yet.
Looking around his room, Calpin wondered briefly what Agnaliz would think
of his humble home. There were no windows, no doors, almost no
furnishings. There was a table with two chairs, no more were needed since
the universe never brought more than one student at a time to him. He had
a stove, an oven or a microwave, whatever he needed it to be and food
appeared as he needed it when he opened a cupboard. His bed was
comfortable and there was a second one when he had a student.
Calpin could venture out, but why should he? He was content waiting for
his students to come to him and to watch as their lives unfolded. But if
he so wished, a door appeared leading to where he wanted to go. Calpin had
a vague understanding of how it all worked but his mind wasn't usually
focused on the mechanical side of things.
Agnaliz materialised in front of him. Faintly and wavering at first, but
then her image solidified.
"Welcome." he said.
"Where am I?" Agnaliz asked, looking around.
"That's a difficult question to answer. For now let's just say you're
with me."
"And who are you?"
Agnaliz wondered why she wasn't afraid. There was no way out of the room
and the man in front of her seemed almost as crazy as the monks from the
order she'd left. He had the mysterious lingo down anyway;
"I'm called Calpin now." he told her.
Another dubious reply. Great.
"Hello Calpin. Tell me, why am I here?"
"Ah, that's finally an easy one. You're here to learn what I have to
teach."
Chapter 6a: The Stair of Water