008: THE SUN AND MOON
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After Amelie had her moment, I helped her back up, she took some time in order to compose herself. Leaving me to my own devices. I returned to the ballroom where things had gotten a lot more lively. The band were still going strong, a few couples were on the dance floor, and many guests were eating.
This was not my scene, but it was refreshing. The food for one was well made, extremely flavourful and just an overall improvement from the stuff I made myself when I stayed at the forge. I went ahead and grabbed a couple of sandwiches, assorted slices of meat and cheese along with a glass of apple juice.
I sat on one of the balcony chairs, watching the courtyard. Guests were still coming in, you could see the carriages pulled by absurdly large horses pull up, and people stepping out. The whole courtyard was lit using torches, oil lamps and candles. It wasn’t bright per se, but more dimly lit.
“It’s romantic down there isn’t it?” An unfamiliar voice asked, the person was standing right behind me.
Slightly, I turned around to find a girl who seemed about Alber’s age. “Is that how you start all your conversations?”
“I got your attention didn’t I?” She said, smiling a very devious-looking smile. “And I’ve heard that you’re someone with a prickly personality.”
“Me? Prickly?”
“Didn’t you make your maid cry? I saw her attached to you like a tail, and then I heard her cry in a hallway, and now she’s not here,” the girl turned to face the party and leaned against the balcony railing. “Ergo, prickly personiltied child genius.”
“First off. Why are you spying on people in their own houses? Secondly, child genius is a bit much don’t you think?”
“Well, if you must know. I was looking for my father, who was having, what I assumed was a bromance with yours’. As for the child genius bit, those are your brother’s words, not mine”
“Just who are you?” I asked. Genuinely surprised by the mouth on this kid.
“Cecily von Solaris, at your service,” the girl said, giving me a curtsy. Her movements were elegant, this kid was most certainly a nobleman’s child. She had that refined air to her that came with her social standing.
“Alberich vol Eisenwerk, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” I said, responding with a bow.
“Quite the gentleman, for someone who made sweet Amelie cry like that.”
“In my defence, she made herself cry.”
“Sure sure. Just make yourself the guy who did nothing wrong. But I get what you mean, she seems to care a lot about you,” Cecily said as she turned to face the courtyard. A wind blew by, causing her long brown hair to quite literally flutter. It was then that I noticed she was wearing a pair of earrings with the symbol of a sun.
“Okay, I have to ask. Your earrings. What does the sun symbolise?”
Cecily gave me a quick once over, she looked at the pin I was wearing, and then right into my eyes. “So, you’re telling me that you have no idea what this symbol means?”
“I wouldn’t be asking you if I knew would I?”
“Fair enough,” Cecily paused, considered her words and continued “I take it that you know the myth of the Sun and Moon?”
“What myth?”
“Sweet Sol. Okay. So it seems that the boy genius requires a lesson in myth. How can you be a scientific genius, but not know the most common piece of Eshorian legends?”
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“I don’t know everything, I just know what I know.”
“Right, Mr. I-just-know-what-I know, how about we find a more quiet place? A noisy ballroom seems like the last place to give a lecture.”
“How about my study?”
“Sure. That works.”
I led Cecily from the ballroom and to my study. It’d been a while since I’d last been there, yet everything was kept spic and span. Not a particle of dust could be found. Amelie had been busy.
“Is this more to your liking?” I asked, spreading my arms.
“This will do,” Cecily said as she walked over to my blackboard. She inspected the calculus question I’d posed to my tutor nearly a year ago before looking back at me as if I were a crazy person. “The heck is this?”
“I call it Calculus.”
“What does it do? I can see that you’ve butchered that equation.”
“Well, Calculus is all about studying change. Rates of change in this case.”
“Sure sure. I’m going to erase this in case someone walks in here and sees this chicken scratch,” Cecily grabbed the duster before continuing, “Your handwriting is terrible by the way.”
“That’s awfully nice of you to say.”
“Alright. Now quiet down, class is in session,” Cecily said as she turned to the blackboard.
“In the beginning, there was nothing but pure celestial energy. The gods didn’t exist,” Cecily drew a circle and coloured it in. “Think of it as a solid mass. At some point this mass erupted, dispersing its energy everywhere. Spots with high concentrations of energy created our Gods. For this particular story, we’re focusing on the Sun, the domain of Solaria, also known as Sol.” Cecily drew the symbol of the sun, “Sol, wondered the Aether for millennia in complete isolation. She was alone out there, so she came to Tera, to seek the company of the Earth God, Tellus.” Cecily drew the symbol of the Earth, Tera in this case. “During her time on Tera, the planet flourished. It was sunny every day, plants grew and animals grazed. It was perfect.”
Cecily paused, looking around the room and continued, “Most books say that Sol and Tellus gathered all the other elemental gods and created humans. Afterwards, they gave their powers to a select group of humans whom we call Sorcerers today. Everyone else could get their hands on these celestial powers, but they have to work hard.” Cecily once again paused and ensured we were alone. “So, one day Sol took a holiday, she went back home to the Sun and took a nap. When she returned, she found that half of the humans were dead. All the gods were sad. Because when Sol was gone, an unknown god called Nox came and turned the animals mad. He made fathers turn on their wives and kids, and chiefs on their people. The only reason Nox didn’t do anything before was because Sol was there. Her light was so powerful that it kept Nox away. Realising that the world needed Sol’s power to keep Nox away.
Cecily once again stopped and made sure that nobody was around, “Sol and Tellus came up with a plan. They took half the mountains from Tera and made a large ball in the sky. The two of them imbued it with a portion of their power, creating Lunas. The God of the Night and Moon.” Cecily stepped away from the blackboard and came way too close to me. Her face was inches from my own, and she whispered “The kids' books say that Lunas was created by Sol and Tellus, but I found a book in my Dad’s library that said they had S-E-X, and Lunas was born.”
Apart from Cecily being too close, I could also tell that she had turned extremely red. It just dawned on me that the concept of gods having sex seemed very NSFW to kids, especially in this world. If only Cecily knew the antics Zeus got up to back on earth.
“Woah. That’s wild!” I exclaimed.
“That’s exactly what I thought!” Cecily said, stepping back.
“The whole story is cool and all, but how do you know that Sol, Lunas and all those gods exist? Where’s the proof?”
“The proof is in the sky! Look at how Eshore doesn’t have that many big mountains. Look at the magic we’re able to do. If that isn’t proof enough, I have no idea what’ll convince you.”
“That’s all well and good, but I’m a man of Science, I trust in the quantifiable and provable.”
“I’m not going to argue with you. I’d most likely lose. But if you’re such a man of science, why haven’t you become a machine maker yet?”
“I’m too young,” I said, the words not feeling right coming out of my mouth. Something inside me was telling me that my statement was incorrect.
“That’s a lie. You’re scared,” Cecily’s words slapped me in the face. Frankly, it annoyed me to hear them. “Having no faith in yourself is worse than being faithless.”
“Hold on now. What can I, an 8-year-old do in a world full of adults who don’t believe in my knowledge?”
“You make them believe.”
“That’s wishful thinking. You have to be realistic about the world.”
“And yet you’ve managed to get as far as becoming the apprentice of one of the most skilled blacksmiths in the country. You have what it takes, yet you’re limiting yourself by something as silly as the opinion of people?”
“Cecily. I like your enthusiasm. But what would you know about the world? We’re both children.”
“Don’t lump me in with the likes of you. I’ve reached out and taken what I want.”
“And what is it that you’ve taken?”
“I’m the youngest student to ever enter the Mirfield School of Mystic Arts. If I could do something as simple as convincing an old man to let me enter his school, so can you.” Cecily paused to catch her breath. “If you want to be a machine maker, build something. Give the admissions teams who look down on you for being a kid no reason to reject you.”
What is it with tonight that has women questioning me?