Some things are easier said than done. Giving a cat a bath. Getting over a tragic breakup. Not overthinking situations. Amongst that exhaustive list of items, Marie was prepared to add another, which was coming up with an alternative to using the Heavenly Eye. It had been a good few weeks since she'd declared to her Master that she would find a way to bypass the Heavenly Eye and observe Constants. Yet, till now, she had made little to no progress on that front.
For one, the field of research was extremely restrictive. The only people she could refer to, and the only references she could access were by those who themselves were practitioners of the Heavenly Eye. And since at any point in time only two practitioners can exist, she could only confer with her Master and with the extremely scarce stack of books he carried with him that were written by the practitioners before him. This brought on the second reason: Marie found out that research and advancement in the Heavenly Eye had stagnated three generations ago. One could only assume that her predecessors thought this was as far as they could take this cultivation method.
This discouraged and demotivated Marie for two reasons. One, she had very few people to discuss, debate and bounce her ideas off. Marie was someone who thrived when there was an open conversation about a topic. She liked to float her ideas in a forum, and gain a wide range of opinions before cementing her own which she would then take to her grave until sufficient evidence to refute it was brought to light. The nature of her cultivation method made it so that there was no forum for her to discuss with, and everyone who practised it happened to be of one mind. Secondly, her excitement dimmed knowing that the people she needed to contend with had far greater experience in both the cultivation method and in life.
Every practitioner of the Heavenly Eye had lived for at least a thousand years, some even longer. During their lives, they must have travelled across the planet- multiple planets before the Age of Isolation. From those travels, they would have assimilated a plethora of knowledge which would further widen their own understanding of the world. What Marie was doing at the moment was pitting her measly fifteen years of experience, of which the first five were barely a blur, against that of her ancestors who each had a hundred times her living experience. Even thinking it made her feel stupid. Those before her must have already walked down her line of reasoning. They must have already spent years trying to unravel the mysteries of the Heavenly Eye to find safe alternatives. But seeing as none of their successful exploits was recorded in the collection Master carried with him, it could be inferred that everyone must have failed.
"It's universally accepted that no power comes for free," her Master reminded her a week back. "I've told this to you many times before. In gaining unimaginable power and abilities, one must sacrifice something in the process. Most, if not all mages have come to accept that fact. The practitioners of the Heavenly Eye have also accepted this. After running innumerable cost-benefit analyses on the cultivation path, the cost of losing a small part of their body for benefit of gaining the power to observe fate in all its forms was deemed profitable in the grand scheme of things. In fact, we reached this point after years and years of research, trials and errors. This was accepted as the best course of action for many generations."
"There has to be another way," Marie reaffirmed, although her stubbornness was waning.
"To want everything without giving anything is just being greedy," her Master reprimanded. "Although I respect and appreciate your need to protect me, I don't want you to walk down this path if it is consuming you. Greed often leads you down a self-destructive path where you perceive to lose nothing when in fact you're sacrificing everything else that matters to you."
"What I want is for everyone to be safe, all this power is secondary," Marie refuted. "If the people I care about have to bear the sacrifice for my gains, then the power gained isn't worthwhile."
"In fact, I don't need the Heavenly Eye; I will settle for something lesser," she declared then. But to date, she has yet to make any headway in finding this alternative. At this moment, she was willing to give up. Seconds counted down as her mind ran the numbers - Marie was stubborn but not irrational. Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
"MARIE! MARIE!" Dora's excited voice interrupted Marie's computations. "Teacher Larks- I mean Mister Larks has returned!"
The little girl was bouncing with overflowing emotions, something which her twin brother shared in a more muted sense given his introverted character.
"Has it been a month already?" Marie muttered out loud. It had not...
"Come, let's go!" Dora urged by pulling Marie's hand. With an acquiescing smile, the older girl complied and allowed herself to be guided by the little rabbit.
Marie had foreseen this event through her Heavenly Eye. It was supposed to happen in another week's time, yet the event was preempted. It was Transient, such deviations were expected, but Marie didn't do anything out of the ordinary that could have resulted in this change. With a slight furrow, Marie stepped to the side and muttered, "Were you responsible for Mister Larks' early return?"
She knew that her Master had his attention on her at all times during the day. It was pervasive but understandable. True to her assumption, a positive response resounded in her mind. Voice transmission.
"I could see you struggling," her Master's voice added. "I thought that maybe Guy might offer you some change in perspective."
Marie felt warmth bubbling inside her. "H-How did you do it? You never left the village..."
"That's a secret for later. You will learn to do it yourself in due time," his voice answered. She could hear a mirthful chuckle underlying the response.
Marie met up with Mister Larks and Markus outside the orphanage. Mister Larks was carrying Dora and Kano on each of his shoulders and blowing into their tummy eliciting a tickled laugh from them. Markus was carrying a few bags, with little difficulty. Her gaze then moved past them, and she noticed a hefty figure lumbering up the stairs with heavy breaths.
"Who's this?" Marie inquired Markus.
"This is my friend, Furion," Markus answered. "His father owns Dune Caravan Management. He'll be with us over the Summer break."
Marie's eyes burst out of her sockets in shock, "THE Dune Caravan Management? You're joking!"
During her time working with different trading caravans, Marie had stumbled upon Dune many times. She never got an opportunity to work for them given their extremely thorough vetting process, but they had a stellar record of delivery and customer satisfaction in the industry. To hear that her brother was acquainted with the heir to the company came as a world-shattering surprise. What astounded her further was that she didn't see this boy in her earlier vision - probably a result of her Master's tampering with the event.
"Furion here will assist in managing the Verum Trading Company I was talking about," Mister Larks clarified. "As a Sect Leader, it will be difficult for me to split my time between managing the Sect and managing the company, so I'm training Furion here to handle the business side of things. He's extremely capable, he even managed to snag us a few pre-orders of the Gutenberg Press!"
The boy called Furion revealed a proud smile between his wheezes at Mister Larks' praise. "I... try..."
"He's being modest," Mister Larks added. "I gave you a difficult task in the first place. Chances of succeeding were slim, yet you managed, which is commendable! Just remember the process and don't get complacent"
"It was all coincidental," the boy responded. "All the scribes employed by the publisher got snatched by a rival at the exact moment I arrived. The only reason he was so amiable to the purchase was that he was desperate and didn't have enough time to think things through."
"That really is a coincidence," Marie hummed as she narrowed her gaze. Her Master played his hand magnificently. It may be a bit heavy-handed in his approach, but it was effective.
"Nonetheless, a success is a success," Mister Larks repeated. "Let's not waste any more time here and go in. Furion, you may have to bunk with Markus for the time being. He will guide you around the orphanage. Please be mindful of the people living here."
And with that, the group split up. Mister Larks carried the twins into the orphanage while Markus took his friend around the area. Marie chose to follow Mister Larks.
____
Marie had something in her mind. Guy could feel it, not just because the girl had been tailing him for a good hour, but also because there was this constipated expression on her face the entire time. So, after greeting Grace and the others of his return, he led the girl to his room.
"So, what's eating you? I wanted to wait until tomorrow after I've had a good rest, but it looks like you won't be able to last that long," Guy chuckled.
But then, like the opening of a great flood gate, Marie's lips parted and a jumble of words gushed out. Guy lost track immediately and so he waited till the girl exhausted herself, which took half an hour.
"That was a lot," Guy said with a bitter smile. "I don't think I followed after your first sentence. You might have to take me through your problem once again."
Marie released a long exhale and said, "I apologise. It's not right to dump my problems on you like this."
"It's not an issue at all. I appreciate that you've come to me with your concerns," Guy refuted immediately. "If I may, why don't you take this day to settle your agitation and structure your inquiry more properly? Come back to me tomorrow and we will continue where we left off."
The girl nodded and bid Guy farewell for the day. Guy observed her troubled figure retreat and sighed in satisfaction. He did not enjoy the trip in the slightest. Business management was not his cup of tea at all. This! Teaching and guiding students are what he lived for.
"It's good to be back. Might as well enjoy the peace while it lasts."
