The Meaning of Unity

Chiana

"I mean what the frell does it mean besides the ol' generic thing of bringing together?" I continue on, asking in a sharp tone.

Protocol and decorum are nice, but I'm one who likes actions to words, ya know! That and I just love being the center of attention. Heh! Though . . .maybe sometimes that's not such a good thing? Especially with this VERY big lion.

"You know that I am not a tame lion," he rumbles softly, an unreadable look on his face.

Eep.

"Auntie Chiana?" Rei says softly, shaking her head slightly in consternation and worry.

"To the point I see," Aslan says, tilting his head slightly as he looks at me. "I was going to get to that. However, do not fear. I was just reminding you of . . . certain facts."

Yeah, like frellin' don't push the envelope with this guy! Oh frelling YES will I not try that little stunt again.

No, I see you do not understand I fear, Aslan says, surprising me with this sending. Surely you must know that some of the other Elder Champions out there would have taken serious offense for that tone of voice, and react according to what their cultural heritage would demand to redress the issue. The one that comes to mind as example would be Oberon. By now through your studies of Earth culture and literature you can guess HIS response would have been, correct.

Oh boy. that particular guy would NOT have taken it at all and when I think of it I'd be VERY lucky to be able to walk a straight line with any degree of skill.

The Fair Folk can throw some rather nasty hexs out at a person. What could a powerful one do to me? How long would it take for the others to put me back to right, to unhex me? That's something I'd not like to find out, thanks.

Might want to take this one to heart, Chiana!

Glad you see the point, Aslan nods slightly. Myself, I do not take offense. Not a lot, anyway, being that I can see into your heart and know why you say it. However, dear one, I wish you well so that is why this discussion. Better now than learning a harsh and cruel lession later.

There is more than a little warmth to the last part of Aslan't message. He IS a caring entity at that.

Very Christlike, protests to the contrary.

"Yeah, I guess." I sigh. "But frell, do you have to be so formal about it? Pomp and circumstance are all nice I guess, but recently we all have had it up to our eyebrows with it here on Terra Prime. Too many ceremonies we couldn't wiggle our way out of, ya know!"

"I mean don't you at least get a little tired of dren like that back in Narnia?"

Aslan slowly knods at that one. Perhaps he does at that, or maybe not. Somehow I figure he has too much grace to admit to being even a little annoyed at the reverence (through ceremony and such) the native population give him while he's about. Maybe it does annoy him . . . a little bit. Gets annoying?

That or maybe he can understand where we're coming from. I mean after all, while he's some kind of super elder Champion of the Office of Good and we're just kinda starting out as Champions for the Offices of Order and Chaos it does NOT mean we have to be STUFFY with each other. Right?

"Very well, to business with a minimum of any more unneeded 'dren'," Aslan rumbles, chuckling. A decidedly mischievous twinkle in his eye is shining before he begins to speak "informally".

And what he says is kind of unexpected. And I also learn another VERY important lesson here. Do NOT have an elder Champion speak to you informally. Not to say that he was rude or any dren like that. It is just that I believe now I understand that there is another reason for formality.

Hm, how exactly to put this, I wonder?

Casual speech between Champions like we have here on Terra Prime is okay. Normal. We're not too far removed in years from "normal" people. Not a lot of years adding perspective and all that dren, coloring things.

Aslans lived frellin' LONG time and when he speaks to us, Champion to Champion, he does it the way an Elder Champion does it with another Elder.

Straight mindspeak and DEEP mindspeek is what I'm saying. Best way I can put it. Through his speaking mind to mind with us we catch glimpses of experience that just ROCK us!

Formal speaking is something of a tool for HIM to avoid overwhelming us like he almost did with what he showed.

He didn't do it to the point where we'd be harmed, mentally, but it's kind of a trip and a half what we DID see, you see?

Rei

"So basically I have several 'good will' Quests to choose from," I say slowly, looking oddly at Aslan. "This unity is the what will eventually mean the mergence of any and every reality that some kind of Celestrial 'extreme' intervention of one type or another into one super reality?"

There was a LOT more to this session (gad!), but that was the gist of it.

Note to self: NEVER have an "informal" chat with an Elder Champion of ANY Office again until we reach some kind of parity in experience! The thoughts the Great Lion thinks are . . .dizzying to the unprepared.

And that was just a playful swat he'd given us all.

"Which shall be by needs a steady state universe to accommodate the realities already in that state before the mergence," Aslan answers, nodding affirmative. "Including Terra Prime, eventually, considering Celestrial intervention means amongst other things: Champion business."

Okay.

"Which will all revolve around one fixed center point," the Doctor says softly, guessing. "Mid-world and the Dark Tower?"

"But of course Timelord," Aslan purrs. "By circumstance and design both were and still ARE eternal. Ka is a wheel, without beginning or ending in a sense. Matter that eventually would otherwise degenerate into it's lowest entropic state gets scooped up into the realm of super- space where the Celestrials dwell. Gets recycled, and put forth anew . . . rather UNLIKE the affairs of most of the other realities that orbit about the Dark Tower."

Meaning that MOST universes of the multi-verse, in one faction or another, are NOT a steady-state. How exactly it all falls out is going to be never fully clear, but that aside . . .it is not important for the here and now.

. . .

Honestly, I'm still trying to swallow the things we've just gotten here and NOW. Putting aside a few hundred questions that I somehow will not be answerable (for whatever reason) by Aslan, I instead concentrate on the more important question that comes to my mind.

"One thing," I say quietly, not fully having assimilated this yet. "When you say that I get to decide which particular group to tackle . . .well, why?"

The answer is rather weird, but simple: it's my birthday and it's (in the end through his vocal support) a gift from that ONE Rule who'd done so much for me.

Okay, it is NICE to have friends and fans in high places but THIS is a bit weird even for ME!

So we've been offered (we are under no obligation on taking) a rather unusual Quest. This business isn't a "real" Quest, per say. Normal Quests given out by Rules and Agents involve really serious business of universe shattering proportions. This is not a Quest, but something of a request to help the Celestrials here.

Hm.

You know, it is nice that such powerful entities actually give a care about the negative fallout of their actions (even IF it is for the greater good overall . . . that IS a concept I still hold dear . . . even IF the sacrifices I made and would have made in the line of duty as an Eva pilot Gendo made a mockery).

Had a long discussion with Chiana over THAT one. She still has issues with her old homeworld'gs government, the Establishment who performed VILE acts (for the greater good they said).

That aside, while they cannot directly intervene to minimize damage done in this upcoming mergence of at least SOME parts of another reality to an new place, they're sending US to do it.

I DO hope we're up to it. Oh, should I say that I hope that I'm up to it. They say that I've learned so much (and so quickly) but then again this would be my first Quest.

. . .

Damn, this feels good but frightening at the same time and I get to choose which shall be my first! And from what I hear the way some Quests are set up this shall be quiet a bit different from the usual run (if such a term can apply to a Champion's Quest). Peace and harmony are much preferable to fighting, though there are times when it must be done.

Do hope that we can calm things down before things come to blows. Anyway, as I am looking through the listing I come upon one particular and read the captions. I nearly drop it in surprise!

"Hey, this one is kind of interesting and a bit up my alley," I say smiling a bit. Might as well make good use of my past. It would help with dealing with ONE side of this upcoming Quest. "Never heard of Half-life. Only have a passing knowledge of Star Trek: The Original Series. However, I SHOULD know the last!"

1. "Rei, are you really feeling up to going back to something like that?" Mina asks, when I show it to her and the others. "Yes, it is your choice, but still it is not exactly, well . . ."

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