The Dragons
Chapter Ten
Anja stood on the bridge of Aaru as the two immense ships, Aaru and Ther'lin, eased into orbit above her home world. It was a world of crystal clear colors, sparking sapphire water, snow covered mountains reaching up to the stratosphere with fingers of sparkling rock and glaciers and snow.
The monastery of her childhood was on the viewer. It wasn't much to look at. Simpler even than the dzong where Dinah had been kept. Wood and stone, beauty in its simplicity. There were times when Anja would wake up and feel as if she'd somehow transported herself back home to it.
Snow, sensing her emotional reaction to seeing it, touched her mind softly. Reassuring her. Sharing her joy without her own nostalgia. Was it nostalgia? Or simple ... There were times when she ached to be a simple monk such as those who lived here. Yet at the same time she knew it was not to be, and not for her, and that her happiness with regard to her life as it was now was complete and that, as the saying went, the site of enlightenment was right under your own feet and nowhere else.
A slight movement behind her brought her back to the present and out of her inner thoughts. Laz smiled at her and she laughed out loud. "I told you that you would hate it."
"Hey. I haven't even done more than look out the window at it. We don't know I"ll hate it."
"It is cold and there is not a beach to be seen. Look there, on the peaks. A blizzard. It is beautiful."
"Sweetheart, I hate being cold. Not mountains and snow. If you keep me warm," he said, pulling her back against his chest so he was looking out over her head," I'll be fine."
"Hmmm. Well, I shall do my best to do so. Perhaps you should stay aboard ship."
"Nope," he said. "Not a chance. The monks might convince you to stay."
She turned in his arms and put a hand against the side of his cheek. "No. My life is here, not down there. I do sometimes miss it, though. It is .. simple, and pure and one can think in the silence. It is hard to explain."
"You don't need to," he said. "I understand. It's how I feel about my home."
She nodded agreeing. "I will go down alone," she said aloud so that Marc and Dinah standing nearby would hear, "on Snow. I will beg permission for you to see the library. It will be granted but there will be some rules with regard to where you can go and who you can see. Mostly this is so as to disrupt daily life there as little as possible." She smiled. "But there will, I'm sure, be those who seek you out to speak with you, and the dragons will want to visit with ours."
"And the dragons do what they want to do," Dinah said, smiling. "We'll be here."
Anja kissed Laz and winked out, and several minutes later they watched her aboard Snow spiral downward toward the monastery.
"Don't look so worried, Laz," Marc said.
Laz shook his head.
A few hours later Anja told them to come down aboard dragons. The dragons were free to interact as they pleased, and the crew were welcome in the public portions of the monastery.
Melly and Colin went down with Laz, Dinah and Marc. Anja was waiting in the courtyard as the dragons dropped them off, using touch and go landings. Dinah laughed at Quinn and Cola as they headed for the mountains, Kalie, Jelly and the others right behind them. "Thank you," she said to Anja.
Anja put her hands together and bowed. "You are most welcome. The library is this way," Anja said and led them down a corridor that had drifts of snow in some of the corners. It was freezing cold, and the wind whistled around the building. Anja seemed untouched by the cold. And as they passed a few monks, dressed much as she was, Anja smiled and greeted them. They looked much like her. Hair white and eyes dark and deep. They looked curiously at the outworlders but hurried on their way after a smile or two.
"Like Tibet," Melly murmured, as Anja led them into the library. Then she broke into an enormous smile. "Only better."
The library was immense. Ancient book after ancient book marched along bookshelves as far as the eye could see. "Here.." Anja said, leading Colin and Melly over to one particular section. "Over here somewhere is where I believe I saw the symbol. I'm sorry, I don't recall the book but this is the section on dragons, so perhaps it fits."
They nodded and separated, searching the shelves. Dinah shook her head and turned to Anja. "To whom do we pay our respects? I have brought a gift," she said, "if they won't be offended."
"Here she is now," Anja said with a smile. "Samma. Please, I wish to introduce you to my friends. Dinah and Marc Siolastre, and Laszlo."
Samma was a tiny thing, skin pale and as translucent as parchment. Her eyes sparkled with intelligence though and she wore a slight smile as she bowed to them. "I am honored to make you welcome here."
They bowed in response, much as Anja had bowed to them. "It is we who are honored by your hospitality," Dinah said. "And your generosity."
"Anja tells me you are trying to research symbols. Our library has been built, book by book, over the ages. it is here for the use of anyone who seeks knowledge. It is not a matter of generosity, but of duty. We are merely the Library's servants."
"Yet it is only from a depth of generosity in surrender to service to an other that one comes to an understanding that duty is simply another name for love," Dinah said.
Samma cocked her head at Dinah. "True. It is surprising that someone of the world understands that."
Dinah smiled. "The true monk may withdraw from the world but he remains very much a part of it. Hence it is not the location that makes the monk. He knows wisdom is a harlot who will come to whoever opens the door of the soul to her."
"Not a sentiment I hold, but wise nonetheless," Samma replied with a smile. "Will you come and share tea with me?"
"We would be delighted," Dinah said, her lips ruthlessly straight. "But tell me if you would be so kind, for I wish to learn, is it not detachment that the monk seeks as the pathway to enlightenment?"
"Detachment is as distracting as engagement in the world. Here we seek the middle path, the path of moderation away from the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification and toward the practice of wisdom, morality and mental cultivation." Samma replied as she led them toward a room plain and simple but still comfortable.
"Sit," she directed. Samma smiled especially at Laz.
Dinah watched as Laz smiled back and took a seat. She kept her face serene and sat next to Marc.
Once tea was served, Marc cleared his throat. "Samma, we are indeed here researching symbols. I wonder if we showed them to you if you might know them, or of them?"
Samma shrugged. "I cannot know, but certainly you can show them to me."
Marc opened his palm and the symbols for all the Houses appeared in the air above it.
Samma looked at them, and went back to drinking her tea.
"The tea is wonderful," Dinah said, taking another sip. "It is new to me."
"It is flavored with a flower that grows in our high meadows. Called dragon's blood, because of the brilliance of its color, and because it seems to be found near the dragon weirs. It is said that dragons, when they die, return to the earth. And where they have lain and returned to the earth, they give us this flower."
"Is it in bloom?" she asked.
"No. Now the high meadows are covered in snow, I am sorry to say."
"Ah. On my world it is high summer. I would have like to have seen the blossom."
"Perhaps you can visit us during our summer. The symbols are corrupted."
"How so?" Dinah asked.
"The original symbols have been modified. You will find books of them in our library, as they are originally drawn. The ones the Houses use have additional elements added to them."
"I see," she said. She held out her palm and the symbol for Siol'Ster appeared. "This is the symbol for my own House."
"Yes, it is burned on your mind."
Dinah looked at the sigil. "I would not have said it was burned. But possibly it is a better description." She smiled at Samma and a box appeared in her lap. "Your daughter has often shared tea with me," she said. "She enjoyed the teas of my world, though she told me they were different from the ones enjoyed here. I took the liberty of bringing you some in thanks for the gift your daughter has been to me."
"It is most thoughtful of you, Siol'Ster. There has been much said of you and your mate."
"Uh oh," Marc muttered.
Dinah smiled. "Much is said of many women and their mates. For myself, I rejoice in him and wish others to know the same joy."
"If what I hear is true of what you are about, you have friends in the monasteries of the worlds. My daughter has found a calling."
Anja colored and looked down at her tea.
Dinah looked directly into Samma's eyes. "It is my hope that what she has found is a friend. I know I have. As for what I am about, I do not know what you have heard. If what I do brings me the friendship of the monasteries I am grateful. The monasteries have given me much more."
Samma nodded, and stood. "You may call on us to support those you help." Samma bowed and withdrew, leaving them where they were.
"You have been given the freedom of the public areas," Anja translated.
"I have been entrusted with much more," Dinah said. She rose and set the box down. "Let us hope she is not mistaken in her trust."
The monastery of her childhood was on the viewer. It wasn't much to look at. Simpler even than the dzong where Dinah had been kept. Wood and stone, beauty in its simplicity. There were times when Anja would wake up and feel as if she'd somehow transported herself back home to it.
Snow, sensing her emotional reaction to seeing it, touched her mind softly. Reassuring her. Sharing her joy without her own nostalgia. Was it nostalgia? Or simple ... There were times when she ached to be a simple monk such as those who lived here. Yet at the same time she knew it was not to be, and not for her, and that her happiness with regard to her life as it was now was complete and that, as the saying went, the site of enlightenment was right under your own feet and nowhere else.
A slight movement behind her brought her back to the present and out of her inner thoughts. Laz smiled at her and she laughed out loud. "I told you that you would hate it."
"Hey. I haven't even done more than look out the window at it. We don't know I"ll hate it."
"It is cold and there is not a beach to be seen. Look there, on the peaks. A blizzard. It is beautiful."
"Sweetheart, I hate being cold. Not mountains and snow. If you keep me warm," he said, pulling her back against his chest so he was looking out over her head," I'll be fine."
"Hmmm. Well, I shall do my best to do so. Perhaps you should stay aboard ship."
"Nope," he said. "Not a chance. The monks might convince you to stay."
She turned in his arms and put a hand against the side of his cheek. "No. My life is here, not down there. I do sometimes miss it, though. It is .. simple, and pure and one can think in the silence. It is hard to explain."
"You don't need to," he said. "I understand. It's how I feel about my home."
She nodded agreeing. "I will go down alone," she said aloud so that Marc and Dinah standing nearby would hear, "on Snow. I will beg permission for you to see the library. It will be granted but there will be some rules with regard to where you can go and who you can see. Mostly this is so as to disrupt daily life there as little as possible." She smiled. "But there will, I'm sure, be those who seek you out to speak with you, and the dragons will want to visit with ours."
"And the dragons do what they want to do," Dinah said, smiling. "We'll be here."
Anja kissed Laz and winked out, and several minutes later they watched her aboard Snow spiral downward toward the monastery.
"Don't look so worried, Laz," Marc said.
Laz shook his head.
A few hours later Anja told them to come down aboard dragons. The dragons were free to interact as they pleased, and the crew were welcome in the public portions of the monastery.
Melly and Colin went down with Laz, Dinah and Marc. Anja was waiting in the courtyard as the dragons dropped them off, using touch and go landings. Dinah laughed at Quinn and Cola as they headed for the mountains, Kalie, Jelly and the others right behind them. "Thank you," she said to Anja.
Anja put her hands together and bowed. "You are most welcome. The library is this way," Anja said and led them down a corridor that had drifts of snow in some of the corners. It was freezing cold, and the wind whistled around the building. Anja seemed untouched by the cold. And as they passed a few monks, dressed much as she was, Anja smiled and greeted them. They looked much like her. Hair white and eyes dark and deep. They looked curiously at the outworlders but hurried on their way after a smile or two.
"Like Tibet," Melly murmured, as Anja led them into the library. Then she broke into an enormous smile. "Only better."
The library was immense. Ancient book after ancient book marched along bookshelves as far as the eye could see. "Here.." Anja said, leading Colin and Melly over to one particular section. "Over here somewhere is where I believe I saw the symbol. I'm sorry, I don't recall the book but this is the section on dragons, so perhaps it fits."
They nodded and separated, searching the shelves. Dinah shook her head and turned to Anja. "To whom do we pay our respects? I have brought a gift," she said, "if they won't be offended."
"Here she is now," Anja said with a smile. "Samma. Please, I wish to introduce you to my friends. Dinah and Marc Siolastre, and Laszlo."
Samma was a tiny thing, skin pale and as translucent as parchment. Her eyes sparkled with intelligence though and she wore a slight smile as she bowed to them. "I am honored to make you welcome here."
They bowed in response, much as Anja had bowed to them. "It is we who are honored by your hospitality," Dinah said. "And your generosity."
"Anja tells me you are trying to research symbols. Our library has been built, book by book, over the ages. it is here for the use of anyone who seeks knowledge. It is not a matter of generosity, but of duty. We are merely the Library's servants."
"Yet it is only from a depth of generosity in surrender to service to an other that one comes to an understanding that duty is simply another name for love," Dinah said.
Samma cocked her head at Dinah. "True. It is surprising that someone of the world understands that."
Dinah smiled. "The true monk may withdraw from the world but he remains very much a part of it. Hence it is not the location that makes the monk. He knows wisdom is a harlot who will come to whoever opens the door of the soul to her."
"Not a sentiment I hold, but wise nonetheless," Samma replied with a smile. "Will you come and share tea with me?"
"We would be delighted," Dinah said, her lips ruthlessly straight. "But tell me if you would be so kind, for I wish to learn, is it not detachment that the monk seeks as the pathway to enlightenment?"
"Detachment is as distracting as engagement in the world. Here we seek the middle path, the path of moderation away from the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification and toward the practice of wisdom, morality and mental cultivation." Samma replied as she led them toward a room plain and simple but still comfortable.
"Sit," she directed. Samma smiled especially at Laz.
Dinah watched as Laz smiled back and took a seat. She kept her face serene and sat next to Marc.
Once tea was served, Marc cleared his throat. "Samma, we are indeed here researching symbols. I wonder if we showed them to you if you might know them, or of them?"
Samma shrugged. "I cannot know, but certainly you can show them to me."
Marc opened his palm and the symbols for all the Houses appeared in the air above it.
Samma looked at them, and went back to drinking her tea.
"The tea is wonderful," Dinah said, taking another sip. "It is new to me."
"It is flavored with a flower that grows in our high meadows. Called dragon's blood, because of the brilliance of its color, and because it seems to be found near the dragon weirs. It is said that dragons, when they die, return to the earth. And where they have lain and returned to the earth, they give us this flower."
"Is it in bloom?" she asked.
"No. Now the high meadows are covered in snow, I am sorry to say."
"Ah. On my world it is high summer. I would have like to have seen the blossom."
"Perhaps you can visit us during our summer. The symbols are corrupted."
"How so?" Dinah asked.
"The original symbols have been modified. You will find books of them in our library, as they are originally drawn. The ones the Houses use have additional elements added to them."
"I see," she said. She held out her palm and the symbol for Siol'Ster appeared. "This is the symbol for my own House."
"Yes, it is burned on your mind."
Dinah looked at the sigil. "I would not have said it was burned. But possibly it is a better description." She smiled at Samma and a box appeared in her lap. "Your daughter has often shared tea with me," she said. "She enjoyed the teas of my world, though she told me they were different from the ones enjoyed here. I took the liberty of bringing you some in thanks for the gift your daughter has been to me."
"It is most thoughtful of you, Siol'Ster. There has been much said of you and your mate."
"Uh oh," Marc muttered.
Dinah smiled. "Much is said of many women and their mates. For myself, I rejoice in him and wish others to know the same joy."
"If what I hear is true of what you are about, you have friends in the monasteries of the worlds. My daughter has found a calling."
Anja colored and looked down at her tea.
Dinah looked directly into Samma's eyes. "It is my hope that what she has found is a friend. I know I have. As for what I am about, I do not know what you have heard. If what I do brings me the friendship of the monasteries I am grateful. The monasteries have given me much more."
Samma nodded, and stood. "You may call on us to support those you help." Samma bowed and withdrew, leaving them where they were.
"You have been given the freedom of the public areas," Anja translated.
"I have been entrusted with much more," Dinah said. She rose and set the box down. "Let us hope she is not mistaken in her trust."
