Chapter 10: The First Lesson
On the thirtieth day, Kael-Zhur gave his first lesson.
It wasn't planned. He was in the communal refectory, helping Yallin serve dinner, when a group of young people approached. They were mediator apprentices, students of the symbiotic system, curious about the man who had been the Navigator of Contraduality.
- "Lord Kael-Zhur - said a girl, the same one who had giggled in the corner weeks ago." - "Can you teach us something?"
- "About what?"
- "About... decisions. How to know what's right."
Kael looked at Yallin, who gave him an encouraging smile.
- "Sit down - he said."
The young people settled on the floor in a semicircle. Kael remained standing, leaning on the table where he had served dinner.
- "I won't teach you how to decide correctly - he began." - "Because there's no such thing. There are decisions that assume the cost and decisions that hide the cost. The difference isn't in the technique. It's in the courage to sign."
- "But what if we make mistakes? - asked a boy."
- "You will make mistakes, many times, i've made countless mistakes." - "What matters isn't avoiding error. It's not outsourcing the responsibility for it."
The young people exchanged glances. It wasn't the answer they expected. But Kael saw in some faces the glimmer of understanding, the same glimmer he had felt in the unregistered space, when the boy explained the importance of doing nothing.
- "And how do we know we're signing? - asked the girl."
Kael thought for a moment. He remembered Iren Vald. He remembered Rhael-Korin. He remembered the Lethar Harmony Complex, where no one signed and everything stopped.
- "When you can look at someone who was harmed by your decision and say, "I'm the one who chose" - then you're signing." - "If you can't say that, then you're pushing the cost onto someone else."
The girl wrote something down on a piece of vegetal parchment. Kael saw the shaky handwriting, like Yallin's.
- "What's your name? - he asked."
- "Naya."
- "Naya - Kael repeated, committing the name to memory." - "If you remember one thing from what I said today, remember this: the system can be perfect. Ethics can be elegant. But in the end, someone has to get their hands dirty. Someone has to sign. If no one does, the world stops."
Naya nodded, her eyes shining.
After the young people left, Yallin approached.
- "You'd be a good teacher - she said."
- "I don't know how to teach - Kael replied."
- "You just did."
Kael was silent. Threnaal pulsed in a rhythm he now recognized as contentment.
- "Maybe - he said." - "Maybe i can learn."