Chapter 7: Iel-Zhoon's Visit
Iel-Zhoon arrived without warning, as always.
Shuun-Vo was sitting at the edge of the lake, watching the motionless water, when he felt the change in the air, not a negating presence like his own, but something different. A vibration. A resonance. Words that had not yet been spoken.
- "You're different - Iel-Zhoon said, entering the cavern."
- "You too - Shuun-Vo replied, without turning."
Iel-Zhoon sat beside him. He looked older, not in age, but in weight. His eyes, which once shone with the curiosity of someone discovering Evolutionary Syntax, were now calmer. More tired.
- "Your words stopped germinating - Shuun-Vo said."
- "I know. They're coming back. Slowly."
- "What changed?"
Iel-Zhoon looked at the lake.
- "I stopped trying to plant futures. I started listening to the present."
Shuun-Vo nodded. He understood. During the Second Cycle, Iel-Zhoon had written little, just observations, short sentences, aphorisms that condensed immense pains into few words. His language refused mediation. His words found no soil.
"I read what you wrote - Shuun-Vo said." - "When growth ceases to be mandatory, power learns to parasitize peace."
- "It was one of the last things I wrote before I stopped."
- "It was true."
Iel-Zhoon smiled. It was a sad smile.
- "Truth didn't make things better."
- "Truth rarely does."
They were silent for a while. The lake water remained motionless. The plates Shuun-Vo had shed were piled at the edge, like a small ruined wall.
- "Lumea told me you're coming apart - Iel-Zhoon said."
- "I'm spreading."
- "It's the same thing."
Shuun-Vo didn't answer. Iel-Zhoon pointed to the fallen plates.
- "What will be left when they all fall?"
- "I don't know."
- "Maybe that's the answer."
Shuun-Vo looked at him.
- "What?"
- "Not knowing. You spent your whole existence knowing what you were: the Rejected Presence, the one who denies, the exception. Maybe when the plates fall, you'll discover you don't need to know. That you can simply be."
Shuun-Vo frowned.
- "That doesn't make sense."
- "It doesn't - Iel-Zhoon agreed." - "But the things that matter most rarely do."
Iel-Zhoon stood and walked to the cavern entrance. Before leaving, he stopped and looked back.
- "Kael sends his regards. He wants to know if you'll visit him in Arin."
- "Maybe."
- "He also said he found a piece of moss in the unregistered space you created there. A moss that refuses to die."
Shuun-Vo felt the corner of his lips curve again.
- "I know that moss."
- "He said you'd say that."
Iel-Zhoon left. Shuun-Vo remained sitting at the edge of the lake, watching the motionless water, feeling the air touch the exposed skin on his shoulders.
Maybe, he thought, not knowing really was the answer.