Dund dah du wei bo bo feng
"It tells stories." She finished. "And if you use a different ideograph," she raised a finger and started drawing an invisible character in the air, "ţun means story."
Shar-wu dropped her hand with dramatic effect on one of the knobs. The reverberations of the "Bo" ţun rippled through Onion's flesh. "The Great Nothing was uniformly formless, existing with neither chaos nor order." Shar-wu began to chant with each word matching a sound of the ţun. Matching the name of the ţun with the meaning that was given. The Yibouhese was archaic, and Onion could only understand a little, but she could understand enough to know the Yibouh were wrong. "From the original nothing came absence and its opposing extreme, existence. And from there the opposition began. Existence enjoyed existence, and absence enjoyed absence, and so each were delineated, just as darkness does not mix with light during the day. So existence pulled together to make the world, the sun and the stars, while absence clung tightly to in the spaces between."
Shar-wu stopped and glanced at Onion as if to say, "What do you think of that?" Mentally, she replied, A great nothing? That sounds silly. How can something come from nothing? , but she had gotten good at holding her tongue around Shar-Wu.
"It was very beautiful. I can still feel the notes in my bones." she replied verbally.
"You should be here when they have a service. You cannot help but feel the primordial powers of opposites in eternal conflict. It really makes you think about the universe."
Onion looked quizzically at Shar-wu's last sentence. She'd never heard the term 'universe' before.
"Truth be told," Shar-wu continued, "There is another reason why I wanted to see you here."
"What?"
Shar-wu pulled another knob and the sound was still in the air when she spoke again. "I was told to give this to you, discreetly." She handed Onion a sealed scroll. "And I'm starting to get worried about you."
Onion took the scroll and saw the seal of the prince. Roh-ath. "What have you done to get correspondence from the son of the Empress?"
And why are they sending me his message through you? Onion opened the scroll.
"Do you need my help to read it?" Shar-wu asked, but the text that stared at Onion was not Yibouhese. It was in Eirdred.
We have an insect needing to return home, and you are ready for your first mission. You and Cedric will travel in two days.
Onion didn't understand why she was being told this in this way. Yaj-Oth had said nothing. Cedric could have just as easily sought her out. Unless, Onion thought and suddenly she stared at Shar-wu with abject suspicion and hurt.
"Is this whole damn country just toying with me?" she asked who she thought was her teacher and friend, tears forming in her eyes. "You are one of them too?"
Shar-wu looked shocked and injured at Onion's words. "What?"
Onion pulled a knob of the Khon-tun and let the sound drown the chamber. "Are you bei-thal too?"
"What are you talking about? What is bei-thal? Is that a Nuish word?" she stammered defensively.
"You say this as if you don't know. Stop pretending. Stop all the lying. Why can't anyone on this evil continent say things as they are. No. Everyone speaks as if they have two tongues. I am sick of you all."
"Vren!" Shar-wu grabbed her student by the wrist, and Onion felt a tug on her web. "Please listen to me. I have no idea what you are talking about."
The tugs on her web grew stronger and the next moment, when she looked Shar-wu in the eyes, she could recognize this as sincerity. Shar-wu had in fact, never heard of this term before. The realization of this forced a gasp from her lips.
"Oh no." said she. "Oh no no no." she turned to the khon-tun again and pulled a knob. "Oh Shar-wu no, I'm sorry. Please forget what I said. Go home. Forget about this conversation. Never utter it again." She looked about the Cathedral. It was as empty as it had been when they arrived, and the echo of the khon-tun was still present. "Thank the spider for the Circle of Keepers. Just promise me," she said, turning her attention back to her web, traveling to the web that Shar-wu never knew she had. There, she began spinning thread. "Promise me, until the end of your days, you will never ever again say the word 'bei-thal'." And with the breath of her sentence, the word was suffocated on Shar-wu's web.
"Yes, of course," Shar-wu looked alarmed, "I'll never say it again,"
"What?" quizzed Onion.
"What?" she looked visibly dazed, "Remind me what you just said? I can't seem to recall."
Onion relaxed visibly. "Thank the spider." She pulled herself from Shar-wu's grip and hugged her friend.
"It tells stories." She finished. "And if you use a different ideograph," she raised a finger and started drawing an invisible character in the air, "ţun means story."
Shar-wu dropped her hand with dramatic effect on one of the knobs. The reverberations of the "Bo" ţun rippled through Onion's flesh. "The Great Nothing was uniformly formless, existing with neither chaos nor order." Shar-wu began to chant with each word matching a sound of the ţun. Matching the name of the ţun with the meaning that was given. The Yibouhese was archaic, and Onion could only understand a little, but she could understand enough to know the Yibouh were wrong. "From the original nothing came absence and its opposing extreme, existence. And from there the opposition began. Existence enjoyed existence, and absence enjoyed absence, and so each were delineated, just as darkness does not mix with light during the day. So existence pulled together to make the world, the sun and the stars, while absence clung tightly to in the spaces between."
Shar-wu stopped and glanced at Onion as if to say, "What do you think of that?" Mentally, she replied, A great nothing? That sounds silly. How can something come from nothing? , but she had gotten good at holding her tongue around Shar-Wu.
"It was very beautiful. I can still feel the notes in my bones." she replied verbally.
"You should be here when they have a service. You cannot help but feel the primordial powers of opposites in eternal conflict. It really makes you think about the universe."
Onion looked quizzically at Shar-wu's last sentence. She'd never heard the term 'universe' before.
"Truth be told," Shar-wu continued, "There is another reason why I wanted to see you here."
"What?"
Shar-wu pulled another knob and the sound was still in the air when she spoke again. "I was told to give this to you, discreetly." She handed Onion a sealed scroll. "And I'm starting to get worried about you."
Onion took the scroll and saw the seal of the prince. Roh-ath. "What have you done to get correspondence from the son of the Empress?"
And why are they sending me his message through you? Onion opened the scroll.
"Do you need my help to read it?" Shar-wu asked, but the text that stared at Onion was not Yibouhese. It was in Eirdred.
We have an insect needing to return home, and you are ready for your first mission. You and Cedric will travel in two days.
Onion didn't understand why she was being told this in this way. Yaj-Oth had said nothing. Cedric could have just as easily sought her out. Unless, Onion thought and suddenly she stared at Shar-wu with abject suspicion and hurt.
"Is this whole damn country just toying with me?" she asked who she thought was her teacher and friend, tears forming in her eyes. "You are one of them too?"
Shar-wu looked shocked and injured at Onion's words. "What?"
Onion pulled a knob of the Khon-tun and let the sound drown the chamber. "Are you bei-thal too?"
"What are you talking about? What is bei-thal? Is that a Nuish word?" she stammered defensively.
"You say this as if you don't know. Stop pretending. Stop all the lying. Why can't anyone on this evil continent say things as they are. No. Everyone speaks as if they have two tongues. I am sick of you all."
"Vren!" Shar-wu grabbed her student by the wrist, and Onion felt a tug on her web. "Please listen to me. I have no idea what you are talking about."
The tugs on her web grew stronger and the next moment, when she looked Shar-wu in the eyes, she could recognize this as sincerity. Shar-wu had in fact, never heard of this term before. The realization of this forced a gasp from her lips.
"Oh no." said she. "Oh no no no." she turned to the khon-tun again and pulled a knob. "Oh Shar-wu no, I'm sorry. Please forget what I said. Go home. Forget about this conversation. Never utter it again." She looked about the Cathedral. It was as empty as it had been when they arrived, and the echo of the khon-tun was still present. "Thank the spider for the Circle of Keepers. Just promise me," she said, turning her attention back to her web, traveling to the web that Shar-wu never knew she had. There, she began spinning thread. "Promise me, until the end of your days, you will never ever again say the word 'bei-thal'." And with the breath of her sentence, the word was suffocated on Shar-wu's web.
"Yes, of course," Shar-wu looked alarmed, "I'll never say it again,"
"What?" quizzed Onion.
"What?" she looked visibly dazed, "Remind me what you just said? I can't seem to recall."
Onion relaxed visibly. "Thank the spider." She pulled herself from Shar-wu's grip and hugged her friend.
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