The Mirror Path of Silver - The Second Path of Perception
Saying goodbye, the man picked up the walking stick. It felt more like a laminated stalk of segmented cane than a stick, but using it he found it worked quite well and conveyed touch even better. Once he found the hardened path, the stick worked great in letting him know where the path edges were at, the clack on the path loud and sharp each time he tapped the stick down. To the sides of the path where the ground grew soft, the stick’s tap was muted.
Making his way quickly, the path eventually changed to a stone road. Used to the familiar tapping of the stick, he now followed the stone road. Continuing on, started hearing the sounds of a clanging forge in the distant. Several more yards traveled and he began hearing voices. Now he had the question of what to do. How does a blind man enter a town he has never been in before. “One careful step at a time,” he muttered to himself and slowly began walking forward.
Entering the town, the echoes started to change as the clacking cane started sounding back at him from being in a more enclosed area. Soon he found a wall of a building and started following with his hand, using the cane to check his path for objects he might stumble on. The wall was made of rough wooden slats arranged vertically about a palm length across. He could hear voices quieting as he got nearer and he imagined people stopping their conversations to stare at the new blind man entering his town.
He stopped and stood still when he heard the firm plodding of feet marching directly toward him. He was beginning to flatten himself against the wall to get out of the way when he felt himself suddenly grabbed by his shirt by two iron hard fists. He was lifted off the ground and slammed into the wall behind him, the two fists holding him bruising his chest and knocking the wind from him as his head whipped hard into the wall.
Fighting to force air into spasming lungs while they kept trying to exhale with painful spasms, the blind man began to feel a wave of nausea. That feeling was quickly replaced by another sensation. A feeling that he didn’t belong here suddenly pervaded his senses, almost like he felt guilty for being in the town here or maybe a sense that he would be caught if he didn’t leave immediately. The feeling was trying to force him elsewhere, strange as it was, but the feeling was brief, then it faded. The pain returning.
But even with all that was going on, he sensed that the guilt and the feeling of not belonging were emanating from the owner of the two hands pinning him to the wall.
With a low raspy voice near his face, his attacker whispered “And who might you be? You like our town?” His voice stunk like dung and mixed with garlic.
“Please, I am blind, have pity on me. I am just trying to make my way. I mean no harm.”
“Hehe, I wouldn’t be worried if you did mean harm, and I can see quite plainly that you are blind, fool. Just hold still and this will be over quickly.”
With one hand holding him steady he felt another hand searching him and going through his pockets. With a growl, his attacker leaned near and muttered, “Nothing of value, eh?” And then without a word further, his attacker began pummeling him, slamming his knee into the blind man’s body, then an elbow, then a fist. Repeating the blows several times, all the blind man feels is pain as he cries out for mercy and help. His thoughts descend into muddled fragments of painful bits, trying to focus on a single thought, the blind man mercifully slips from consciousness.
He woke up to the sound of a lady humming. As he sat up, he struggled with the thick woolen blanket covering him, blinking his eyes trying to clear them. Then he remembered that he is blind and without anything else to do said “Hello,” in the direction of the humming voice. The humming stopped. “Well, it's about time mister. You have been a pain to care for this past week.” Her voice was somewhat raspy, betraying not only her age but that she is fond of smoking some form of narcotic. “I have been here a week?” “Yes, maybe a little longer, and without pay, or expectation of it based on your belongings. I have cared for you. Feeding and watering you during your brief moments of waking.” “I have woke before?” “Yes, but never lucid like now. You were brought here in a rather desperate condition. Our healer, gifted though he is, didn’t think you had a chance of living. He attributes your quick healing to you belonging to the Court, or maybe your race.” “Did he happen to comment on my blindness?” “So, you are blind. That certainly explains why you aren’t really looking at me. I had thought as much, told Micah, he’s our healer by the way. Told him ‘Micah, this stranger doesn’t seem to focus when he wakes. I have to feed him directly like I might a baby, put the spoon to his mouth. His eyes won’t focus, just like a newborn.’ Micah insisted that your blindness, if real, isn’t physical, for he sensed no damage to your eyes.” “I fear he is right, what is wrong with my eyes is destiny,” he said, slightly startled at the words coming out of his mouth, yet he felt the truth of the statement. “Enigmatic response, sir. How many of us can claim to be blinded by destiny? But to be expected of you Court folk.” He could hear the derisiveness in her voice. “You even take funny names like Lord Ludicrous, Mistress Alacrity, Master Pious, or our very own Mistress Auspice and Baron Precarious. You could be Master Blindness.” She paused for a response and when he didn’t’ say anything, she continued, “ Well, anyway, I’m Saluna and am the owner of this small inn.” Realizing he was thirsty and achingly hungry, he sat up fully in his bed. “I don’t have a name, at least not that I know of. Would have some of that food and water you spoke of?” “Be right back,” she said as he heard her stand up and walk away. A door opened and then closed. He figured he that he was alone in the room. Feeling around, he found that except garment around his loins, probably used as a diaper during his week-long recovery, he is naked. Feeling somewhat exposed, he pulled the wool blanket up tighter around himself. Saluna shortly returned and gave him a cup full of fragrant water. He then felt her sit something on the bed beside him. “There is a bowl of thick lamb soup on the tray I just sat here. Eat as you well, I will return shortly. I have other chores to attend to.” She departed again while he ate in peace. Once done eating, he began to feel around his body. Not only did he not feel any bruising from the attack, but the scrapes and burns from the magma fields are gone also. Then he remembers that the burns and scrapes were already healed at the river. Nevertheless, his body was whole. A few hours later, Saluna knocked before entering and then slowly opened the door. “Do you feel better?” “Yes. I am curious, what of my attacker?” “I wouldn’t worry too much about him. He harasses all newcomers but you are one of the first he has ever attacked. The city council locked him up for a month, then he will be set free. He’s not the brightest, but once he feels you are part of the town he will actually fight to protect you. It is only newcomers he tends to bully, much like an overzealous guard dog really.” “My blindness puts me at a disadvantage. I would hope that wouldn’t provoke him should we meet again, were I still here, that is.” It occurred to the man that he really didn’t any plan at all. “You might be surprised at the number of blind travelers who come our way. A couple a year actually, though you are the first he has ever attacked in my recollection.” Searching for his clothes, he ended up having to ask. She seemed surprised at first, but then left and returned with them in a basket, saying she had washed them when he first came in. “They were torn and bloody, they should do you now.” After he had dressed, nervously aware that she was still in the room, she said, “They do make you look like a member of the Court, a lowly member to be sure, but a member nonetheless.” The news of other blind travelers coming this way caused him to be thoughtful as he sat there. Was this a common waypoint for people like himself? Over the next few weeks, he formed a fast friendship with Saluna, finding ways to help out around the inn. He went on to make other friends around the town and even sat sometimes at lunch talking with Torim Rae about how the fish are biting. He wasn’t sure if he had suspected or known it before, but Torim Rae revealed that he was also blind and fishing at night worked well for him cause the oil fish only bit at night. Needing a name, he took to calling himself Coro, which meant blind in the language of the Court. He didn’t know how he knew it meant blind, nor could he tell what language it was from, but it fit. Those in the town kept insisting he was a member of the Court and seemed to always give some level of deference to him. He even began to hear them whisper about him when they didn’t think he could hear. They would refer to him as Mister Opalescence. When he asked Saluna, she said, “It is likely in reference to the whiteness of your eyes, done so in the fashion and form common to those of the Court. And since you currently lack a title, Mister seems to fit.” It was then that he learned that Saluna was of an entirely different species. “My eyes are white? Solid white?” “Oh no, the center of them is blue, just the outer portions are white.” Further inquiry led him to believe that Suluna and her people had solid black eyes, similar to a deer or cow. What white they had in their eyes was only at the very edges.
After little over a month, one day while he was returning with Torim Rae after a particularly successful fishing trip, he felt a wave of dizziness overtake him, much like he had felt the first time he had entered the village. Stopping fast in his tracks, suddenly scared of being attacked again, he gripped his cane staff hard prepared to fight this time as needed. A grunt, and then a harsh voice called him out by name. “Coro, they tell me your name is Coro. That isn’t right, but Coro I can call you.” Despite the harshness of the stranger's voice, the words conveyed some level of sympathy in them, what that note of sympathy exactly was, Coro couldn’t say but heard it he did. “I mistreated you the first time we met and I am sorry.” His harsh words were spoken haltingly as if speaking was difficult from him. The sincerity was definitely in the words. As Coro listened, he got the sense that his former attacker was slow-witted. “I have no desire to hold a grudge, so forgive you I must. By what name are you called?” “Oberick,” responded, with a very hard ‘K’ sound on the end of his name. “When I came here, it was the one gift I was given?” “Your gift was a name? Was it the voices of children in a temple that gave you this gift?” “Yes, you know of them? What did they give you?” “Blindness was their gift, so they said. They gave me little else except a command to leave and find my destiny.” Oberick grunted, “Similar for me. They also took my mind and wits. I remember much of who I was at the Courts, I was a wise man, even one who spoke in big words to some of the greatest of lords. Now I remember little, can count only a few numbers. Somedays I am angry for no reason, other days I just cry.” “How long ago did you come to this town?” the Coro asked. “Over a year ago, we come through here sometimes. Most never stay long. Some stay forever.”
Several weeks later as he sat talking with Saluna, the conversation turned to the matter of his clothing. “I have been wearing the same clothes and washing the same clothes daily in the river for almost two months now. Though they seem to withstand the elements well, I think I would like another set or two.” “Are you clothes not fit and appropriate for you and your standing, as a member of the Court?” Over the past two months, his friendship with Saluna had grown considerably. While it was not a friendship which might someday lead to romance, it was a friendship of the likes where any matter or topic could be freely discussed. It was a friendship where one could explore all the emotional elements a topic might include without any fear of being embarrassed. At first he thought her being sarcastic, after all, were not his clothes torn in several places, with crudely threaded mends on the worse spots. But her question was earnest. “Can you not see the poor condition of the clothes I wear?” “I see clothing, not as flashy or shiny as what I see on the other visiting members of the Court, but it seems to be enough to set you apart.” “Apart? How does it set me apart?” “I would ask you, ‘Can you not see this’, but I know that is a faulty question. The mere presence of your clothing is what sets it apart.” Not quite grasping her intent, Coro slowly asked, “Are you implying I am clothed whereas you are not?” “Of course. Until the Courts started to visit, we didn’t know what clothing was. Or at least clothing to wear for that purpose. Gloves and aprons are worn as needed to protect, but not just to wear.” Unbelieving, Coro spurted out with an incredulous laugh, “You jest, my friend, no clothing?” Stepping forward, she reached down and grabbed his hands and brought them up to her shoulders where he felt a not so soft bristled fur, similar to that of a short haired dog. “Feel as you well, though I ask you not to get intimate.” Taking care not to touch her in an improper manner, he ran his fingers from her neck down her arms and then felt at her stomach, only to find bare skin with a light down of fur. Then he reached up and ran his fingers across her face to find it covered in a very light fur. Feeling no nose, he then ran his fingers across two teeth jutting up from the sides of her mouth like miniature tusks. This caused him to immediately step back and with somewhat uncertainty he asked, “Has this always been so? I mean the lack of clothes.” “Yes. You seem afraid. Nothing has changed.” “You are right, nothing has changed, yet my very perception has. I have an image of you in my mind, now it is radically altered.” With a tone of uncertainty and embarrassment creeping into her voice, she said “Seeing me without clothes makes you scared? I may have some age, but never has my body been thought of as fearful.” “It’s not that, Saluna. It is just . . . just not right. People go around clothed where I come from.” “Really, I thought you had no memory.” This stumped him. She was right. How did he know that people wore clothes were he came from? “Odd. Very odd. You are correct, I don’t remember, but at the same time, all my memories tell me people wear clothes. Going around naked is, well abnormal. Young children maybe, but for adults, not at all in public. Bathing of course, and for intimate encounters, but as a general rule, we don’t do it. I just know this. Everyone in town I know, I have a visual image of what I think they look like, and not a one of them is unclothed.” “So, has my lack of clothing changed our relationship?” “Yes, and not at all. I need to get over this and think about things. I will get over it and in a few days it will be as nothing. I just need to come to terms with this.” Saluna stood up and went to the fireplace to pull off the pot of hot tea off its hanger. She was bothered just as much by Coro’s revelation as he was. Finally, she broke the silence by stating, “Your blindness has blinded you not only to sight it seems.” And with some deep realization coming to him, “And at the same time, my blindness has allowed me to understand. Had my sight been present from the start, I would not have stayed in this village. I would have considered you all strange in the least, but my need for an answer along with my discomfort would have had me moving on. I now understand you as I otherwise would not have.” Saluna scoffed, “It’s odd to be judged for what I am not.” She then poured them both some tea and asked, “So tell me, friend Coro, in your mind’s eye, how am I dressed? I fancy a daydream where I am of the Court.” All that night, he pondered on the matter. Was this the message and the lesson he was to learn? They had said when he understood the first path he would be on to his second path. It felt right, but nothing occurred. He worried at the thought and ended up with no sleep and still hadn’t resolve anything by morning. The message seemed simple, judge not by appearances alone. There seemed to be much logic in that, even in sayings from times forgotten like ‘beauty is only skin deep,’ but what was he missing.
After three years, Coro had become a regular member of the town. He was known simply as Coro now, no one called him Mister Opalescence behind his back any longer, his own aura of being of the Court had faded some. He spent most of his days now fishing with Torim Rae. The need for the oil fish was great enough in the town to support both their efforts. He tried for periods of time to go without clothing, hoping that some form of liberation and epiphany would be gained, but each time he would give in after a few days. The feeling of nakedness he couldn’t shake. Clothing offered more than just a covering, it was an emotional protection of security. And it was a weakness, as he started to perceive matters, that he needed clothing. But a weakness he could not overcome for more than a few days at a time. Each time he would eventually convince himself that it was stupid to go unclothed when the nervousness became too much. If it really mattered, he was certain he could go around all the time unclothed, but since it wasn’t needed, he would after a short time be clothed again. Then again, he would reason, the others had a clothing of fur whereas he did not. However, his difficulty with others being naked around him soon vanished in only a few days as he had said. Of course, being blind it was easy to just ignore and forget. One day, while walking the fishing trail out to the stream to join Torim Rae, he heard heavy footsteps crunching on the gravel. Whoever was walking toward him was intentionally being noisy. Turning around, Coro boldly says, “Greetings friend.” In the familiar harsh voice he had grown used and now considered the voice of a friend, “Fear not. It is I, Oberic. And I have exceptionally good news.” The hard ‘k’ was gone from his name as he said it. Coro smiled and nodded. Something indeed sounded different about his friend. The voice was still harsh and raspy, but now there seemed to be an eloquence just in those few words. “What news do you have?” “The greatest. My wits have been restored.” Coro had no doubt of this as Oberic spoke. He spoke quickly and evenly without none of the difficulty of piecing words together like he normally has. “I am most happy for you my friend. How have you achieved this?” “I must ponder this eventuality further for a few days before I can fully explain it in speech. And if I had time, I would stay here and reveal this unto you that you might gain further understanding of your own personal quest. But I am on a quest myself and time is critical, I fear I have stayed overlong in this town already. I am only allowing this time to say goodbye to those who have earned my respect and friendship these past few years. And you are one such friend.” Feeling a large hand on his shoulder, Coro reached up and put his hand on top in a show of comradely. This was only the second time he had touched Oberic, but this time he actually felt his friend's hand. The hand was scaly like a lizards hand and he could feel claws on the ends of the fingers. Each finger was long and narrow, but with large joints. “Good luck on your journeys, my friend. It is good you have your wits back.” “Before I depart, I have something for you. When first we met and I attacked you, I took something from you?” “You did, I recall owning nothing buy my clothing.” “I took this – hold out your hand.” Obeying, Coro felt a soft silky cloth placed into his open hand. He had forgotten completely about it, forgotten that it was the one material gift he had been given by the Capricious Ones. “You had this all along? Why did you never return it?” he asks. “I was ashamed. When I accosted you, I did it because you were from the outside and I wanted you to know that you weren’t welcome in my town. I can’t explain it now, except to say I felt that as an outsider, you were invading. Your attitude and demeanor, and your lack of having the gold in your pockets I had imagined sent me into a rage common to my kind. My lack of wits actually protected me most times, for not only was my intellect suppressed but so was my rage. I suppose that was intentional, for now, it is my intellect which suppresses my rage rather than my lack of thought, so for that I am thankful.” “I felt your hand, it is not like mine. What race might you be?” “I am a Caristillian. Our race is descended from that of the common orc, but we have over the millennium advanced much further and refined ourselves as we are now. A race of intellectuals and aides which serve the lords of the Pryson.” “Pryson?” “You are of the Courts, as am I. This is certain. This land is known as the Pryson. Perhaps that is what you are meant to forget so I won’t say any more about that.” “However, whereas my wits were stolen, it was your memory. Something must be purposed by this deed. You will know of it soon enough, should you eventually find your way. And if you do, look me up. I make my home in the grand city of Gashmyr in the Luminary Gardens. I am fully and properly titled as the Third Radiancy Archon to the First Prefect of Transience Transcendentalism. Fancy title for being not much more than a glorified law enforcer in training. A guard if you will. But if you look me up, that is my title and location. Ask for Azurielicus Oberic. Azurielicus is my family name and in our tradition, family name comes first, and our namesake second.” Coro nodded. “I wouldn’t expect to remember all that, but yet I think I will.” “Good, I would be saddened were we not to meet again. I wish I had time to stay and get to know many of you better now that my mind has been released, but I can’t. It will do my heart good to know that someday in the future our paths might cross again.” After a few more words, they parted ways. “Good journeys, Azurielicus Oberic. May our paths cross again safely in common memory,” was the last thing Coro said to Oberic as he departed. Odd, thought Coro. That phrasing was practiced and natural when he said it. What does safely in common memory imply? Lost in thought, Coro continued on and quietly sat down in his normal spot, felt around for the can of bait that Torim Rae usually had next to him and baited the hook of his fishing pole. He then cast. Without a word, Torim Rae and Coro continued fishing, the only noise being that of the slow-moving stream and the splash of their lines being cast. Finally, Torim Rae broke the silence, “So, he is gone. Happens eventually to many of us.” “I always assumed I would be the next one to leave,” Coro quipped. “And especially not the dim-witted Oberic. Who knew, he was the intellectual among us.” “Sometimes I am surprised by those who pass on. I have wondered at times if not everyone in this town of Misty Forge are lost souls on a quest. People I would never expect just one day up an announce they are leaving, others just disappear in the night.” “You really think everyone here is such as us?” “In your years here, how many children have you heard playing, who have you heard announcing the birth of a child?” Thinking hard, Coro was forced to admit that he hadn’t. “How is it, I am blind upon blind. It’s like, I needed to be blind to realize how blind I am. I would like to think, if I was still sighted I would have noticed this. Yet, I don’t know.” “Is that your revelation to your quest.” “I don’t know, I am still blind. You have been spending some time working that fish off the hook and it splashed mightily” “A mighty fish it is, too. A good deal longer than my foot. I say we skin this one and make breakfast,” Torimrae said. “Sounds good. What are your thoughts on my quest, I have searched inwardly only to find that I am consistently a blind fool seeking answers.” As Torim Rae began scaling the fish, he said, “Well, tell me, what are your instructions. What are you to find, what were you told?” “They said something to the effect of ‘This is the first path, the path of Silk. When you understand, you will be onto the second path.” As soon as he said this, he remembered the silk cloth that Oberic has just returned to him. Pulling it out, he once again felt that there was something hard in the cloth. He had forgotten that also. Opening the cloth he felt a small metallic orb fall into his hand. “I had forgotten all about this,” he muttered. “And what would that be?” Torim Rae inquired. “Something else I had forgotten about. They had shown me a symbol, looked like an eye without its pupil, and told me that this was a beginning when I responded that it had no pupil.” Torim Rae chuckled. “Maybe it was a reference to you being a pupil, not to the pupil of an eye.” “Maybe, not sure how that figures, but maybe. I already realize I need to learn, I just haven’t figured out what it is.” As he spoke, he fiddled with the metallic orb in his hand. “This might be a solution here, this small chunk of metal, if only I could see it, it might help.” “Three years of blindness and you still speak as if sight is the answer, haven’t you discovered yet that you are blind,” Torimr Rae asked gently. “I have discovered I am blind when I am blind. When I see, I perceive as if I am in blindness. It’s like I can’t trust my senses.” As he rolled the orb around in his fingers, he continued his thought. “It is not just that I make illogical assumptions based on my experiences. The perception itself is flawed, creating the false assumption. My assumption that the others of this town were clothed was logical based on my experience. The perception was things were normal and that only changed once I was further informed. My perception of Saluna and the rest of you changed briefly, but then it was back as it had been.” A slight pain started to arc through his head as he began to see light for the first time in three years. The first image to come into his mind was that of the dark grey orb he was holding in his hand. Trying to focus, using eye muscles unused for years, he could make out a wispy luminescent outline floating in place on top of the gurgling stream. It looked familiar and as he focused through the blur, he could make out the symbol he had seen before back at the tower where his sight had initially been taken. It was the white outlines of an eye in a triangle in a box. The eye, as before, was missing its pupil. Holding the orb and judging the size to be right, he reached out over the water and dropped it into the eye in the place where the missing pupil would go. As soon as the orb landed, the whole white outline flared into a bright fiery eye. His sight returned fully and with that, the fire went out. Looking around, he saw he was in an idyllic scene, short green grasses blowing lightly in the night breeze calmly surrounding a lazy stream. The fullness of the stars made everything serene and coated the whole of the land in a pale whiteness. “I can see. And everything is beautiful.” Coro felt like standing up and shouting. He remained seated though, the complete awe of everything he could see overtaking him, leaving him speechless. Torim Rae spoke with a resigned sadness after a few minutes, “Congratulations good friend.” In his elation, it was hard to feel both sorrow for Torim Rae while feeling joy for his own sight. But he tried. “I’m sorry, this is rude and not proper to express happiness at overcoming that which still afflicts you.” “It is understandable. Relish in your joy, Coro. For I am happy for you, I really am. Sadness at myself is but part of the picture, for I choose to remain here.” “You chose to remain here?” “Again the perception is wrong, I choose still to remain here,” Torim Rae replied. “I myself am as you are, Coro,” Torim Rae continued. “I came here decades ago, blind as you are now. And have yet to feel the need to move on. I am told I no longer have the aura of a member of the Courts. I am truly a denizen of this town now.” Coro could make out that Torim Rae, though he looked like an elderly elf, was naked much in the same fashion as the rest of the town’s people. Truly, he had thrown off all aspects of the being of the courts. “I can see how this is tempting to stay. My destiny, not that I know what it is, compels me too strongly to stay.” “We all make our decisions. Different places different times. Again the perceptions change and so do the decisions. I decided to stay where you have decided to move on. Our paths are very similar, you see.” Looking at Torim Rae carefully, he saw a man with gray hair and of average build. Looking closer, he saw that this man had slightly pointed ears. “Are you of elven descent?’ “Yes Coro, as are you I suspect. We are very similar you and I. When you get back to Misty Forge, you will find that many are of the Mambian race. Those that aren’t represent several others species, many of which I was not familiar with when I was first told.” “It is strange we are so alike,” pondered Coro. “Strange indeed, yet chance is not always so much chance I find.” “True enough, at least that has the ring of truth,” Coro added. “Tell me, what exactly have you discovered to regain your sight?” asked Torim Rae. “I discovered that perception is key to what your senses register. That it is not a sight, or sound, or smell, or touch which deceives, it is how we perceive these senses which drives us and also has the potential to deceive. Ultimately it is we who deceive ourselves with our own desires and experiences.” “Much as I have thought. You learned well. Shall you be heading on now?” Coro looked down again to see the eye symbol had disappeared. The stone had also disappeared, in its place was a pool of liquid silvery metal. Reaching down he touched the metal it lurched toward him and then engulfed his left hand. Lifting his hand up, looking at it, it fit his hand like a glove. Though it had a silvery appearance, as he looked at it he couldn’t see any reflections. He then touched one hand to the other. With his right, he didn’t feel the silver on his left hand, only saw it. And just as this strange glove had no feel, it didn’t interfere with the touch of his left hand as he ran it over the front of his shirt, trying to wipe it off. “I think I should be going, not sure where, but my stay here in Misty Forge is done.” “Good luck, then, friend Coro. Travel well. In the past most leave the town heading toward the morning sun, I suggest you go that way.” “Again thank you. It was good knowing you these past three years, you and the others have made my stay not only tolerable, but pleasant.” Coro turned to walk back to the town and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flicker of something in the water. Looking quickly, he thought he saw a rectangle a little larger than his outstretched hand etched in the stream where the eye had been, but as he looked at it directly, the shape faded from sight almost instantly. He had seen it just long enough to know that it was there for certain and not a figment of imagination from his new sight. He was only about twenty feet from the old fisherman when he heard his friend call out to him one more time. “Coro?’ “Yes?” he called back for possibly the last time. “You realize now don’t you that now you can see, the name Coro doesn’t fit,” Torim Rae inquired. “I suppose you are right. I will have to think of a new name as I go along my path.” “Might I suggest a new name for you?” “Certainly,” Cor replied. “Take mine, if you would. Torim Rae has served me quite well over the years.” “Very well friend, in your honor I shall henceforth be known as Torim Rae. May we meet again safely in common memory. ”
Torim Rae made his way quickly back to Misty Forge to gather his few supplies. With his new vision, he was taken aback by the people he saw. He recognized them by their voices, not a one by their appearance. Saluna greeted him as he entered, and though he felt great affection for her, her appearance was hideous in nature. She looked down, tears in her eyes. “Though we see it not in ourselves, you of the Court have always have always looked upon us with disdain and disgust.” “In time, I am sure that would pass, it is just the newness.” “Possibly, but you will leave, I have known for some time you would leave.” “How?” “Again the clothes – did you not notice Torim Rae – the fisherman – was he clothed?” “No, he wasn’t. And that is it, isn’t. Those who stay give up the clothes and truly become one of you.” “Yes, friend Coro. Torim Rae gave up his other life in all aspects. Travel well – though none ever return, I somehow feel that maybe your destiny is different.”
He woke up to the sound of a lady humming. As he sat up, he struggled with the thick woolen blanket covering him, blinking his eyes trying to clear them. Then he remembered that he is blind and without anything else to do said “Hello,” in the direction of the humming voice. The humming stopped. “Well, it's about time mister. You have been a pain to care for this past week.” Her voice was somewhat raspy, betraying not only her age but that she is fond of smoking some form of narcotic. “I have been here a week?” “Yes, maybe a little longer, and without pay, or expectation of it based on your belongings. I have cared for you. Feeding and watering you during your brief moments of waking.” “I have woke before?” “Yes, but never lucid like now. You were brought here in a rather desperate condition. Our healer, gifted though he is, didn’t think you had a chance of living. He attributes your quick healing to you belonging to the Court, or maybe your race.” “Did he happen to comment on my blindness?” “So, you are blind. That certainly explains why you aren’t really looking at me. I had thought as much, told Micah, he’s our healer by the way. Told him ‘Micah, this stranger doesn’t seem to focus when he wakes. I have to feed him directly like I might a baby, put the spoon to his mouth. His eyes won’t focus, just like a newborn.’ Micah insisted that your blindness, if real, isn’t physical, for he sensed no damage to your eyes.” “I fear he is right, what is wrong with my eyes is destiny,” he said, slightly startled at the words coming out of his mouth, yet he felt the truth of the statement. “Enigmatic response, sir. How many of us can claim to be blinded by destiny? But to be expected of you Court folk.” He could hear the derisiveness in her voice. “You even take funny names like Lord Ludicrous, Mistress Alacrity, Master Pious, or our very own Mistress Auspice and Baron Precarious. You could be Master Blindness.” She paused for a response and when he didn’t’ say anything, she continued, “ Well, anyway, I’m Saluna and am the owner of this small inn.” Realizing he was thirsty and achingly hungry, he sat up fully in his bed. “I don’t have a name, at least not that I know of. Would have some of that food and water you spoke of?” “Be right back,” she said as he heard her stand up and walk away. A door opened and then closed. He figured he that he was alone in the room. Feeling around, he found that except garment around his loins, probably used as a diaper during his week-long recovery, he is naked. Feeling somewhat exposed, he pulled the wool blanket up tighter around himself. Saluna shortly returned and gave him a cup full of fragrant water. He then felt her sit something on the bed beside him. “There is a bowl of thick lamb soup on the tray I just sat here. Eat as you well, I will return shortly. I have other chores to attend to.” She departed again while he ate in peace. Once done eating, he began to feel around his body. Not only did he not feel any bruising from the attack, but the scrapes and burns from the magma fields are gone also. Then he remembers that the burns and scrapes were already healed at the river. Nevertheless, his body was whole. A few hours later, Saluna knocked before entering and then slowly opened the door. “Do you feel better?” “Yes. I am curious, what of my attacker?” “I wouldn’t worry too much about him. He harasses all newcomers but you are one of the first he has ever attacked. The city council locked him up for a month, then he will be set free. He’s not the brightest, but once he feels you are part of the town he will actually fight to protect you. It is only newcomers he tends to bully, much like an overzealous guard dog really.” “My blindness puts me at a disadvantage. I would hope that wouldn’t provoke him should we meet again, were I still here, that is.” It occurred to the man that he really didn’t any plan at all. “You might be surprised at the number of blind travelers who come our way. A couple a year actually, though you are the first he has ever attacked in my recollection.” Searching for his clothes, he ended up having to ask. She seemed surprised at first, but then left and returned with them in a basket, saying she had washed them when he first came in. “They were torn and bloody, they should do you now.” After he had dressed, nervously aware that she was still in the room, she said, “They do make you look like a member of the Court, a lowly member to be sure, but a member nonetheless.” The news of other blind travelers coming this way caused him to be thoughtful as he sat there. Was this a common waypoint for people like himself? Over the next few weeks, he formed a fast friendship with Saluna, finding ways to help out around the inn. He went on to make other friends around the town and even sat sometimes at lunch talking with Torim Rae about how the fish are biting. He wasn’t sure if he had suspected or known it before, but Torim Rae revealed that he was also blind and fishing at night worked well for him cause the oil fish only bit at night. Needing a name, he took to calling himself Coro, which meant blind in the language of the Court. He didn’t know how he knew it meant blind, nor could he tell what language it was from, but it fit. Those in the town kept insisting he was a member of the Court and seemed to always give some level of deference to him. He even began to hear them whisper about him when they didn’t think he could hear. They would refer to him as Mister Opalescence. When he asked Saluna, she said, “It is likely in reference to the whiteness of your eyes, done so in the fashion and form common to those of the Court. And since you currently lack a title, Mister seems to fit.” It was then that he learned that Saluna was of an entirely different species. “My eyes are white? Solid white?” “Oh no, the center of them is blue, just the outer portions are white.” Further inquiry led him to believe that Suluna and her people had solid black eyes, similar to a deer or cow. What white they had in their eyes was only at the very edges.
After little over a month, one day while he was returning with Torim Rae after a particularly successful fishing trip, he felt a wave of dizziness overtake him, much like he had felt the first time he had entered the village. Stopping fast in his tracks, suddenly scared of being attacked again, he gripped his cane staff hard prepared to fight this time as needed. A grunt, and then a harsh voice called him out by name. “Coro, they tell me your name is Coro. That isn’t right, but Coro I can call you.” Despite the harshness of the stranger's voice, the words conveyed some level of sympathy in them, what that note of sympathy exactly was, Coro couldn’t say but heard it he did. “I mistreated you the first time we met and I am sorry.” His harsh words were spoken haltingly as if speaking was difficult from him. The sincerity was definitely in the words. As Coro listened, he got the sense that his former attacker was slow-witted. “I have no desire to hold a grudge, so forgive you I must. By what name are you called?” “Oberick,” responded, with a very hard ‘K’ sound on the end of his name. “When I came here, it was the one gift I was given?” “Your gift was a name? Was it the voices of children in a temple that gave you this gift?” “Yes, you know of them? What did they give you?” “Blindness was their gift, so they said. They gave me little else except a command to leave and find my destiny.” Oberick grunted, “Similar for me. They also took my mind and wits. I remember much of who I was at the Courts, I was a wise man, even one who spoke in big words to some of the greatest of lords. Now I remember little, can count only a few numbers. Somedays I am angry for no reason, other days I just cry.” “How long ago did you come to this town?” the Coro asked. “Over a year ago, we come through here sometimes. Most never stay long. Some stay forever.”
Several weeks later as he sat talking with Saluna, the conversation turned to the matter of his clothing. “I have been wearing the same clothes and washing the same clothes daily in the river for almost two months now. Though they seem to withstand the elements well, I think I would like another set or two.” “Are you clothes not fit and appropriate for you and your standing, as a member of the Court?” Over the past two months, his friendship with Saluna had grown considerably. While it was not a friendship which might someday lead to romance, it was a friendship of the likes where any matter or topic could be freely discussed. It was a friendship where one could explore all the emotional elements a topic might include without any fear of being embarrassed. At first he thought her being sarcastic, after all, were not his clothes torn in several places, with crudely threaded mends on the worse spots. But her question was earnest. “Can you not see the poor condition of the clothes I wear?” “I see clothing, not as flashy or shiny as what I see on the other visiting members of the Court, but it seems to be enough to set you apart.” “Apart? How does it set me apart?” “I would ask you, ‘Can you not see this’, but I know that is a faulty question. The mere presence of your clothing is what sets it apart.” Not quite grasping her intent, Coro slowly asked, “Are you implying I am clothed whereas you are not?” “Of course. Until the Courts started to visit, we didn’t know what clothing was. Or at least clothing to wear for that purpose. Gloves and aprons are worn as needed to protect, but not just to wear.” Unbelieving, Coro spurted out with an incredulous laugh, “You jest, my friend, no clothing?” Stepping forward, she reached down and grabbed his hands and brought them up to her shoulders where he felt a not so soft bristled fur, similar to that of a short haired dog. “Feel as you well, though I ask you not to get intimate.” Taking care not to touch her in an improper manner, he ran his fingers from her neck down her arms and then felt at her stomach, only to find bare skin with a light down of fur. Then he reached up and ran his fingers across her face to find it covered in a very light fur. Feeling no nose, he then ran his fingers across two teeth jutting up from the sides of her mouth like miniature tusks. This caused him to immediately step back and with somewhat uncertainty he asked, “Has this always been so? I mean the lack of clothes.” “Yes. You seem afraid. Nothing has changed.” “You are right, nothing has changed, yet my very perception has. I have an image of you in my mind, now it is radically altered.” With a tone of uncertainty and embarrassment creeping into her voice, she said “Seeing me without clothes makes you scared? I may have some age, but never has my body been thought of as fearful.” “It’s not that, Saluna. It is just . . . just not right. People go around clothed where I come from.” “Really, I thought you had no memory.” This stumped him. She was right. How did he know that people wore clothes were he came from? “Odd. Very odd. You are correct, I don’t remember, but at the same time, all my memories tell me people wear clothes. Going around naked is, well abnormal. Young children maybe, but for adults, not at all in public. Bathing of course, and for intimate encounters, but as a general rule, we don’t do it. I just know this. Everyone in town I know, I have a visual image of what I think they look like, and not a one of them is unclothed.” “So, has my lack of clothing changed our relationship?” “Yes, and not at all. I need to get over this and think about things. I will get over it and in a few days it will be as nothing. I just need to come to terms with this.” Saluna stood up and went to the fireplace to pull off the pot of hot tea off its hanger. She was bothered just as much by Coro’s revelation as he was. Finally, she broke the silence by stating, “Your blindness has blinded you not only to sight it seems.” And with some deep realization coming to him, “And at the same time, my blindness has allowed me to understand. Had my sight been present from the start, I would not have stayed in this village. I would have considered you all strange in the least, but my need for an answer along with my discomfort would have had me moving on. I now understand you as I otherwise would not have.” Saluna scoffed, “It’s odd to be judged for what I am not.” She then poured them both some tea and asked, “So tell me, friend Coro, in your mind’s eye, how am I dressed? I fancy a daydream where I am of the Court.” All that night, he pondered on the matter. Was this the message and the lesson he was to learn? They had said when he understood the first path he would be on to his second path. It felt right, but nothing occurred. He worried at the thought and ended up with no sleep and still hadn’t resolve anything by morning. The message seemed simple, judge not by appearances alone. There seemed to be much logic in that, even in sayings from times forgotten like ‘beauty is only skin deep,’ but what was he missing.
After three years, Coro had become a regular member of the town. He was known simply as Coro now, no one called him Mister Opalescence behind his back any longer, his own aura of being of the Court had faded some. He spent most of his days now fishing with Torim Rae. The need for the oil fish was great enough in the town to support both their efforts. He tried for periods of time to go without clothing, hoping that some form of liberation and epiphany would be gained, but each time he would give in after a few days. The feeling of nakedness he couldn’t shake. Clothing offered more than just a covering, it was an emotional protection of security. And it was a weakness, as he started to perceive matters, that he needed clothing. But a weakness he could not overcome for more than a few days at a time. Each time he would eventually convince himself that it was stupid to go unclothed when the nervousness became too much. If it really mattered, he was certain he could go around all the time unclothed, but since it wasn’t needed, he would after a short time be clothed again. Then again, he would reason, the others had a clothing of fur whereas he did not. However, his difficulty with others being naked around him soon vanished in only a few days as he had said. Of course, being blind it was easy to just ignore and forget. One day, while walking the fishing trail out to the stream to join Torim Rae, he heard heavy footsteps crunching on the gravel. Whoever was walking toward him was intentionally being noisy. Turning around, Coro boldly says, “Greetings friend.” In the familiar harsh voice he had grown used and now considered the voice of a friend, “Fear not. It is I, Oberic. And I have exceptionally good news.” The hard ‘k’ was gone from his name as he said it. Coro smiled and nodded. Something indeed sounded different about his friend. The voice was still harsh and raspy, but now there seemed to be an eloquence just in those few words. “What news do you have?” “The greatest. My wits have been restored.” Coro had no doubt of this as Oberic spoke. He spoke quickly and evenly without none of the difficulty of piecing words together like he normally has. “I am most happy for you my friend. How have you achieved this?” “I must ponder this eventuality further for a few days before I can fully explain it in speech. And if I had time, I would stay here and reveal this unto you that you might gain further understanding of your own personal quest. But I am on a quest myself and time is critical, I fear I have stayed overlong in this town already. I am only allowing this time to say goodbye to those who have earned my respect and friendship these past few years. And you are one such friend.” Feeling a large hand on his shoulder, Coro reached up and put his hand on top in a show of comradely. This was only the second time he had touched Oberic, but this time he actually felt his friend's hand. The hand was scaly like a lizards hand and he could feel claws on the ends of the fingers. Each finger was long and narrow, but with large joints. “Good luck on your journeys, my friend. It is good you have your wits back.” “Before I depart, I have something for you. When first we met and I attacked you, I took something from you?” “You did, I recall owning nothing buy my clothing.” “I took this – hold out your hand.” Obeying, Coro felt a soft silky cloth placed into his open hand. He had forgotten completely about it, forgotten that it was the one material gift he had been given by the Capricious Ones. “You had this all along? Why did you never return it?” he asks. “I was ashamed. When I accosted you, I did it because you were from the outside and I wanted you to know that you weren’t welcome in my town. I can’t explain it now, except to say I felt that as an outsider, you were invading. Your attitude and demeanor, and your lack of having the gold in your pockets I had imagined sent me into a rage common to my kind. My lack of wits actually protected me most times, for not only was my intellect suppressed but so was my rage. I suppose that was intentional, for now, it is my intellect which suppresses my rage rather than my lack of thought, so for that I am thankful.” “I felt your hand, it is not like mine. What race might you be?” “I am a Caristillian. Our race is descended from that of the common orc, but we have over the millennium advanced much further and refined ourselves as we are now. A race of intellectuals and aides which serve the lords of the Pryson.” “Pryson?” “You are of the Courts, as am I. This is certain. This land is known as the Pryson. Perhaps that is what you are meant to forget so I won’t say any more about that.” “However, whereas my wits were stolen, it was your memory. Something must be purposed by this deed. You will know of it soon enough, should you eventually find your way. And if you do, look me up. I make my home in the grand city of Gashmyr in the Luminary Gardens. I am fully and properly titled as the Third Radiancy Archon to the First Prefect of Transience Transcendentalism. Fancy title for being not much more than a glorified law enforcer in training. A guard if you will. But if you look me up, that is my title and location. Ask for Azurielicus Oberic. Azurielicus is my family name and in our tradition, family name comes first, and our namesake second.” Coro nodded. “I wouldn’t expect to remember all that, but yet I think I will.” “Good, I would be saddened were we not to meet again. I wish I had time to stay and get to know many of you better now that my mind has been released, but I can’t. It will do my heart good to know that someday in the future our paths might cross again.” After a few more words, they parted ways. “Good journeys, Azurielicus Oberic. May our paths cross again safely in common memory,” was the last thing Coro said to Oberic as he departed. Odd, thought Coro. That phrasing was practiced and natural when he said it. What does safely in common memory imply? Lost in thought, Coro continued on and quietly sat down in his normal spot, felt around for the can of bait that Torim Rae usually had next to him and baited the hook of his fishing pole. He then cast. Without a word, Torim Rae and Coro continued fishing, the only noise being that of the slow-moving stream and the splash of their lines being cast. Finally, Torim Rae broke the silence, “So, he is gone. Happens eventually to many of us.” “I always assumed I would be the next one to leave,” Coro quipped. “And especially not the dim-witted Oberic. Who knew, he was the intellectual among us.” “Sometimes I am surprised by those who pass on. I have wondered at times if not everyone in this town of Misty Forge are lost souls on a quest. People I would never expect just one day up an announce they are leaving, others just disappear in the night.” “You really think everyone here is such as us?” “In your years here, how many children have you heard playing, who have you heard announcing the birth of a child?” Thinking hard, Coro was forced to admit that he hadn’t. “How is it, I am blind upon blind. It’s like, I needed to be blind to realize how blind I am. I would like to think, if I was still sighted I would have noticed this. Yet, I don’t know.” “Is that your revelation to your quest.” “I don’t know, I am still blind. You have been spending some time working that fish off the hook and it splashed mightily” “A mighty fish it is, too. A good deal longer than my foot. I say we skin this one and make breakfast,” Torimrae said. “Sounds good. What are your thoughts on my quest, I have searched inwardly only to find that I am consistently a blind fool seeking answers.” As Torim Rae began scaling the fish, he said, “Well, tell me, what are your instructions. What are you to find, what were you told?” “They said something to the effect of ‘This is the first path, the path of Silk. When you understand, you will be onto the second path.” As soon as he said this, he remembered the silk cloth that Oberic has just returned to him. Pulling it out, he once again felt that there was something hard in the cloth. He had forgotten that also. Opening the cloth he felt a small metallic orb fall into his hand. “I had forgotten all about this,” he muttered. “And what would that be?” Torim Rae inquired. “Something else I had forgotten about. They had shown me a symbol, looked like an eye without its pupil, and told me that this was a beginning when I responded that it had no pupil.” Torim Rae chuckled. “Maybe it was a reference to you being a pupil, not to the pupil of an eye.” “Maybe, not sure how that figures, but maybe. I already realize I need to learn, I just haven’t figured out what it is.” As he spoke, he fiddled with the metallic orb in his hand. “This might be a solution here, this small chunk of metal, if only I could see it, it might help.” “Three years of blindness and you still speak as if sight is the answer, haven’t you discovered yet that you are blind,” Torimr Rae asked gently. “I have discovered I am blind when I am blind. When I see, I perceive as if I am in blindness. It’s like I can’t trust my senses.” As he rolled the orb around in his fingers, he continued his thought. “It is not just that I make illogical assumptions based on my experiences. The perception itself is flawed, creating the false assumption. My assumption that the others of this town were clothed was logical based on my experience. The perception was things were normal and that only changed once I was further informed. My perception of Saluna and the rest of you changed briefly, but then it was back as it had been.” A slight pain started to arc through his head as he began to see light for the first time in three years. The first image to come into his mind was that of the dark grey orb he was holding in his hand. Trying to focus, using eye muscles unused for years, he could make out a wispy luminescent outline floating in place on top of the gurgling stream. It looked familiar and as he focused through the blur, he could make out the symbol he had seen before back at the tower where his sight had initially been taken. It was the white outlines of an eye in a triangle in a box. The eye, as before, was missing its pupil. Holding the orb and judging the size to be right, he reached out over the water and dropped it into the eye in the place where the missing pupil would go. As soon as the orb landed, the whole white outline flared into a bright fiery eye. His sight returned fully and with that, the fire went out. Looking around, he saw he was in an idyllic scene, short green grasses blowing lightly in the night breeze calmly surrounding a lazy stream. The fullness of the stars made everything serene and coated the whole of the land in a pale whiteness. “I can see. And everything is beautiful.” Coro felt like standing up and shouting. He remained seated though, the complete awe of everything he could see overtaking him, leaving him speechless. Torim Rae spoke with a resigned sadness after a few minutes, “Congratulations good friend.” In his elation, it was hard to feel both sorrow for Torim Rae while feeling joy for his own sight. But he tried. “I’m sorry, this is rude and not proper to express happiness at overcoming that which still afflicts you.” “It is understandable. Relish in your joy, Coro. For I am happy for you, I really am. Sadness at myself is but part of the picture, for I choose to remain here.” “You chose to remain here?” “Again the perception is wrong, I choose still to remain here,” Torim Rae replied. “I myself am as you are, Coro,” Torim Rae continued. “I came here decades ago, blind as you are now. And have yet to feel the need to move on. I am told I no longer have the aura of a member of the Courts. I am truly a denizen of this town now.” Coro could make out that Torim Rae, though he looked like an elderly elf, was naked much in the same fashion as the rest of the town’s people. Truly, he had thrown off all aspects of the being of the courts. “I can see how this is tempting to stay. My destiny, not that I know what it is, compels me too strongly to stay.” “We all make our decisions. Different places different times. Again the perceptions change and so do the decisions. I decided to stay where you have decided to move on. Our paths are very similar, you see.” Looking at Torim Rae carefully, he saw a man with gray hair and of average build. Looking closer, he saw that this man had slightly pointed ears. “Are you of elven descent?’ “Yes Coro, as are you I suspect. We are very similar you and I. When you get back to Misty Forge, you will find that many are of the Mambian race. Those that aren’t represent several others species, many of which I was not familiar with when I was first told.” “It is strange we are so alike,” pondered Coro. “Strange indeed, yet chance is not always so much chance I find.” “True enough, at least that has the ring of truth,” Coro added. “Tell me, what exactly have you discovered to regain your sight?” asked Torim Rae. “I discovered that perception is key to what your senses register. That it is not a sight, or sound, or smell, or touch which deceives, it is how we perceive these senses which drives us and also has the potential to deceive. Ultimately it is we who deceive ourselves with our own desires and experiences.” “Much as I have thought. You learned well. Shall you be heading on now?” Coro looked down again to see the eye symbol had disappeared. The stone had also disappeared, in its place was a pool of liquid silvery metal. Reaching down he touched the metal it lurched toward him and then engulfed his left hand. Lifting his hand up, looking at it, it fit his hand like a glove. Though it had a silvery appearance, as he looked at it he couldn’t see any reflections. He then touched one hand to the other. With his right, he didn’t feel the silver on his left hand, only saw it. And just as this strange glove had no feel, it didn’t interfere with the touch of his left hand as he ran it over the front of his shirt, trying to wipe it off. “I think I should be going, not sure where, but my stay here in Misty Forge is done.” “Good luck, then, friend Coro. Travel well. In the past most leave the town heading toward the morning sun, I suggest you go that way.” “Again thank you. It was good knowing you these past three years, you and the others have made my stay not only tolerable, but pleasant.” Coro turned to walk back to the town and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flicker of something in the water. Looking quickly, he thought he saw a rectangle a little larger than his outstretched hand etched in the stream where the eye had been, but as he looked at it directly, the shape faded from sight almost instantly. He had seen it just long enough to know that it was there for certain and not a figment of imagination from his new sight. He was only about twenty feet from the old fisherman when he heard his friend call out to him one more time. “Coro?’ “Yes?” he called back for possibly the last time. “You realize now don’t you that now you can see, the name Coro doesn’t fit,” Torim Rae inquired. “I suppose you are right. I will have to think of a new name as I go along my path.” “Might I suggest a new name for you?” “Certainly,” Cor replied. “Take mine, if you would. Torim Rae has served me quite well over the years.” “Very well friend, in your honor I shall henceforth be known as Torim Rae. May we meet again safely in common memory. ”
Torim Rae made his way quickly back to Misty Forge to gather his few supplies. With his new vision, he was taken aback by the people he saw. He recognized them by their voices, not a one by their appearance. Saluna greeted him as he entered, and though he felt great affection for her, her appearance was hideous in nature. She looked down, tears in her eyes. “Though we see it not in ourselves, you of the Court have always have always looked upon us with disdain and disgust.” “In time, I am sure that would pass, it is just the newness.” “Possibly, but you will leave, I have known for some time you would leave.” “How?” “Again the clothes – did you not notice Torim Rae – the fisherman – was he clothed?” “No, he wasn’t. And that is it, isn’t. Those who stay give up the clothes and truly become one of you.” “Yes, friend Coro. Torim Rae gave up his other life in all aspects. Travel well – though none ever return, I somehow feel that maybe your destiny is different.”
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