by S J Amit
“Your Knightness,” Kelemance asked, “can you please explain to me what these needs are that you speak of?”
“Ohhh,” he exhaled lengthily, as if preparing to explain something to an utter imbecile. “The Caesars ruled that Anteballegarian people have an incessant need for love, but only a little bit of time to pursue it. The Research Dukes and the Science Nobles discovered that people who serve in the Time Management Battalions have lost their abilities for courtship, curiosity and falling in love, because they’re always busy with solving tasks. That is, of course, more important, each and their own decoration,” he sent a hand to touch my decoration. “They discovered, deciphered and scientifically proved that this is one of the main reasons for the creation of loneliness,” he returned to look at Kelemance. “The Caesars appointed us to prepare for war against anything that threatens the stability of people’s lives here, so we developed a courtship device with which we can overcome loneliness, thereby increasing the chances of love.”
“What’s a courtship device?” Kelemance wouldn’t give up.
The knight went to the table and brought over one of the little squares. “You are the first people to see the courtship technology which connects between people.” He let me hold a square. “You press it over the heart, and it works superbly.”
“And what about the need for love, have you found an answer to it? Have you solved it?”
“Not yet, but we will fight for you until each and every person finds love!” He took the square from my hand and gave it to Kelemance. “We, the Technology Knights, vowed before the Caesars to fight loneliness until it is completely defeated and vanishes entirely, and we shall continue to develop more and more technologies until we reach full victory.”
“Your Knightness, I don’t want to sound like someone who has lost his mind or his common sense due to loneliness, but in the Land of the Mosaic, love exists and continuously moves between all of the components that compose the Land of the Mosaic, in order to connect them into one whole. And if the Land of the Mosaic has no beginning nor end, then neither does the need for love.” Kelemance waved the little square. “If the knights’ technology connects between people, but doesn’t solve the need for love, can loneliness ever be defeated?” He returned the courtship device to him and continued. “I ask out of concern for my knights. Could it be that is a battle fought in vain - this battle of yours to renew, develop and alter complex technologies in order to solve a simple need which never changes? Could it be that their Royal Knightnesses are going out to hopeless battles, fighting to answer needs that technology will never be able to solve within the Land of the Mosaic?”
The knight smoothed his hair back. “In the name of the Lord. We do our best, we march ahead with the Research Dukes and the Science Nobles under the Academic Caesars. We battle alongside the Profession Soldiers and the Time Management Commanders, and create everything a person might need.”
“It is a great privilege for us to hear the knights’ vision. And before we go upstairs to the Royal Caesars’ floor, we shall wish upon you to have less battles, and for you to always be able to tell what the Anteballegarian people need you to create for them, as well as what they no longer need, or what they have never actually needed.”
“That, only the Lord knows.”
“Your Knightness, we thank you and your knights, both men and women, for your services of defending us all.” Kelemance shook his hand and gestured for me to part company using their traditional politeness. “We shall now continue to follow the royal enchantment of the Palace of Wisdom, and ascend to the next floor, to listen to the wisdom of the Caesars.”
“If the people of the Colony of the Lost hold their God’s religious ritual today,” Kelemance whispered to me as we walked up the stairs, “maybe you’ll be able to witness them gathering in one of the squares. Maybe you’ll even get a chance to use it,” he patted on my bag, and gently knocked on the wooden mask it contained.
“Their God?”
“Yes, do you remember when I told you they collect various objects in honor of some kind of God? If I remember correctly, they call him the God of Coin. During my first visits here, the Technology Knights only adhered to the Academic Caesars in the Palace of Wisdom. But with time, they didn’t manage to resolve all of the needs they had come across, and so they also started to look for answers from the God of Coin. Nowadays, no one in the Colony of the Lost has any idea what the knights are fighting for, and what they’re defending them from, and yet they always have orders to carry out and they continue to produce, improve and develop further technologies.”
“Why?”
“I think that within the colony’s walls, the Technology Knights’ role is to make people who have come from faraway lands feel pleased with themselves all of the time, and always feel protected.”
Choopster walked up the steep stairs ahead of us, her long curls bouncing on the edge of the bag which covered her entire back. Before we entered the Caesars’ floor, we stood for a moment to catch our breath. Inside the giant space, dozens of people were sitting on large rectangular golden rugs, gathered in separate groups and dispersed in various parts of the hall. In front of each group, a man or a woman dressed in layers of golden clothes was sitting on a wide and lavish chair with a tall backrest, inside a thin and decorated alcove in the wall, and talking to them. The capes that were over their clothes draped from their shoulders down to the floor on both sides of their chairs, and the shiny golden fabric blended into the rug, as if the clothes and the rug were one piece of fabric.
“Nectar from the Caesars’ blessing as an aura to your heads.” Three women, dressed identically to the ones we had met at the entrance, appeared and stood before us. Like the first three, one held a golden watering can, the other a golden tray, and the third a white cloth. Just like earlier, they too anointed us with nectar on our faces.
“Please maintain the dignity of this place,” the woman with the white cloth wiped us. “Walk silently until you become charmed by one of the male or female Caesars’ speeches, and then sit at their feet. However, remember that once you sit on one of the golden rugs, you will not be able to leave the palace until the Caesar you have chosen finishes his or her speech,” she warned us.
The three women pressed against each other as if they were a wall in front of us. “When you hear the sounds of the harp, please congregate on this side of the fountain,” they said in unison, and the woman holding the watering can pointed with it to the left. “Each day, when the sun reaches the sky’s summit, their royal highnesses the Caesars give their blessings and distribute decorations to the people who have upheld the palace’s demands. It is a grand privilege for you to stay at the Caesars’ floor and be able to observe their blessings.” They moved and allowed us to walk ahead.
We advanced silently towards the petal-shaped stone fountain, which was precisely at the center of the hall, under a transparent glass dome in the middle of the tall round ceiling. I could see the blue sky through the glass. This was the top floor of the building, there were no stairs leading up on our left or our right.
“Don’t look straight at the Caesars without them having looked at you first,” Kelemance whispered to me as we walked around the hall, “and if they look at you, don’t stare at them for too long.”
In the meantime I managed to count them. There were five female Caesars and five male Caesars. We could only hear each one if we came close to them. How could it be that they were hardly audible when we were far, and that their voices didn’t clash with each other’s? They had really invested in good acoustics. Some of the people who were sitting on the rugs had decorations on their capes, others didn’t. Within an exceptionally decorated and wide alcove on the right-hand wall, one with golden tiles, a woman was sitting behind a giant harp. Thinking that I may have missed other musicians or alcoves, I turned my head back towards the fountain, and one of the Caesars caught my glance. I did
n’t manage to shift my gaze fast enough, and he gestured for us to come near him.
Having no other choice, we approached him, but just as we passed the fountain, a strong ray of sun penetrated through the glass dome, and in an instant the water in the fountain shot up with great force towards the ceiling, bursting into all colors of the rainbow. The Caesar looked away from me and to the water, and at that moment the sound of the harp arose from behind us. All of the people who had sat on the rugs got up and gathered on the left side of the fountain, facing it. “Come on,” Kelemance pulled me and Choopster and we joined the others. The harp player in the alcove across from us nimbly plucked at the strings, and the sound filled the entire space. The people around us kneeled, Kelemance gestured to me, and we went down on one knee too.
A few people wearing striped shirts and dark pants swiftly appeared through a door that I hadn’t noticed before, took the rugs and attached them to each other to our left and in front of the fountain, and then placed the chairs in a row on the rugs. They disappeared swiftly though the same door they had come from. One after the other, the Caesars sat on the chairs, male, female, male, female, until the last Caesar took her seat. The people around us stood up, and we did the same.
The Caesars pulled bells out of their wide robe-sleeves, lifted them up in a slow and unified movement, and rang them together. The sound of the bells was stronger than the harp, and their pace was steady and in perfect harmony with the plucking of the strings in the background. At once, two rows of people came out of that door, they were dressed just like us but in various colors, and none of them had decorations on their capes. They marched to the beat of the bells and the harp, arranged themselves in five rows to the left of the Caesars and with their backs to the harp player. They stood facing us, precisely across from us on the other side of the fountain. The main Time Management Commander appeared at the stairs, the one we had met on the first floor, accompanied by three more commanders all dressed in the same uniform as him, hats included. Three people from the second floor joined them, I recognized their clothes - a man who was a Research Duke, a woman who was a Science Noble, and another man who was a Technology Knight. They all stood between the five rows and the Caesars.
The Caesars placed the bells back in their sleeves, and the harp sounds became slower and quieter.
“In the name of the Research Dukes, the Science Nobles and the Technology Knights. With the approval of the Time Management Commanders and their leader. By the power invested in us as the ten Academic Caesars, and in the name of the Anteballegarian residents,” the Caesar on the far right exclaimed.
“We wish to begin the daily decoration blessing of the Palace of Wisdom,” the female Caesar to his right added.
Seven other people appeared from the stairs and gathered in a row separate from the other rows. They didn’t have any decorations either.
“Each day, when the Anteballegarian sun is at its highest point in the sky, as it shines into the palace and enlightens our wisdom, we give our blessings to those who are worthy of being called Anteballegarian residents,” the female Caesar on the far left said.
“In the name of the ten Academic Caesars of Anteballegaria, we ask to bless you for officially joining the circle of life,” the male Caesar next to her continued the speech.
The next female Caesar in the row pointed at the five rows and spoke to them. “You, who have withstood difficult tasks. Who have made great efforts and remarkable sacrifices. Who have passed the difficult assignments with success, determination, courage, bravery and honor. Who have been qualified to be of high status through completing a variety of intense work, confusing chores, conclusions, essays and puzzling summaries, even some that you did not always fully understand. Your stubborn and doubt-free conviction to tirelessly and admirably advance towards the high status. May there be more like yourselves. At the end of this term, remember the secret of our wisdom - the importance of what you’ve learned is secondary to the fact that you’ve overcome everything with courage and success within the palace paths. For all of that, today you shall receive the Palace Wisdom decoration!”
The next Caesar after her continued the speech. “A few of you have operated here as part of a long line of tradition, enriching our wisdom during your time in the palace, and so you shall continue on to a place of honor among the Dukes, Nobles and Knights.”
The next Caesar after him pointed at the row of seven people who had entered last and spoke to them. “Among you, there are some who have served in the Time Management Battalion of the Profession Soldiers, and you shall receive the Profession decoration, ensuring your place and future. As of today, you shall be known as having roles, being valuable, and being able to exist with dignity in Anteballegaria, despite not being considered among the palace people or not having spent much time within the palace.”
“As of tomorrow, despite having come from varying social classes and with various decorations, you shall be qualified people, having equal rights in Anteballegaria!” the next Caesar called out.
“And may the CoinGod be with you!” the ten Caesars loudly blessed in unison.
“Yes! That’s the name. That’s their God, they mean the God of Coin, right? They call him the CoinGod,” Kelemance whispered to me. “They believe that only he can shift people’s status and change their social classes.”
The harpist returned to plucking the strings more strongly, and the sounds filled the giant space again. The acoustics on that floor created a feeling of the sound surrounding the entire place. The leading Time Management Commander and his three uniformed best men marched towards the row of seven upright and proud men and women, who had just been granted the Profession decoration. They stopped by each one of them and pressed a decoration onto their capes. Then they went to the other rows, passed through them and presented decorations to some of the people there.
When the Time Management Commanders had returned to their place, the ten Caesars got up and walked through the five rows, their golden capes flowing across the floor. They presented everyone with the same decoration, identical to mine. The Palace Wisdom decoration. Once they had finished, they gathered around one of the people. One male Caesar and one female Caesar placed their hands on his head. “Duke,” they called in unison. Then they approached a woman in another row. “Noble,” they called out loud, and continued marching through the rows until they placed their hands on a third man’s head. “Knight!”
All ten Caesars gathered in a circle around the fountain. The harp music ceased. The harpist stood up and bowed to the Caesars, then the duke, noble, knight and commanders, turned to the rows and bowed to them, and finally to the crowd in front of her, which included us. All the people present in the space bowed as the Caesars raised their hands to the glass dome with their fingers spread out, probably indicating that the ceremony has ended. The sun had already moved on in its course.
We walked along the street between buildings, homes and yards. Choopster was jumping and skipping a few feet ahead of us. How was she not getting tired? The tapping of our footsteps on the ground accompanied my thoughts. Was the Land of the Mosaic real? Where was I even? And why? And Tom? Alex was alone with him. What was she thinking? Where did I disappear to all of a sudden? Did she have any idea about what was happening to me? Maybe she actually thought I had died? I stopped, took out the drawing that Choopster had made me from my bag, and stared at it. What was the writing on the drawing at the pharmacy? I couldn’t recall.
“Julian?” Kelemance, who had advanced a few steps ahead of me, turned to face me.
“How did I get here, Kelemance? How did you get to me? What is this place? Did you bring me here?” For a moment I wasn’t sure whether he and Choopster were real, or whether I was hallucinating them. How much time had passed since I met Tipegg, since we parted from Pontubelle and Lampharsella? I thought it had been a few days, and that on that same morning we had left the other riverbank, and night-ti
me hadn’t arrived since then, not even dusk. And the storm? When was that? And where to now?
Kelemance walked back to me. “You arrived at the Land of the Mosaic after you heeded your pain’s true calling. I was not the one who brought you here, you were the one who called unto me before you crossed the lands. Pain is only the messenger, and I am only your Challenge Bearer. I cannot hear the free spirit which occurs within you, each human being can only listen to their own free spirit.” He gently took the drawing from my hands, folded it and put it back into my bag. “Let’s continue. You wanted to pass through the Colony of the Lost, and I am here to accompany you on your journey to the pinecone apothecary. He is the one who can hear the language of all human beings’ spirits.”
I wasn’t sure I understood what Kelemance had said, but one thing was certain - the pain in my chest hadn’t returned. Choopster was waiting for us a few feet ahead, where the wide path on which we had walked from the Palace of Wisdom became narrower. We got further away from the busy lanes and the alleyways that crossed through them. Not too far ahead, the path split into two lanes. One curved to the right towards an open space, and one curved to the left and twisted up towards a green hill on our left. Kelemance pointed to the right, we advanced towards the crossroads and continued on the path in the open space. Red flowers stuck out of green fields on both sides of the straight path. A brick wall could be seen in the horizon to our right, and tall trees towered over it, covering and revealing the sun intermittently.
“Stop him!” a shout came from behind us, someone was running and panting loudly in back of us.
Before I could turn my head around, a man appeared from behind us, swiftly passed Kelemance from his left and shoved him to the right. Kelemance bumped into me and I managed not to lose my balance. The man ran past Choopster, who got scared, rushed to the right and fell on the green grass by the side of the path.
