After paying the toll at the bridge they made their way north between the imposing mountains on either side of them. The massive cliffs rose higher and higher until they were so high that it seemed impossible for them to stand. Rommus felt dizzy looking up at them as he tried to make out where the mountaintops ended and sky began. With the hazy clouds obscuring the peaks, he just couldn't tell.
Vohl had said that he thought the Columns of Inshae were a long way from where they were, so they decided to set up camp a little earlier than usual so that they could get an early start the next day. The sun had not even slid behind the western peaks before they had started a fire and fed themselves. They were all exhausted so they knew they would sleep well.
Rommus lay on his side, one hand supporting his head, the other throwing pebbles in the fire. "When do you think we'll get there tomorrow Vohl?"
"Most likely before midday. It won't take us that long, but I thought it was a little late to attempt it this evening. Darkness would come before we arrived. Tomorrow the cliffs will close in tighter around us and most of the journey will be in the dark shadow of the mountains; even if the sun shines brightly."
"That sounds mysterious," Alana said as she smiled. "I can't wait to see the ruins. I can't believe I have lived here all this time and not come up here to see them. I just never really thought about it before."
"Well there are a lot of things that people miss out on because they never thought about it," Vohl said as he polished his sword in his lap.
Alana stared off as she leaned back and crossed her feet out in front of her. "Yeah I guess that's true. That kind of reminds me about when we were talking about culture earlier. I think I am just having a hard time seeing it a different way because I have never had to think about a different way."
"So have you come to a different conclusion? You must have had some sort of new light shine on it if you are bringing it up again," Vohl said.
"I can't say I have come to a different conclusion, but I think I just see things differently than you two do. I see things as gray, when you two see things as black and white. Rommus always speaks of truth, like finding the reality beneath it all. I am just not as willing to accept a permanent answer."
"You mean you are not willing to accept truth?" Rommus asked.
"Well, I'm sure there is truth out there somewhere, but I have never found any. Just like with your explanation for a round world, I just never came to that conclusion; I never needed to. But the way I see it, you might be wrong. How do I know that the world isn't some other shape, and your whole theory only seems right because I don't know any better? I have to allow some gray so that I can accept another theory when it comes along."
"But Alana, the way you choose to interpret reality does not change reality," Rommus said. "I am either right about the round world or I am wrong. There's your black and white."
"But Rommus, you don't see what I am saying. I just think with gray, not in true and false like you do. Some things can be argued. Not everything is simple."
"Yes everything is simple when you build your knowledge on a foundation of truth. You will never come to any truth if all you see is gray. You can't paint a painting with only gray paint and expect people to understand what you have painted. They will see only a bland, gray canvas. You need the black and white, the solid, firm things to interpret it, otherwise your painting--or your reality?is just a mess that makes no sense."
"Well it makes sense to me. It allows me to be open to all possibilities instead of limiting myself."
Vohl flipped his sword over to polish the other side. "But Alana, that is little more than avoiding reality. There is no room for fantasy in truth. Rommus is right; you cannot change reality with your thoughts."
"Oh no? What about when you told us that man created the gods just by imagining them? Doesn't that mean that thoughts can change reality?"
Vohl was too stunned by her comment to answer, so Rommus did. "Not really. We don't know that that's true. Even if the gods are real, we have no way of knowing if that story is correct. We are forced to deal with things on a different level. That fire is hot. This rock is solid. These are real things that we can build our perceptions on. If there is some strange story about how the gods were created, we will deal with that reality when it is presented to us. If we find out that we were wrong in our beliefs, then we will go back and change things until our beliefs fit the reality. We can't simply assume that reality will magically conform to our beliefs. Thinking that will not make it true."
"Ah, and that is the problem with religion," Vohl said. "People are quick to bend reality to fit their beliefs instead of basing their beliefs on reality."
Rommus threw another pebble in the fire. "Yes, that has always been my point. It's ridiculous to argue about such a thing."
Alana leaned forward towards them "See what I mean Rommus? That's a gray area. Can't you see that things can be gray?"
"Yes I agree, but only when you are talking about things that you can't know. You can argue your opinions, but your opinions do not change the facts. No matter what you believe about religion--or anything?it does not change the reality at the bottom of it all."
She sighed and crossed her arms over her knees. "You're hard to argue with Rommus. I see your point with this, but it's still hard to understand it all."
He playfully threw a pebble at her instead of the fire. "It's healthy for you to think about things in a different way. No one is telling you that your way of thinking is wrong, but it's good to consider things from different angles sometimes. But we don't have to discuss things like this if it bothers you."
"Oh no, it doesn't bother me. I like having conversations like this. It's just that sometimes it's hard to accept a new idea that's the opposite of my own, that's all. You present things in a way that makes it seem like they're so simple and right, but then I think about them a while and things get all hazy again."
"Well knowledge does not come to you overnight. You should consider all the things you have heard in your whole life and determine what you think is right. It might take a while though."
"Well how long did it take you?"
"What do you mean? I'm still learning."
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Mighty Hammer Down Page 55
