Summary: Even with a thousand years separating them, their viewpoints were still so similar. -BK:O spoilers-
Disclaimer: When I finally own the rights, expect a new, revised version on BK:O to come out, in which Baelheit doesn't die and Sagi is more tolerable. Until then...fanfics will suffice.
Sunlight streamed into the room through the floor length windows on the far wall. There were four such windows along that wall, each one evenly spaced away from the others. The pattern was repeated on the adjacent wall, while the remaining two were covered in bookshelves. The door to the room was left slightly ajar, but the manor was so quiet that no outside noise drifted inside. The maids worked efficiently but quietly, and there were no children from the nearby school visiting the manor today.
It was a perfect day to get some work done.
Marno had suggested that Sagi record their journey in a diary. This way, Marno had explained triumphantly, Your great-grandchildren and the like will be able to hear your story even after you have passed on.
This was perfectly true, of course, and Sagi congratulated Marno on his good thinking. Unfortunately, Sagi was a slow writer and his penmanship was only a little better than chicken scratch. Milly had laughed the first time she saw it, and had made a vague remark about how he had clearly not been raised in Alfard. Sagi wasn't entirely sure what she meant by that, but he thought that men rarely understood what women meant anyway, so he didn't let her remark bother him all that much.
On this fine day in the Calbren Manor, Sagi sat himself down, pulled his notebook toward him and dipped his pen in the ink bottle. Marno proved to be very helpful in recording the journey as his memory—at least of his own life—was quite clear again. When he wasn't teasing Sagi about his penmanship, Marno's storytelling skills were unparalleled. But nothing made Sagi write faster and Marno often had to repeat things numerous times until Sagi had it down in legible writing.
"All right," Sagi said aloud, "So, Thoran was talking about how all the people think about is making their hearts stronger, right Marno? And Pieda said what in response?"
Marno's voice was like a breath in Sagi's mind. She said that 'once that power has ahold of you, you start doing terrible things'.
Sagi nodded and bent down over his notebook once more to write the words very carefully. "Hey, Marno..." Sagi murmured, setting his pen aside momentarily and glancing out the window. A white bird flew by. He wondered if that were common in Mira. They hadn't lived here for all that long yet. The whole Island was still so unfamiliar. Even Balancoire, where they had been living for the better part of a month and a half, was still strange. It was nothing like Mintaka or Sheritan.
Marno allowed curious feelings to well inside Sagi's heart. Is something wrong?
Sagi shook his head. "No, not wrong..." he mused, "I was just thinking..."
If Marno had a physical body, he would have tilted his head to one side questioningly. About what? the one-time god asked.
"About Baelheit," Sagi murmured. A faint sadness bubbled inside Sagi. "It's just that...he was like you guys, wasn't he? He was a little bit like Malpercio, as they were when they stood against Wiseman."
How do you mean? Marno inquired. I do not understand how Baelheit was like us...
"It was the way he thought," Sagi slouched back in his chair and closed his eyes. "During our showdown, he said that 'our ancestors became infatuated with the power of their hearts'. Isn't that what Thoran was getting at? That people were only interested with making their hearts stronger? Seph even mentioned why...with a strong heart, you can do anything."
Marno was silent. Sagi continued.
"And Pieda even said that 'once that power has ahold of you, you start doing terrible things'. Baelheit said that too. He told us that the only thing a strong heart brought was a war that 'befouled the world so much' that our ancestors had no choice but to raise the earth into the sky."
Yes. He did say that...
Sagi sighed. The sunlight still shone into the room. Was it brighter than it had been moments before? Sagi thought it might be. "That was why he wanted the people to live on a man-made Island. That's why he didn't want heart-wings to exist any longer. He thought that by eliminating these variables, people wouldn't be able to destroy the world for everyone else. It was his way of saving the world." He smiled. "Just like Malpercio decided to challenge Wiseman, even when their defeat was nearly guaranteed."
Sagi shut the notebook. There was no need to write more today. "Perhaps what he did wasn't right. But really, can we really fault him for trying? He wasn't working out of hate..."
If anything, it was love, Marno whispered. Love for the world that is still, to some extent, infatuated with the heart.
"The heart isn't all bad," Sagi said, "And having a strong heart doesn't necessitate horrible acts. Such acts would be easy and tempting to commit, but not everyone would do so. He was wrong there, wrong to completely doubt the heart. But even so, he wasn't completely wrong either..."
Some people are like that. For some people, like those of Cujam, a strong heart is like a drug. It is addictive and that addiction can lead to horrible things.
"He saw what Malpercio saw," Sagi agreed.
He saw that the so-called 'Ages of the Gods' is best left dead, Marno said harshly. People infatuated with their hearts now sought to replicate that age through the remnants of that Age. In one thousand years, have people not learned anything? We destroyed the world, and we can still destroy it, if the remnants of Malpercio are used. Anyone can destroy it, should they attempt to repeat our mistakes.
"In one thousand years," Sagi murmured, now standing by the window. "Some things have not changed."
In one thousand years, some things should not be changed.
A/N: So, I was playing Origins the other day, and I finally made it to Cujam for the first time. And during the conversation in Naos, it struck me that Malpercio is similar to Baelheit. Not just with the whole "promagnation/promachination" thing, but in the way they see things.
For Malpercio, they would do anything to defeat Wiseman, even if it meant making a pact with the Dark Brethren. For Baelheit, he would do anything to move the world forward, leaving the remnants of a dead Age far behind, and the pieces destroyed if he could manage that. They seemed more alike than different.
This was actually pretty difficult to write. It was hard to get across the feelings that I wanted to communicate. I'm still not sure that I did a good job of that, but I did my best. I'd be happy to discuss it further if that helps :) This turned out somewhat...vaguer than I was intending, but I like it, so I'm not changing anything. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
(And yes, this was intended to promote Baelheit-love. Haha, I'm so biased XD)