a/n:
This chapter is dedicated to Eugthinks who was trying to convince me to participate in nano-write month with this story this past November. He just wanted a friend to be working on it too since he'd thought he'd feel more motivated if others he knew were participating. But I felt strange about it because it's not really an original work and much of it is already written and I didn't want anyone out there on the internet to see my works before all of you! Just didn't seem fair. But I was excited just the same and chose to unofficially participate (though I forgot to mention this to him so he received none of the perks. I guess I'm a bad friend…)
I only made it to 22 thousand words of which 8k made up the beginning of this chapter, which is why it is being posted in record time. You have him to thank! Hope you enjoy!
Please note that I changed Robo's speech only when the scene was not in his perspective. When in his perspective I figured he knew what he meant and our guide at the End of Time would be able to understand anyone from any era at this point in his life.
…
The Gift of Magic - End of Time
Marle fell from the portal and actually managed to land on her feet, disturbing the swirling mists that hovered just above the ground. She looked around completely at a loss as to where or when they were. The impossibly smooth earth went on and on as far as she could see, never changing, covered in the hazy mists. Everything seemed to be dimly lit, but Marle could not determine where the light was coming from.
"Fascinating," Robo commented. "Once through the event horizon there was a constant magnetic flux, but no inertial effects. Yet visually, it atewed at though we were accelerating. He turned toward Lucca, "And you say there were only small amounts of tachyons detected?"
Lucca nodded.
"Perhaps the tachyons that were detected were only the ones that leaked out through the gaps when the portal was apert. Perhaps a larger body of tachyons or protonic matter resides within the inter-dimensional space."
"You're actually suggesting that the source of the portal comes from within the vortex!" Lucca exclaimed. "But then, how are we able to open them from the outside?"
"I can't decide which of them is worse," Crono commented to Marle who giggled.
"I think it's a good thing that Lucca found someone to share her passion for figuring out how the world works," Marle countered with a smile.
Robo and Lucca continued their scientific meanderings hardly noticing the realm around them.
"So when do you think we are now?" Marle asked Crono, gesturing in the distance. Crono gazed into the mists, but there was absolutely nothing to see – no stars or moon in the sky, no terrain.
"Maybe somewhere indoors?" he guessed.
"It's an awfully big room then," Marle said in response.
"Wow, this place is more depressing than the future," Lucca commented, finally bringing her attention to where they were. "At least the apocalypse had terrain and weather."
"I don't know. I think it feels peaceful," Marle disagreed.
"If you say so," Lucca said with a sigh. Marle wilted, worried that her new friend was irritated with her for contradicting her.
"Sensors detect a human life sign in this dressyngis," Robo reported, pointing in the distance.
"Just one?" Lucca asked.
"Affirmative."
"Lead the way," Crono gestured for the robot to take point.
Marle had only taken a few steps before she could see a light in the distance. As they got closer, she quickly realized it was a street lamp just like the ones that had been installed a few years ago in Truce. Except this one was much taller. Underneath the lamp was a dusty old man with a neatly trimmed white mustache. He wore a brown suit with a matching bowler had. He appeared to be leaning on a cane, asleep.
"Hello?" Marle called out as they approached.
The old man jumped awake.
"Wha-? Oh! Travelers! Welcome," he said warmly.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"I am the Keeper of this realm, which just means I'm an old man who's been here too long. When are you from?"
"We are from circa 1000 A.D." Lucca explained gesturing to the three of them. "I'm Lucca. This is Crono and Marle. And Robo came from 2300 A.D."
"How did we get here?" Marle asked.
"The gate you entered was unstable – it had more than one destination. Not knowing where to send you – you came here, to the place of least resistance."
"So what is this place?" Lucca asked.
"The End of Time."
"Can we leave?"
"Of course, by going through one of the many gates that inhabit this plane."
"How many are there?"
"I am not so arrogant as to believe that I know where they all are. But I believe there are currently three or four that will aid you in your mission."
"How do you know about our mission?" Lucca asked suspiciously.
"If you stay here long enough, you come to understand the flow of time."
"What does that mean?" Lucca asked.
"That you foresee certain events?" Marle guessed.
"No, I see the present. Just glimpses really."
"And what time is your present?" Crono asked.
"All of them. They are all happening right now. And always in a state of flux."
"But…" Lucca objected.
The old man smiled, "Don't try to understand it."
"I try to understand everything," Lucca grumbled.
"I know," he said with another smile.
"What the hell is thatsupposed to mean?!"
"I meant absolutely no offense," he said, unruffled.
"So could one of these gates happen to get us back to the year 1000?" Crono quickly interjected before Lucca could respond.
"Yes, but before you leave, you should explore the room behind you."
"What room?" Lucca asked. The trio turned around and sure enough there was a wooden gate.
"How did that get there?!" she demanded. "It wasn't there before. Robo, that wasn't there before was it?"
"I did not detect it, no," Robo confirmed.
"Come on Lucca," Crono encouraged. "I suspect trying to understand this place is just going to give us a headache."
She grunted, but followed. Marle and Robo brought up the rear.
"Robo? May I ask you a few questions? I have never before had the pleasure of meeting one of your kind," the old man asked.
"Certainly," the machine replied cordially and turned back.
Lucca hung back biting her lower lip, glancing at the android. Marle grinned at the sudden protectiveness in her new friend.
"I promise not to hurt him Lucca," the keeper reassured, waving her forward.
"You had better not! He took me forever to repair!" she called back.
…
"We should probably start with laps," a strange voice stated.
"What?" Crono asked. He stepped further into the room towards what looked like a magnificent white stallion. He glanced around looking for the speaker. But no one else occupied the fenced off area.
"Walk three laps around the outside perimeter of this room," the horse said. Crono's eyes widened with surprise.
"How are you able to speak?" Crono asked.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Lucca demanded.
"I'm Spekkio! I'm the Master of War! And I speak the same way you do."
Crono held himself back, not knowing what to make of the creature.
"So why do we have to run laps?" Marle questioned.
"Not run. Walk! And to learn magic of course!"
"Magic?" Lucca repeated skeptically.
"Yes, magic."
"I thought humans couldn't do magic," Crono objected.
"How will running laps teach us magic?" Marle asked simultaneously.
"Just because an ability has been forgotten does not mean that the ability is gone."
"And we can learn it?" Lucca asked, skepticism still dripping from her voice.
"You are strong of will. That is why to old one let you through," he explained.
"I still don't see how running laps will teach us magic…" Marle said.
"Walking… And you won't. Not until you do it. So let's go!"
Lucca turned to Crono rolling her eyes. He shrugged and started walking. She sighed audibly and fell in behind him with Marle bringing up the rear.
"Ah-ah-ah! No cheating!" Spekkio boomed.
"How are we cheating? You said we had to walk laps," Marle insisted.
"Clockwise laps."
"You never said that!" Lucca complained.
"Didn't I?"
Crono turned around and followed the two girls. They had made it about halfway around the large arena when Spekkio started speaking of magic.
"Long before you were born," Spekkio began, his voice booming in the square, "there was a kingdom where magic flourished. Everyone there could use it! They had elemental, telekinetic, mind magic, pretty much anything you can think of. They learned to store and channel the energy of the sun and used it to make amazing devices and accomplish impossible feats. But in time, people began to abuse their powers. They used it to gain more life and more power – to raise themselves above others. It got so bad the civilization destroyed itself. After they burned their kingdom literally to the ground, magic was forbidden. Then it faded to legend and myth."
Crono shivered, goose bumps rising on his arms. Marle absently rubbed her arms as well. He glanced at Lucca to see if she was feeling to too. Her hands were on fire.
"Lucca!" Crono ran forward beating out the flames. Lucca screamed in sudden panic. The flame disappeared immediately.
"What the hell is going on?!" Lucca demanded marching toward the white stallion.
"That was your magic."
"I don't want magic that's going to burn me!"
"It didn't burn you. It's your magic. It can't burn you. At least, not that way. There are ways to burn yourself out of course, but you won't here," the beast rambled unconcerned.
Crono and Lucca both checked her hands frantically for burns and scarring, but there was nothing. He forced himself to take a deep breath.
"I guess it really was your magic," he said uncertainly.
"The flames formed because elemental energy is flowing freely through you. Miss Goofy Glasses here was the first, but something similar will happen to both of you as well. I believe you were starting to feel the effects."
"You should continue with the laps," he continued. "The process of unlocking your potential has just begun. It needs to finish. Leaving it halfway done can be dangerous."
"How do you know we even want magic?" Lucca objected.
"Are you saying that you do not?"
Silence permeated the arena.
"I thought so," Spekkio chuckled. "So let us begin again. Three laps!"
Crono continued to follow the girls, suddenly nervous. He kept glancing down at his own hands expecting to see them burning. But nothing of the sort occurred.
Marle gasped and Crono jerked his head up to see a series of ice crystals dancing merrily between her hands.
"Don't stop moving!" Spekkio ordered. Only at that moment had Crono realized that they had all three stopped to watch to spectacle.
He forced himself to keep moving, more and more anxious as nothing happened. Did he not have his own magic? But then the shivering came back with a vengeance – feeling more like a burning itch just under his skin. He couldn't stand it.
'Push it out!' a voice within his head directed, 'You are not ready to contain it.' So Crono imagined pushing the sensation into his hands. A bright blue electrical arc jumped from his hands. He jerked his head back away from it.
"Keep moving!" Spekkio reminded him again.
Crono did as directed, though putting one foot in front of the other ranked rather low on his priority list as the crackling energy continued to shoot back and forth as he 'pushed' the tingling burning sensation out through his hands.
"That is enough," Spekkio declared.
"I don't feel any different," Marle objected.
"And you shouldn't. Nothing about you has been changed."
Crono attempted to call forth the lightning again, but nothing happened.
"Why can't I do it again?" he asked.
"You have to learn how to channel the energy yourself. I was doing much of the work for you. I removed years of blockages that have formed – it's easier to do while you are moving. I can see more clearly where they are. To make sure all the passages were clear and ready for you to learn, I channeled energy through you, which you each saw and experienced as fire, ice, and lightning."
"So it wasn't our magic at all," Lucca said disappointed.
"No! That was purely your magic! I just brought it to the surface."
"That's why we had to walk laps!" Marle said belatedly.
Spekkio nodded. "Yes. Now that the passages are clear it will become much easier for you to learn to call forth the elemental magic yourself."
"Let's get started then!" Marle cried enthusiastically.
Spekkio shook his head.
"You've had enough for one day. Take a break. Sleep if you want."
…
"What are my companions doing?" the robot inquired.
"They are learning magic."
"Magic? According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics creating energy from nothing is impossible and as magic would require this, magic should be impossible as well."
The old man chuckled. "I cannot argue the science with you my friend. Though I suspect magic does follow the rules of nature for it is a part of nature. And I assure you magic is not creating energy. Perhaps it is your definition or idea of what magic is that is inaccurate."
"That is possible. Is there a reason that you held me back? Is there a reason that you did not want me to learn magic with my companions?"
"I'm sorry Robo, but you are not physiologically capable of magic."
"There is nothing for you to be sorry for sir."
"Many that I have encountered have greatly coveted the skill."
"I will admit, that I am curious as to how something like magic can exist, but I do not need the ability itself to be able to study it. And I have other skills to bring to bear."
"There is wisdom in what you say."
"Would you be so kind as to explain what makes my statement wise? Wisdom is a human quality that robot kind has been unable to emulate."
"But has been attempting to, I take it?"
The android nodded, "Without success."
"Wisdom is not something you can teach to even humans, my friend. So I expect it's not something that can be programmed in either. It is something that comes after a lot of experience, usually rife with mistakes. I very much doubt that humans have a monopoly on it however."
"Do you believe that robots can make mistakes and develop wisdom?"
"I believe all things are possible," the old man encouraged. "You have the ability to learn?"
"My programming is designed to be adaptive," Robo confirmed.
"Then I don't see why you cannot learn to be wise. Though it may take a long time."
The wooden gate opened with a pop revealing Robo's three human companions.
"You were not gone very long," Robo commented. The android assumed that learning magic was a skill that would take a certain time investment.
"Robo, what are you talking about?" Marle asked. "It's been hours!"
"Feels like it's been hours," Crono agreed.
Robo attempted to verify this observation, but his chronometers appeared to be offline. He began running diagnostics trying to determine the cause of the problem, but all of his systems seemed to be in working order.
"A few hours still does not seem like enough to learn the art of magic," the robot declared.
"Yeah, the 'Master of War' insists that we take a break," Lucca mocked.
"Rest is sometimes necessary," the robot observed. "Perhaps this master is correct."
"Don't take his side Robo," Lucca begged. "If we're going to be friends, you have to learn to take my side."
"I see."
Crono laughed. "Don't listen to her Robo. Stop trying to misguide him Lucca! He takes everything you say literally."
"Misguide?" Lucca repeated innocently. "Don't know what you're talking about."
"I am afraid that I don't understand. Is there another way other than literally to interpret such statements?"
"Yes, Lucca here, for example, is an expert on sarcasm," Crono explained. "Sometimes, she means the exact opposite of what she says."
"How does one tell the difference?"
"Tone of voice," Marle filled in, "Let me show you."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said normally. "Versus," and she repeated the statement with a higher pitch and emphasis on the 'no' and 'what'.
"Can you hear the difference?" Marle asked, returning to her normal inflection.
"Yes, I believe I can."
"And just so you know Robo, a real friend doesn't always agree with you. A real friend tells you what they honestly think," Crono added.
"Understood."
"You guys are no fun!" Lucca complained. "How am I going to build a robot army if I can't get Robo here to agree with me all the time?"
"That was sarcasm," the robot concluded.
"Yes, it was!" Marle agreed. "You learn quickly!"
"My programming was designed to be adaptive," he said again.
…
"Today, we will begin by washing the fence," Spekkio announced as the trio entered the arena.
"Why?" Lucca asked.
"You will understand when it's done."
Buckets of soapy water materialized about a foot from the fence in three different locations. Crono and Marle moved forward obediently. Lucca sighed loudly before following suit. And she began scrubbing. It was slow work cutting through grime and rust. How had the structure become so filthy in this realm of nothingness?
"There are four magical elements," Spekkio explained. "Water, fire, light, and shadow. Not just magic, but everything is based on the balance of these four elements. As individuals, we often have a stronger affinity to one of the elements. As you may have already guessed, goofy glasses is fire."
"I have a name you know!" Lucca objected.
"You with the ponytail, you're water," Spekkio continued, ignoring the interruption.
"And punk hair-do, you're light."
Lucca had fallen into a rhythm, tackling each fence post after the next.
"Light comes from the sun. It is the source of all energy and life. Shadow is death, but without death, life could not be. Light simply cannot exist without shadow."
"Water is a vehicle – flow of the life blood. Water is a natural healer, but can erode away just about anything as well. Fire is the inner passion – the will to survive. But if the passion burns unrestrained, things tend to turn to ash. Water quenches fire just as fire vaporizes water."
After his short explanation, Spekkio grew silent. He just stood there and watched them. Lucca could feel his wild eyes on the back on her neck.
"You wanna help?" she asked.
"No," he said flippantly.
"Gee, thanks!" Lucca sighed, but continued to scrub. Her progress came to a halt as she encountered a particularly stubborn post, caked with red and orange rust. She became completely absorbed in the obstacle in front of her – scrubbing and cutting.
She jerked her hand back in pain. Glancing at her finger there was a small thin metal splinter. Her eyes watered at the unexpected pain. She tried to wipe away the tears. The splinter was merely a nuisance. But the salt water only continued to flow. She couldn't hold back the sudden torrent. What was the matter with her?
An image of her mother in her wheel chair flashed through her mind and suddenly her emotions caught up with her physical outpouring. She had never been able to shake the thought that the accident had been her fault. She took her anger and sudden guilt out on the fence. And as she washed away the rust, to show the shining silver post underneath the grime, she imagined her feelings being washed away as well. And she felt strangely at peace.
"You've had enough for one day," Spekkio's voice broke through her thought process. "Take a break. Sleep if you want."
Lucca shook herself out of her reverie. She couldn't remember what she had just been thinking about. She touched her own cheek and her hand came away wet. Had she been crying?
"Wait! What was the point of washing the fence?" she demanded.
"You weren't washing a fence."
"Like hell I wasn't!"
"No, the fence is only symbolic. You were cleansing your inner self. Purging yourself of emotional baggage that you have collected over the years."
"I don't think it worked!" Lucca declared hotly.
Spekkio cackled in amusement.
"You do have a lot of baggage!" the boar taunted. "All things in small steps. You can work on it more tomorrow."
…
"He's so pretty! Doesn't seem to fit for a Master of War. Seems too gentle," Marle whispered to Crono pointing to the great white heron that was Spekkio. Crono looked puzzled.
"I don't know if 'pretty' is the word I would choose. And why would a stallion be too gentle for a Master of War?"
"Stallion?" Marle asked, confused, "but he's a bird. A heron! See those gorgeous white wings?" She insisted. Crono stared at her in amazement.
"Hey Lucca!" Marle called. "What does Spekkio look like?"
"Why are you asking me? You can see him well enough!" She threw glares at the self-proclaimed 'Master' of War.
"Just humor us!" Crono encouraged. Lucca sighed.
"He looks like some kind of wild boar. He's got these tusks and he always looks like he's fuming about something."
"We all see something different!" Marle spoke aloud, clearly amazed.
"We do?" Lucca asked, startled.
"Yeah. Marle sees a bird and I see a horse."
The magical creature approached the trio.
"What you see is merely a reflection of yourself," the magician explained.
"I'm a boar?!" Lucca raged.
"Yes," he said with a cackle. Lucca fumed. Marle tried hard to stifle her own laughter, but she couldn't help it.
"Yeah, laugh it up guys! You won't be laughing when this fuming boar starts throwing flames at you!" And she stalked off.
"Lucca!" Marle called after her as she left the arena. "We were only teasing!"
…
"Today, we will be meditating. You should take a seat on the ground," Spekkio instructed.
"Are we ever actually going to be doing any magic?" Marle asked.
"Yes."
The princess sighed, but obediently sat down.
"Have patience," Crono whispered to her. "My sword master used to make me do similar exercises all the time."
"What will be meditating on?" Crono asked loudly.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?" he repeated.
"Yes, clear your mind of all things and think of nothing."
Crono found this strangely difficult. He pictured an empty black field in his mind's eye, but random thoughts kept invading. In the past, he had always had something, a symbol or a visualization of his exercises, to focus his concentration and serve as a barrier against stray thoughts.
Lucca broke into laughter and Crono found himself grinning, wondering what she was thinking of.
"The secret to emptying the mind is to be completely aware. Concentrate on what your toes are feeling, what your ears are hearing. Don't think about any of it. Just feel the reality around you."
Crono attempted to follow this advice by focusing on his breathing. He felt the rise and fall of his chest as his lungs filled with air. He extended his awareness to his arms and legs. Each one seemed to tingle slightly as he brought each limb to his attention. He could hear the distant babbling of a fountain and a bird singing.
There were no birds though, his mind objected. There couldn't be. This place was empty, filled only with mist.
Too late, Crono attempted to quash the thought. And with a sigh, he attempted to begin again, but it wasn't long before another thought invaded. This was hard!
"You've had enough for one day," Spekkio announced after what felt like an eternity. "Take a break. Sleep if you want."
…
"Robo, I was wrong to say that you are not capable of magic," the old man stated.
"But from what I understand, I am not," the robot replied.
"You have your own brand of magic."
"To what are you referring to?"
"You have an ability to create electricity do you not? Laser beams? And you can detect objects at a distance even if they are outside your visual range."
"It is not magic."
"It is to someone that does not understand it."
"But that is because their perception is flawed. Not because I actually have magic."
"Perception is reality."
This statement did not compute. A contradiction could not exist. And Robo had many recorded instances of multiple personas having different perceptions, often directly opposed to one another. They both could not be true at the same time. And oftentimes, in Robo's observations the physical reality of a situation was in direct contradiction with what humans perceived it to be.
The old man laughed. "I can see you're having trouble with that one. Think of it this way. An individual's perception is his own reality. Just as your perception is your reality because you can know nothing else. You cannot see a reality that is beyond your own perception."
"But a human's perception can change," the robot objected. The old man smiled.
"True."
"I did not write my own programming, which is in essence how I perceive things."
"Nor did your companions determine their own nature," he added.
"But they have the ability to change it," Robo countered.
"And you believe that you do not?"
"I am uncertain," Robo said as his processor went to work trying to unravel this latest conundrum.
…
"I don't suppose the lesson of the day includes any actual magic?" Lucca asked without any hope.
"All the lessons have included actual magic," Spekkio countered gleefully.
"I guess that means no," Lucca grumbled.
"So what are we doing?" Crono asked.
"Building a wall!" their teacher exclaimed, while nodding toward a pile of bricks and building materials that had just appeared.
"Building a wall?" Marle echoed.
"Yup!"
Lucca knew better than to ask why at this point, so she just made her way to her own corner to take stock of what she had to work with. She had a huge pile of impossibly colored bricks, a small level, a long piece of thin string, a tape measure, a bucket of mortar, and a trowel.
A level? Was that really necessary? The ground in this place was so impossibly smooth she didn't see how it would even be possible to create a layer that was not perfectly flat. But then, maybe the brightly colored bricks weren't all that even. Still, did he really expect her to be that precise? She was certain the wall she created was going to vanish the second the exercise was completed.
"How wide does it need to be?" Crono asked.
"It should be about as wide as you are tall, plus the width of a doorway."
Lucca measured out the required 2.5 metras and placed a blue brick at either end, then taped the string on front side of each brick. The string would insure that her first row remained straight and relatively even.
She turned to check how her friends were doing on this ridiculous task. Neither had started. They both were watching her.
"What?" she asked, feeling self-conscious.
"You obviously know what you are doing," Marle explained. "I do not. Thought I would collect some pointers before I began."
"Glad I could help, I guess."
Lucca used the level to make sure each brick was on flat surface, and that the line itself was level. Then she slathered mortar onto one end piece and pushed it firmly into the ground.
One down… only a few hundred more to go!
She slathered a second brick, this one yellow, on the bottom and one short side and aligned it with the first using the string. She checked with the level to be certain that the thing was still flat. Then she started the assembly line process of laying one brick after another. She made the first row twelve bricks across, before she started the second layer.
She got all the way to the fourth layer when she realized it would go a lot faster if she only cemented the bottom of each brick, and left off the side mortar. Sure, the wall would be unstable, but it would remain intact for the required three seconds.
She pulled another brick, slathered it up on only the one side and placed it, satisfied that once she got a rhythm going, she'd be done in half the time.
"No cheating! I'm watching!" the beast said in singsong voice right in her ear. Lucca jumped a mile.
"Don't you realize that we have important things to be doing?" she replied in frustration.
"And do you think magic will help you succeed in these tasks?"
"Probably," she conceded. Which was why she thought they should be learning some!
"Then you must do things my way. I am the Master of War and the only one who can teach you what you wish to learn!"
"We'll never succeed if you have us here washing fences, building walls, or meditating for hours on end!"
"You are quite a fiery one! Even for someone with an affinity to the element," Spekkio grinned. "Let me ask you a question, how long do you think you've been here?"
Lucca had no answer to this question. It had been days. Maybe a week or two.
"Have you felt tired? Or even hungry?"
Lucca was taken aback by these questions. The answer was no to both, but how was that possible?
"Do you think magic is easy to control?" he asked, changing gears on her completely.
"No?" she guessed.
"I've been teaching you discipline and patience. If you master your emotions you will control the magic. If your emotions are your master then the magic will control you. How do you think that will end?"
Lucca did not bother to answer the rhetorical question. Instead, she returned to the task of building the pointless wall. She forced herself to pay attention to the details. The bricks needed to line up and she needed to maintain an even thickness of mortar between them, even though she still thought it was a complete waste of time. The last two layers were particularly stubborn. Her mortar was drying out and the mortar was hard to spread evenly so the bricks refused to stay level.
"Time to return to your meditation," Spekkio directed just has she placed the last brick.
Lucca sighed. Her arms ached and she had been hoping for a break once the wall was finished. One would think that sitting and thinking about nothing wouldn't require a lot of energy, but you had to focus and concentrate so intensely that it was just as mentally exhausting as building the wall had been physically.
She sat down with eyes closed and emptied her mind, made herself aware only of the pulsing of her own heart.
Wow, this was strangely easy today. Maybe there was something to be said for physical exhaustion. 'Damn it!' she inwardly cursed, forcing her mental state back to a blank slate.
"Feel the wall," Spekkio suggested.
Lucca pictured the multi-colored wall in her head. Did he want her to use the wall as a barrier against stray thoughts? That somehow felt like cheating as it gave her something tangible to think about.
"No, don't visualize it," he interrupted. "Feel what it means to build a wall."
Lucca understood what he meant. Now that she had spent hours upon hours building the blasted thing, that wall was a part of her. She couldn't just visualize a wall – she had to internalize the barrier.
The meditation still did not go perfectly. But Lucca managed longer periods of time between invading thoughts, but her attention was slipping and it was getting to be more difficult again.
"Very well done," he said.
"What? Are you offering actual praise?" Lucca asked in disbelief. The Master of War always seemed to take delight at her frustration. He certainly would never offer any praise.
"You've had enough for one day," was all he said. "Take a break. Sleep if you want."
…
"Robo? Can you tell me how much time we've been here?" Lucca asked him.
"I regret to enforme you that my chronometers have not been weorking since we ariued in this realm. I theorize that we are in some kind of stasis field that prevents time from passing."
"Then how can we do anything? How can we talk to one another or try to do things? How does electricity travel through your circuits? Does that not all require time to work correctly?"
"I do not have enough data to present a possible glose at this time."
"Yeah, me neither. And I thought that time travel made my head hurt!"
"Would you like me to ginnen gathering relevant pieces of information?"
"Sure! Why not?"
"The main disadvantage would be that it would take a lot of processing feré that may cause my system to huly down, increasing my reaction time by approximately 0.082 seconds."
Lucca laughed. "I did not mean that as a question Robo," she explained patiently. "'Why not?' is sometimes an expression that basically means 'I don't see a reason not to give it a try, so go for it.'"
"I see," Robo said. "I will then ginnen collecting data."
"I look forward to your hearing your findings," Lucca said with a smile.
…
Marle sat down and crossed her legs. She had been feeling eager and impatient to learn magic, but now she had resigned herself to the fact that it would happen whenever it happened. There was nothing she could do to make Spekkio decide to teach her sooner.
Instead, she tried to let herself feel the peaceful calm that she had felt when they had first arrived. No words or pictures, no thoughts. She just was. And all at once it felt as if her internal world came together into one simple strand – almost like everything that was her just physically snapped into place. Her mental self just floated in complete awareness.
"You're ready," he declared, jarring Marle out of her contemplation.
"I am?" she asked, trying not to seem too excited.
"You can now focus with a perfect clarity. You are ready to begin."
"Marle, close your eyes now. Do the same exercise you were just doing moments before. Feel that internal centering. Good. Now, expand your awareness outward in a sphere. Just a little. Feel the vibrations in the air around you and in the ground beneath you. Now pull those threads, that energy, towards you."
"But, I was taught to pull it from within."
"You can pull it from within, but the amount of energy you can get is limited and it will leave you exhausted. And while you're healing that may not always be a big deal, but when you're in the heat of battle that's not the time to collapse. And if you go too far, it can also be dangerous. If you pull too much of your life essence all at once, your body loses the ability to replenish all of it. It is safer and more efficient to use the resources around you."
Marle was surprised at how simple it was to extend her awareness. She could feel the energy and water in the air, but she had no idea how to bring it in.
"Just imagine it coming toward you," Spekkio directed.
She knew when she had succeeded as her hair stood on end like she had suddenly been electrified. Her skin tingled and itched, worse than Lucca's ether.
Her friends gasped. She opened her eyes to see what the big deal was. She levitated inches off the ground. She immediately lost all focus and fell hard back down to the ground. The force of impact shot painfully up her spine and she lost her hold on the magical energies she had just collected.
Spekkio chuckled.
"I am glad that my injury and mishaps bring such amusement to you," Marle replied, annoyed. The white heron seemed to shrug.
"I am the Master of War," he said as if that explained everything. "Now, did you feel the energy around you?"
Marle nodded grumpily.
"I want you to direct that energy with your mind just as you do when you use your aura to heal a person."
"Where do you want me to send it?"
"At me!"
Marle closed her eyes and this time she was very aware the second her feet left the ground. She allowed the prickling to build up. When she could no longer stand it, she pushed it outward and away.
She felt the sharp cold of ice crystals at her hands for a split second, but they were already zooming away. She opened her eyes to watch the small icy projectiles launch towards Spekkio.
"Is that it?" Marle asked, slightly disappointed. She had only conjured a few small ice crystals.
Spekkio chuckled. "Fear not, this is just the beginning. As you use it, your power will grow. Be careful not to overdo it right now. You're using muscles you've never before even stretched."
"What happens if we go too far?" Crono asked.
"You burn yourself out. That can't happen here though."
"Why not?"
"I won't let it," he stated.
Marle wondered what would happen when he was not there.
"Pony-tail," he interrupted her thoughts. "I want you to teach the swordsman what you just learned," he directed.
What? How could she teach someone what she had just learned? It was all happening internally and she barely understood what was happening herself. What did Spekkio expect her to do?
Spekkio had turned his attention to Lucca, but conjuring small flames did not come nearly as easily to her fiery friend as ice crystals came to Marle. She took secret pleasure in the fact that she understood something better than the inventor.
"Marle?" Crono asked, pulling her attention back to him. Marle shook herself out of her thoughts. How would she teach him to mentally focus?
"Can you center yourself?" Marle asked after a moment.
"Marle, I don't even know what the means," Crono said with a grin.
"Here, sit down and close your eyes," she instructed. He complied.
"Externally, you have one self – your physical being. Internally, you have multiple selves or inner voices."
"Inner voices?" he repeated.
"I think so – at least that's how it feels to me. How many voices are there when you are thinking?"
"One?" he suggested, looking at her strangely.
"Really? I think I have three," she said with a blush.
"Anyway," she continued trying to bury her embarrassment, "centering yourself is making all of your beings come together as one."
"Okay…" he said non-committally, "how do I do that?"
"I think the reason we aren't supposed to think about anything when we meditate, is that it distracts one or more of your inner selves and makes it harder to bring them together."
"Makes sense," he agreed. She knew he still had no idea how to center himself.
"Inside you are rhythms – feel for them. They are beating in different times."
He nodded.
"Those are your separate selves. Imagine bringing them into sync with one another."
She watched him breathing, with eyes tightly closed for a long moment. She could not tell what progress he was making, if any. How did Spekkio know when she had succeeded? He always said something immediately when she had.
Crono opened his eyes, shaking his head. "I don't think it's working."
"Hold up your hand, open towards me," she directed. She gently pressed her own hand to his. "Now, close your eyes and go back into contemplation."
She did not tell him what she intended. She didn't want him to have any expectations. It probably wouldn't work, but she remembered her mother doing this with her when she was young to scare away nightmares.
She channeled a small line of energy into his hand. He jerked away.
"Marle! That's cold!" he objected.
"Sorry, I don't know how to make it not cold. Are you ready this time?"
"If I must be…"
She focused the energy around and through him all at once. Her head spun as her vision doubled. She could see him through her own eyes. But she could see herself through his. Crono's eyes were wide with surprise. They were connected, linked together.
The visions overwhelmed her senses. She panicked and tried to pull back, but she was caught in a net of her own making. On instinct, she mentally lashed out. The connection broke, but Crono collapsed.
"Crono!" she cried coming to his side. Lucca was there a second later.
"What happened?" she asked.
"Where did you learn that?" Spekkio interrupted. She expected him to be angry, but he seemed only amused.
"I-I…" she stuttered.
Spekkio reached out with a wing, and pressed a single feather to Crono's forehead. His eyes blinked open immediately and he sat up, clutching his head.
"Crono!" Marle clutched at his shoulder. "I'm sorry!"
He stared at her blankly. Marle's insides turned to ice.
"He will be fine young one," Spekkio reassured. "Just give him a moment. His mind is in disarray and needs to sort itself out."
"Now tell me, where did you learn to link?"
"Link?" she repeated dumbly.
"Yes, link," he said again. "Where did you learn to do that?"
"I don't know," she said slowly. "My mother would do something like this…"
"And she taught you?" he asked.
Marle shook her head. "No, she just would take my hand and she would banish my nightmares. I thought I could do something similar."
"To what purpose?"
"I was… I was trying to show Crono what centering looked like," she explained.
The heron seemed to grin. "Interesting strategy!" he exclaimed. "Let's try it again!"
"But…" she tried to object. She did not want to hurt Crono again.
"It's okay Marle," Crono broke in. She turned to him, relief flooding through her as he spoke. "I'm fine," he insisted. "Got to get back on the horse right?"
"Did it hurt?" she asked.
"Don't worry about it," he stated. Which of course, meant that it had.
"I'm sorry," she said meekly.
"For this exercise we need a deeper link than is typically used, but probably not as deep as you went," he explained.
Marle blushed in embarrassment.
"Your technique was perfect," Spekkio reassured. "You just channeled too much energy. This is an exercise that needs only the smallest trickle, but it needs precision."
"Take hands. You actually don't need to be touching, but it makes it easier."
Marle reluctantly took Crono's offered hand.
"Now ponytail, take the smallest amount of energy that you can and channel it around and through his hand just like you did before."
She complied and she felt the connection, but she no longer could see through his eyes.
"Swordsman, can you see ponytail's aura?" Spekkio asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"Okay ponytail, show us what you got," he directed.
Marle tried to block all thoughts from her mind. This was suddenly was difficult once again as guilty and shaken as she felt.
Just set it aside a voice in her head suggested. The voice sounded suspiciously like Spekkio.
Suddenly, the suggestion didn't seem quite so impossible. She gently laid her conflicting feelings to the side and then pulled everything together.
Crono gasped. Marle grinned.
"Now before we give spikey his turn, I want you slightly deepen the link. Just a bit. Yes, that's it."
"Swordsman, can you see yourself and your own aura?"
He nodded.
"You know what you have to do."
Marle watched his progress, excited that she could finally do so.
Crono's aura, or perhaps it was more accurate to say his auras, as there were many, contained the warmth of the Sun. It was filled with orange reds and yellows predominantly, with splashes of blue and green. The colors danced and pulsed around one another with no rhyme or reason. Marle watched the fireworks show in fascination. The rhythms began coming closer together, pulsing as one. And then his aura turned white.
"Yes that's it!" she cried excitedly.
Crono's synchronized auras shattered into multiple colors once again.
"Marle!" he complained.
"Sorry," she said contritely.
Crono was able to come to the alignment much faster the second time around.
"Alright Crono, I believe you were listening earlier. You know what to do?"
He held out a hand as his aura got brighter and brighter. She almost had to look away. And then it all came together and moved like a wave down his arms and fingertips rushing out as blue lightning. Lucca clapped. Marle joined in.
Crono opened his eyes and grinned brightly at her. And she saw his radiant erratic aura one more time, before she carefully withdrew her presence.
"What about you Lucca?" Marle asked. "Were you successful?"
Lucca opened her own hands and suddenly there was a dancing flame just above her palm.
"Amazing!" Marle exclaimed.
"Like you need new ways to make things catch on fire," Crono teased.
Lucca punched him playfully in the shoulder in retaliation.
"You expect us to be able to use this ability in combat?" Crono turned to Spekkio suddenly serious once again.
"Eventually yes."
"Isn't meditation going to be a bit difficult in the heat of battle?" he objected.
"That's the point of practice!" the heron responded brightly.
"But how do I not feel angry or fearful during a conflict?"
"How do you maintain your forms when fighting with the sword?"
Crono nodded.
"You're saying that if we practice enough, it will be so automatic that it won't matter what I'm thinking or feeling," Crono summarized.
Marle understood this. She hadn't stopped feeling guilty during the second exercise. Spekkio had just helped her set that feeling aside.
"You have all had more than enough for one day," Spekkio said bringing the discussion to an end. "Take a break. Sleep if you want."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Crono said with relief. He and Lucca immediately headed for the gate. Marle hung back.
"You coming?" Crono called back.
"I'll be there in a minute," she explained. He nodded.
"Can we read each other's thoughts when linked?" Marle asked once her companions had left. She had expected to be able to do so, but when connected she hadn't been able to tell what Crono was thinking. She could only see his inner selves – which was her goal so it didn't matter.
"No, not directly. Though you can use this to communicate. But it's just like talking. Only, you're talking mind to mind. And let me tell you, your mind has a much smaller filter than your mouth does so it can be hard on friendships."
"What you're saying is we shouldn't do this all the time," Marle realized.
"I wouldn't recommend it right now, no. It can be dangerous for other reasons as well. You can alter each other's vibrations and patterns."
"It's an abuse of power."
"Not in itself. As in all things, it's how you use it. It can also be a very intimate shared experience."
Marle blushed at the thought of being intimate with Crono in an entirely different way.
"Which is exactly why you should not continue to link with him," Spekkio interrupted
"What?"
"You have feelings for him yes?" Spekkio said. It was not really a question.
Marle did not deny it.
"If you link too often and you don't know what you're doing you can influence him."
"And then I won't know if he likes me because he actually likes me. Or if he likes me because I made him like me."
"Exactly," the heron seemed to smile.
…
Crono sat down some distance from the others and just let himself stare into the distance. His head still buzzed fuzzily. Thankfully it had stopped throbbing, but he still didn't really want to move too much or talk really. He just sat trying to engrave every detail of the amazingly unique experience into his memory.
He heard Marle approaching. He knew it was Marle because Lucca knew him well enough to sense when he wanted to be alone and give him his space. But since his thoughts were mostly filled of her he didn't at all mind.
"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked him as she sat down next to him. Just inches away.
He laughed. "Marle, I'm fine," he reassured. "Between Lucca and Master Chiva I have been through more than my fair share of head trauma."
"I'm really sorry."
"It was an accident," he assured her. Truth be told, he wouldn't trade the experience for anything. He had never experienced anything so vibrant. Her inner self, or selves rather, were made up of colors he had never actually seen before. They danced in intricate designs and patterns that made him think of the ocean. The throbbing headache was more than worth it.
"I'm glad it happened," he said after a moment.
"You are?" she asked surprised.
"Well yeah! It was amazing. Have you ever experienced something like that?"
Marle shook her head shyly. And they both fell into silence, watching the silver mists swirl and drift.
"Strange," Marle said after a long moment.
"What is?" Crono prompted.
"It's just we keep having this epiphanies and realizations here. And it doesn't faze me. You'd think it'd be exhausting."
"But who knows how long we're sleeping in between," Crono pointed out.
"But I don't know that I need to sleep!" Marle objected. "I have never worked so hard in my life, but I never feel tired. I can fall asleep whenever I close my eyes if that's what I'm trying to do, but I can stay awake for what has to be longer than a day – maybe two or three – and never feel like I'm in need of rest."
Crono nodded in agreement, "I think you were right about this realm."
She turned towards him, puzzled.
"When you said this place felt peaceful," he explained. "We are outside of time. Outside of the world. The separation from it makes you detached – everything just is."
…
"You're going to regret not working with this trio yourself old man," Spekkio said. His young pupils lay littered across the ground in a deep sleep. Even the artificial life form was powered down.
"You are more adept with elemental mages than I. If they are to succeed, they will need that practical edge – not my theoretical nonsense."
"That may be so, but you'll still regret not having such delightful students. They learn very quickly. The girls especially."
"I thought you said that the inventor fought you every inch of the way."
"She does! But the way she questions everything, she'll be the best among them. She has the potential to work with pure heat without any flames," he explained excitedly.
The keeper did raise his eyebrows at this.
"And the princess," Spekkio continued. "She is incredibly innovative in where and how she uses her energy reserves. She will be able to go on for much longer when her companions are ready to collapse. She figured out how to form a primitive link with the swordsman with no instruction. And did you know she already had the ability to channel her own aura to do some minor healing?"
"That's a dangerous technique."
"I know that! But she learned how to do that on her own! And has kept herself alive even after using it for years so she has at least some ideas of how to regulate her own energy reserves."
"How much longer do you think they will need your instruction before they will be able to grow and learn on their own? I'm worried about them staying here too much longer."
"Maybe a phase or two?" the creature shrugged.
"You've managed to train three elemental mages to basic mastery in six moons?! My best students took three to four years!"
"I am the Master of War!" The Nu said with a laugh.
…
Lucca burst out laughing as Crono's lightning bolt missed the small fist sized rock for the sixth time. Crono glared at her.
"Want some help?" she offered with a grin.
He glared at her stubbornly before he made another attempt. The initial strike leapt from his hands, but splintered in five directions towards the silver fences. None of them hit the rock.
He sighed.
"The lightning wants to get to the ground," Lucca explained. "It always tries to find the easiest path to do that. It moves toward the fence because the metal makes a conductive path straight to the ground, which is easier than it traveling through the air."
"I don't see how that helps."
"A strike is jagged. It branches because there's something in the air some metallic particle or water that is easier to travel through. You need to give it a path that's easier than the fence. I would use your sword," she suggested.
Crono drew the blade. The katana would at least launch the electricity in the right direction initially. Hopefully, it would be far enough away from the fence by then that going to the stone would be easier.
He channeled the next strike though his sword. The rock shattered into pieces. Crono grinned in satisfaction.
"Eighth time's the charm," Lucca said. Crono's smile melted away as he glared at his friend again.
"Oh shut up. You don't need to rub in that you're way better at this than me."
"I'm not actually," she disagreed.
"Yes your are. You can draw pictures in the air with fire. And in your spare time you tell me how my magic works."
"I'm not telling you about your magic Crono," she said in frustration. "I'm telling you about lightning and electricity – something I know a fair bit about. Electricity makes sense. Electricity has rules! Did you know that body sends a lot of messages – especially the brain – with electrical signals?"
Crono shook his head knowing better than to speak during her rant.
"But magic? I don't know anything about magic. This fire?" she practically shouted as she drew red burning circles in the air. "It still took me eight, ten or twelve trials to get it to work! I find myself distracted by questions like 'how is it able to burn?' There's no fuel! It bothers me that I can do something and I have no idea how it works. Every cell in my body insists that this shouldn't be possible. This whole place is insane! Do you really think we'll still be able to do this when we leave this impossible realm?"
"I hope so," Crono said absently watching Marle work with admiration. She could now create blocks of ice the size of a person, but at the moment Spekkio had her creating sheets of ice so thin that it melted if you touched it. Yesterday, she had been making needles out of ice. He couldn't imagine ever being so precise with lightning. But then maybe he just needed to keep practicing.
…
"Robo, would you walk with me?" the old man gestured forward. The android nodded and followed.
"Where are we going?"
"I would like to show you something."
Robo continued to follow the old man while his sensors attempted to find the boundaries of this realm, but if there were any they were outside of his range. Or perhaps, he simply could not detect the return signal without functioning chronometers.
The old man stopped and Robo followed suit at his side.
"Is there something particular about this location?" he queried.
"Why yes, there is," the old man grinned. He struck his cane down into the ground and another time portal rapidly expanded. Robo peered into the event horizon, his sensors running wild collecting data.
"What do you sense?" the old man asked.
"There is a constant magnetic flux with a distinct repeating pattern. There are detectable amounts of tachyons and protonic matter and small amounts of ionizing radiation. This is most likely why the matter within the portal appears to be glowing. But wouldn't that make it harmful to humans with prolonged or repeated exposure?"
"From what I understand, it is no more harmful than the sun," he reassured.
Robo felt that it would be best to confirm that conclusion with long-term study, but the old man was correct that limited exposure should not have any lasting effects.
The old man allowed the gate to close.
"Can you still feel it?"
"Yes, there is still an ion trace of the magnetic flux. The pattern is very unique."
"I believe the people of your time refer to it as a temporal distortion. Is it the only one you detect?"
Robo expanded his range and found another five distortions within his range.
"Each gate has similar properties, but they each have their own unique pattern like a fingerprint," the old man explained. "If you practice, or collect enough data so to speak, you will be able to distinguish these gates from one another. And as you travel through different times, you will learn to read what era each gate leads to without going through them."
"Thank you for your instruction. I imagine this ability will become very useful."
"Magic," he corrected.
"Pardon?"
"This is your own brand of magic."
"It is not magic," Robo insisted. "It is science and the applied use of technology."
"Of course, but that doesn't mean it's not magic."
…
"It's time," the boar announced.
"Time for what?"
"Time to test your skills!"
And without warning a wave of fire surged towards them. Marle brought up a shield of ice to protect them, but it quickly melted and Lucca screamed as the hot flames enveloped her.
The pain vanished so quickly, Lucca wasn't certain she hadn't imagined it.
Spekkio cackled evilly. "I win!" he cried delightedly. Lucca glanced towards her friends who were also huddled on the ground.
"Care for a rematch?" Crono asked coldly, jumping back to his feet.
"You've all had enough for one day. Take a break…"
"…Sleep if you want," Lucca finished mockingly.
"No!" Marle cried. "We don't need rest. We are ready now!"
The strange creature grinned.
"Very well."
When the second wave of fire came Lucca was ready. She redirected the flames straight back towards the Master of War. Simultaneously, Marle turned her ice shield into four large lances that shot towards the beast.
Spekkio absorbed the fire and ice without flinching. Lucca threw herself to the right to avoid the block of ice that flew past her. She wailed in pain as a bolt of lightning lanced through her. Every nerve on fire, she could not move.
Crono leapt in front of her to deflect a second lightning strike before sending out a bolt of his own.
Lucca rejoined the fight with three fire balls shot off in quick succession.
Marle shrieked. Lucca turned just in time to see the other girl collapse to the floor. Lucca doubted she'd get back up.
"Crono!" Lucca shouted as she continued to shoot off fireballs. "Your sword!"
He nodded and unsheathed the blade. He channeled a blast through the blade pointed directly at Spekkio. Again the Master of War showed no outward sign that the attack affected him at all.
She kept moving despite the sudden stitch in her side – left then right, right again – anything so she was harder to hit. Waves and balls of fire leapt from her hands over and over, but she was not certain anything hit her target. All her attention remained focused on dodging the mystical projectiles coming at her.
Suddenly she realized the attacks had stopped coming. She stood still, leaning forward with her hands on her knees, panting.
"You're ready," he declared. "There's nothing more I can teach you that you won't learn better on your own."
Lucca jerked back in surprise as the wild white boar transformed into a magnificent white stallion as Spekkio approached her childhood friend.
"Crono, the electric arc doesn't have to come directly from you. You can call it directly from the sky if you need. This may help you keep your own position a secret should you so need. Though you can create more focused attacks if you channel the strike from yourself and it takes less energy. I am impressed at how you used your sword to direct your strikes more accurately, but don't become dependent on it. Learn to read the air itself so you know how the strike will travel. Also remember that just as the blade aids your aim, the magic can add an extra bite to your physical strikes."
Then Spekkio transformed himself into a long necked elegant bird with wide wings as he approached Marle who was now sitting up.
"Marle, you have shown yourself to be most innovative and precise. Your next task should be learning to heal without using your own life essence. This may be difficult because you have much to unlearn. Make it a priority. Relying on your aura can be dangerous – you are pulling from your own life force to heal others. And while you may be willing to make that sacrifice at times, it is unnecessary and your survival is needed if you are to succeed in your task."
"Lucca," Spekkio began turning back into the boar she was now quite familiar with. And only then did Lucca realize that he was actually using their names. "You are quite a natural. Continue to question everything and annihilate assumptions and you will be able to do things with fire that most magicians believe are completely impossible. But do practice caution. Fire is a dangerous element. And you had a problem with explosions before you ever learned any magic. Keep your temper under control."
He turned his attention back to all three of them. Suddenly he seemed brighter, more pure.
"You guys are too much! Be sure to bring others to meet me."
…
"Well, well, the Master of War has turned out three elemental mages in record time!" the old man greeted them.
"Do you know how much time?" Lucca asked eagerly.
He smiled. "Does it matter?"
She scowled, "I suppose not."
"You should return to your own era. The answers you seek can be found there."
"Can't you just tell us?" Marle asked.
"I am just a guide. I see glimpses, but this is your journey. You must walk it yourself."
Marle sighed, "It was worth a try."
"Now you must hurry. The longer you remain here, the harder it will be to change that which must be changed. And remember, there are gates to every time period located here, so be sure to stop by whenever you're in the area!"
"How do we find these gates?" Lucca asked.
"I have already shown Robo how to locate the gates both within and outside this realm."
"Thank you," Marle said, gripping his hands warmly in gratitude before turning back to her friends with a smile. Lucca envied her charm and social grace. Two things she herself lacked completely.
"I'm assuming you know which one will lead us to the right time?" Lucca asked.
"Affirmative."
"Lead on then!" Crono said.
Lucca followed eagerly, excited to be heading home.
….
a/n:
Question of the Day: How do you think? When you are by yourself and just thinking (no one told you to visualize something or anything), how do you think? Do you think in words? If so, do you "hear" the words? Or do you "see" them? Is there just one voice? Or two that sort of talk to each other? Or so many that sometimes it's hard to distinguish between them?
Do you perhaps think in pictures? Are the pictures still? Or do they move? Or is it something else entirely? My sister insists that she thinks in colors for example. I knew another girl that said her mind was a series of sticky notes posted everywhere. In fact, this whole series of questioning would have been better represented by a flow chart. Perhaps there's someone out there that thinks in flow charts?
When you're writing it's hard to portray characters that think in anything but words because words are all you have to work with, but I want all you other non-linguistic thinkers to know that I recognize that you're out there! Even if I think you're strange. :-P