48 It's time

"It's time." Tenzin the teacher spoke solemnly during breakfast and just looked towards the side where Dorje and Pema were eating. His old warm eyes observed the two young teenagers with fatherly love while his lips formed a small smile. He stroked his beard and waited.

"I wish I had your certainty that they are the right choice." Dolma, elderly woman wearing the same robes of a monk who sat by his side noted calmly. She barely raised her eyes from her breakfast that she hardly touched, her face was scrunched as if she was in deep thought.

"It is time." The man repeated, stroked his beard and continued to observe the two young monks who had just noticed they were watched and stopped chatting, when they continued to eat their breakfast the old monk smiled widely, that was all the proof he needed to be certain.

"They lost the rings." She noted absent mindedly, focused on the bowl of food before her as if she watched legions of enemy army assemble on the battle field and she had to form a strategy for defence with much smaller army. Tenzin just stroked his beard and smirked.

"Eat your breakfast Dolma, you need your food to give you energy for the day." Tenzin spoke gently to the elderly woman by his side, she was cautious whenever a decision was to be made, but his eyes never left the young couple who just finished their food and were drinking their tea.

The elderly monk finally recognized an old friend in the food bowl and started to eat. Dorje and Pema got to their feet and approached the old monk while he did not say a word to them, he did smile, made a nod, stroked his beard and motioned with his head towards the door.

Dorje wordlessly bent over and took the old monk by his hand to help him up and they walked away together. Pema looked at Dolma questioningly, but the old lady shook her hand dismissively and returned to her breakfast, so the three left the breakfast room quietly.

"Dolma is the guardian of the miraculous, she will join us when she sees fit." Tenzin stated once the three of them were seated. "The two of you were assigned the duty of being guardians to the temple." He continued and observed their reaction.

Pema straightened up and looked at Dorje and then back at their teacher and then returned a firm nod. But Dorje never looked up, he continued to observe his hands. Both Pema and Tenzin looked at Dorje and waited for him to acknowledge that he participated in the conversation.

"How can we be guardians of the temple if the rings we got were taken from us?" Dorje finally spoke softly. "We were … that was our bond … that enabled us to be the guardians of the temple … wasn't it?" He finally raised his head and looked at their teacher.

"It is unfortunate that you have lost the rings." Tenzin spoke slowly. Pema slumped her shoulders. She was just starting to feel fine about the whole ordeal, to accept the fact that they made an error, that they got cheated.

"We could have taken the rings back while they slept in the temple." She quickly raised her eyes towards the teacher and looked at him questioningly. "While they were here … we could have fought them or traded to get those rings back .. we could have … "

"Why didn't you?" Tenzin had a knowing smile and stroked his beard. It was a trick question. He wanted to know what they were thinking. Dorje and Pema exchanged a look, they were puzzled themselves, really, why didn't they?

Their rings were stolen while the two novice monks were in a strange city harbour, but the thieves followed them through the teleportation portal onto the high plains that surrounded the temple, they even spent the night, Dorje could have taken the rings back by force, but he didn't.

Yes, they were tired back then, tired and scared after everything they have been through, but the thieves were a young couple, as tired and scared as the two of them, it would have been easy if they only tried to sneak up to them in the middle of the night or maybe ...

"I did not think about it." Dorje admitted. "I was tired and hungry and scared and we just fought them and barely escaped back, at least we kept the miraculous and … it just didn't occur to me." Because he wasn't violent. He shrugged and looked at Pema, it was her turn.

"I didn't want them to see me, to see us." She motioned towards Dorje. "For them to know that they found us … here." She looked at her teacher and he nodded for her to continue. "They would know that this place hides magic and … that we … live here?" Tenzin motioned for her to continue.

"They saw us transformed, they saw the teleportation portal and they followed us through and they even got to the temple … they already know a lot! Too much! They do not need to know that this temple hosts the miraculous and their guardians." She continued and looked at their teacher.

"They don't know where we went after we passed through the portal. They did not see us! If we went to take the rings they would have seen us. And then they would know that it was us. that we were transformed and that we want the rings and that the rings are special." Dorje concluded.

"We had to let them keep the rings to protect the temple and its secrets, to protect the order of the guardians." Pema added. Suddenly she was proud of her actions, it seemed like they did the right thing, until another idea hit her. "But why did we let them go in the first place?"

There were images in her head, images she formed while she read all those books in the home of her parents or from stories she overheard her father told late in the night, images she stored in the back of her mind that sometimes haunted her like bad memories.

Because her father was a professional soldier, because he learned about strategies and because he loved to read about previous wars and the way they unfolded, especially the way they treated informers and spies. She shuddered at some of the things she read there.

"There are things that humans do to other humans … " Tenzin trailed off and observed the two youngsters. Pema understood what the teacher was telling them. Dorje's eyes went wide and he stared at Pema. "Things you saw or heard about, or even read about?"

Pema returned one firm nod. She was at the same time proud and ashamed that she knew about those things, that she knew what the teacher was talking about, that she knew in details while Dorje had perhaps only a vague idea.

"We do not do such things here." Tenzin stated and observed how Pema got relieved after she heard that and then Dorje relaxed when he saw her relax although he was still puzzled why. His eyes flicked from his young wife to their teacher and back as he wanted answers, he wanted an explanation.

"My young students, you should know that out there in the world, knowledge can both save your life, because they might spare you for what you know, and take your life, because they might take it for what you know." The teacher explained slowly.

Pema shuddered and Dorje did the same after a moment that took him to understand what he had just heard. He extended his arm and took her hand in his. His eyes were on their joined hands, while both replayed the events of their adventure in the harbour city.

"We have other methods here, that you still have to learn, to make people to unlearn what they know, to forget about the things they understood, to take memories from them." The teacher continued slowly and watched them, because the students only heard stories about that.

"Then …" Pema looked at the teacher, then at Dorje and then back at the teacher. "Why didn't we do that then? Why we let them keep the memories?" She demanded, because if they were able to remove the memories of the magical heroes from the young couple they would have been safer.

"It is not that easy, and it is also cruel, they would have no memory how they got here, but also no memory that they got married." The teacher spoke in a warning tone. "We can denounce our memories if it is absolutely needed to keep the secret of the miraculous or the temple safe."

Suddenly, both Dorje and Pema were scared, their eyes went wide as they observed their teacher. They might need to denounce their memories for safety. Then they remembered chants that spoke about losing memories, and understood it wasn't just about illness and old age.

"And the rings … " Tenzin spoke slowly and waited for them to raise their eyes. "The rings bind them to this place, to the temple, they will always strive to return, and the rings will lead them back to us." His voice was calm and composed, but the two youngsters were not.

"What?" Dorje asked and straightened up. He was ready to jump on his feet and run after the couple that left the temple about a week ago. He was ready to run, day and night, until he caught up with them, and to snatch the rings back off from their fingers.

"But that would bring them back here." Pema whispered. Her eyes flicked around as if Oliver and Therese were going to jump from any hidden corner, from behind a curtain, from below a carpet, as if they had other secret powers to sneak up to them.

"Them, or anyone else they pass the rings to, like their children or grandchildren." The teacher continued with his teaching as if he was explaining how the grass grows in spring and the cattle graze it and produce milk that they make the cheese from.

"Isn't that dangerous?" The young man inquired. "For the temple? For the order of the guardians? For keeping the secret of miraculous?" Why was their teacher so calm and composed? Because this was dangerous, it compromised the temple.

"The rings were made to hold magic that is intended to protect the temple and the order of the guardians. If they or their descendant and ring bearer returns, they will not harm this temple, whatever they do, their actions will protect us." The teacher continued his teaching.

Both young monks were relieved to hear that. So the rings would make any bearer protect the temple, even if they were not the guardians of the temple, or at least it should prevent them from destroying it, it was a relief to hear a piece of good news, but the teacher wasn't finished.

"Should anything happen to the temple or the guardians, the ring bearer will start a chain of events that should ultimately restore the temple and the guardians." Tenzin concluded calmly and began to stroke his beard while he observed his students who were still processing the information.

"But what would happen to the temple?" Dorje quickly glanced over the heavy and firm walls that surrounded them and protected them from the elements outside, he wasn't able to grasp what would destroy those firm walls, what would destroy the people inside, it was unimaginable.

"And to the order of the guardians?" Pema added horrified of the idea. "And how would a common untrained person like them be able to restore it if we were not able to protect it or fix it in the first place." She protested and demanded an explanation.

"It is them, they are more likely to destroy it than anything else. They are evil, they stole from us they … " Dorje almost started to tremble. Nothing was making sense. Did this mean that the teacher expected him, the future protector of the temple to fail at his duty?

"You think we will fail at guarding the temple just like we failed and lost the rings?" Pema inquired with bitterness in her tone while her eyes started to fill with tears. She felt like a failure, they made a mistake on their mission and it cost them dearly.

"Even if they are evil, even if they are stupid, their actions will lead to this temple or the order of guardians getting fixed or restored." Tenzin repeated his teaching patiently, he needed his students to think about this calmly.

"But that means that the temple will get destroyed in the first place?" Dorje practically screamed back at his teacher. How was this old monk able to stay so calm and composed while he talked about such awful possibilities for the future.

"Such event can happen." Tenzin stated although his posture revealed he was not comfortable with that. "We can not control everything that happens around us. Disaster can be caused by human or natural origin, we can not always prevent it from happening."

"Okay." Dorje nodded and accepted the claim. Indeed, he knew how cold winters and cold nights were taking its toll on human health and lives of those most vulnerable, like old men and young children. He was familiar with loss, but he thought the temple was safe from that.

"So … it is actually good that we lost the rings and that that couple has them? Because if something happens to the temple and if we fail to protect it then … they will somehow get it restored?" Pema concluded baffled by her own train of thought.

Tenzin smiled widely and stroked his beard and that was all the confirmation that he gave. Both young monks were rather uncertain about that, but decided to accept it and ponder about it later, suddenly they both felt much better about it.

"Even though they are untrained in magic? Even though they do not have a clue about the miraculous? Even if it is some descendant of theirs that has never heard of this place and never been here?" They both had many questions.

"The rings will bond them to this place, to the temple. The bond is so strong." Tenzin reassured his young monks. The teacher was a patient man, he was ready to repeat it as many times as needed because he needed them to understand that.

"What can they possibly do?" Dorje was puzzled. All he was able to remember was a young couple, just like him and Pema, with no powers, and little financial means or knowledge, but big ambition, it was unclear to him.

"Do you know how an avalanche or a landslide occurs?" The teacher asked calmly. "Sometimes all it takes is a small nudge, one rock, one snow ball, at the right place, to start it. It might take many attempts to hit the right place."

It was a comforting thought. If there was a disaster, if they or someone else messed up so badly that the temple and the order of the guardians get wiped up from the face of the Earth, somehow, they were going to be restored, everything was going to be fixed, they were allowed to make an error.

But it was a blow to their confidence, they considered themselves finished with schooling and training once they got a mission to go to, then they returned from a mission with the information they have been sent for but they paid the price, and now this?

"It is time." Tenzin repeated the moment Dolma entered the small room where the trio was having their teaching seance. The elderly woman slowly dragged her feet over the carpet as she went towards the pillow where she finally sat.

"I am the guardian of the miraculous. In order to protect the temple, you need to learn how any if them can be used." She stated simply. Both young monks were slightly confused by her statement, they were already through training and even wielded a few temporarily.

"Dolma and me are getting old, as the temple guardians you will take over some of the training duties from us." Tenzin added when it became clear that Dolma was not going to elaborate her claims with additional explanations. "Only a few practical lessons that are too much for our old bones."

"There is one particular miraculous that gives you power to travel through time." Dolma continued slightly affected by the mention of old bones. "There is one particular teacher who trained each person who was ever given to wield that miraculous, but he is not with us now."

"You shall travel to his time to be trained, you are going to be picked up, go to the cave, it is time." Dolma was brief and then assumed the pose as if she was exhausted even from this little teaching she put herself through.

"Send our regards to the master and your fellow students and … do not tell anything about us and the life in this time, you will find us there, the younger version of us, while we were then." Tenzin continued and smiled while Dolma sighed lost in her old memories. "Now go, it is time."