Baby 4

by karina001

Wu Fei takes up the leadership of the Clan but has no intentions of abandoning the life he has made for himself. He intends to maintain his position in the Court of Sanc and continue his courtship of Milliardo and Duo.

146. Chapter 146 To Read the Past

Title: To Read the Past

Author: Karina

Rating: PG

Pairing: Milliardo + Jamie

Notes: Challenge 230. Baby Series 4 #146. Takes place shortly after There Will Be Us.

Spoilers: None

Warnings:

Many thanks to ShenLong Deb for her work betaing this set of fics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the Characters from the series but the baby is mine.

Title: To Read the Past

"Did you know there have been other storms similar to this one in the past?"

"There have?"

He watched as Duo grinned at him, gently stroking the vibrant hair of the little girl sitting closest to him. Jessica seemed more than content to be included in the group nestled around the former Gundam Pilot. Four of the maids entered the room with large trays, steam rising from the bowls riding the trays. Jamie looked but made no move to join the group about to eat.

"It was a long time in the past. So long ago, in fact, that the stories of them are now legends. They are considered to be nothing more than fairytales told to entertain and frighten children. But legends tend to be much more than mere entertainment."

Jamie considered the man for a long moment, thinking back over their conversation and unconsciously settling closer to his warmth.

"How do you know? How do you know it is not really just a story about a storm? How do you know it was real and not a story?"

"Good question. We know because the history of Sanc is written in the ground we walk on. It's there for us to read, if we can just understand the lessons it has to tell us."

"In the ground? You mean in the dirt?!" His disbelief was obvious.

"Actually, yes. Now, don't look at me like that, young man." Milliardo kept his expression serious, he was not, after all, joking. "We are a part of the Earth, Jamie, and I am afraid that too many of us have forgotten that simple truth. We place ourselves, the human race, above the planet that birthed us and in doing so we forget our frailties are just as important as our strengths."

"I... don't understand."

"The Earth records every significant event, just as we record human history in our history books. The Earth records events, large scale events, that have passed from the living memory of humans. We are short lived and we have short attention spans. Humankind always forgets, but the Earth never does and that is to our advantage. To learn what we have forgotten we simply need to read the Earth."

"I... How do you read the Earth?"

"We read the past through historical accounts mainly. People took up clay tablets, papyrus, stones, pen and paper to write about important events. But to learn about before there was writing, we need to fold back history in other ways. Have you heard of archaeology?"

"No. What is that?"

"Archaeology is the study of history using the physical remains of the past as a guide. Trained archaeologists can read a great deal from their excavations into our planet's surface, reading our past from what we leave behind that gets buried over time. Digging in the right place, asking the right questions and seeking the answers can teach us a lot about the past."

End

Karina Robertson 2014