Title: Original Truth
Author: Karina
Rating: PG
Pairing: Milliardo + Jamie
Notes: Challenge 230. Baby Series 4 #147. Takes place immediately following To Read the Past
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: Original Truth
"Archaeology can give us an insight into what is the truth of past event, what are lies, and how accurate the legends might be."
"Just... digging holes can tell us about the past?"
"Digging carefully placed and managed holes, yes. For events that happened further back in time we have palaeontologists and geologists. One studies fossils of long dead creatures and plants: the palaeontologist, and the geologists study the rocks of the Earth, and how they were made. If you combine the three, archaeologist, palaeontologist and geologist, you get a fairly accurate account of the past of our planet through the ages. Sometimes legends make people curious, and curious people sometimes begin to investigate. Legends should be investigated."
"Why?"
Milliardo inclined his head to the maid who passed to him a steaming mug of thick soup and a bowl of soup with a spoon to Jamie. Inclining his head to the young woman he noted Helen Butterworth attending to his son and returned his attention to Jamie.
"Why should legends be investigated? Put simply, there must have been something of significance happen in the past to give rise to the legend, Jamie. Legends are historical events that have been so great that not even time can completely erase its effect from human accountability. The story behind the legend, about what actually happened, might be warped by time and constant retelling, eventually losing its original truth. But some semblance of the truth still lingers in the structure of the legend itself. It is then a matter of investigation and to determine the truth from the detritus of time."
Jamie scooped up a few spoonfuls of soup and the King watched him, sipping his own soup, giving the boy time to work through their conversation thus far. He was a bright boy and Milliardo decided he would be wasted on the docks. Young Jamie needed to be directed into far more productive activities.
"People have been whispering about a dragon. How can a dragon relate to a storm?"
"As the storm was building you could hear the wail of the wind and it was a strange, rather horrible sound. A sound people who lived in less enlightened times, when superstition ruled and there were devils and trolls behind every bush in the deep forests, imagined what they could hear was the roar of a great dragon."
"But it wasn't?"
"It was just the wind blowing in the highest peaks of the mountains, through a narrow gap. But imagining it was a dragon roaring into the night of a growing storm made much more sense to superstitious people."
"I still don't get how digging holes can tell you there were past storms. Or how people mistook wind for dragons."
"For that we combine recorded human history, the superstition born legends and historical records laid down by the Earth itself. Excavations have revealed destroyed villages, and the evidence found in those excavations suggests it was a great storm that flattened the villages and forests."
End
Karina Robertson 2014