Child of Mara

Theology

Mar is asleep. A war rages, but Mar is not part of it. Time is passing and Mar's blood holds the answers. There's confusion but amongst it hope. So long as they don't forget.

Tae keeps his promise and comes every day. Mar stops asking about being a student and starts asking about the Solis Empire.

"They used to rule the world. Well except Mara and Aziron. But that's history now, Solis hasn't spread past its borders in decades. It's still the biggest kingdom in En though."

Tae points to the map he drew. "See, northern Solis and southern Solis fill most of En. It's cut in half by mountains like Mara."

"Why did they come to Literatus?"

"For the same reason most do," Tae laughs, "for answers. Literatus is the country of scholars. We've got experts on everything, so it's not uncommon for representatives from other nations to ask questions. It's one of the most important parts of our economy. Architects, diplomats, historians—graduates of Literatus can often find good jobs in other countries."

"They leave Literatus?" Mar balks at that. Even if their memory of Mara is faded, they remember that no one ever left because they wanted to.

"Yes, but don't worry, Yung has it too good here. He won't take a job in Solis."

Mar hadn't even thought of that! Is that why the Soli were talking to him, to offer him a job?

"What about you, Tae? Will you leave when you graduate?"

He makes a face. "If I graduate, you mean. But, no, Mar, I won't leave. Yung's got me for life, and as much as I hate it, I wouldn't be able to find a better job even if he let me. I'm hopeless as a student. You're thirteen and would probably do better on the exams than me."

It was true that Tae was terrible with sums and writing. He wasn't very good at remembering things either. Yung embarrassed him once by giving him the same test as Mar and laughed when Mar did better.

"What is Solis like?"

Tae shrug. "I don't know, but I'll find you a book about it."

That was usually Tae's answer to Mar's questions and one of the reasons Mar's bookshelves were filled. Mar devours any book they got their hands on, enjoying how secrets become answers through the words on the page

The Solis that whispers from the pages is huge. Giant sweeping cities with stone citadels and thousands of people. Long histories of kings and queens, coups and wars. Six houses of nobles and a central religion dedicated to the god Primus.

Primus. The word clung to Mar's mind. When Mar lays in bed, the finished book finding its place on their shelves, they mull over it.

Primus. It is familiar, tickling dusty corners of Mar's memory. Indigo, River-chaser. Those names feel the same, but Mar knows where they belonged. Primus is lost in the spaces between, like the gaps between the stars.

"What is religion?" Mar asks Tae over breakfast.

"That's a big question for early in the morning. It's one that has different answers too. It's...well it's a way of believing. A way of answering things we can't know the answers to—which is a concept Literatus rejects in general."

"Because Literatus has all the answers?"

Tae chuckles. "Or they like to pretend they do. Why the sudden interest in religion?"

"My book said Primus was religion."

"Yeah, and?"

Mar shrugs. "I was curious."

Tae takes their empty plates. "Well I hope this doesn't become your thing. Theology students are a pain, always arguing. I think I liked your obsession with math better."

Math had become a dead end when Mar outpaced Tae. Without Yung's visits to give the next step, Mar'd grown bored with the magical capabilities of numbers.

"Do you know a lot about religion, Tae?"

Tae rolls his shoulders and stretches his arms, preparing for do more of Yung's paperwork. "Not particularly. I know about the Stars and the...uh...oh shoot what are they called? Aziron has another name for their deity."

He gives an apologetic look and Mar says with him, "I'll find you a book."

'Makers' is the word Tae couldn't remember. The new book tells Mar that Aziron believes the Makers created the Azir to protect the world the Destroyers, demons known as the Accursed Ones. Mar shivers over tales of the Accursed and their Brimstone followers. Balks at the descriptions of Azir magic and the legendary Arch Mage. Was this religion too?

Again the stories make Mar more curious than they've ever been before. Makers and Destroyers dance in Mar's mind whispering they know something Mar doesn't.

"You're really caught up on this whole religion thing, aren't you?" Tae asks when he catches Mar reading through the myth of the Makers for the fifth time in one day.

"Where did they come from?" Mar asks. "It just says they 'came to En'. From where? And if they came from the same place, why do they want different things?"

Tae rubs his neck. "You know I don't know. But I can say that there are plenty of folks who come form the same place but want different things. That's just human nature."

"So they're human?"

Whistling, Tae shakes his head. "That's beyond me, Mar. Human itself is not something easily defined. I leave that to the Philosophy Foci students. Or even Biology."

"What's your Foci?" Mar asks. When Mar was hoping to become a student, they'd often spend hours trying to decide what their Foci would be. What they would spend their days studying with like minded students.

"Um, Recording. It's not very interesting, but Yung thinks I can pass the test with enough practice."

"What is it about?"

"Writing down stuff that's happening. I don't care for it, but there are Literans who are so passionate about it, it's scary."

"Is that why you write so much? For practice?"

"Well I certainly need it," Tae grumbles and Mar leaves him to finish his work.