Cycle of Time

2.5

As the knights sat around the fire, they made sure to keep a good distance from it. As the wild wind swayed the mighty trees, so did the fire. As the trees did, the fire knew that it was no match for the wind and so yielded. But unlike the trees, the fire had a plan. It knew the magic of how to use another's strength to grow. The wind was stronger, but the fire was smarter. The more the wind blew, the more the fire grew.

The knights knew this dance, and so watched it from a distance. The stars too had seen this dance at a distance many times and therefore were more interested in the knights.

Clad in their armour with their swords on the ground besides them, they seemed to be in meditation. With all their differences they seemed to be joined together in this one moment for a common purpose.

The stars took their eyes off the knights for a moment, for another fire had attracted their attention. This fire was a continent away. But the stars didn't even have to move. They were used to being still and seeing the activities that man created to keep themselves busy.

This fire was smaller, and the people around it were smaller, they were children. They were dressed in bright costumes. The costumes had feathers and leaves and face paint. There was a lot of chatter and excitement. They were listening to an elderly man. He was as animated as his years would allow. He pointed to the fire and then the stars, relating a story that had been told a thousand times before.

But for the children it was their first time. And the first time you hear a story,you feel the magic that enters with it. The stars knew that many years from now one of these children would retell it. But the story would have changed, and that would be the magic of that child. The elder would be long gone. But the magic that had gone through him will be passed on to another through the child. Even the stars did not know where it had all begun and where it would all end.