Notes from An Alien

15 ~ Questions

 It took Mura many months to get used to the reception she had to face as she traveled to various cities and villages. Even though the details of her daughter's birth were known to only herself, Verta, Morna, and Rednaxela, the fact that she was Delva's daughter and had no known husband had given birth to a sense of worship in the people she met. Her approach to this was to accept the devoted attention she received, avoid answering questions about her daughter's "father", and launch every meeting with a lively discussion of the people's immediate problems.

If Mura's lineage and the rumors of her birth process gave her an advantage in gaining the trust and interest of those she met, Verta's presence and speech gave her a living example of what it meant to be a spiritual youth.

It was easy enough for Mura to preach the tenets of Akla's Faith to people and, whether they embraced that Faith or just incorporated the spirit of the teachings in their lives, she was happy to find that most people were decent and open-minded.

It was a different situation for Verta. She deeply loved and respected her mother. She knew the importance of never discussing her "father". She knew her mother was completely devoted to Akla's Cause yet she was still a growing youth with more years to test her own burgeoning character against the whole rest of the Worlds. She was more than intelligent enough to understand the social teachings of Akla, prime among them the Oneness of all Angians, yet her soul was still wrestling with her ego and she loved a rousingly spirited discussion, about anything. If she wasn't aware of the precise details of a subject, she would ever so honestly and sweetly demand to be instructed. Then, she would sally forth into the arena and test her mental skills.

She had a way, even if she knew nothing about a particular topic, of strengthening the other person's understanding, even if they were a supposed expert.

The concerns of adults when discussing the interrelationship of faith and science became for her a reason to demonstrate faith in action—show them that faith in a concept was useless unless thrust into the experimental laboratory of living action. She was very lucky indeed to have the help of Morna and Rednaxela during some of these discussions. An example:

Mura and Verta were in the village of Certiv, near the city of Selurn, in the Territory of Kernuma, on Anga-Param. There were a group of adults discussing Akla's Faith with Mura while Verta sat and listened. Six youth of the village appeared during the course of the discussion and the one named Zalen began to interject his comments into the adults' flow of conversation. Verta began to respond to each of Zalen's remarks. He in turn began to direct his speech straight at Verta.

When he finally knew he was in over his head and the adults were starting to get restless, Verta surprised them all by saying:

"If you believe you're stronger than anyone you know, do you think that makes it right for you to demand that people do whatever you say?"

Zalen was stung by the challenge and grasped at his sense of importance by saying:

"Absolutely, but I have to prove it to some people by pounding on them a bit."

"You haven't proven it to me, Zalen. Will you now pound on me?"

"Sounds like you want me to."

"That is completely your own decision."

The adults of the village were edging toward being frightened. Zalen was known for his temper and willingness to prop up his esteem with physical bullying. Mura was calm in her understanding of her daughter's abilities and the added protection afforded by the presence of Morna and Rednaxela. Verta thought the experiment needed more heat.