Aggregates of a Mind

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"Your body moves swiftly across an open field; an enemy is spotted with a white band on his arm and red in his hair." Askers speak strictly and we had better hear them the first time if we want to eat our soup. Body responds first, "How erratic is his movement?" Meanwhile, responses never come too thoroughly elaborated for us, "He senses threats all around him which are not present." Askers don't always articulate as much as we'd like.

"His size?" Body is always ready to move and take action. He was blinded as an infant because Aggregates are not allowed to see the shadow world which the Askers live in. He's the only aggregate to be been taken in for physical purposes. He pushes the beam that maintains the fires behind us, which we'd been told is the portal to the Shadow Realm. Without him we do not see the Askers. Answering the questions can be a challenge when they are unable to articulate visually.

"In your tribe of one hundred, he would be the third largest man," the senior Asker called Asiya responds. "He wants to eat my friends and steal my possessions!" Volition interjects. "Calm yourself, Volition. He might be an ally come to warn us of a threat" Asiya always claimed I was the wiser of the four. Less impulsive, but not necessarily smarter. "Allies would have sent a smaller scout to get here quickly," Sakhara makes a valid point. "Yes, but perhaps the threat he warns is between us and them. Perhaps he is the only healthy survivor of the threat and is only trying to prevent a greater evil from taking the whole Valley."

In the middle of our conversation a young Asker interjects, "You ask too many questions. Where are the answers!"

"A question as an answer implies a weak question; a weak asker." Asiya only recently received seniority status amongst the Asker's guild; she has been waiting to use her experience to accelerate her personal ambitions. The young Asker had nothing to say after this.

"Vijna, where do your thoughts go without a question?" Asiya directs to me. Her questions veer off when she is the senior Asker. Without a Head Asker to tame her curiosity, her questions run to the edges of our minds.

Askers are a surprisingly uncurious group. They believe asking the wrong questions reveal truths that most beings are unworthy. Asiya is different.

"I go outside of my chains. I become a shadow, like you. But I don't ask questions to Aggregates. I see the answers myself, so I might give the other Aggregates the same freedom of mind."

My mind would run when my legs weren't allowed. I would run around the wall and dance with the other shadows. And sing songs about the world and all its happenings.

"I'd like to run with you. And ask you questions..." That's an interesting thought, isn't it? I'd have liked to ask questions, too. I think that we all would in my place. In the cave our answers would never be found, we'd only have our thoughts of the hypothetical to deliver our curious souls. "...In a lot of ways, I know the lot of you as you know me. The questions reveal a lot about the Asker."

"How do you mean?" Asiya wanted more than information from us. "You tell me things with your questions. You tell me about your superstitions, your fears, your biases."

One, two, three, four...Sometimes, I like to count to ten to see how time feels. It's a good indicator of how my day is going. I think today goes well.

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We first saw each other in a haze of light. I could see. So could they, of course. They are like me. Their eyes hold the same light in them. Only, where they needed more told to them to paint the picture in their mind, I had already seen everything I needed to know----- there is a greater world than those chains and the old wall.