Sighing Web of Trees

Some seasons past...

The Sygola groan like pale old lizards on a misty night. The storm has brought darkness early and sleep is deepening in Sighing Web of Trees - a sprawling settlement named by a legendary poet, Saborakalys, after a line in one of the poems she created near the end of her long life. The trees sigh and sway and groan; raindrops drum on thatched roofs and rush down the sides of the venerable Academy, Arborealis Heliophilius; wheezing snores can be heard escaping through rubbery lips and interlocking teeth -

but Jin-kalys is not sleeping. He scratches his dewlap absently, a claw briefly catching on one of his piercings - and immediately he is reminded of eight summers ago, lit by a fine sunset mingling gold and red and green through the high canopy, when he demonstrated the irreducibility of nine-branch formal logic as a representation of rational cognition.

The piercing next to it came five years later when he demonstrated the paucity of his own theory as it came from the lips of a favorite rival, Asterakon. Rather, it is clear that non-rational processing seems necessary to resolve certain radical dichotomies - a theory which some refer to as "post-meteotropic root-ism". It is still considered a radical theory, even though its germ can be traced as far back as the great sage Monikostara and -

There is a scratch at the door. Too low to be another Anakarix. Jin pulls the door open quickly and a Zipsum blurs her way into the small room. The fire brings out bluish highlights on her dark fur and glints in her bright green eyes. Poison-Frog-Kiss of the Lighteningstrike Tribe, the nearest tribe to Sighing Web of Trees. She deposits a heavy satchel on the floor unceremoniously.

"I dunno why me but I got all the stuff you were after and you wouldn't believe the trouble it was I've had to stay in this form because of the rain and this stupid bag is pretty heavy" there is an explosion of water as she sakes off at least a gallon of rain, spattering everything in the one-room domicile. Jin flinches, unnoticed "and so listen we need to talk about payment now we agreed to the same weight but considering that I had to carry it in my mouth in this form I think that a markup is..."

"Oh..."

"candy..."

Her huge bright eyes are inquisitive and acquisitive at the same time. Jin doubts she would appreciate the etymological deliciousness inherent in the look. He's holding out a pile of gourmet candy, stacked in a careful pyramid shape on a layer of anannu leaves which can also serve as wrapping.

'Indeed. This is yours, of course, and the rest is stored in the hollow tree as we discussed..." but the conversation has ended, as with a rapturous sigh Poison-Frog-Kiss begins cramming glistening candies in her mouth by the handful like a starveling. Jin goes on, distantly aware that he's talking only to himself but also quite nervous, now that its come to it, "I appreciate your discretion in this matter. It may seem odd that I don't simply requisition these accoutrements from supplies among my own people, but you see I have made a very important decision..."

Moans are now escaping Poison-Frog-Kiss. Her soft belly is visibly distended and her paws and face smeared with sweet dark cacao and the juice of the anannu-fruit. She is languorously licking each digit on each paw the the careful attention of a starstruck lover.

Ahem. "A decision which, I surmise, my colleagues will not appreciate. At the very least, not until it has borne some fruit, so to speak." Poison-Frog-Kills looks at him, blinking dully, with a clear expression of who are you again? written across her face. "We have spoken of the Cheldrun, and I have done some of my own research on the matter, in some cases at considerable personal risk - and I appreciate your help in those matters. You have...well, you have clarified..." she is looking at him and he can't finish the sentence. She gave him a raw barrage of information that could take weeks to untangle in his own methodical way.

"Yeah, I know what you're up to. And you're gonna die."

"I...I beg your pardon?"

"Look, its up to you. At least you're not talking and shooting out that purple thingy on your head like you did last time we talked -"

"I do apologize for that outburst, you see it is merely a vestigial-"

"And anyway its fine if you want to go get killed that's up to you I've got my candy delightful by the way and I'm happy as a punched Gogagin I just don't see the point of going to find some Cheldrun when they're busy chopping down all the trees they can get their hands and roasting the last Vorax from what I've heard I'm pretty sure that they'll just blast you or eat your brain like they do but hey its your life."

She opens the door, letting in a little more rain and grimacing at the force of it.

"Its..." Jin-kalys shakes his head, making his dewlap flap to express his lack of clarity. Its about the Nexus. Plot influences as lines on a two-dimensional representational Tree and it points to Apogee. Plot the same function over time and you can determine when it will happen. It is predictable, rooted in demonstrably reliable principles, and what is predictable can be addressed preventively before it cascades out of possible control. The function is geometric, and after the Nexus, the meeting of the influences, hope diminishes quickly for any kind of salvageable result.

"Its complicated".

The Zipsum is already gone, and the wind is blowing rain into Jin-kalys's home, sending rivulets along the carefully fitted boards.

"Its the end of Karia. Of everything. Unless we do something."

Nine-branch formal logic is still quite functional for known quantities. Nine races mean that the Arboreal Model's factors are accounted for (three kinds of Cheldrun, he did get that much from the Zipsum's barrage). The Dusk Sages? They could stand for the Perigee-Curve's intersection point. But the Apogee, when the nine-branch function is applied to an Asterakalys Helio-synthesis model, represents...what? What's the opposite of rationality, of connection, of life and vitality? What is the inverse of the Dusk Sages, the turning of wisdom and power for the good against itself...most distant from the Solar Source along the great Ellipse of cyclical time?

Whatever it was, Karia would be finding out soon, too soon.

Jin feels his tail straighten in anxiety and crouches down to meditate until it relaxes. He gathers up his satchel and adds a few oddments from his home. He leaves the fire in the tiny hearth to burn itself out so he won't be missed too soon, closes the door behind him, climbs along the tree to the next, and the next, slowly and groggily now that the fear has faded somewhat. He goes a long way before he realizes that he didn't say goodbye.

He pushes on through morning, and then moves with gathering speed. He feels the lines tightening, Apogee closing in. The thought comes unbidden, like it did in the dream.

I am the revelation of Karia.