“On Earth, there are a great variety of beliefs. Some hold that the question of a higher existence is unanswerable. Some believe in a multiplicity of higher beings who are in contact with us mortals. For some, the universe is a great cyclic event: a journey of constant improvement.
“Some believe, like Tella’s people, that there is a single God, outside of our existence. My family...we believe this. We hold that, because of the limits on us and our experience, God has to bridge the Great Divide. We believe this was done by God’s manifestation as an individual human, whose whole life was an expression of God’s message. Direct experience of the unknowable became possible through Him. The message He brought was one of love.” Jim paused. “This is the belief.”
Again there was silence.
“How did your attendance at the B’Goron Trahsa touch your belief?”
Jim frowned. “It reminded me of it. Hearing Sopha Luca speak of the universe ‘making sense,’ of it being transformed, it seemed like he was saying something I was already familiar with.”
Angara Myourn said again, “It is well said.”
Margrev Aplar said quietly, “If I may contribute a question?”
Angara nodded.
“I hear behind your words a sadness, James Able. Can it be that you no longer follow your family’s beliefs?”
Jim was shaken by the accuracy of the Regdenir’s observation. He was silent for a moment.
“Not everyone believes to the same extent. I haven’t had much time for belief for a long while. My parents’ generation still attended regular services, but I do not. On Earth, such beliefs became much less influential when we first made contact with another world.”
Angara Myourn frowned and said, “Please go on.”
“I guess there is an element in our many beliefs that claims a ‘special’ place for our world: the idea that we have been chosen by God, for whatever purpose. How can that be squared with the existence of many other races, of other beliefs, multiplied again and again through the galaxies? It seems to diminish our world’s importance somehow.”
Tella’s head was shaking. “For us, it did not. Our belief was already open to finding the revelation of Quavvour in many places, in the unexpected and the unknown. For us, that multiplicity deepens our belief.”
Angara Myourn raised his hands and looked as if he would speak but, for a long while, nothing came. Then, reaching out to touch the sleeves of his fellow Regdenir, he said softly, “This is the matter that concerns us greatly: At the moment we saw a strange question appear in Regde99, from a stranger given access by Wehorulan Jiir”—he narrowed his eyes at Jim—”we knew only that this system was the sole repository of Beauty. We knew of nothing else.” He turned his eyes to Tella and back to Jim. “That special revelation of which you speak was ours alone. Within such a short time, all of that has been challenged. How can we ever say to our people that Beauty is only one beauty among many? How can we face our children and tell them we were wrong?”
Tears appeared at the edges of Angara Myourn’s eyes.
Tella spoke into the quiet, “You were not wrong. That Quavvour appears in many places, and in many ways, makes the universe more wonderful, not less. The joy and inspiration you gain from Beauty is multiplied, not divided.”
“I stand on the first step of the flight to understanding this,” said the old Regdenir. “There are many who will not go so far. It will take the greatest works of Margrev Aplar and his fellow poets and artists to change the hearts of a world.”
Jim saw the pain in the expressions of his hosts. His own distance from the beliefs of his ancestors; his lack of connection, in fact, to so much of Earth’s past, which grew from his life on a permanent station in an alien system; and the toll taken by constant traveling with the OEA all combined to leave him with only the dullest understanding of what they were going through. He could see the depth of their feeling, but he could not share it.
Jim recalled the old lady on the shuttle saying “It’s so important to have roots, don’t you think?” Now, Jim was caught between two contradictory conclusions: he was glad to be free of such potentially painful connections; he was envious of those who could care so much.
After a long and deep silence, Tella sat up and looked squarely at Myourn. “Let me say this to you, from the heart of my people. If you choose to travel to other worlds, come first to Neraff. Come to our spiritual leaders. They will welcome you as before-unknown cousins. There will be a feast of discussion and of doubts and of certainties. Come! Visit us.”
“Thank you for your offer and for your goodwill. But it is much too soon to think of such things. If I may live long enough, perhaps I will see that day and sit at that feast.”
Margrev Aplar took the old Turcanian’s hand and said, “Perhaps it is time for refreshment?”
Myourn nodded, and they all stood.
Jim said, “We have some things in our flier that we would gladly share with you, if you wish.”
Margrev Aplar replied, “It is well done. We will set a table here and share together.”
Chapter Three
In the humid air of the forest Jim felt drained.
“Tella?”
“Yes, Jim?”
“How can you talk like that about your world? You said your kind...You’re an abused minority, aren’t you?”
“Yes. That is so. It is something that happens sometimes. When a religion becomes institutionalized, you might find individuals who can declare ‘Quavvour may be found here, but Quavvour may not be found there.’ As if, by saying so, they control what Quavvour will do. I try not to let that interfere with my own search. Quavvour will be there, at the right time, in the right place.”
***
They set out their specially treated samples of food and drink along one end of the table. Jim recognized some of the food the
