Friday, October 7, 2011

A Very Light Breakfast

I had not taken much notice of what I ate, it wasn't terrible and I think I may have enjoyed it, but the prospect of sleep had made me overlook the details of it all. I didn't take in any of the room that I was led to or the path we took to it, which probably wasn't the wisest thing, but I was too tired to care. Shortly after they left me in the room I was to stay in I had lied down on what I assumed was the bed and fell right to sleep. It wasn't until the morning when I awoke that I realized I had slept on a woven mat that served as a place to sit and meditate instead of the bed, which was through another doorway. I took my time getting up and examining the room, it was fairly large and had a few useful chambers in it, among which I was glad to see a place to clean myself up. Once I had bathed myself using the fragrant oils and warm water that came from a pipe leading down into the chamber from above I once again began my inspection of the room. It wasn't overly elegant, not that I was surprised. It was simple and cozy and I felt like it would make a suitable home for the time being. To start off my morning I sat on the mat and studied the devices I had constructed just yesterday, it seemed like so long ago that it happened and yet it was only a day ago. The devices were crude in look and I could follow the various paths in the technology, though I wasn't sure what it all did yet. As I sat there examining the objects one of the beings gently tapped on the door to my room and when no answer came they ventured in cautiously and saw me sitting there with the strange things on the floor before me. I took no notice of him as he peeked over my shoulder until he asked, in a very quiet voice that still surprised me greatly in such a silent room, what the objects were.

After my little jump that had also caused him to jump back a bit I explained how he had surprised me and that these objects were tools I had created yesterday. He then asked me what I was doing with them and I replied that I was trying to figure out what specifically they did and how they worked. The look on his face told me what I already knew, I hadn't said something logical. I explained what I did know to him, how the devices were used to take memories out of my head so that my brain would stop hurting due to the knowledge that had been placed there, as far as how that knowledge got there I couldn't elaborate for him on that. Among the knowledge removed was the information about these devices. He then asked why I didn't just use them to put the information back, to which I explained that I had a feeling that it wouldn't be a good idea, that I could cause some serious damage to myself in the process. At this he nodded his head in what I took as understanding and then informed me that breakfast was ready and that there were quite a few visitors that had come to partake of the meal with me. When I emerged into the dining area I was surprised to see exactly what he told me was there, many of the villagers had come to join me, and by the looks of it there were many more outside as well trying to peek in and see the strange creature that had appeared in the night. By my best guess I would say about a quarter of the entire village fit into the large room they had prepared for the meal, only about a third of them had a place to sit and the rest were close to the walls, the luckier ones being in front and having a view. Occasionally I saw a head pop up and down really quick as a few of them jumped to get a better view, though this made the others around them a little irritated and so it didn't happen too often. In the morning light their forms didn't look too different than what I remembered from last night, I could verify that their digits were much more segmented than mine and in fact were very slender. I imagined they would be able to use such delicate instruments as they had in their hands and feet to do many wondrous things that I would have had to have tools to do. The thought made me think again about the tools I had, but the thought wasn't allowed to linger for any length as one of the elders welcomed me to the table and several of the beings started serving the food.

From what I could eat of the cuisine it was delicious, but I wasn't given much time for each part as all of the elders had many questions for me, some of which I had answered before but not all of them had been present at the time. I started to take note of the subtle differences in the beings, trying my best to figure out who was who among them. At times it was difficult to hear what was being asked, some of them were on the far side of the very large table we sat at and the murmur of the others in the large room at times picked up, especially when the answer I gave didn't sound feasible. Mostly they were trying to figure out who I was and where I came from, which I was unable to give an answer to. The other questions were about the technology I had and how I knew what materials to use to do what, to which I could only give vague answers, though through the course of the conversation they introduced me to a few of their brightest minds, those who I would consider their engineers. They even brought in a few of their mystics for introduction as well in hopes that they would be able to assist me in figuring things out. Towards the end of the meal they began giving me some advice and instructions on how to interact among the people and how I would be a contributing member during my stay, the biggest hope was that I would be able to teach them about the technology I was able to make. They also gave warnings about some of the creatures outside the village and about the other villages that it would be possibly to travel to eventually. I was also informed that they had sent messengers to the nearest villages' elders to inform them of the strange being that was taking up residence for a time. This told me that for the next few days at least there would be many such meals as this with many creatures present and so I made a mental note to try to save some of the food from each meal so that at least I might be able to eat it in peace when I was back in my apartment. I was then introduced to a few of the beings who I assumed were in a lesser class than those I had been conversing with, to which I soon found out was true, they would be my guides to show me around the village so that I might be made familiar with where I needed to go for various things as I found need. With everything in order they departed back to their usual habits of the day and I found myself moving, slowly, around the village. The process was long and difficult, especially with so many of them gathered about trying to get a good look at me. When the tour was done and I found myself comfortable with where I was and where to find things I returned to my room, skipping the meal they offered for now, despite being hungry, and opted for a quick nap and, hopefully, some time to ponder my own fleeting thoughts.

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