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Growing pains.
(another parable)
Excerpted from The Second Book of Parables; The Life of Rukent, Serco Holy Library, SkyCommand.
In the past, just after the people of the Territories began their exodus from Serco Prime, leaving the land they had held in trust for us, there lived a young orphan named Rukent. He was a private young man, smaller of stature than the others his age, and not given to boasting in the way that is normal for all adolescents until they have matured and faced what is, after all, the harshest of all masters; responsibility. Even so, Rukent was not considered cowardly or weak, something about the way he carried himself made such thoughts impossible to believe for more than a few seconds. When he looked at people it was said that he saw directly to the very core of what motivated them, this despite the fact that he was no more than half a score and 6 years of age.
Rukent was enrolled in a military school, his entire family having been killed a decade before when they were ambushed by a rival of his fathers at their homestead near the border of the lands claimed by the Territories. With no older relatives to speak for him and due to his size, Rukent was relegated to the bottom of the social order within his class, being forced to do the worst of the chores and receiving the least desirable portions at mealtime. Despite this he was competent in all his studies, particularly excelling in tactics, military theory, and guise control networking. Due to his abilities the other students were occasionally jealous and fearful of their status over him.
In the trials and games within the school, across the region and throughout the whole district Rukent did well, if not brilliantly. Regardless of what the challenge was, he was never seen to give less than his best, although he never placed in the strength contests. At an age where most consider personal glory to be the highest achievement, he had forethought enough to do what was best for his team in the group contests, even when it required that he give up a chance at glory for himself.
Now at the time of history about which we speak, the adulthood trials were much less ritualized than they are today. In particular the military schools at the time depended more on deed to determine the ranks of graduates than they do now. This was possible as there was land enough to have wilderness and dangerous wilds near at hand and large enough in area that students could be forced to prove themselves. Thus in his 17th year of life, Rukent and his class were flown to a remote area, and dropped off individually, separated from each other by several kilometers, and tracked by satellite in a race back to the main campus. On the second day of the trial, as he was backtracking out of a narrow dead end ravine a group of his classmates surprised him, and upon taking him captive informed him that they had decided he was not going to be allowed complete the race. Now 4 of the classmates had stepped a short distance away to decide what was to be done with Rukent when a feral farm beast lumbered out of the woods on the ridgeline, stampeding past the ravine, apparently in a frightened panic and dislodging several large boulders from the rim of the ravine. Rukent rolled desperately downhill, into the other students as the 2 that had remained beside him leapt the other way, one of them barely getting out of the way. As the beast lumbered out of sight, the 4 remaining students looked first at Rukent, and then at the multi-ton boulder that now blocked the easy trail back to the ravines mouths, listening to the retreating footsteps of the other two students grow more distant.
Rukent paid them no attention, looking back in the direction the beast had come from, noting a great crackling and popping, and the underside of the trees’ canopy reflecting a sullen orange glow. Quietly he spoke “Untie me. It will take all 5 of us to move that boulder, and you haven’t got time to scale the walls and get past it.” The 4 students looked at him with disbelief, and then the reality of their situation began to set in. With the overhanging smooth cliffs of the tight canyon making a climb all but impossible, the boulder blocking the way they had come in from, and a forest fire obviously climbing the other side of the ridgeline towards them, they were well and truly trapped. Scrambling over to the boulder they strained to move it, and while they were able to shift it, not even all 4 of them could lift it aside far enough to clear the path. Rukent spoke again, more urgently this time, “untie me, or die with me, for if it is retribution you fear, that is a worry for the future, and will not matter if we all perish here. For the moment we need each other, That must outweigh any other concerns until we all are free of this trap”
Seeing no other option the students released the bonds they had placed on Rukent, and together the 5 of them were able to shove the boulder aside just enough for him to scramble through to the other side. Reaching back through the narrow gap that his classmates could never get through, he spoke again, “give me a blade, I know one of you must be carrying a knife or something.” The other students wondered at this, but seeing no other option, passed him a small hatchet, at which time Rukent scrambled away up the ravine without another word, disappearing from sight. Looking about in confusion, the other students began to argue with each other, thinking that they had let their captive escape and he had taken his revenge upon them. Just as they were starting to exchange blows, a voice called down from above, on the side opposite where the fire was now licking at the trees of the ridgeline; Rukent’s voice. “Stand clear” was all he said, followed by a series of rhythmic thuds, a strained cracking and a leafy crash. A moment later the top of one of the local trees inched over the edge of the ravine, and moments later had crashed down in, with its trunk resting firmly against the top. When they climbed out, the 4 students found the hatchet, its blade sunk into the very end of the tree trunk, and a set of footprints heading away from the ravine leading to Rukent, standing at the edge of the next hill, calmly waiting for them to follow.
Excerpted from The Second Book of Parables; The Life of Rukent, Serco Holy Library, SkyCommand.
In the past, just after the people of the Territories began their exodus from Serco Prime, leaving the land they had held in trust for us, there lived a young orphan named Rukent. He was a private young man, smaller of stature than the others his age, and not given to boasting in the way that is normal for all adolescents until they have matured and faced what is, after all, the harshest of all masters; responsibility. Even so, Rukent was not considered cowardly or weak, something about the way he carried himself made such thoughts impossible to believe for more than a few seconds. When he looked at people it was said that he saw directly to the very core of what motivated them, this despite the fact that he was no more than half a score and 6 years of age.
Rukent was enrolled in a military school, his entire family having been killed a decade before when they were ambushed by a rival of his fathers at their homestead near the border of the lands claimed by the Territories. With no older relatives to speak for him and due to his size, Rukent was relegated to the bottom of the social order within his class, being forced to do the worst of the chores and receiving the least desirable portions at mealtime. Despite this he was competent in all his studies, particularly excelling in tactics, military theory, and guise control networking. Due to his abilities the other students were occasionally jealous and fearful of their status over him.
In the trials and games within the school, across the region and throughout the whole district Rukent did well, if not brilliantly. Regardless of what the challenge was, he was never seen to give less than his best, although he never placed in the strength contests. At an age where most consider personal glory to be the highest achievement, he had forethought enough to do what was best for his team in the group contests, even when it required that he give up a chance at glory for himself.
Now at the time of history about which we speak, the adulthood trials were much less ritualized than they are today. In particular the military schools at the time depended more on deed to determine the ranks of graduates than they do now. This was possible as there was land enough to have wilderness and dangerous wilds near at hand and large enough in area that students could be forced to prove themselves. Thus in his 17th year of life, Rukent and his class were flown to a remote area, and dropped off individually, separated from each other by several kilometers, and tracked by satellite in a race back to the main campus. On the second day of the trial, as he was backtracking out of a narrow dead end ravine a group of his classmates surprised him, and upon taking him captive informed him that they had decided he was not going to be allowed complete the race. Now 4 of the classmates had stepped a short distance away to decide what was to be done with Rukent when a feral farm beast lumbered out of the woods on the ridgeline, stampeding past the ravine, apparently in a frightened panic and dislodging several large boulders from the rim of the ravine. Rukent rolled desperately downhill, into the other students as the 2 that had remained beside him leapt the other way, one of them barely getting out of the way. As the beast lumbered out of sight, the 4 remaining students looked first at Rukent, and then at the multi-ton boulder that now blocked the easy trail back to the ravines mouths, listening to the retreating footsteps of the other two students grow more distant.
Rukent paid them no attention, looking back in the direction the beast had come from, noting a great crackling and popping, and the underside of the trees’ canopy reflecting a sullen orange glow. Quietly he spoke “Untie me. It will take all 5 of us to move that boulder, and you haven’t got time to scale the walls and get past it.” The 4 students looked at him with disbelief, and then the reality of their situation began to set in. With the overhanging smooth cliffs of the tight canyon making a climb all but impossible, the boulder blocking the way they had come in from, and a forest fire obviously climbing the other side of the ridgeline towards them, they were well and truly trapped. Scrambling over to the boulder they strained to move it, and while they were able to shift it, not even all 4 of them could lift it aside far enough to clear the path. Rukent spoke again, more urgently this time, “untie me, or die with me, for if it is retribution you fear, that is a worry for the future, and will not matter if we all perish here. For the moment we need each other, That must outweigh any other concerns until we all are free of this trap”
Seeing no other option the students released the bonds they had placed on Rukent, and together the 5 of them were able to shove the boulder aside just enough for him to scramble through to the other side. Reaching back through the narrow gap that his classmates could never get through, he spoke again, “give me a blade, I know one of you must be carrying a knife or something.” The other students wondered at this, but seeing no other option, passed him a small hatchet, at which time Rukent scrambled away up the ravine without another word, disappearing from sight. Looking about in confusion, the other students began to argue with each other, thinking that they had let their captive escape and he had taken his revenge upon them. Just as they were starting to exchange blows, a voice called down from above, on the side opposite where the fire was now licking at the trees of the ridgeline; Rukent’s voice. “Stand clear” was all he said, followed by a series of rhythmic thuds, a strained cracking and a leafy crash. A moment later the top of one of the local trees inched over the edge of the ravine, and moments later had crashed down in, with its trunk resting firmly against the top. When they climbed out, the 4 students found the hatchet, its blade sunk into the very end of the tree trunk, and a set of footprints heading away from the ravine leading to Rukent, standing at the edge of the next hill, calmly waiting for them to follow.