September Surprise Story Week: Callidora continued: Deities World collection: 569 words

[k_a_webb]

 

See the beginning of this story here (LJ link).

Callie nodded. “What are your people like?”

Archimedes looked down at the table thoughtfully for a moment before returning his gaze to Callie. “Every one of my people is different so it's hard to group them together in any way really. I think I've connected to them because they're all searching for knowedge, but I'm trying to work out if there's any other reason.” He smiled, conjuring up an image of a man in the sphere of crystal he kept on the desk. “If you want an example then this is Paul. He's been one of my people since he was sixteen and he's now twenty five.”

With her head tilted to one side, Callie studied Paul. He didn't seem to be the sort of person she could see Archimedes connecting with but she knew better than to judge a book by the cover. Unfortunately it was impossible to see within someone using a crystal sphere so she could only see the cover. Part of her wanted to check him out when she next visted Archimedes' world, to make sure that he was good enough for her older brother. She knew without a doubt that he'd feel exactly the same way about her people and that he would be able to ignore it because he trusted Callie to know who the right person was.

“I know what you're thinking, Callie. I wasn't sure when I first saw Paul either. He seems more like one of Dad's people, but when I got to know him I understood why I'd been drawn to him. He's searching for knowledge and, even though people think of me as a deity of winter, I'm still connected to people like that more than I am anyone else.”

“Archimedes, being a deity of winter doesn't change who you are.” Smiling, Callie looked around the bookcase filled room. “Really, when you stop and think about it, winter is a time of knowledge. In worlds like yours there's very little to do during the winter so it's a time of learning.”

“I think it's too easy to compare every world to Earth, even though Earth is very different to a lot of worlds that need us.” Archimedes smiled back at her. “I love winter. It's always been my time to sit and learn something new. This year it's going to be another language, but I haven't quite decided which one. Maybe you should join me.”

“I don't know, Archimedes. I'm still in training to become a deity and the little time I have off I want to spend doing things that I enjoy.”

Archimedes raised an eyebrow. “Don't you enjoy learning?”

“Of course I do, but not in the way that you do. You can pick things up in days that would take me weeks to learn. Mum's still trying to teach me the different forms of Thearan because she thinks that one day I might become a deity there.”

“Thearan has four different forms, so it's to be expected that you need to take yout time with it. Plus it's connected to Latin and you always had trouble with Latin.”

Callie frowned. “I know I did. I have no idea why. Now that I know it I realise that it's really not that difficult.”

“Just take your time, Callie. It's going to be a while before you take on anyone, let alone become a deity of Thear.”

© K A Jones 2011

 

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

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[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

I like learning about what attracts deities to particular humans, and how their spheres of influence work.

>> take yout time with it. <<

That should say "your" above.