Peculiar Soul Chapter 58: The Word on the Street

The raven ca upon the tortoise in the woods. It flew down to stand on its shell and wish it a good day. The tortoise looked up and did the sa. The raven talked of simple things and the tortoise answered, and after so ti they walked in silence.

Then the tortoise turned to the raven, asking if they were friends. The raven thought on this, for it knew all truths and no lies. Eventually it responded that yes, it was the tortoises friend.

The tortoise asked if they would always be friends, and the raven thought on this at length. There were many truths in always, and the tortoise walked in silence for a long way before the raven had its answer.

It told the tortoise that in the unwritten truths of always, they were both friends and enemies in turn, and that it could not say what tomorrow might bring without the lie of assumption.

The tortoise listened, and thanked the raven for its honesty. Then, in one swift motion, it turned its long neck back and seized the raven in its jaws. The raven cried out and struggled, but the tortoise was unyielding. It begged the tortoise to tell it why it had attacked, when they had just nad themselves friends.

The tortoise said that the answer was simple - tomorrow held many uncertainties, but today the raven was within its reach.

- Pre-Gharic Ardan manuscript, vellum, c. 500 PE