151 Stubborn (1/2)
Even though he had spent the last year in Saniya, Corco had never found the time to travel across the Verduic Sea. All that kingdom building had kept him busy. Now that he found himself with some time to appreciate the beauty around, everything seemed strangely familiar. Although it had been many years since he had last visited the waters to Medala's east, the old image in his mind created a perfect overlap with the present.
Before him stretched an endless sea of green. Strange as the water's color was, it was not unhealthy. To Corco's best guess, the entire Verduic Sea, tucked in between Chutwa and Yakuallpa and sprinkled with the Verdant Isles, had incredibly shallow depths for a body its size and was well fed from several warm water streams. As a result, almost the entire sea had conditions perfect for plant life to develop. Never would the forces of nature leave such a chance untaken, and so the sea was covered with algae and various microorganisms, to give the waters their outlandish sheen.
In the distance, large chunks of green jutted out of the waves, like the backs of enormous turtles. Even the lands had taken on he same colors as the water. After all, most of the Verdant Isles lay in tropical and subtropical zones. Their lush vegetation was what gave them their name, not the water around them.
As Corco looked to the distant islands, the ship below his feet gently rocked in the wind. After a while, he managed to tear his eyes away and to the large, square main sail of their vessel. Although he was fascinated by the uniqueness of the Verduic Sea, a kind of sight the other self in his memory was not familiar with, for now there were more practical inquiries to be made.
”So you're only going with one sail?” he looked over to the young verdant prince. Even though winter was upon them, Wacoca wore a short, sleeveless vest, like all the sailors of the Verdant Isles. This way, they could show off their tattoos, not unlike the ones the warriors of southern Medala wore.
”There is a stern sail for mobility, but it is small. We also employ oars if we have to, but most of our navigation is done with the currents. The Verduic Sea is complex and treacherous. We need to remain flexible.” The verdant prince stared at the island group ahead.
”Wait, 'navigate by the currents'? How does that even work?” Corco raised an eyebrow. Already the trip felt like it had been worth it. They hadn't left for even an entire day and he had already learned two new things.
”Maybe one day I can show you the keel of one of our ships. I am sure a smart man like you will understand.” Wacoca smirked. Although Corco had a few ideas about the design of his host's keels, he would still take any chance to learn something new. For now, he would take what he could get.
”Even if your ships are designed for it, to navigate along the currents still takes crazy understanding of the region, right?”
”Of course.” Pride entered Wacoca's voice as he spoke of the achievements of his people. ”Just like the Yaku navigate by the stars, the Verdant Folk navigate by the waves. You see, we-”
”I'm dooone!” Drawn by the piercing voice, both Corco and Wacoca turned around. Rather than face the gentle waves, they were confronted by an oncoming storm. Princess Sumaci rushed towards them, a book bound in the south's new style in her hand. Although her patterned silk dress represented the newest style of fashion from Saniya, she stomped towards them on broad legs, surefoot atop the swaying planks.
”What is this garbage?” she shouted and waved the book towards Corco, who could feel his eye twitch the tiniest bit. No doubt did his eyes anticipate another barrage of questions.
”What kind of question might Princess Sumaci be having?” he asked with a strained smile. Really, he would have taken her words with far more calm if it had been the first time she did this.
”The stuff you've written down here is nonsense, isn't it? 'We can't know anything'? How does that make any sense? Who would be satisfied with a lazy answer like this?” Whether her frustration was played or real, Sumaci threw the book to the ground to reinforce her point.
”Our understanding of the world is limited by our perception of the world, our perception is limited by our perspective. To me, that seems self-evident. But like that, we can't ever get the full picture, can we? Because we only ever have one perspective?” While he looked at his warrior servant scramble to save the precious tome of knowledge from the waves and Sumaci's wrath, Corco replied in his lecturer tone.
”So to you, there's nothing that will always hold true, no universal truth?” Sumaci narrowed her eyes. ”How can that be right? How come people are the same all over the place? Father has been all the way to Enaya. He's met all kinds of folks all over the world, but they are no different from us, by and large. How come there is a common thread that connects all people if they all have a different perspective.”
”You're not wrong. But that common thread is only logic, and with only one system of logic, our perspective is still limited.”
”So then logic is a universal truth. There you go.” Sumaci clapped her hands together, convinced she had trapped Corco in her words for once. Meanwhile, the teacher pinched the bridge of his nose. This was exhausting.
”No, but... wait... Logic is a tautological system. It's self-recursive, if you know what I mean. Which means it can't be proven. It can't be the proof of anything, so it can't provide any truth on its own. It's just how our minds make sense of the world, so it's just part of our perception as well. You can't possibly know that logic actually reflects the real world in any way, because we can't test for that without using logic again. So why couldn't there be a type of logic completely alien from our own, yet just as true, or even truer?”
”Right, that makes sense,” the princess mumbled as she lowered her head. Though she might have looked like a deflated student, Corco knew she only thought of more ways he could be wrong. Almost on reflex, Corco took a deep breath. Though just as he thought the storm had faded for now, it got a second wind. Her face shot up, to stare straight into Corco's eyes. ”No, wait! I got it! Why would other perspectives matter? Our world is just what we see anyways, isn't it? We're not looking for any answers on the world beyond what we can see and feel, right? So our logic would be all there is, because nothing else will appear in our world. That makes it a universal truth, at least within our system.”
”But... that's not what universal means.” He really wanted to cry.
”You said we're always limited to our own perspectives. Now you're just splitting hairs, aren't you?”
”No, but...” For a moment, Corco was stumped, trying to explain the limits of human knowledge to the princess. Ever since she had started to learn at his school in Saniya, she had asked these kinds of difficult questions of her teachers. At first it was still okay, since she only asked a few more questions than her classmates. However, Sumaci was far too quick a learner. By now her questions had a level of tricky that made Corco struggle. Even worse, the girl seemed to revel in her attempts to make him speechless. Ever since he had received his new memories, the king had never struggled to answer questions, never had his answers challenged. Frankly, he wasn't used to it. So rather than answer the tricky question, Corco sighed and explained his stance instead.