The Good Teacher

"Great master Nara!" a man evoked, out of breath. "It's happening, just like you predicted. M-My wife... she-"

"-will be fine," Krish finished the man's sentence. "Just do as I've told you, and fetch those three. Go, now! Don't waste time."

The man nodded firmly, his gaze filled with certainty and faith even though his heart was blaring in panic. And without an ounce of doubt, the man worked through his exhaustion borne of age and ascended the steps leading to the orphanage.

"I don't get it," Marie commented. "I thought you promised to save Auntie Lane? Why is she struggling now, all of a sudden?"

"I did change her fate. Her sacrifice was not in vain," Krish said with a mysterious smile. "I believe you've made inquiries about these things before. Losing a thumb to save two lives isn't an equivalent trade. BUT, it was enough to alter certain events and hasten others so that the conditions at the time of her delivery lean heavily in favour of her wish."

Marie narrowed her gaze in disbelief. She decided to exert her new technique and divined the outcome.

'Will Chiani Lane die?' She projected. A wave imperceptible to others emanated from her and dissipated into her surroundings. Almost immediately, a response arrived which Marie pulled inside and decomposed using her technique.

"No?!" Marie bellowed in shock. Right as she was about to bounce onto her feet and rush out, Krish called out and calmed her down.

"Stop panicking!" He said. "Frame your question properly. Did you just divine whether she would die?"

Marie nodded vigorously.

"Of course, she will die. She's a mortal! All mortals die eventually," Krish reprimanded. "For someone who seeks precision, you are being quite gung-ho with your divination method."

Marie bit her tongue apologetically and retried her divination.

'Will Chiani Lane go through her delivery without complications?'

Again, "NO!"

Krish clicked his tongue. Although it was an impalpable action, it echoed loudly within the room, pulling Marie down once again.

"You went hard in the other direction, didn't you?" Krish asked rhetorically. "Ask the following question: 'Will Chiani Lane and her unborn child survive the delivery without long-lasting detrimental consequences?'"

Marie calmed herself once again and repeated the process, but she repeated her Master's words verbatim. This time, the response she received was much more palatable.

Marie exhaled in relief once she deciphered the message. After that, she decided to divine deeper along the same line of questioning.

'How are Guy Larks, Jean Rasmus and Dora Reva involved in ensuring that Chiani Lane's child is born, and Chiani Lane is left without long-lasting detrimental consequences?'

She then waited for a response, yet none arrived. Marie pondered over her question, rephrased it and tried again while preserving the crux of what she wanted to be revealed. However, again, she wasn't graced with a response, only radio silence.

"That's odd," Marie muttered. "I tried to divine a question, however, I received no answer."

Krish nodded affirmatively and asked, "What was the question?"

"Basically, I wanted to know what role Teacher Larks and the rest had to play in Auntie Lane's birthing," Marie explained. She then reiterated and expounded on her question.

"The divination that we're performing is reactive in nature. The things that you can ask and receive responses to are therefore reactions to events that have already transpired or potential consequences of a series of events. So when you're asking about a person's involvement in an event that has yet to transpire, you are technically putting the cart before the horse."

"That's what's confusing, though. How is it that my divination can confirm the safety of a person, but not reveal how they will be saved?" Marie inquired. "Aren't the two related?"

"They are. The reason why you can divine certain information but not others is to do with how these events play out in the grand scheme of things," Krish explained. "This would be something you learn later on, but when it comes to events, there are primarily two kinds. Events that are 'Constants' and events that are 'Transient'."

"Constants refer to events that are guaranteed to transpire, while Transients refer to events that may or may not. As practitioners of The Heavenly Eye, being able to differentiate between these two is crucial for our survival. This is because we can affect Transient events with minor consequences, but tampering with Constants can cost us severely. Usually, Constants are defined as statements that aren't firmly tethered in time. For example, 'Chiani Lane will never be able to nurture and love her offspring'. This statement works in two ways, one: Chiani Lane can never give birth, two: if she does give birth then she won't be alive to care for the baby," Krish expounded.

"On the other hand, Transients are tied to a timestamp," he continued. "'Winter will be late by a month,' or 'The current business venture will bear fruit in five years.'"

"Chiani Lane's and her child's survival today is a Constant - I made it so thanks to her sacrifice. To achieve this, I had to tweak certain sequences so that the dominoes lined up perfectly," Krish clarified. "Divination is safe because it skirts around Constants in fate's sequence - it exclusively deals with Transients. It can tell you what the outcome of a Constant will be, but it won't reveal much more than that. Can you tell me why?"

Marie pondered for a while before stating, "Because knowing what will happen can also affect how it will turn out."

"That's right!" Krish congratulated. "Even if you don't intend to interfere, knowing implies a possibility of interference. Therefore, divination avoids revealing excess information surrounding Constants by default."

"But you implied that Constants cannot be changed, regardless of what people do to change it," Marie retorted.

"That's right, ordinary people cannot change the outcome of Constants, but we can. Therefore, we aren't shown what these Constants will be through divination.  Now then, let's return to our meditation, shall we?"

Marie nodded half-heartedly before descending into a meditative state... Or so she tried. The harder she tried to clear her mind, the more a feeling of curiosity gnawed back at her.

"Master?" Marie poked in a low tone. "Aren't you interested in knowing how things will play out? After all, you simply set up the sequence, you aren't aware of how it will all ensue."

"No," Krish denied nonchalantly. "Why should I care about that?"

"Didn't you contribute to it? Aren't you the least bit curious?" Marie urged.

Krish shook his head, "Not at all. These trivialities are mortal concerns. We shouldn't get entangled with it. The more you entrench yourself into this mire, the more obligated you will feel to meddle in their affairs."

"I don't believe that. Why did you help Auntie Lane then?"

"Because..." Krish paused. "It was... convenient..."

"I bet that's what you tell yourself every time you help someone," Marie scoffed. "For one, you had to use The Heavenly Eye to observe Auntie Lane's future, and then exert your power to change the sequence without interfering or tampering with any others that might intertwine with it. Doesn't sound that convenient to me."

"That's not true!" Krish defended with a wavering voice.

"Whatever the case," Marie interjected. "I'm going to observe, even if Master isn't."

With that said, Marie stood up and walked out in the direction of the Lane household. Krish frowned with slight distress as he observed her receding figure. After an intense introspection, he dropped his aversion and sighed in defeat.

He then got on his feet and followed his Disciple.

____

Upon his arrival, he was immediately greeted by all those present.

"Great master Nara! You came," An elderly woman exclaimed with a revering smile and low bow. "Quick, Durkas, greet great master Nara," she urged a little boy standing next to her.

The boy copied his grandmother and displayed a deep bow.

"Great master must be here in search of Marie," the elderly woman commented. By now, everyone in the village knew that Krish had taken on Marie as his Disciple. Although there was some envy floating around, they all recognised that they could do nothing about their poor luck. Besides, no one was unaware of Marie's character. Everyone knew that the orphan girl had sacrificed her childhood for the benefit of her orphanage and her family. No other child in the village worked as hard as her. They all agreed that the opportunity she received was a fitting reward.

The elderly woman moved forward and gestured for Krish to enter the compound. But Krish shook his head and said, "I'm just here to observe Miss Lane. After all, I feel responsible for her safety, given..."

Krish didn't complete his sentence, nor did he have to because the crowd already knew of the deal between Chiani and him.

The elderly woman quit urging Krish to enter and immediately commanded her grandson to fetch a chair. The boy reluctantly rushed into his house and carried over an elaborately-designed, heavy wooden chair, at least twice his height and placed it next to Krish. The woman reprimanded the boy for his callous handling of the furniture and then gestured for Krish to settle down on it.

Krish made himself comfortable, as well as he could, and directed his senses into the house. Honestly, he could have done this from his own cottage. However, Krish felt it would feel more personal if he showed the support for his Disciple more visibly. It was all part of his attempt to change and become a better Master.

Interestingly, in every instance where Krish had to make a decision involving his Disciple, he would ask himself: "What would Guy do?"

"Speaking of the man," Krish muttered as he focused on the stiff figure of Guy inside the house. In truth, Krish hadn't done much to alter Guy's path. The man's future was extremely murky, almost like he didn't have one, to begin with. However, there were glimpses of the man in the futures of those around him, which was odd.

"*tsk* Who else-?" Krish noticed that he wasn't the only one observing the scene inside with his mana sense. He turned to the side and saw someone else doing the same - Al Jeeves.

As if the man could sense Krish's gaze, he opened his eyes and nodded faintly in recognition, which Krish reciprocated.

"It's happening again!" Krish exclaimed suddenly as he sensed a sudden fluctuation in fate. He quickly activated his Heavenly Eye and directed it on Guy. In the man's dark figure, a small mote of bright light sparked into view. The last time this happened was when Markus achieved perfected resonance.

Krish didn't know the significance of this occurrence. But seeing as he had never witnessed it happen before, he doubled his vigilance on Guy in earnest.