Ta’klu never explained why she had asked for me, nor why she gave me what she did—more than just all of her time, I received her complete attention, her focus. She took me everywhere in the city, taught me of their culture, their history, their beliefs.
And of a thing called Enlightenment.
“What is it?” I asked Ta’klu one day as we walked in the city, Fan scampering around each vine-covered pillar we passed.
“Your people will call it omniscience, but it is less than that—and more. It is connecting as one with life around you.”
“On Be’na?” I asked, touching a statue as we passed.
“And beyond.” She raised a long thin hand as I opened my mouth to protest. “More I cannot tell you, Jarrod. Not yet.”
“Is it something that humans can aspire to?”
“Your people will desire it.”
“But can we a
