These Once Proud Pillars
an excerpt

“Do you think they mean anything at all?”

“What?” She made no attempt to disguise her complete indifference.

“These pillars here.”

“Oh,” She started to speak but then paused for a moment as she turned towards the pillars first, and then me.

“Regrundor, do you think they mean anything?” There was the slightest hint of curiosity in her tone as she turned the question back me, but it didn't seem like she was trying to avoid having to answer it.

“Haven't ever thought about it,” I replied honestly. “But they don't seem to be like anything else here.”

“So you believe they were created?” She regarded me intently after posing the question. I hoped suddenly that Khura was watching, so that she could see that I was at least attempting to get along with Iuls.

“I don't know, but maybe they were. Perhaps it was created like the things we create.”

“They do not live, however,” not a berating statement as much as it was an observation. Rare for Iuls, but she wasn't so bad when she wasn't barking orders and being unreasonable and bragging about her animals and being Khura's favorite. “How would you respond if I suggested that another created them?”

Another? Another what? I voiced the question, to which she tilted her head, her straight, long, pale hair glimmering as it shifted with her. Her amber eyes seemed to take their own light in the night as they gazed into mine.

“Another being, Regrundor. Perhaps comparable to us, but molding that which has no life. Rock. Soil.”

“We've never seen any evidence of anyone else.”

“Although you are correct, a lack of evidence has no bearing in whether or not such a being existed. Do you understand?” This question was normally spoken with sarcasm, or exclaimed rhetorically during one of our many agreements, but the conversation continued to amaze me.

“Think so,” I paused and wondered for a moment. “Did it create us?”

Iuls started at that. She fumbled over a couple of different responses before deciding on, “We have not even confirmed its existence. How could we even speculate that that we were created by another?”

She gestured to me as she sat down on the grass. I sat across from her, folding my legs in front of me and resting my arms on my knees. The grass was cool and slightly damp with dew. I ran a hand through it absently while I thought about all of this.

It was a good question after all. Where did we come from? I shook my head before settling it on top of my arms.

“Think the new one will have better answers?”

Iuls chuckled at that. “Doubtful, Regrundor.” She studied the stars with her eyes for a moment before continuing. “We could pose questions about who or what existed and when, and it would continue indefinitely. I do not believe that any amount of study or speculation could answer this set of questions.”

“Yeah,” I replied for a lack of anything better to say, but she did not seem to have anything further to say until I followed up with another question.

“Think it'll figure out what plants eat?”

She sighed in response. “You were doing so well, Regrundor. Until tomorrow, then.”

Iuls rose smoothly, face expressionless, and gave my head the slightest pat as she walked off.

“Guess that's a no,” I observed to no one. I spent the rest of the night wondering who created what, and whether or not it mattered.