A Change in Plans
Copyright© 2006 by Asa Strong
Chapter 17: The Process of Change
Science Fantasy Story: Chapter 17: The Process of Change - George Rice, a dying, emotionally detached scientist who plans to stage his own accidental death after losing his wife and receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis. At the brink of suicide, he is intercepted by a higher being named Alama, who offers him a chance to “right a terrible wrong.” George accepts and dies—only to be reborn into another world and another body.
Caution: This Science Fantasy Story contains strong sexual content, including Ma/Fa Ma/ft Consensual Romantic Science Fiction Isekai First
I sat in silence, watching the snow swirl against the new bakery wall, heavy in thought about what had occurred during the past few months. In some ways, the hard winter had been a blessing. The blowing snow and extreme cold kept everyone inside. People went outside only when it was absolutely necessary. It also made most people quite irritable. This caused the meetings with the prince to discuss drafting the laws for a sovereign government to be both raucous and downright nasty at times.
My admiration for the young prince was firmly established during this time. He resolutely kept the diverse parties focused on producing a document of laws, rather than letting them get involved in petty arguments.
A diverse group sat around my table this winter. Nobles, farmers, warriors, craftsmen, and I discussed and argued; each with a different view of what the laws should be and how they should be carried out. It was the single-minded focus of the prince that not only kept the peace but also salved the bruised egos of the participants. It was during this period that I knew that we would end up with a sovereign nation. The prince would not allow it to be otherwise.
“Donta, the prince is here.” Rocha said, drawing me out of my reverie.
I turned from the window and looked at Rocha, big and round with my child. “Thank you, Rocha. Can you make some tea? I think the prince would appreciate it.”
“Yes, Donta,” she answered as she scurried away.
“Good morning, prince. Have you eaten yet?” I said, entering the great room.
With a grin on his face, he replied, “No, knowing that Celle makes the best bread in the village, I couldn’t help but barge in and impose myself upon you.”
“Well, have a seat then. We should be ready to eat soon.”
The prince and I talked about trivial matters while we consumed our morning meal. Of course, the women of my house would not think of joining us at the table. Some patterns of cultural behavior would take a long time to change.
“Ahh, that was delicious. What did you call them again?” The prince asked.
I laughed. “I guess since they are made in a skillet, they could be called skillet cakes. They are pretty easy to make. It is basically a thin bread batter that is fried in a skillet and then covered with butter and strawberry syrup. However, I don’t think you came here to talk about our morning meal.”
The prince pushed himself away from the table, looked at me, and said, “Can we sit in the other room? I would like to talk to you.”
“Sure,” I responded, as I got up from my seat and we walked to the other room.
“How can I help you?” I stated, as I sat down.
The prince eased himself into a chair and said, “Donta, we have been meeting for the past three months. In the past two weeks, I have heard few new ideas from our meetings. I think it is time for me to take all the information and start writing. But I don’t even know what to call it when I finish.”
I thought for a moment and then had an idea. “Should I be so bold as to really use the document I remembered as George? Yes,” I thought, “it is a perfect definition.”
“Prince, since laws define what rights a person has under sovereign rule, you might want to call it ‘The Bill of Rights’.”
“The Bill of Rights, I like the sound of that, and you are correct; it represents what the laws are to become. I will use it. Now, I don’t see the advantage of trying to write this ‘Bill of Rights’ by committee. However, I would feel more comfortable if you helped me.”
“If you wish for me to help, then I will be happy to do so, prince.”
“Now that you have agreed, how do we go about compiling all that we have discussed in our meetings?”
I thought of ways to arrange the many ideas we had talked about into some kind of coherent plan that could be used to define the laws that were to be contained in the document. The prince sat quietly waiting for my response. He had become quite accustomed to my long moments of silence while thinking.
Finally, I said, “I think the best way to approach this task is to first make a list of short descriptions of each law. Once that is done, we can start expanding what each law is about; how the law is to be applied, and what punishment is to be administered if the law is broken.”
The prince and I spent the rest of the day compiling the short list of laws. We also discussed how the document should be laid out, composed, and presented. At the end of the day, the prince had a viable way to look at how these laws would not only be applied but how justice would be administered.
It was late in the evening when we had finished, and both of us were exhausted from the mental exercise. The prince yawned and said, “Enough! I think we have completed everything. I want to take time to go over what we have prepared for now. I want to review what we have written and make sure that I’m in agreement with all that we have accomplished.”
The next morning, I awoke early and managed to extract myself from bed without waking up my wives. The prince would probably take a few days to ponder what we had produced yesterday, and I had a special project that needed my attention.
After a quick breakfast of bread and cheese, I walked to the blacksmith shop. Since the attack on the village, several other men and I had enlarged the shop to meet the needs of our growing community. Also, Anijen, the young man who had shown such promise making the arrowheads, had taken over the smithy. Unlike me, he was an artist! He had a real feel for working with metal and seemed to intuitively know what was needed for a project to be successful. His work was often “a thing of beauty”. Two weeks ago, I assigned him a special project. I wanted him to make a sword, based on the design of a Japanese katana. I could only give a cursory description of how the sword was made and then let Anijen develop the technique to produce it. Today, I would see what he had produced so far.
When I entered the building, Anijen was busy sharpening a plowshare. There were six unsharpened katana blades hanging from a rafter, so I walked over to take a look at them. Right away, one caught my eye. The blade contained many more interleaves than the others, and the variegated effect was striking to see. The symmetry of the blade was something I would have never been able to produce. It was an absolutely beautiful sword blade.
As I was admiring the blade, Anijen had put aside the plowshare and joined me.
“Anijen, this is a beautiful blade. How did you make it?”
“Donta, I tried several different methods, and this blade came out the best so far. I heated and worked the metal twenty-two times. Each time, I folded the metal and hammered it to weld it to the other layers in the fold. Then, I would quench it in water. On the final fold, I heated the blade until it was cherry red and then coated it with clay. The clay was applied starting just after where the cutting edge will be honed at the tip and became thicker as it moved towards the back of the blade. I then quenched the blade in water one final time.”
This was an interesting and very innovative approach. I thought, then said, “How strong is it?”
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