Chapter 6 - The hunger for what lies beyond

"This truly is amazing, I must admit I was a little sceptical about what you were doing Lead Astronomer but seeing this there is no way I can complain.". After the kids took turns looking through the telescope it was time for the emperor.

After looking he turned to me and said with a more serious face "With this your predictions should be more accurate am I correct?"

Yes, even in Shurima astronomy was still widely connected to the predictions of the future so I also had to give some insights into the future to maintain my position.

"Yes, in fact I have already done some studies about your future Your Majesty."

"Truly?!"

I nodded "I believe the Empress will soon show signs of pregnancy. Congratulations Your Majesty."

At my words, I noticed the mage boy jerk a little, followed by the happy face of the emperor almost jumping around in joy.

"Finally! I was starting to think that after the incident the shock had rendered the empress infertile."

As usual the fault lies in the woman. Although in this subject it makes sense since it isn't exactly a secret that the emperor has bastard children.

"Also, one more thing Your Majesty. As the full moon is rising, I won't be able to make predictions, during this time I was planning to find a disciple to pass my knowledge to."

"Ah yes, the full moon. Do not worry I already know how it works. I'd recommend looking through the slaves, that way it is impossible for your teachings to end in the wrong hands."

Once again, a flinch from the mage boy and the prince was now looking at him with worried eyes.

Although it is kept a secret between the higher ups, the new mage was originally a slave, that rose in the ranks because he saved the life of the prince in the same incident that took the life of all the other descendants of the emperor.

…

This week, the full moon was out which means it is a lot harder to see the celestial bodies shining in the sky.

On Earth, with the naked eye a normal human can see about 5000 stars in the sky (with little to no light pollution), that number rises 100 fold with binoculars and even more with amateur telescopes, with a full moon however you can only see about 300.

That was why I was now wondering around the capital; I am trying to find someone to pass my knowledge to. Why you ask? To pass on my knowledge to future generation of course, I won't die but I do not want to keep the beauty of the cosmos to myself. It is something that deserves and must be shared through the population.

I must say I am a little adverse to acquiring slaves, but that is how society works in this time period so I have to adapt.

I admit, I also want a disciple to work as my assistant. Most of the brilliant minds in the field of astronomy had assistants, so it's a little fantasy of mine.

Let's take Kepler(1571 - 1630) for example, the man who found the Laws of Planetary Motion, wrote "Astronomia Nova" a book that contains his ten year long investigation of the motion of Mars, influenced sir Isaac Newton providing one of the foundations for the theory of universal gravitation and, not in astronomy, was considered the father of science fiction for his "Somnium" novel, the story about a boy and his witch mother.

This amazing man, Johannes Kepler, was the assistant of Tycho Brahe (1546 - 1601), the man who built the first large observatory in Christian Europe and the man who dedicated his entire life to observing the stars. Tycho loved observing the stars, having even witnessed a supernova in the sky (SN 1572, SuperNova 1572, the year of discovery), but he had a problem… He hated math, that is where Kepler comes as an assistant to the, at the time, official Imperial Astronomer of Prague, Tycho.

For one year, Kepler was an assistant of Tycho, after which he died. During Kepler's life, he used the data gathered by Tycho during his lifetime to develop his own three Laws of Planetary Motion.

In short, if you don't like math, get someone to do it for you!

The slave market wasn't all that bad I must say. The slaves were well taken care of and didn't look to be receiving bad treatment. Although I guess that is because only the "top" slaves were for sale while the rest worked for the empire. As usual, society was built on cheap labour and controlled minds. There's nothing we can do.

There were a few conditions that my apprentice needs to have:

Be young. As a little human, it's easier for them to acquire knowledge and they will have more time to learn.

Be healthy. I don't want them dying soon after I taught them.

It's nothing strict really, pretty sure I can find one easily.

…

I stand corrected. It is in fact not that easy. It was almost night, and I still haven't found anyone.

It was at this time that I found a singular child. Seating in the floor, beneath the tent, with a lot of other slaves.

Her skin wasn't that dark but there was quite a bit of tan. Blue eyes, and not so full cheeks, her brown hair was quite long being all braided into one big braid.

She was patiently looking at the sky, as the sun went down.

In that child, probably no older than 12, I saw something I hadn't seen in Runeterra. A passion for the stars. The hunger for the knowledge of what was out there, and the acceptance that she will never know what lies beyond the boundaries of the small world she lives in.

…

A/N: Sorry for the slow updates. I have an exam tomorrow, two exams on Saturday and another one Monday so things aren't that easy at the time.

Also, really bad timing to be starting a LOL fanfic since Riot announced that will start working more on the lore and start covering some holes they left in it.