10 The One Collective

"Now you're scaring me, Magus Asada. You know I can't see as well as you do." I said as we reached the clearing at the center of the bamboo forest.

The rustling, creaking sounds of the bamboo forest gave way to the twittering of the sparrows and the trickling of the spring as it gushed out of the rock cropping, into the koi pond.

I paused to take in the beauty and serenity of Magus Asana's pond. It was a masterpiece of artistry.

The sun's rays sparkled as the dappled waters danced and flirted with the photons bouncing off its glassy surface tension. The forest grass that grew along the koi pond was of a different type than what grew at the bocce ball court.

Its chartreuse arching leaves plumed out and fell downwards in a graceful sphere, drooping and swaying in the afternoon breeze. The grass clumps

gave definition and dimension to the landscape, adding bright gold-green color spots to the deep green bamboo stalks with their bright red nodes.

Amidst the greens and golds was the deep red of a graceful arching wooden bridge spanning the diameter of the pond.

We followed the dirt path leading up to the bridge ahead. As Magus Asada walked, she spoke.

"Augury is over-rated. Look deep within and your soul will be able to discern the truth from falsehood. It will guide you through the most harrowing of times and situations."

"Still, you are the only Augurer in Topaz, and since you don't teach, we don't have any Augury classes at the Academy, just a basic Scrying class taught by Professor Pomello. If you ever decide you would like to teach, I would be first in line to sign up for your class."

"There needs to be no other Augurer. There is nothing worse than seeing what is to pass and not being able to do anything to avert the crisis."

"It surely couldn't hurt."

"The foreknowledge of an Augurer is not as useful as one might think. It comes to pass that the very action that one attempts in order to avert a crisis is the very thing that propels the crisis forward to its preordained climactic end."

"But that may not be for every case…"

"In ALL cases, it would have been better to have done nothing at all and let the chips fall where they may." She stressed the word. "There would have been less stress expended, less brain cells divested, and far less lives wasted if we just left well enough alone."

"Well, it would have helped me today, if I had been an Augurer. I would have declined the job delivering books to a classroom. It seems to have turned into the crux of all my problems."

Magus Asada smiled and did not respond to my complaint.

As we approached the bright red curved bridge over the koi pond, she looked out toward the body of water.

"Tell me, Nana. How many koi are in the pond?"

I looked out toward the pond. There were quite a few that were visible, their orange and white bodies in constant motion under the water's surface.

This was not a counting question. Magus Asada's questions were never that simple.

In any case, I knew that there was no accurate method of physically counting the fish because for all the large koi that I could see, there were literally hundreds of fry hiding under the water lilies that I could not see.

Still, I had to try something so she would not feel as if I was taking her lightly.

I cast my mind out to the aggregate group of koi and greeted them. Their minds, tiny darts and slivers of intelligence, bubbled upwards like countless effervescent sparkles of consciousness, calling out their silent greeting in a crested wave of collective intelligence.

There were so many of them. I had no way to count their numbers effectively. Since their minds were in constant flux, I had to cast the question to the group as a single entity, rather than ask a single koi.

I cast out a question.

'How many of YOU are there?'

'There is only ONE of US.'

The answer surprised me. They had all answered in the same manner.

I saw the pond, and then I saw the koi. And then I understood Magus Asada's question.

"One." I held out my finger, even though I knew she could not see it. "There is only One Collective."

"And you asked the ONE fish this question?"

"Yes. There were too many to focus in on each fish, so I treated them all as a single individual."

"How did it work for you?"

"It allowed me to communicate with the fish as a collective, and once I treated them as a collective, they began acting as a collective."

She nodded, satisfied with my answer. "Never forget. There is a time to focus on an individual mind. And then there is a time to focus on the collective mind. You must use your discretion and intuition to determine the most appropriate method of focus to utilize, based upon the environment and the situation you find yourself in."

"Yes, Magus Asada."

"So tell me." She paused at the top of the bridge with her face raised to the sun. "How are things out there in the Academy?"

I dawdled for a moment, wondering what was important and not important to tell her, and in that moment, Magus Asada had heard my hesitation.

"You are my eyes and ears. Tell me everything."

I nodded and quickly outlined the flash-freeze that I felt earlier in the morning near the jacaranda tree and the disruption around Alder Alley that had affected my bats. On a whim, I told her about the Demon book although I had pinky-sworn and thumb-sealed secrecy to Simon.

It wasn't that I was in the habit of breaking my promises. Far from it. But as far as I was concerned, he should know better than to trust a pinky-swear/thumb-seal with me, especially on something this scary.

And besides, he did say that the exception to this would be if I were to find someone who could help us. Quite possibly, Magus Asada would be that person!

She listened without interrupting me, and when I was done, she reached into her pocket and handed me a small bag.

"It is time to feed the koi. They always love it when you do the feeding."

I smiled and took the food from her. It didn't matter how many times I fed the fish, Magus Asada always said the same thing.

I sprinkled some of the fish flakes over the water and watched as the carp swirled and roiled, rising up to the surface for their fair share of the colored flecks.

"I don't think it matters who feeds them. They would probably be just as happy with the food if a primate caretaker fed them." I said as I sprinkled more food into the water for the fish.

"You have the ability to speak to them. Why don't you ask them yourself?"

I turned to her. I had never thought about asking them such a question. I just assumed that they wouldn't care who fed them, so long as they were fed.

I turned back to the koi. 'Do you enjoy being fed by me?' I asked the Collective One fish.

For a moment, nothing exciting happened, and then the waters began roiling and frothing.

A resounding 'YES!' bubbled up from the depths.

It was so loud that I jumped, nearly dumping the entire bag of feed into the water at once.

I giggled.

I needed to do one more test of their sentient ability.

'Do you like it that you glow in the dark?'

The fish swam around, silent. Maybe they didn't understand the question.

I was about to rephrase the question in a different manner when a single fish poked its head out of the water. 'Can you change us back?'

I lost it at that point, guffawing and holding onto my stomach. They were so smart, they had actually consulted with each other before electing one fish to carry the detailed response back to me.

Obviously, the Collective One Fish could only give general answers to questions--mostly of a Yes-No type. Anything more complex and detailed needed to be communicated via a single individual fish.

'I will do my best.' I responded to the fish and then turned to Magus Asada.

"No need to explain. I heard them." Magus Asada said as she tapped me on the shoulder. "Come with me."

She turned and led me off the bridge and past the willows by the pond.

There, amidst the rocks and clumps of smaller bamboos was a shrine temple. It was a brown wooden structure, unpainted and unadorned save

for the bronze door plates and handles, yet it was a thing of exquisite beauty.

The lintels supported a gently curved roof line, with brown ceramic roof tiles, extending over the ample veranda which encircled the temple, serving as outdoor forms of living space.

She moved towards the front entrance and slid the paper-covered wood framed wall to one side, revealing the inner room. I followed her into the temple and paused at the doorway to take off my sandals before stepping into the inner chamber.

It was cool and tranquil, and my eyes slowly grew accustomed to the shadowy darkness. The main inner chamber was an open area completely covered with large rectangles of pale beige tatami mats with bound black fabric around its edges.

At the far end of the temple sat a stone Buddha. He was chubby, larger-than-life, and he was grinning at us. His eyes looked as if they followed my every move, as some statues are wont to do.

Normally Buddha statues did not spook me out, but this one seemed a bit too real for my taste.

"Wait here for me." Magus Asada said and then walked towards the back of the temple. She stood in front of the chubby grinning Buddha, a frail figure clad in her black robe, with her long unadorned silver white hair falling down her back.

Unfazed by his cheerful countenance, she raised her hands up into the air and moved her fingers in a wiggling, rolling motion.

Buddha laughed, his belly shaking and quivering with mirth. It was a nice round hearty chuckle, and he bowed his head to the Magus. She shimmered for a moment and then disappeared.

Okay, so this was not a normal statue.

I was not expecting it to be normal, it being Magus Asada's home, but a fully-animated, six-foot tall, seated statue was a bit much, even for mages.

I stood near the door, just in case I had to bolt, and waited for her to reappear. After half an hour, I began squirming and shifting my weight from one foot to another.

"Aren't your legs tired?"

I gave a startled shriek and looked about.

There was no one in the room but me.