“Diligence without innovation leads only to stagnation. Ironically enough, in most eras, it is the lazy who come up with the innovative ideas on how to improve various things, simply because they wanted a way to do things easier.” - Anwar Sudemos, Philosopher from Ptolodecca, circa 295 VA.

“What’s on your mind, Áine?” asked Kino as she noticed the mostly elven girl lost in thought.

The four of them were on their break after some morning lessons with their tutors. Since Áine, Rhys, and Eilonwy were children of the Bone Lord’s personal disciples – both of their mothers had that status – their tutors were also some of the very best that the Lichdom could offer. Kino had taken a while to catch up to them, but once she did, the four were quite comfortable around each other.

“Just thinking about what Master Sudemos told us earlier today, Kino,” said Áine in reply. The three of them called Kino directly by her name since she was their classmate, age difference notwithstanding. “I wonder if being lazy might actually be more helpful to the overall situation than being diligent? Does the thought also occur to you?”

“You mean what teach said about how the lazy come up with the innovations that make things easier?” chimed in Eilonwy from the side. “I guess it makes some sense, in a way. If all you do is to diligently follow what you’ve learned and never try to find new and more effective ways to do things, there wouldn’t be any change.”

“Speak for yourself, sister,” grumbled Rhys from where he sat next to Eilonwy. Out of the three siblings, Rhys was the one who was most diligent in his studies, while Eilonwy by far the laziest. Yet Eilonwy also did better than her twin brother most of the time, in many ways embodying what their teacher had said to them just earlier that day. “Not everyone can be like you.”

“It’s called talent, brother, but yes, I do feel some kinship to what teach preached to us today,” replied Eilonwy in a teasing way. She was the most active and naughtiest of the three siblings, though she knew well enough to not mess around with their tutors. “What do you think, Kino? Think the lazy are the ones who pave the road to the future?”

“I cannot tell, really,” admitted Kino. “I don’t think I’ve learned enough to have a proper say in matters like these, there is still so much unknown out there,” she added even while she absent-mindedly juggled a dozen ever-shifting shapes made of void magic casually with one hand, part of her usual practice. “Maybe I can give you an answer in a century or two?”

“That’s one way to skimp on answering, but I’ll take it,” said Eilonwy with a giggle. For most the idea of waiting a century or two for an answer would sound absurd, but since the three siblings were mostly elven in heritage, they would easily live for seven to eight hundred years at the least, while Kino being an unliving would most likely outlive even them. “Also, I think you fall into that rare category teach mentioned, Kino. You’re diligent like my brother, but you also don’t just stick to what the books say.”

“To be fair, Eilo, there’s not many books for her to learn from either,” said Áine, who was the oldest of the three siblings, using Eilonwy’s nickname. “Nor does she have many that could teach her in the ways of her affinity, unlike us,” added the girl. Áine was of the Mortality affinity, while Rhys and Eilonwy were of Life and Death respectively. It was easy for the three of them to find people who can teach them, with Áine and Eilonwy often getting directly taught by their mothers, but the same could not be said for Void affinity mages like Kino.

Doubly so since the talent she showed had already eclipsed the few void mages present in the Lichdom as it was.

“Master said that I will need to find a path that is my own in life,” said Kino, at the moment still unaware of the full identity of her ‘Master’ as the Bone Lord insisted she call him instead of all sorts of other honorifics she had heard others address him by. “There are too few of my kind out there, so there’s few roads already taken by others for us to follow. Instead, we have to open our own paths to advance.”

“That’s one way of putting it. Damn, though, I sure envy you for being able to learn directly from Grandmaster,” said Eilonwy. Many of their tutors were direct disciples of the Bone Lord, so by seniority the Bone Lord would be their Grandmaster, unless he took fancy to one of them and elevated them to a direct disciple later. “Few have that opportunity. You’re really lucky to have it.”

“Is Master that influential?” asked Kino with some confusion. While she had seen many people address the old Grandpa who taught her with all sorts of honorifics, she didn’t precisely know what those meant, so she had no clue on his actual standing and had thought of him as a respected elder of sorts, like the ones she had seen in the villages they passed on the way to the Lichdom.

“Oh, boy, she has no idea, doesn’t she, brother?” asked Eilonwy to her twin with a shake of her head. As natives to the Lichdom they had been made aware of the Bone Lord’s importance very early in their life. “Then again, if Grandmaster didn’t see fit to tell her, I don’t think we should intervene either, don’t you agree?”

“For once, I think you have the right of it, sister,” admitted Rhys while he also shook his head with some consternation. “It will be better for Kino to learn of this on her own, rather than for us to spoil it for her. What do you think, big sister Áine?”

“You two are already in agreement, no need to ask me about it,” replied Áine with a slight smile on her lips. All the while Kino looked at the three siblings with some confusion on her face as she had no inkling what they were talking about. “You’ll find out about Grandmaster’s identity when he feels it’s time for you to learn it, Kino, so don’t sweat too much over it.”