Dusts of Avalon - Beastwithin.org

IX. K Reven bigger news. We have located Avalon. Let's just say that merlin refuses togive the coordinates to you, unless you sele your… squabbles. And I think thatwould what I would do, too.”“Doctor”, Arthur said with a more jolly tone, “I give my solemn vow that Ishall work together in a civil manner with my fellow Knights to rediscover theancient tombs of Avalon.”“And I shall solemnly vow the same, doctor”, Lancelot said.“Excellent. When you are done with your repairs, we can head toward thefamous island. I can't wait to see it. Dr. Merrywood is already on his way there.”“So what exactly happened?” Dr. Grovepath said, and seemed a lile bit confused.“It's quite hard to say what actually went in their minds”, Merlin said, “but Ican take a few guesses.” Merlin smiled, if that robotic expression could be calledthat. “I told him before that he is no longer a man. He is a ghost of a man. Spiritof a man. Essence of a man.”“But he doesn't seem to have realised what that really means, until now.”“at seems to be the case. I did add a device to his Steed that could eithermake him realise that fact, one way or another.”“e lance?”“A person of wits, who saw that device, would have laughed at it. e Knightsare people who act through ideals to strive for. For a Knight, a cylinder of rothat is called a Steed is not a transportation device; it is a steed. If I call a lance-likedevice a lance, then to them, it is a lance.”“I see. is makes mu sense, actually.” Dr. Grovepath said. “So what youare saying is that the knights are just ideas?”“What is a ghost but an idea that continues to exist?” Merlin said. “at wasone of Morgan's favourite notions in her later years. Knights perish, but their idearemains. Valour, honour, virtue. Why can't the abstract ideas simply take concreteforms that, coincidentally, resemble what they were in the past? Can a Knight betaken apart, separated to fundamentals, and reassembled to form another Knight?e lance is not lance, it is a ghost of lance. e Knights are reborn as knights asthey always wanted to be. Part of them come from knights as they existed. Partof them comes from their own imagination, aspirations, and ideals.”“And you put that lance there to make them understand that just because anidea of a Steed that can carry knights to the orbit exists, they shouldn't take thingstoo literally? About the Steeds, about themselves… about anything?”“Yes. And at the same time, that is also what they should be doing. ey mustkeep doing what they were born to do, but they must never forget that things haveanged. Fundamentally.”“And more things ange, the more they stay the same. I can see it now. ey