As Momj was washing off his plate and Ikan sipping up the last of his milk at the bottom of the bowl, voices came from down the hall.
“…but Socrates said—“
“I don’ care! Plato said—“
“Quiet, both of you!”
Mutters followed the last statement, and Kaikura and Sylvana came in. They were the Masters of Ground and Plant, respectively. Behind them came Fonda and Silas, their respective apprentices. Sometimes it seemed that those two were always arguing philosophy. It got annoying sometimes, but it was bearable. Most of the time anyway…
They started getting their own breakfasts, but a tension was building. Fonda and Momj didn’t exactly like each other, but it was a civil dislike. After a minute, Momj shook himself and said, “Well, I’d better be off to morning meditation! Brooks, Ikan, where are you doing yours?”
“Waterfall room,” Ikan stated.
Brooks offered, “Would you like to join us?”
“No thanks,” Momj replied. “I’m sitting in my window this morning. I can really get a sense of the state of things all around that way, you know?"
“I guess that’s right, you being windy and all,” Fonda muttered. Momj winced.
“Good meditating!” Silas remarked.
“Thanks!” Momj told him with a laugh. Then he clattered up the stairs to his room.
The apprentices usually had three meditations each day, one in the early morning, one just after lunch, and one in the evening. The exception to this rule was generally Darice, who usually meditated at night.
Momj entered his room and grabbed four cushions from the corner and picked his way over to the window and opened it. Momj’s room was always a total mess, which is why Aria didn’t go in there often. So, Momj put one cushion on the window sill and sat on it. Then he put one on either side of him, to support him. Finally, he folded the last in half and placed it between his head and the window bar, then straightened. “There,” he said to himself. Now he was supported on all sides, and ready to meditate without falling off his window sill.
Momj began his breathing pattern. Then, when he had settled into that, he began to empty his mind. He let the wind blow past him, bringing him sensations of the landscape around him. He let his mind drift over the main town of the Old Mars Reserve, Trader’s Haven. A haven for wild types; it had saloons, a church, a small school house, and, Momj’s favorite, an arcade. Then, he slipped over the walls bordering the Reserve and into the rest of Mars. There were cities, oceans, and forests. Momj was usually wary outside the Reserve, because he wasn’t always liked out there. He slipped his mind around the polar regions, with ski resorts, wildlife refuges, and the wild expanses of ice.
Then he emptied his mind. He centered himself and sat, in peace, for a time. His eyelids fluttered, and his breathing was regular. He might’ve fallen out of the window, but his cushions kept him in place.
Eventually, he came out of the trance. Carefully, he climbed backwards out of the window, gathering the cushions into his arms and dumping them in the corner. He stretched out the kinks in his muscles, and yawned. There was a tap on the door.
“Yes?” called Momj.
“Are you done meditating?” Aria’s voice called through.
“Yep!”
“Well, those new theories in mathematics came in from the MMS last night; do you want to look at them? I hear they’re very advanced.”
A wide grin spread across Momj’s face. “Advanced theories in math from the MMS!?! Stop the presses, ‘cause here comes Momj the mathematician!” He raced out of his room, rushed past Aria, clattered down the stairs, and slid up to the computer terminal.
The MMS was short for the Martian Mathematical Society. They were the foremost mathematicians on Mars, and they regularly sent theories to Aria for Momj to look at. Momj was a mathematical prodigy, able to do Calculus in his head when he was eleven! He would find mistakes, comment on the theories, and send the information back. Sometimes he even sent them theories of his own, usually ideas out of dreams that he had jotted down on a piece of paper before he went back to sleep. They were always delighted to have those. And so he sat down and worked for a while.