After that dark night within the walls of Tapestry, many events occurred like dominoes. Years passed, and time marched on. The city of Tapestry became a hot bed of discussion for a while, and in a while that too passed as all things do.
A completely spherical room, the walls eroded down to a perfect shiny sheet of stone.
Infinite Years of constant bombardment of universe laws. Light and energy danced on the stones casting brilliant colors across the Elders Hall. In the middle of the room several beings sat, aged and seemingly frail - but if anyone were to stand in their presence, a weight like that of the world would press on their shoulders.
The elders heatedly discussed over a book which had been brought to their attention by Liter, who sat in the middle of the circle keeping his eyes down and trying to disperse the massive amounts of power around him.
"After reading through the book and comparing it to events of the past I can say with almost 90 percent certainty that the power of the Ancestor is not infinitely divisible."
The topic of course was Noone, a child who had been born without any universe or elemental energies inside him.
"So that means there is a limit...? to how many of us can exist?" The smallest elder in the crowd stepped out, he was half the height of every other individual in the room and was attuned to the universal laws of air, specifically on compressing and expanding air.
"I am afraid that is so." Elder Azelle said gravely. "When the ancestor came here an infinity ago, he protected us from the coming calamity but was gravely wounded. He passed down his heritage to us as a security that his line would continue until a time where the world became re-inhabitable.
With his heritage we were gifted power to perceive the laws of the universe. His heritage flows through us."
Everyone nodded, this was all common knowledge for those willing to seek it out. As such most people by the time they reached 200 years of age had already come to know about these events an infinity ago.
"500,000 years ago, a water-attuned elder had hypothesized…" he gestured down to the book in front of the librarian, "that this heritage would not be infinitely indivisible. And if a time came when there were more people than his heritage could support, then ones would be born as they were before the ancestor had come. Unable to sense the laws of the world."
Worry crossed the faces of all the elders present… what would this mean for their future?
"So… Noone?"
Elder Azelle nodded. Noone was the first recorded instance of this happening.
None of the elders knew what to say, this was truly worrying. At this point a noise came from the librarian. All the elders looked down at him and realized he was trying to form words but was a bit overwhelmed by the pressure in the room. The elders took the initiative to repress their aura.
Though Liter was younger than any given elder by at least 300 years, he was very well read. Possibly the most well read in the city. His entire life had been spent in the library, reading records of the past.
Liter was born with a Universal attunement not to an element, but to the laws of knowledge. Thus, like his predecessor before him, he was assigned to and taught everything about the keeping of the histories.
"Thank you elders!" he said a bit too loudly, "Honestly... is this really that big of a problem?" The elders looked at him waiting for him to continue.
"What I mean to say is… even if individuals are born without an attunement, it does not take away from the heritage at all. It won't dilute the heritage of the ancestor, it would merely be an event of adding to our numbers. In fact! It might even be cause to celebrate! The reason we have such a hard time reproducing is exactly because of the passing of the heritage. These individuals born without that however probably have a much higher reproduction capability!"
He looked at the elders and the elders looked around to each-other. Liter did have a point, to increase numbers was never a bad thing, and they had more than enough resources to allow for a population boom.
"Also," Elder Azelle added in "I am sure you have all noticed that though he wasn't born with any Universe laws, he has some special attributes of his own."
Wry smiles filled the room, even the librarian was not immune. Noone was a mischievous child in many ways. His strength was far higher than it should be for a boy of six. Thus, he was able to get into endless trouble and no one could stop him except for the elders as he would escape too quickly. His young body allowed him to be quite nimble when fleeing.
"The other day we caught him swimming in the floating fruit gardens with Adria!" One elder cried out indignantly as the topic turned to Noone's mischievousness. "He could have disrupted the whole ecosystem there had we not got there in time."
"We found him snuck in the food storage with Adria eating an entire barrel of cured bird meat!" A second elder in charge of the food distributions.
…
…
"He snuck into my home and switched out all the water stones to sand! When I tried to take a shower…" The uncle of Adria cried out.
Everyone had started to notice… why was it that every complaint about Noone, Adria happened to be there?
As everyone realized what had happened, they didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Adria was so devious!
…
The meeting was adjourned, and everyone went their separate ways. Those related to Adria all happened to head off in the same direction with an unusual haste.
Elder Azelle got back to his quarters and let out a sigh. "Come out now."
The elder turned to look at the doorway, Noone who was now six years old, quietly stepped around the corner. Turning to look up at Elder Azelle, a lot of thoughts could be seen going through his eyes.
Because he had been born attune-less, no one could sense him unless they were looking specifically. The people of tapestry rely on their common heritage to communicate and understand each other; thus, they always knew when they are near one another.
This gave Noone a free pass as long as he was out of sight.
The elder walked over to a chair and sat down, sighing as he sank into it. He picked up Noone, setting the young boy on his knee. After a few probing questions, he began to explain everything that was talked about within the Elders Hall. Elder Azelle always believed in being completely open with Noone.
"So that's how it is." He said, his slightly scratchy and unused voice not entirely unpleasant.
Noone wasn't sure what he wanted to say. He felt unsure about a lot of things. For such a young child, it was a lot to think about.
"I am sorry I caused so much trouble for everyone elder."
"No no please. I know that it is Adria who influences you, in fact it should be me who is apologizing. I know you don't know any other way, but… it must be lonely."
Noone did not say anything. He did not fully understand "lonely" but… he could tell the elder understood.
"But no matter what Noone, you must always remember that you are Family. You are one of the people of Tapestry no matter what. If you are the first of the attune-less, then so be it. Anyone born after you will be treated just the same." Although Noone could not feel the emotion behind the elders words the way the attuned can feel each other's emotions, he could tell how serious the elder was.
"Alright now get going. Go see Adria, I am sure she is in need of some entertainment after the scolding she got!" The elder laughed and the room filled with a gentle air.