Needing no further urging, I leapt from my bed, sat down across from him at the table, and began partaking greedily of the hearty breakfast of hash browns and pancakes, which were pleasing to my mouth and stomach, for the tastes in food are controlled more by the condition of the body than by the time of day. When I had satisfied my needs, we reclined in our chairs and began conversing: "Tell me," I said, "Did my untimely slumber yester eve cause any irritated prides?" "Quite to the contrary, the council was well humored and followed your lead to their bed chambers." "I am relieved to hear it, for I was anxious of appearing lax in ardor or animation." "Not so, my friend, you are quite exonerated from doubtful thoughts. There is a session planned for this evening though, so may yet feel yourself put on trial." "Unfortunate," said I, "But surely they can mean no harm, am I not the kinsman redeemer, after all?" "Yes, you are," Bernibus said with a look of subdued apprehension, "We have an end in view, though the means are as yet not wholly decided. It is a complicated situation." I smiled softly, "So is always the case." "In truth it is: time reveals all things yet do all things reveal time?" "What do you mean?" I asked him. "Our situation is complicated by differing views of time, and I was wondering aloud if history and the present reality disclose the truth about time in the same way that time reveals the truth of the present. If our way were more illuminated, the journey would be easier." "Perhaps that is why men look to the well lit paths of history, or to the dim conjectures of the future rather than the dark, yet detailed ways of present." "Perhaps," he said, "But the present is so fleeting that it holds little intrigue." "Even so, it is the stage, not still waiting behind the curtain, nor already performed." "Yet the past controls by influences and prejudices, justified or not, and it will doubtless be the view of the council that the past must be redone, that the problems be addressed at the source," Bernibus replied. "I am still in the dark about all your inferences," I said. "My apologies, I forget myself. But let us not dwell on subjects which may become quite exhausted in the near future, for better or worse," he told me. "Fair enough," I returned, acceding to the subject change, and jumping on the opportunity to steer it in a different direction, "I know little of you, Bernibus, so tell me all." "There isn't much to tell," he coyly responded. "Nonsense, Bernibus, tell me or I shall get very angry," I jested, imitating some mythological god's wrath. He smiled discreetly and yielded to my request, "Very well, I will tell you. I was born in the year 490 D.V. (that is, Durante Vita), to a poor couple from the northernmost pier of Daem, the Gog."