All in all, I think we must trust Liwa

Magenta closed his book.

"What a day, what a day! Time for a documentary! Are you joining, Ix?" he asked.

“Yesss!” Ixia flew over to him and sat beside the bed.

"It’s today, right?"

"Yes, it is."

"Finally! You'll all be together again?"

"Yes, I never thought it would happen. I do hope it'll go well."

"Aren’t you worried for her?" asked Ixia.

"Should be ok. I know Vinyl can be complicated and I know what she’s been through.” He scratched his head. “… And our separation was very difficult last time. There’s probably some leftover animosity. But all in all, I think we must trust Liwa.

“She’s wonderful, isn’t she?"

"I wouldn't pretend to know anything about her...but so far, so good."

As their discussion went on, they soon realized they had been paying little attention to the documentary. It told the history of the number '0'; humans had started that journey in a land called Mesopotamia and had needed thousands of years and several civilizations to reach an understanding of that number and how to actually use it.

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Thousands of years. Just for such a mundane number. It's incredible, thought Magenta.

Captivated since his younger days by history, he pondered human ingenuity and how, through the ages, humanity had transcended physical limitations with consciousness and creativity. Without nature’s gifts in strength or camouflage, humans used language, collective wisdom, and introspective thought. They not only confronted but also conceptualized complex challenges, crafting solutions of their own.

Humanity had, however, led itself close to extinction; as all of humanity's tools, nature's gifts had many uses. And those tools had been misused - very few humans understood how near they had been to losing everything by failing to see and heed.

Much like a large ship on water, once humans set off on a course, they have trouble adjusting.

"Humans really faced a tough battle," Magenta observed. "Just look at their struggles. They had to fight for everything. Even water! Yet, they found time to think about the number '0'."

Ixia nodded.

"And limited space!" he exclaimed. "Imagine if two people wanted to build at the same place! What if they couldn’t work out a solution? The smarter one could back down, but why should you reward the stupid one? Should they both give up? Should someone else get the spot? There is no fair outcome! Yet they made it and laid the foundations for something as unfathomably complicated as Liwa to emerge. How did they achieve that?"

Ixia took pleasure in seeing Magenta’s passionate outbursts, more so than engaging in the debate herself. She shook her head, suggesting she did not know. A thin veil of dust was sprinkled onto the bedside.

She cleared the dust and cozied up against Magenta. He smiled at her, as she morphed into her human size. "That’s a more convenient size," he said, "and it’s more comfortable without the wings, I bet."

She giggled as she gazed into his eyes.

"Come here," he murmured, planting a gentle kiss on her forehead, then softly slid down to her lips. Goosebumps.

They both fell asleep for a short nap. The documentary faded away, as the name Brahmagupta was mentioned.