Frames of Liora: 3 Liora and the Mountain That Was Two

Beyond the valleys where rivers forgot their names, two villages lay on opposite sides of a single mountain. From the first village, it rose green and lush, crowned with flowers that glimmered in the sunlight. From the second, it loomed gray and jagged, cliffs cutting shadows into the mist. Scholars and travelers alike insisted there must be one “true mountain,” but every attempt to reconcile the views ended in argument.

Liora arrived at dawn, carrying only a pack and a quiet patience. She walked along the ridge that separated the two villages, listening first to the songs of the green slopes, then to the sighs of the barren cliffs. Each perspective was vivid, undeniable, but they could not be layered into one coherent image. The mountain itself seemed to resist the demand.

When she began to climb, she saw both sides at once: petals drifting into mist, jagged rocks reaching skyward, streams winding between them like hesitant lines. They were the same mountain, and yet not the same. Each view was true, each form actualised for the observer who stood there. To demand unity was to impose an impossibility.

The villagers gathered to watch her ascent. They asked, “Which side is the real mountain?”

She shook her head. “It is neither,” she said. “And it is both. But it cannot be fully seen from anywhere but here, where you stand.”

She traced the mountain’s contours with her hands, letting her fingers follow every slope, every crevice, every bloom. The air shifted with her motion, light catching petals and stones differently as she moved. She realised then that the mountain was not a singular object to be catalogued; it was a landscape of perspectives, each actualised in relation to a local observer.

By sunset, Liora returned to the ridge. She left no notes, no maps, only a sense of awe. The scholars, still arguing about which side was correct, had missed the lesson: the mountain did not need to be integrated to be real. It existed, profoundly and fully, in every perspective that met it.

Liora smiled and walked on. Somewhere beyond the ridge, another horizon awaited — one that could not be captured in a single glance, yet could be inhabited by those willing to step into it.