EN: time
FR: temps
ZH: 时间 (shíjiān)
JA: 時間 (jikan)
IT: tempo
DE: Zeit
ES: tiempo
RU: вре́мя (vrémya)
EO: tempo

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07. On your next return…

However, during a stopover, the “visitor”, as he was already known, was taken to task by a powerful, stern-looking figure. It was whispered that the God of war was irritated by this foreign presence, calling it heretical and scheming. “Tell me, stranger, the god began bluntly, what madness has brought you to these parts? How can you justify the risks you have incurred to gain access, and those you will have to face on your next return?”

WIVIWIC:
11. Leaving his promontory…

The visitor seemed troubled by this warning. He seemed different after this interview, as if the veiled threat of his powerful interlocutor had sounded the early hour of a reminder. Leaving his promontory ever earlier, and the sweets that always flowed there in great numbers, the man devoted himself with scrupulous diligence to consulting all those who would welcome him into their activities.

WIVIWIC:
12. Difficult to keep track of time here…

And so the weeks and months went by, though it was difficult to keep track of time here. The man gleaned a wealth of disparate information, insignificant details, scattered knowledge. Here, as everywhere else, great divisions reigned. Everyone was attached to their own knowledge, culture, power and language, and made it a point of honor to share them only in exceptional circumstances. Here, as elsewhere, for the frog at the bottom of the well, the sky was the limit.

WIVIWIC:
13. The clepsydra…

Everyone was amused by the candor and naivety of such questioning, as well as by the nature of the useless correspondences this man was establishing between beings, words and things. From the manufacture of chamfers to that of the finest lace, from knowledge of the lunar calendar to the practice of the bouzkashi, from the use of the clepsydra to that of the koto, not one aspect of this abundance seemed to escape his collection.

WIVIWIC: