Gio had always known everything.
He knew that he had surpassed human standards long ago, that the spirits of the dead had gathered in great numbers within Dana the Anti-Cat, and how others perceived him.
“He simply attaches no great significance to it.”
Aria continued as she swirled a glass flask.
“That is why he appears to know nothing despite knowing everything.”
“Teacher’s strangely extreme indifference has astonished those around him since long ago.”
“Considering that, it does not appear to be a trait that developed after he became a Portrait.”
Had Gio not consistently behaved that way even when he was wholly human?
“It truly is peculiar, is it not?”
“Teacher has always been special.”
“I cannot decide whether to call him special or peculiar…”
“He does think in an unusual manner.”
“It is a disposition rarely found among humans.”
Gio was no longer human. He was a Portrait, a Divinity, and a vast Mystery beyond comparison even to any of those things. He was loved by the Structure and had become one with it.
“If he wished, my teacher could accomplish anything.”
Yet those many Authorities held no value for Gio.
“The astonishing part is that he can accept them as mere individual traits.”
“Did he not perceive even the former Sun God’s Divinity as a personal trait?”
“Even though it was the Divinity of the god I served. The sheer absurdity…”
Had he simply failed to understand its value, Aria could have accepted it easily. But Giovanni had once been the most beloved priest and one of the Sun’s most promising talents.
Such a person could not possibly have been ignorant of Divinity’s value and position. It could only be an impossible degree of audacity—or indifference. Aria continued as she organized flasks filled with every variety of liquid.
“What in the world would it take to make him stop considering himself human?”
And thereby make him disappointed in humanity.
Despite his countless powers and vast stature, Gio firmly believed they could not make him anything…