Connector Chen

Chen — whose full name was Chen-Lao, often shortened to just Chen — grew up in a household of negotiators. His parents were mediation specialists in the kingdom's capital. They were civil servants. They resolved arguments between merchants. They settled disputes between neighbors. They helped guilds find common ground. They even helped landowners and their tenants. The kingdom had a long history of informal mediation. Chen's parents were known as the best.

Young Chen watched his parents work. He saw that connecting people meant understanding them deeply. Did two parties need to agree on something? Then they needed to be joined by a shared decision. Did they need to contrast with each other? They might disagree, but they still had to coexist. Did one party need to act if something else happened? Or because something was true? Or while something else was going on? Each problem needed a different kind of link.

He noticed these were the same logical relationships that conjunctions showed. The word and joined parties in agreement. But showed a contrast between them. Because signaled a cause for something. If signaled a condition. While signaled two things happening at the same time. Although signaled a concession.

Chen was fifteen when he recognized this connection. He started to categorize his parents' mediations. He thought about which conjunction would best describe the relationship. The argument between the baker and the miller? That was an and-case. Both wanted access to the same well. The brewer and the tavern had a but-case. The brewer wanted bigger barrels, but the tavern wanted smaller ones. The cobbler and his tenant had a because-case. The tenant couldn't pay because his sheep had died. Chen's categorizations were always right.

When Chen was nineteen, he walked to the GrammarForge academy. He carried a thick notebook. Inside, he had categorized six hundred dispute-resolutions. Each one was linked to a conjunction-relationship. The academy master read the notebook with great interest. He appointed Chen to the diplomat role immediately.

Chen has been the academy's conjunction-teacher for fourteen years.

In his classroom, he starts every first-day lesson the same way. On his desk sits a small wooden cube. It has seven faces labelled. (Chen had the academy carpenters make it. A cube usually has six faces. But Chen asked for seven. The seventh is the underside. He calls it "the secret seventh face.") The faces read: and, but, because, although, while, if, or. He rolls the cube. He turns to the class. He says: "The face that lands up tells us today's conjunction. Today we learn it."

He demonstrates. The cube lands on and. He says: "And joins equals. Like, The dog and the cat slept. Two equal subjects joined. Or, The dog slept and the cat slept. Two equal clauses joined. And signals both, equally."

He rolls again. But. He says: "But joins contrasts. Like, The dog slept, but the cat woke up. Two clauses joined with a difference between them. But signals however, by contrast."

He continues through each face. Because joins a cause to its effect. If joins a condition to its consequence. Although joins a concession to a main point. "A concession," he explains, "is something you admit. Like, Although it was raining, we still went to the park. You admit the rain, but you still went." While joins two things happening at the same time. "This is simultaneity," he says. "Like, While the dog slept, the cat watched the birds. Both actions happen together." Or joins alternatives.