Thawed Fortunes (3 page)

"Because you'll look like whiners who are
just out to make life hard for him even if it means wasting
everyone else's time."

On'li smiled at the succinct summary.
"Exactly. It costs less for Ja'dir to oppose us than it does for us
to push the sponsorship through because he looks like the voice of
reason that's upholding the status quo, while we are the reckless
firebrands who want to create an exception to a time-honored way of
doing things. All for a boy who they believe may be dangerously
unsuited for candidacy in the first place."

Javin shifted in satisfaction and contributed
to the conversation for the first time. "Only it looks like he
misjudged A'vril this time. She's aware he's the one wasting
everyone's time just to make our lives more difficult."

Mar'li shrugged. "That much makes sense, but
why the rest?"

"While everyone is truly grateful that the
bandits have been eliminated, A'vril is the kind who believes there
are never any exceptions to the letter of the law. I think she
expects that where the law is too rigid, saintly people will
knowingly sacrifice themselves to accomplish whatever needs to be
done, knowing they will be punished to uphold the law."

The younger woman shuddered as she realized
the full implications of what her sister-wife was saying. "That is
horrid. How can she really believe that?"

On'li shrugged. "We're all a bit more
pragmatic in our view on such things. We hold to the idea that the
spirit of the law must be observed, which for all intents and
purposes usually means the same thing as observing the letter of
the law, but sometimes justice isn't really served by punishing
those who've acted for the greater good."

Mar'li took On'li's now empty cup and poured
her more tea. "So she would really punish Va'del, Jain and Cindi
for accomplishing more than anyone could have reasonably expected
of them?"

"Yep, not only would she do it, but she'll do
it with a clear conscience, knowing all the while she wouldn't
necessarily have been willing to make the same kind of sacrifice if
their positions were reversed."

##

Garth felt cold anger flowing out before him
almost like a living thing. As he entered the room every
individual, from Alir, who was bound and shackled, to the officers
who'd practically begged to be present at the hearing, jumped.

"I won't ask you what you were thinking. I
don't particularly care. There are enough witnesses and physical
evidence to prove that you purposefully left Va'del in that cell
without food, water, light or heat."

Alir opened his mouth to protest and Garth
found himself standing before the prisoner, dagger in his hand, the
tip of it pricking the young man's throat.

"You haven't been given leave to speak. We're
still in a state of emergency and I'm empowered to execute known
traitors and cowards on my own authority, answerable only to the
Council. I can promise you that Council members Javin and On'li
would see to it that I'm fully vetted if I choose to kill you right
now."

One or two of Garth's officers were shifting
uneasily, unsure of the legitimacy of his threat, or possibly
appalled at the thought that he might really carry it out, but he'd
researched the matter carefully, and his rage was a tool that he
used, not one that used him.

"What you've done is a blot upon the honor of
the Guard and a betrayal of everything we've tried to create since
the Exodus. By rights you should die for this, but I want you to
live. Everywhere you go, you'll be an example, a warning to the
rest of my men and everyone else."

Garth looked at his second in command,
Levith. "Melt his weapons down and have the steel used for
something menial. Once that's done, he's to be assigned a constant
guard and worked eighteen cycles per day on the worst, most
dangerous jobs you can find. Next month he is to be moved to one of
the villages and forced to do the same kind of work. If he survives
a tour of every single settlement, we'll review his
punishment."

There weren't very many Daughters her age
currently in the Capital, so Jain found herself following the
younger girls down the corridors towards the Lore-master's
chambers. The matter of her discipline hadn't been broached yet, so
there was a chance she'd escape punishment altogether. It was a
slim chance, but she'd still generally decided it would be best if
she kept her head down and looked suitably repentant at all
times.

The question of whether or not she should be
going to listen to the ancient stories from the Exodus had been one
that Jain had debated for nearly a cycle. Going to what was
generally the highlight of any Daughter's week could easily be
construed as not being repentant enough, but not going would
probably be taken as a sign of defiance since that was where she
was technically supposed to be. In the end, she'd decided to go,
mostly because that was her best chance to see Va'del.

As always, the massive chamber started
filling up long before any of the youth were actually required to
arrive. The smooth walls arched around to form a half-moon, with
entrances on each end, one by which the girls arrived, with the
other being reserved for the Guard trainees and the candidates.

In a tradition that probably went back to
shortly after the arrival of the People to the series of natural
caves that would later become the Capital, the younger children
were relegated to the parts of the cavern closest to their
entrances. The older boys and girls all jockeyed for positions as
close to the center of the room as they could get.

Almost since the Exodus, it had been a sign
of prestige to sit right next to the dividing line between the boys
and the girls. Generally only the strongest boys and prettiest
girls managed to secure one of the prize spots that guaranteed them
a chance to make gurra eyes at whomever it was that had captured
their fancy.

It wasn't so much of an issue for the
guardsmen trainees, who married from the rest of the Capital's
population, but for the candidates and the Daughters, it was a
fairly ruthless competition. Each of them knew they were almost
guaranteed to marry one of the people listening to the Lore-master,
and there were simply not very many chances to mingle. Everyone
tried to make the absolute most of the few opportunities they
got.

Jain knew that pushing for one of the most
prized spots would probably be unwise since it would be a sign she
wasn't really as cowed as she was pretending. Va'del hadn't arrived
yet so she picked an open spot on the floor close enough to be able
to see the boys, but far enough away to preclude any possibility of
talking to one of them.

Where is he? Usually he's here before
now.

As Jain was scanning the other side of the
room hoping to see Va'del, Se'ath and Be'ter caught her eye. It
wasn't a surprise to see Se'ath sitting next to one of the younger
girls, who'd seized the opportunity provided by most of the older
girls having left, to stake out one of the most desired spots.
Be'ter on the other hand had been leading Mali on for months and
didn't have any place behaving so familiarly with one of the
younger girls.

Se'ath tossed his blond hair out of his eyes
and then shot Jain an inviting look that no doubt made her another
enemy among the younger girls, smiling when she refused to
acknowledge his presence.

Suddenly, just as Jain was nearly ready to
give up hope, Va'del stepped into the room. He scanned the room,
but didn't seem to see her, taking a seat near the younger boys,
rather than the prized spot he'd earned by besting Be'ter before
they'd left the Capital to deal with the bandits.

Jain tried to catch his eye, considered
standing and trying for a better spot now that he was here, but the
Lore-master rose from her chair and once her clear soprano rang
through the chamber, it was too late for anyone to move.

"I speak of times now long distant, but of
tales that influence us still. I speak of an event that takes place
after the Exodus began, after Tor'h stood off the hundred, fighting
for a full six color cycles to ensure the Goddess would be able to
lead the People away from the lowlands. The same lowlands which had
become overrun with terrible plagues. The same lands beset by the
many wars among the nobility, bursting the land asunder like a full
water skin left out in the cold."

There was a ripple of suppressed groans from
the boys' side of the room as the introduction told them that
tonight's story wouldn't be their favorite, the one about Tor'h. On
the other side of the room, more than one of the girls was smiling
now at the increased likelihood that the story would be about one
of the sisterhood, or possibly even the Goddess herself.

Despite her worry about Va'del, who still
hadn't looked her direction and who was displaying the hard, remote
face he used when the outside world got to be too much for him,
Jain found her own pulse quickening. The Lore-master's ritual
opening was designed to tantalize the listeners as much as it was
intended to help them place the story inside the framework of
histories that they already knew.

"We begin in a time after the Goddess had
successfully brought the People ever higher up the White Spike
Mountains until they found the crude series of caves which would
later be fashioned into our home. It was a time of difficulties,
when the Goddess' half-brother Tol'var also walked in flesh among
the People, spreading plague and doubts on the behalf of the dark
powers."

A wave of gasps ran through the cavern,
jumping between all of the younger children, and even some of the
older girls as they winced away from the sound of Tol'var's
name.

"The unbelief among the People was a source
of great distress to the Goddess, and She attempted many times to
win them away from the Corrupted One, but many were so blinded by
his lies as to believe Her nothing more than a common woman."

Jain was fairly sure she knew which story was
about to be told. It was one she'd heard before, but not often, and
it pulled at her attention, trying to distract her from worry over
Va'del.

"One of the most blinded of the People was
the warrior Ed'wer who'd sworn blood oath to the Corrupted One.
Although power was not given to the Evil One's allies to harm the
Goddess, the limitations She'd accepted to come help Her people in
the flesh allowed them to vex Her sorely on several occasions."

The Lore-master's voice seemed to vibrate
through the room until it filled Jain, pulling at her and making
the story seem something she was remembering from her own
experiences rather than something handed down for more years than
anyone could count.

"The worst of these offenses against the
Goddess was committed by Her brother when he ordered Ed'wer and his
companions to break into Her chamber at night and spirit Her away
to a secret prison hewn out of the living rock. It was a dark time
for the People. The Goddess' followers searched for Her, but the
network of caves was large, and many of them became lost in the
darkness never to be seen again."

Despite the lure of the story, Jain tore her
eyes away from the Lore-master, looking instead over at Va'del,
hoping she'd be able to catch his eye. He'd always loved the
Lore-master's stories, but he'd never before let himself be pulled
so far into them as to completely ignore her like this.

"It is said that during this dark time even
the Goddess Herself feared Her mission here would be thwarted. As
it always will though, the Corrupted One's true nature showed
through, and he continued to inflict plagues upon the People, even
those who had fallen under his influence. In this way, Ed'wer's
daughter, his only remaining link to her mother, and the only
person he loved more than his evil liege, fell ill from the
creeping plague."

The boys were still pretending disinterest,
but the girls all sat up straighter, pulled in by the thought of
how painful it must have been to watch a loved one die by stages,
slowly losing all feeling in their limbs over the course of several
weeks.

"Worry over his daughter's sickness preyed
upon Ed'wer's mind. He thought it unjust that someone so innocent
should die, but it was widely known that only the Goddess was
capable of curing the plague."

Of course, the Evil One can't cure, he can
only destroy.

"And so, after many days of agony, Ed'wer
forswore himself and fought his fellow guardsmen in an attempt to
free the Goddess."

Suddenly the room around Jain seemed to
disappear, to lose importance and form beside the realization that
her conscious mind had been trying to protect her from. Va'del
wasn't involved in the tale, he was doing his best to ignore her,
to pretend that she didn't exist.

What did they do to him to make him not want
me?

The story continued on, and
after the Lore-master finished up, someone got up and read several
passages from the
Teachings
, but Jain never heard a
word of any of it.

##

Va'del wrapped his coat
more tightly around himself as he cautiously made his way through
the near-darkness towards the hot spring where he'd met with Jain
so many times before, but the chill seemed to ignore the bulky
garment. Try as he might, Va'del couldn't seem to keep his
breathing even, and it was only partly due to the
post-incarceration weakness that still plagued
him. 
What if she isn't
there?
 The thought echoed through
Va'del's mind as it had for nearly two days, leaving little room
for anything else, despite the fact that there were other things he
should be worrying about as well.

The more he thought about what Guadel A'vril
had said, the more he worried that she'd been trying to prepare him
for how badly things were going to go when the Council finally got
around to disciplining him and Cindi for the link. On'li had
mentioned that Jain, being a Daughter still, would be disciplined
by her instructors and the Mistress of the Daughters rather than
having to go before the whole Council.