Dragon in Exile - eARC by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee Page B

will merely seem a random thought, and easily ignored. If you wish to free slaves, the dream must be real.”
    “I understand. Let me think on this, and take counsel of my sister.” Val Con reached to the common plate and took up a portion of buttered roll, which he ate with every appearance of enjoyment.
    Silain drank what was left of her tea, and handed the mug to Rys for refilling.
    “As I sit here reflecting with you, my child, I wonder…should the choices offered be three?”
    “Three?”
    She accepted her refilled mug from the gleaming hand of her grandson and leaned forward slightly.
    “The dream offers the choice Rys was given: Allow the nightmare to swallow him entirely; or to stand as the man he had been. To say, No. I, Rys Lin pen’Chala, do not murder schoolchildren. I will not perform this action, and I will do everything in my power to prevent it being done by another.
    “Yes.” He was watching her, green eyes intent.
    “As you say, those who are in your care are already wrapt in nightmare. They may not have the strength to stand against it, but they may very much wish to leave its service.”
    His face hardened, and when he spoke, his voice was flat and chill.
    “You counsel me to offer them death.”
    “I do, and I ask you this question: During your own time caught in the nightmare, if your death would have deprived your masters of the single weapon of yourself, would you have chosen it?”
    He sipped tea, giving himself, so she thought, time to consider the question fairly. When he met her eyes again, his were solemn.
    “Given that I had the ability to understand my situation, yes; I would far rather have died.”
    “And so might others, too weakened in will to accept the burden of freedom.”
    “I concede the point. I have already allowed two of those under my protection die.”
    They pained him, these deaths. He had failed those he had taken into his heart to save. Good men cared about such things.
    “The first one, how did she die?” she asked softly.
    He moved a shoulder, his mouth hard.
    “Her…core self was isolated from the Department’s training—without reference or warning. The programming therefore decided that she had been compromised, and chose for her.”
    “And the second?”
    “The second? I killed her, by her intent. I had thought it was the programming, again, but, perhaps…”
    “Perhaps she had taken the third choice,” Silain finished for him. “You will not know that until you put the question to her, when you meet in the World Beyond. The first…you say that she was given, at the last, no choice, and so died a bad death. But you have forgotten that we pass into the World Beyond without wounds or pain.”
    She put her hand on his knee and looked into his eyes.
    “Death freed her to herself again. The nightmare did not win.”
    Tears sprang to his eyes; they glittered like jewels in the hearth-light, before he bowed his head.
    “May it be as you say, Grandmother.”
    He did not believe; young men rarely did. She patted his knee and withdrew.
    After a moment, he raised his head and looked to Rys.
    “I wonder, Brother, if you wish to be…involved further in this project.”
    Rys frowned.
    “Is there more that I might do? I stand willing, but you must guide me.”
    “I must think, and consult, with my lady, and with my sister. It is enough, today, to know you are willing. How may I contact you?”
    “A message sent with Kezzi will find me,” Rys said, naming the luthia’s apprentice, and the sister of one of the younger members of Clan Korval.
    “That is well, then.”
    He rose, and Rys with him; Silain remained seated, and looked up at them, two handsome men, each stronger than he knew.
    Val Con bowed, deeply, which was pretty of him, and showed a proper respect for the luthia .
    “Grandmother; my heart is full. I hope to meet you again. Now, I must return to my lady.”
    “I look forward to many meetings, brother of Rys. Please carry my well-wish to