thought stone. 'You mean, stole it, don't you?'
'Can one steal from one's own house?'
'King Waray,' my father said, 'might feel that since it was his ancestors who built the sanctuary and his knights who defend it still, that the house is his - or al least the treasures gathered inside.'
'You do not feel that way, King Shamesh. You have always honored the ancient laws.'
This was true. My father would never have thought to act as tyrannically as had King Waray. In truth, he honored the Brotherhood even as he did old laws that others had long since repudiated. And so half a year before, when Master Juwain had returned with me bearing the Lightstone, my father had ordered a new building to be raised up at the Brotherhood's sanctuary in the mountains outside our castle. Master Juwain - and the other masters - were to gather gelstei from across Ea that they might be studied. Master Juwain must have seen that King Waray's envy of Mesh and the much greater treasure in my father's hall was the deeper reason that he had closed the sanctuary in Nar.
'Knowledge must be honored before pride of possession,' my father said. His bright eyes fixed on the thought stone. 'Let us hope that this gelslei holds knowledge that justifies incurring King Waray's ill will.'
'I believe it to hold knowledge about the Lightstone,' Master Juwain said. 'And possibly about the Maitreya.'
My father's eyes grew even brighter - and so, I imagine, did mine.
Everyone except my grandmother now turned toward Master Juwain to regard the little stone in his hand.
'You believe it to hold this knowledge?' my father said. 'Then you haven't - what is the right word - opened it?'
'Not yet,' Master Juwain said. 'You see, there are difficulties.' What I knew about the thought stones was little: they belonged to the same family of gelstei as did the song stones and the touch stones. It was said that a thought stone, upon the closing of a man's hand, could absorb and hold the contents of his mind as a sponge does water. It was also said that in ages past, the stones could be opened and 'read' by anyone trained in their use. But few now possessed this art.
'One would have thought that a master of the Brotherhood would have overcome any difficulties,' my father said to Master Juwain.
'One would have thought so,' Master Juwain agreed with a sigh. 'But you see, this is not just any thought stone.'
He went on to say that in the Age of Law, the ancients had used the Lightstone to fill certain thought stones with a rarefied knowledge: that of the secrets of the Lightstone itself.
'If this stone contains such knowledge,' Master Juwain said to my father, holding up his opalescent little marble, 'it may be that the only way to open it would be with the aid of the Lightstone.'
'Do you wish my permission to use the Lightstone this way?'
Master Juwain's face tightened with dismay 'I'm afraid I don't know how. Perhaps no one now living does.'
My father swirled the brandy around in his glass and watched the little waves of the amber liquor break against the clear crystal. Then he looked at Master Juwain and said, 'Then you need the Lightstone to open the thought stone, and the thought stone to understand the secrets of how the Lightstone might be used. I low are we lo solve this conundrum?'
'I had hoped,' Master Juwain said, 'that if I stood before the Lightstone, the answer might come to me.'
He turned toward me and added, 'I had hoped, too, that the thought stone might tell us more about the Maitreya. About how he is to be recognized and how he might use the Lightstone.'
Now I, too, looked down at the swirls of brandy in my glass. For a long few moments, I said nothing - and neither did anyone else.
And then my father said to Master Juwain, 'You may certainly make your trial whenever you wish. It's too bad that you brought back only one such stone. But you say that others remain in Nar?' 'Hundreds of others, King Shamesh.'
My father smiled at him reassuringly and then
'Can one steal from one's own house?'
'King Waray,' my father said, 'might feel that since it was his ancestors who built the sanctuary and his knights who defend it still, that the house is his - or al least the treasures gathered inside.'
'You do not feel that way, King Shamesh. You have always honored the ancient laws.'
This was true. My father would never have thought to act as tyrannically as had King Waray. In truth, he honored the Brotherhood even as he did old laws that others had long since repudiated. And so half a year before, when Master Juwain had returned with me bearing the Lightstone, my father had ordered a new building to be raised up at the Brotherhood's sanctuary in the mountains outside our castle. Master Juwain - and the other masters - were to gather gelstei from across Ea that they might be studied. Master Juwain must have seen that King Waray's envy of Mesh and the much greater treasure in my father's hall was the deeper reason that he had closed the sanctuary in Nar.
'Knowledge must be honored before pride of possession,' my father said. His bright eyes fixed on the thought stone. 'Let us hope that this gelslei holds knowledge that justifies incurring King Waray's ill will.'
'I believe it to hold knowledge about the Lightstone,' Master Juwain said. 'And possibly about the Maitreya.'
My father's eyes grew even brighter - and so, I imagine, did mine.
Everyone except my grandmother now turned toward Master Juwain to regard the little stone in his hand.
'You believe it to hold this knowledge?' my father said. 'Then you haven't - what is the right word - opened it?'
'Not yet,' Master Juwain said. 'You see, there are difficulties.' What I knew about the thought stones was little: they belonged to the same family of gelstei as did the song stones and the touch stones. It was said that a thought stone, upon the closing of a man's hand, could absorb and hold the contents of his mind as a sponge does water. It was also said that in ages past, the stones could be opened and 'read' by anyone trained in their use. But few now possessed this art.
'One would have thought that a master of the Brotherhood would have overcome any difficulties,' my father said to Master Juwain.
'One would have thought so,' Master Juwain agreed with a sigh. 'But you see, this is not just any thought stone.'
He went on to say that in the Age of Law, the ancients had used the Lightstone to fill certain thought stones with a rarefied knowledge: that of the secrets of the Lightstone itself.
'If this stone contains such knowledge,' Master Juwain said to my father, holding up his opalescent little marble, 'it may be that the only way to open it would be with the aid of the Lightstone.'
'Do you wish my permission to use the Lightstone this way?'
Master Juwain's face tightened with dismay 'I'm afraid I don't know how. Perhaps no one now living does.'
My father swirled the brandy around in his glass and watched the little waves of the amber liquor break against the clear crystal. Then he looked at Master Juwain and said, 'Then you need the Lightstone to open the thought stone, and the thought stone to understand the secrets of how the Lightstone might be used. I low are we lo solve this conundrum?'
'I had hoped,' Master Juwain said, 'that if I stood before the Lightstone, the answer might come to me.'
He turned toward me and added, 'I had hoped, too, that the thought stone might tell us more about the Maitreya. About how he is to be recognized and how he might use the Lightstone.'
Now I, too, looked down at the swirls of brandy in my glass. For a long few moments, I said nothing - and neither did anyone else.
And then my father said to Master Juwain, 'You may certainly make your trial whenever you wish. It's too bad that you brought back only one such stone. But you say that others remain in Nar?' 'Hundreds of others, King Shamesh.'
My father smiled at him reassuringly and then
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