nodded at Asaru. He said to him, 'Do you still plan to journey to the tournament?'
'If that is still your wish, sir,' Asaru said. 'Yarashan will accompany me to Nar next week.'
'Very good. Then perhaps you can prevail upon King Waray to reopen the Brotherhood's school.'
'Can one prevail upon the sun to shine at night?'
'Does the task daunt you?'
'No more than Master Juwain's conundrum must daunt him,' Asaru said, shrugging his shoulders. 'In either case, there must be a solution.'
'Good,' my father said, smiling at him. 'Problems we'll always have many, and solutions loo few. But there's always a way.'
His gaze now fell upon me, and I couldn't help feeling that he regarded me as both a puzzle to be solved and its solution.
'Always a way,' I said lo him, thinking of my own conundrum. 'Sometimes that is hard to believe, sir.'
My father's gaze grew brighter and harder lo bear as he said, 'But we must believe it. For believing in a thing, we make it be. As you, of all men, must believe this now.'
Strangely, what had happened earlier in the hall with Ballasar had so far gone unremarked, like some family secret or crime, instead of the miracle that Lansar Raasharu proclaimed it to be. But my family and friends knew me too well. Master Juwain and Maram, on our quest, had seen me sweat and weep and bleed. When I was a child, my mother had wiped the milk from my chin, and once, my father had pulled me off Yarashan when I had tried to bite off his ear in one of our brotherly scuffles. They might or might not believe that I was the Maitreya of ancient legend and prophecy - but it was clear that they did not intend lo speak of me in hushed tones or to forget that whatever mantle I might claim, I would always remain Valashu Elahad.
'It is not upon me,' my father said, 'to determine if you are this Shining One that many hope you to be. But you are my son, and that is my concern. The brightest flower is the one that is most often picked; the elk with the greatest rack of antlers draws the most arrows. You are a target now, Valashu. Even before this thing passed between you and Baltasar, it was so. Consider the way that the traitor nearly brought about your doom - and my own.'
The quiet of the room was broken only by the hissing from the fireplace and my father's measured words. We all listened to him tell of what a great tragedy it would have been for Mesh if I had murdered Salmelu. For then my father would have been laced with an excruci-ating choice: either for the king himself to break the law of the land in sparing my life or to order the death of that which gave his life purpose - and the death of one who might possibly be the Maitreya. 'The Red Dragon,' he said, 'set a terrible trap for us. By the grace of the One, we found a way out. You did, Valashu. A way - there's always a way.'
'I . . . hated Salmelu as I've only hated one other,' I said. I picked up the box containing the two broken windows to Atara's soul, and gripped it so hard that it hurl my hand. 'And when he gave me this, the hale, like fire in my eyes, like madness . . . this is what Morjin must have calculated would make me kill Salmelu. But how could Morjin have been sure?'
'Go on,' my father said as everyone looked at me.
'This trap of Morjin's - it wouldn't have caught another. And it shouldn't have caught me.'
'No, it shouldn't have,' my father agreed. 'And from this, what do
you conclude?'
'That there will be other traps that we haven't yet seen.'
Across the circle from me, my mother's breath seemed to have been Choked-off as if by an invisible hand. I heard Maram muttering in his brandy, even as my father nodded his head and said, 'Yes, just so. This is why we've all been kept from our beds tonight, that we might see these other traps before it's too late.'
Asaru, it seemed, had been making calculations of his own. He eyed the familiar chess set for a moment before turning to my lather. The Red Dragon was willing to ihrovv away Salmelu's life,
'If that is still your wish, sir,' Asaru said. 'Yarashan will accompany me to Nar next week.'
'Very good. Then perhaps you can prevail upon King Waray to reopen the Brotherhood's school.'
'Can one prevail upon the sun to shine at night?'
'Does the task daunt you?'
'No more than Master Juwain's conundrum must daunt him,' Asaru said, shrugging his shoulders. 'In either case, there must be a solution.'
'Good,' my father said, smiling at him. 'Problems we'll always have many, and solutions loo few. But there's always a way.'
His gaze now fell upon me, and I couldn't help feeling that he regarded me as both a puzzle to be solved and its solution.
'Always a way,' I said lo him, thinking of my own conundrum. 'Sometimes that is hard to believe, sir.'
My father's gaze grew brighter and harder lo bear as he said, 'But we must believe it. For believing in a thing, we make it be. As you, of all men, must believe this now.'
Strangely, what had happened earlier in the hall with Ballasar had so far gone unremarked, like some family secret or crime, instead of the miracle that Lansar Raasharu proclaimed it to be. But my family and friends knew me too well. Master Juwain and Maram, on our quest, had seen me sweat and weep and bleed. When I was a child, my mother had wiped the milk from my chin, and once, my father had pulled me off Yarashan when I had tried to bite off his ear in one of our brotherly scuffles. They might or might not believe that I was the Maitreya of ancient legend and prophecy - but it was clear that they did not intend lo speak of me in hushed tones or to forget that whatever mantle I might claim, I would always remain Valashu Elahad.
'It is not upon me,' my father said, 'to determine if you are this Shining One that many hope you to be. But you are my son, and that is my concern. The brightest flower is the one that is most often picked; the elk with the greatest rack of antlers draws the most arrows. You are a target now, Valashu. Even before this thing passed between you and Baltasar, it was so. Consider the way that the traitor nearly brought about your doom - and my own.'
The quiet of the room was broken only by the hissing from the fireplace and my father's measured words. We all listened to him tell of what a great tragedy it would have been for Mesh if I had murdered Salmelu. For then my father would have been laced with an excruci-ating choice: either for the king himself to break the law of the land in sparing my life or to order the death of that which gave his life purpose - and the death of one who might possibly be the Maitreya. 'The Red Dragon,' he said, 'set a terrible trap for us. By the grace of the One, we found a way out. You did, Valashu. A way - there's always a way.'
'I . . . hated Salmelu as I've only hated one other,' I said. I picked up the box containing the two broken windows to Atara's soul, and gripped it so hard that it hurl my hand. 'And when he gave me this, the hale, like fire in my eyes, like madness . . . this is what Morjin must have calculated would make me kill Salmelu. But how could Morjin have been sure?'
'Go on,' my father said as everyone looked at me.
'This trap of Morjin's - it wouldn't have caught another. And it shouldn't have caught me.'
'No, it shouldn't have,' my father agreed. 'And from this, what do
you conclude?'
'That there will be other traps that we haven't yet seen.'
Across the circle from me, my mother's breath seemed to have been Choked-off as if by an invisible hand. I heard Maram muttering in his brandy, even as my father nodded his head and said, 'Yes, just so. This is why we've all been kept from our beds tonight, that we might see these other traps before it's too late.'
Asaru, it seemed, had been making calculations of his own. He eyed the familiar chess set for a moment before turning to my lather. The Red Dragon was willing to ihrovv away Salmelu's life,
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