Oathtaking, knighting, ceremony following the knighting, speeches, tournament, feast, more speeches. The Ghost Cat people are probably going to be bored sillyâand I know I will be, at least during the speeches.â
âYou will notâyouâll be making mental notes like you always do,â she retorted. âYouâll be figuring what people are thinking by what they say and donât say, and who they look at while theyâre talking. Youâll tuck all that away in your mind, and when we most need it and least expect it, youâll pull something out in a Council session that will solve everything.â
âOh, come now!â he protested, laughing, âIâm not anywhere near that good!â
âYou only think you arenât. The rest of us know better.â He didnât say anything, but she could tell he was embarrassed. âYouâd better get used to it; people rely on you, Darian, and youâre good enough to be depended upon,â she added. âI know, and Starfall, Firesong, and Snowfire know, that youâve got the instinct. You read people beautifully.â
âI donât like to think that Iâm manipulating them, though,â he replied, his voice uncertain. âThat seems so unethical.â
She chose her words carefully. âIt isnât that youâre manipulating them, itâs that youâre getting them to see things they wouldnât think of for themselves. Eventually, when the problem is over, they do see, and the next time you wonât have to prompt them or coax them into it. I donât think thatâs manipulation, thatâs education. Besides, in a sense, we all manipulate each other; thatâs what happens when you are friends, when you trust and love someone. I manipulate people as a Healer, but itâs with skill and good intent. Sometimes I have to trick them in order to make their medicine work.â
âI donât know....â He still sounded reluctant. âIt just seems that Iâm getting people to do things theyâd rather not do at the time, and I wonder if thatâs right.â
âBut arenât they more inclined to do the same thing on their own, later, once youâve persuaded them into it the first time?â she countered. âThink of Val! If you hadnât shown him how awful fighting and warfare really is, heâd have been inclined to throw himself into the thick of battle the first chance he had! Now he takes the time to think things through, and see if there isnât a way to solve a situation without killing anyone. I donât doubt for a moment that if fighting turns out to be the only answer, heâll still be right up in the front of itâyou didnât turn him into a coward, because thatâs not in his nature. All you did was bring out a part of his nature he hadnât bothered to develop before you talked to him.â
âBut what if he had been fearful, and I had turned him into a coward?â Darian replied.
âWhatâs better? That he discover that he was really timid about fighting when he was in the middle of a fight, or when he was sitting safe at home?â she said instantly. âWhich does the most harmâor the least? It seems to me that if heâd discovered he couldnât bear the battlefield, heâd have had plenty of opportunity to cultivate courage or find an alternative place to be useful where he didnât have to actually fight. But you know what kind of havoc a single fighter can wreak just by turning and running.â
Darian sighed. âI guess youâre right.â
She clasped both her hands over his and squeezed them. âYou know I am, you mean. You never use your abilities with people to make them do something thatâs alien to their natureâyou just make them see alternatives and then try those alternatives. Some day it might happen that you run up against someone who
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