Exile's Honor

the moment of despair, I shall be with you, I shall guide you, as you were a child, out of the camp of iniquity and into the hands of the saviors, and great spirits of white shall succor you. Werthe, Canto Fifteen, Verse Forty-nine—And a rider of the purest white spirit shall—'

Alberich held up his hand to stop the flow of words. 'I would say that you do, indeed, know the Writ very well,' he admitted gravely. 'But I am not at all certain that there is anything in those verses that I would recognize as being part of the—the Prophecy.'

He was going to add, if there ever was a Prophecy, except that what this child had done, and the hope he had given the others, the way he had organized them and kept them going—how had that been so wrong? Even if it had all been a childish tale concocted out of the scraps of Writ he knew, the tales the Valdemaran children babbled, and his fertile imagination, it had essentially saved them.

'But I suppose it depends on how you interpret them,' he finished instead. And smiled. 'I wanted to meet you primarily because I wanted to thank you for helping all of the others so much.'

The boy looked at him unblinking, but with a smile playing about his lips. 'Isn't that what we're all supposed to do? Help each other? No matter who we are and where we come from? That's what the Writ says, in the Great Laws.'

Where had the child learned that? Not from any of the Sunpriests that Alberich had served.... 'Absolutely right.' He stood up, and gazed down at the child. 'You are a very remarkable fellow.'

'And so are you, Alberich of Karse, Herald of Valdemar.' The child's voice suddenly deepened, and seemed to fill his ears, his mind, and his world shrank to the boy's young face and the voice that resonated all through him. He couldn't move. And he didn't want to.... 'A man of such conscience and honor is a remarkable man indeed; so remarkable, that it would seem that his prayers reach a little farther than most.'

Alberich could not look away from those blue eyes, eyes which held an impossible golden flame in their depths. He wasn't afraid, though. Far from it. He had never felt such peace before in his life.

'A man of conscience and honor—who has found a fitting place in his exile, among those who value that honor, and honor the conscience.' The boy nodded. 'It is written that exiles do not last forever, for those who are true to their word, their family, and their home. But remember, always, that the Writ tells us that a man's home is where his family is, Herald Alberich. And also, that friends are the family one can choose....'

The child backed away a few paces, as Alberich felt his pulse hammering in his throat, as if he had run a very long distance. He hardly knew what to think; he couldn't have actually said anything if his life had depended on speaking.

The boy turned, and walked a few more steps away in the direction of the door, then looked back over his shoulder.

'And if you think what I am is remarkable, wait some few years. And you will see what my daughter can do. Or should I say, my daughter who will be my Son?' Then he laughed and ran off, a high, utterly childlike laugh that broke the spell that had held Alberich motionless.

He still couldn't think; his thoughts moved as if they were flowing through thick honey. But—he needed to run after that boy—

'Alberich!' Geri called, and he turned—

The priest had broken up the class, and apparently had spotted Alberich in the back of the temple. 'I was hoping you'd come to see what we've done! We took all of the Karsite children when the Queen's people came to ask if we had room for any. You know, we just couldn't turn them away, and they've been a delight to have here. What's more, they are making remarkable progress!'

'Like—that boy?' he replied, feeling his heart still racing with an emotion that held both excitement and fear. No—not fear, but an emotion like fear. It took him a moment to recognize it as hope....

'Boy?' Geri looked puzzled. 'What boy?'

'The boy I was—' he gestured, but there was no sign that there had ever been anyone there. '—talking—to —'

They both scanned the now-empty temple, but there was no sign of any children now. 'It must have been one of the youngsters from the courtyard,' Geri replied, looking puzzled. 'All of the Karsite children were with me.'

'Are any of the children who come here in the evening named Kantis?' he ventured, not knowing whether he wanted to hear the answer.

But Geri only shrugged. 'I haven't a clue, there are so many of them, and they just swarm the place in weather like this. Some of them aren't even worshipers of the Sunlord. They just come to play with our children.'

Alberich licked dry lips and thought furiously. It might just have been a child playing