Exile's Honor

liked audaciousness; he'd loved it in his Queen, who had boldly proposed to him rather than the other way around, who had met every challenge, even the illness that killed her, with spirit and determination.

Sendar laughed as Talamir had expected, a dry little chuckle.

His daughter, Princess Selenay, who had been staring rather fixedly at nothing at all as she listened, made a face. 'I don't see what's so funny,' she objected.

Selenay might one day grow into the dry wit her father possessed, but at the moment, she was in a stage where she took everything quite seriously and earnestly. Talamir found that uniquely endearing, as did her father.

'Not funny, my dear—ironic,' Sendar told her. 'A Karsite, of all things, giving us a chance to prove our good intentions. If you'll recall your history, you'll know why that seems ironic.'

Selenay hesitated, toying with the end of her single braid, then evidently decided to be as forthright as her father. 'He must be a man of honor, or Kantor wouldn't have Chosen him, so why should that be ironic? Can't Karsites have men of honor, too? It seems to me he has every right to require us to prove ourselves.'

'Perhaps because the Karsite leaders have broken every pact they ever made—and have even made war on their own people?' Sendar suggested mildly.

She flushed as Talamir gave her an opaque look, but persisted. 'Why should that mean he shouldn't demand we prove ourselves, though? The Karsites—well, how much do we know about them? Next to nothing; maybe in their minds they had honorable reasons to break their pacts. I mean, I should think that this man would have more reason to be suspicious—'

Sendar shook his head.

:Chosen, don't just dismiss her because she's young,: Taver cautioned. Clearly, this had gone from a discussion of one man to a more abstract problem.

'Well, I still don't see why, just because there are a few bad people in charge of things in Karse, we should assume that nearly everyone that comes from there is bad,' she said stubbornly. 'Well, look, one of them has just been Chosen! I don't see why there shouldn't be as many men of honor there as here.'

'The problem with that assumption is that once a man of honor sees what his leaders are doing is wrong, shouldn't it be incumbent on him to do something about it?' Talamir asked the princess, who made a little grimace of impatience. 'With the sorts of things that the Sunpriests have been doing, even the most devout worshiper of Vkandis is going to run out of excuses for their excesses.'

'What if he can't?' she asked. 'Do something about it, I mean.'

'If nothing else, he should leave,' Sendar pointed out. 'By giving his support to a bad leader, he reinforces the position of that leader. People see that he is good, and since he continues to act in support of the leader, however inadvertently, they assume there is must be very compelling reasons for the leader to act as he is, and they continue to bear the intolerable.'

Talamir nodded. Selenay looked uncertain, but not entirely convinced.

She'll learn, he decided. Experience, that was what she needed. 'The point is that it's rather ironic, that this Karsite, who has already had his own leaders turn against him and try to execute him for the use of a Gift that has been the saving of their own people, should then expect us to prove ourselves to him. Not that we blame him at all, we just find it ironic.'

'I can see that,' the girl replied with a frown. 'But I can also see why he has even more reason to want us to prove ourselves.'

'What do you propose we do with this fellow?' Sendar asked, changing the subject. 'There are bound to be objections to his presence once more people discover where he's from.'

'I don't see any point in even trying to keep that a secret,' Talamir replied, shaking his head. 'It'll be out no matter what we do. It's a pretty problem, and one that isn't easily going to be solved. We can hardly expect people to set aside old grievances.'

'It's one I wish we didn't have.' Sendar looked as if he was getting a headache. 'I suppose all these things happen for a reason, but I would be happy enough for this to be occurring in someone else's reign.'

:Everyone always says that,; Taver observed.

Taver should know :I suppose they do.:

'So, so, so. You and I have enough on our plate, I would say, without complicating our lives with this most difficult of Trainees.' Sendar pursed his lips. 'Who can we delegate to bring the young fellow over to our side and