Sun in Glory and Other Tales of Valdemar

ineffable-something beyond his understanding.

And the same stillness that filled the Temple entered Alberich's heart.

Wait. Watch. All will be well.

Feelings, not words; a peace deeper than anything he had ever felt before, even when in profound communion with Kantor. From Talia? Perhaps; she was a projective Empath, and strong enough to have sent this out to the entire Temple if she thought it needful.

Or Talia might be the channel for something else.

His tension vanished, and something else took its place. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Dirk's hands drop from the stone screen, and knew that his fellow Herald felt it, too.

Cradled lovingly in the heart of the flames, Solaris remained unchanged in her golden robes, but something was happening to Talia.

No, not to Talia, but to her robes, he vestments. They were changing.

He couldn't say they were bleaching, because there was nothing in the transition to suggest the process of bleaching. There was no fading to gray-no, Talia's robes were lightening, not fading, they were becoming full of light, growing lighter and lighter until they glowed with a white intensity that outshone the flames.

Then, all at once, the flames were gone.

Solaris and Talia stood atop the altar, Talia looking a little embarrassed, as if she had been given some incredible honor all unlooked-for that she felt unworthy of.

Talia's priestly vestments, the robes of a Sun-priest, were no longer black and gold.

They were white and silver.

Heraldic colors.

'In the long ago,' Solaris said, her voice floating above the crowd like a subtle melody,

'There was a third order of Sun-priests. These were the White-robes, whose duty was to serve as Healers, to solve dissension, to keep the peace.'

:Whose duty was also to serve the Goddess-but she won't mention that at the moment,: said Kantor absently.

Goddess? What Goddess? When had there ever been a Goddess in Karse? :What are you talking about?: he demanded, but Kantor wasn't answering, and more than half of his attention was on the two women anyway...

'Vkandis has chosen this woman to be the first of the new White-robes,' Solaris continued, her voice stronger, as in a call to arms. 'Vkandis has burned away all the hatred, all the death, all the evil that has passed between our lands! Vkandis has sent His purifying fire to show us the way, to give us this new, living bridge, of understanding between His land and Valdemar! I, Son of the Sun, now charge you-cry welcome to Talia, White-robe Priest of Vkandis!'

The cheering that erupted vibrated the very stone beneath Alberich's feet and left him momentarily deafened. But that was all right, for the cheers went on so long that no one would have been able to hear anything anyway.

* * *

The three Heralds and their Companions stood in front of the arched doorway into Solaris' private courtyard that would serve as the framework for the Gate. Hansa stared fixedly at the arch- presumably, in the little clearing in Companion's Field, Karchanek was doing likewise. Alberich was as tired as if he'd been running training exercises for a day and a night without a rest. Dirk looked stunned, as if all of this still hadn't quite sunk in yet. Well, Alberich didn't blame him. He didn't feel as if it had all quite sunk in yet either.

Talia's new vestments and robes were packed up into a saddlebag on Rolan's back; on the whole, given all of the bad blood between Karse and Valdemar, Solaris deemed it wise for them to leave now, before this first flush of good feeling faded and people began looking for the Demon-riders and their Hellhorses to have a few choice words with them.

Few even among the Priest-Mages knew that a Gate was even possible, and those few were in Solaris' ranks; the arrival and departure. of the Queen's Own would seem miraculous, as miraculous as the transformation of Talia's robes from black to white.

Was it magic-or a miracle? Alberich knew which his heart wanted it to be. And he wished he could recapture a little of that wonderful stillness, that peace, that had come over him. But that was, after all, the nature of miracles. They were evanescent, and left little or nothing behind to prove where they had come from. It all could have been magic-illusory flames, and Talia projecting that stillness under Solaris' guidance. It could have been a well-orchestrated series of magic spells, set up by Priest-Mages in hiding just as Alberich had been. Who knew how many of those little niches overlooking the sanctuary there were.

Alberich didn't want to question it, though. His rational side said he should, and when he got home, Myste almost certainly would want to know why he hadn't. And he didn't have a good answer for her-: And you will continue to believe in the face of her questions, even though at times doubt overcomes that belief,: Kantor said. :That, after all, is the nature of faith. And perhaps that is as it is intended to be, and the reason why miracles so seldom leave tangible evidence of their origin behind.:

:What-: Alberich replied. :So that we have nothing to rely on but belief?:

:That would be the 'free will' part, I think.: Kantor replied, with just a touch of impishness.

There was no time for further discussion. The Gate sprang into uncanny life. The stones of the archway began to glow; the brightness increased, and suddenly, instead of the room beyond the door, there was an empty blackness within the arch that made Alberich's eyes ache.

Then crawling tendrils like animate lightning crept across the blackness, tendrils that crisscrossed the darkness and multiplied with every heartbeat.

Then, with a jolt he felt somewhere in his chest, the blackness vanished, and the arch opened up on Companion's Field on the twilight, and his waiting friends, and Karchanek in front of them all.

'Time to go,' said Dirk, and suited his action to his words, riding straight through without a backward glance. Poor Dirk! This had not been easy for him....

'Thank you for your trust,' Solaris said to Talia, and held her in a momentary embrace that Talia bent down from her saddle to share.

'And you for yours, Radiance,' Talia replied, smiling, some of the peace that Alberich wistfully wished for still lingering in her gaze. Then it was her turn, and she rode through to the welcoming committee on the other side.

Alberich would have followed, but a restraining hand on his stirrup made him pause.

'Here-' Solaris said, handing him a basket that smelled of home. 'I told you that Karse would come to you.'

All of this-and she remembers sausages and herb-bread for me?

She smiled up at him-once again, the ordinary-extraordinary woman that she was when she was not encased in the Sunlord's gold. 'This could not have been done without your trust as well.'

He coughed. 'It was little enough, for so great a result, Radiance,' he replied, shifting the basket uneasily.

'It was greater than you will admit,' she retorted. 'And I think you had better not say anything more that would indicate you disagree with your spiritual lord. I might arrest you for heresy.'

'The day you arrest anyone for heresy will be the day that the sun turns black, Radiance,' he responded, earning another smile from her. He hesitated a moment, poised on the brink of asking all those questions that quivered on the tip of his tongue.

But she was having none of it.

'Go!' she said, with a playful slap to Kantor's rump. 'Hansa wearies and Karchanek cannot wait to quit your soil and its plague of eyes!'

Kantor leaped forward without any urging from Alberich, and as he fell through the arch in that moment of