:You are tired,: Florian said with concern. :I am not certain I should continue to drill you without some rest.:
'I'd like some rest, too, but I'm meeting the entire Synod, or Assembly, or whatever it is they're calling it, tomorrow afternoon, and if I don't have the proper addresses down, I'm going to mortally offend someone.' Karal sighed and massaged the muscles at the back of his neck. 'I never wanted to be the Ambassador of Karse,' he added mournfully. 'I had my hands full enough being the aide. I was a secretary.'
Florian didn't answer for a moment; he looked away, as if he were considering something. In the silence, Karal clearly heard mice scuttling around in the hay stored overhead. That was probably why the tomcat had not lingered for a scratch. :I hesitate to suggest this—it means you would have to trust me much more than you already do—but there is a way around this particular problem.:
'What?' Karal asked eagerly. He was perfectly willing to consider anything that might help at the moment. The 'Holinesses, Radiances,' 'Excellencies,' and other titles were all swimming in his poor, overheated brain and would not stick to any particular 'uniform.' He had no idea how he was going to master them all by tomorrow. Like so many things, this meeting had been sprung upon him with little warning.
:If you'd let me inside your mind, let your barriers down, I could look through your eyes, see who you were talking to, and prompt you,: Florian replied hesitantly. :I can show you how to let those barriers down easily enough. The problem is, I'll see more than surface thoughts if you did that. I'll know whatever you're thinking, and you tend to think about several things at once. You might not want me that intimately in your mind.:
Well, that was something of a quandary. Did he want Florian to know what he was thinking? Some of it wasn't going to be very flattering. He had already encountered some of the religious leaders of other sects here, and they had made very plain that there was no love lost between them and the representative of Vkandis Sunlord—even if, or especially if, that representative was a field-promoted secretary.
Now, it was true that the followers of Vkandis Sunlord had wrought terrible things against the followers of other religions in the past. But that was the past, in days when the Son of the Sun had been (to put it bluntly) a corrupt and venial tool of other interests than Vkandis'. High Priest Solaris had put an end to that, to the war with Valdemar, and to the insular and parochial attitude of those under her authority regarding those who lived outside the borders of Karse. Things were different now, and there had been Sun-priests spilling their blood to save Valdemar to prove it. Furthermore, Karal was hardly old enough to have done anything personally to anybody under the old rule despite the fact that some of these old goats seemed to hold him personally responsible for every slight and every harm worked upon their people and possessions since the time of Vanyel.
So Karal's innermost thoughts were hardly likely to be charitable.
On the other hand, if he couldn't trust Florian with those innermost thoughts, who could he trust?
'I think I had better accept that offer,' he told the Companion. 'But you ought to know you're likely to share in my headache as well.'
:I don't mind,: Florian told him. :Not at all. Now, this is what you do, it's easy, really. You know how it feels when I talk to you?:
He nodded.
:Think of that, then imagine that you are reaching out a hand to me. When you 'feel' me clasp it, your barriers will be down.:
It was actually quite easy to imagine just that, since Florian had never been a 'horse' to him. He closed his eyes and stretched out an imaginary 'hand' to his friend, and almost at once he had the uncanny sensation of having another 'hand' enfold his. He opened his eyes, and for a moment experienced a very curious double image, the 'Florian' he knew superimposed over a young man about his own age, thin, earnest, with dark hair and eyes, dressed in Herald's Whites.
The second image faded quickly, but Karal had to wonder. Was that what Florian had been—before?
:That's excellent!: Florian applauded. :Can you sense the difference?:
'Yes,' he answered at once. 'Now it's as if you're standing right at my shoulder and whispering in my ear.'
:I'm seeing things through your eyes now. Mind you, I wouldn't advise it for the inexperienced. It's rather disorienting.: Florian chuckled, and Karal 'felt' the chuckle at the same time that he heard the whicker.
:You're working so hard,: Florian continued wistfully. :I only wish I could do more to help you.:
