Storm Rising

he was not going to be argued with. 'As I recall, you made the same prescription for me a time or two. and turnabout is fair play.'

'So is that why you have turned into my counselor?' Karal asked, and he wasn't entirely being facetious. The events of this afternoon and evening had proved to him that An'desha had achieved an inner peace that he found enviable.

If only I could be so sure of things again!

'The turnabout? Oh, it is a part of it,' An'desha said, with serene warmth in his voice. 'You have done good things for me, with good reason and without. You have been kind when you could have been neutral. There is a saying from the Plains: Every gift carries the hope for an exchange.'

Karal mulled that over, but his thoughts about the Shin'a'in proverb were eclipsed by marveling over An'desha's calm.

That was part of the problem he had with the entire situation. He was not only acting as envoy, but as a priest—and a priest should be utterly sure of himself and his beliefs. Either a priest or an envoy should be sure and calm.

But he was being required to determine what was heresy for those of his faith here in Valdemar, and that was where his beliefs were collapsing around his ears. How could he make a judgment on what was heretical, when he had seen evidence with his own eyes that what he 'knew' was the Truth was only truth in a relative sense?

Take the very existence of An'desha's Star-Eyed Goddess, for instance. For a Sun-priest, there was one God, and one only, and that was Vkandis—yet he had ample proof that was beyond refutation that the Star-Eyed existed and ruled Her people right alongside Vkandis Sunlord.

To even think that was rankest heresy by the standards of the Faith as he was taught it. But he had been taught the old ways and things had changed drastically since.

He'd already deferred the decision once, which had only made both parties angry at him. He suspected that this was the reason why he was being confronted by all the heads of religion in Valdemar. They weren't going to accept a deferred decision again.

Perhaps in his new-found confidence and serenity An'desha could act as his adviser as he had once acted as An'desha's.

'Would you mind listening to a problem of mine?' he asked, as they walked side-by-side up the deserted street, toward the Palace.

'You listened to mine often enough,' An'desha replied. 'It only seems fair. I won't promise an answer, but maybe I can help anyway.'

He explained the predicament he was in; his own uncertainty, and his unwillingness to label anything heresy. 'I don't know now if there is a wrong or right, in anything. And I am put in the position of being the person that is supposed to know! It all seems so relative now,' he ended plaintively.

But An'desha only chuckled. 'If I were to turn and stick a knife in you now, that wouldn't be 'relatively' good or bad, would it?'

He had to laugh. 'Hardly!'

'Work from that, then,' An'desha suggested. 'You've been reading all those old books that Master Ulrich brought with him, the ones written back before the Sunlord's priesthood went wrong. You have a fair idea what was considered heretical then, don't you? And what's more, since you have those books, and since Solaris approves of them, you can cite sources to prove the position you're taking, right?'

Fog rose from the damp cobblestones all around them, but it seemed that the fog in his own mind was lifting. 'Well, yes, literally chapter and verse. That's true,' he said slowly. 'I think the problem is that I know what I wanted to say, but I couldn't think of a way to make it stick.'

'You probably still won't be able to make it stick,' An'desha warned. 'The people you're dealing with are like that new Shin'a'in envoy that replaced Querna; hidebound and dead certain they're right.'

'True, but if they don't like my decision, I can tell them to appeal to Solaris, and as long as I follow what Master Ulrich was trying to show me, I think she'll back me.' His cheer was mounting by the moment. 'I don't much care if they don't like me afterward. There are so many people in Valdemar now who don't like me that a few more won't matter.'

'That's the spirit!' An'desha applauded. 'Good for you. Now are you ready for that soak?'

'I'm soaked in trouble anyway, why not add hot water?'