“No,” Menyard said. “True believers-or those who depict themselves as such-seldom change their minds. They’d rather die first, and, if they do change their minds, someone else in the hierarchy is likely to see that they die.”
“Did you get that from Master Dichartyn?”
“Master Jhulian. For all his legal knowledge, he’s almost as cynical as Dichartyn.”
In the end, our discussion led to nothing more, and afterward I returned to my quarters and wrote a note to Seliora thanking her and asking if she could visit on Solayi afternoon . . . and telling her where to meet me if she could. After that, I wrote a shorter note to my parents, telling them I’d been injured and that, while I was healing well, I wouldn’t be leaving Imagisle soon.
Then, after taking them both to the administration building to be sent, I walked slowly back to my room, once more, and stretched out-gingerly-on my bed to rest.
42
Achieving true excellence risks all that holds
happiness.
Well before third glass on Solayi afternoon, I was sitting waiting on the second graystone bench-the one shaded by the oak that was finally leafing out-near the Imagisle side of the Bridge of Hopes. I’d brought the science text, because Master Dichartyn had not been pleased with my lack of visualization of anatomy when we had met on Vendrei. While he had been slightly happier with my performance on Samedi morning, he’d asked more questions, and then pointedly suggested that I finish my essay for Master Jhulian in order to have my mind clear to finish the essay I owed him.
On Solayi morning, I had finished a draft of the essay on the Juristic Code’s applicability to imagers. Because the Code recognized the discretion granted to civic patrollers, anyone actually charged was presumed guilty. Since patrollers tended to defer to imagers, the Code provided for a review hearing on any matter involving an imager- provided the Council approved. That also explained why Master Jhulian and Master Dichartyn had emphasized that imagers should never be even remotely associated with the appearance of violence and murders. Such a petition to the Council, even if rejected, might well raise issues better left unexamined.
As I could feel the time nearing third glass, I finally closed the science text, because I was not reading it. My eyes were merely skipping over the page in front of me and then glancing toward the nearer end of the bridge. Just moments after the third bell rang, two figures came into view, walking casually, but not dawdling, along the south side of the bridge, Seliora and a taller figure-Odelia. Seliora wore a long flowing dress, a pale green, with a cream silk jacket. Odelia was in a brighter green.
I stood and stepped toward them.
Odelia smiled but dropped back to let her cousin move toward me alone. Seliora stepped forward and took my hands. She smiled, an expression of both concern and warmth. “You look better than the last time I saw you.”
“I feel much better.”
She inclined her head toward the shaded bench I had just left. “You’re still pale, and you need to sit down.”
I didn’t argue, and we sat down in the shade. Odelia took the other bench, close enough to watch, but far enough not to hear, although I doubted she would have passed on anything.
“I’m glad you came.” I couldn’t help smiling at her.
“Should you be up?”
“Master Draffyd said that gentle movement would help, but I’m not supposed to lift anything heavy with my left arm or hand.”
“I told Mother where you were shot,” Seliora said slowly. “She said most people would have died right there.”
“I almost did. If you hadn’t gotten me to the infirmary that quickly, I would have.”
She looked directly at me. “You’re fated not to die young. That is what Mama said.” Then she smiled. “She told me to tell you that’s from the Pharsi side.”
I frowned. “I thought that was your father’s side.”
Seliora flushed. “Actually . . . there’s full Pharsi on both sides.”
I laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me. Can you tell fortunes as well?” I wished I hadn’t asked the question, because, belatedly, I remembered that she’d already told me that she’d seen a vision of me in gray before I’d become an imager.
“I do better with people I don’t know.”
“People you don’t know or people you’re not . . . close to?” I hesitated over the words.
“Those I don’t care about. When you care, it’s difficult to separate what you want to see from what you do see.”
I wanted to put my arms around her. I didn’t. “Your parents weren’t upset?”
“Why would they be upset?”
“Because you were with someone who got shot. That could be upsetting.”
“Papa said he was happy you were going to be well and that . . .” She shook her head.
“What?” I spoke before I realized she had that glint in her eye.
“He didn’t want his daughter to be interested in a man who wasn’t worth shooting. Someone shot him when he was courting Mama. It was only in the arm, and it didn’t even break a bone.”
“Did he ever say what happened to the man?”
Seliora shook her head. “He did say that the fellow wouldn’t bother anyone again.”
“I thought it might have been something like that. I don’t think I’ll cross your father.”
“Be nice to me, and he won’t say a word.” She grinned. “But I think Grandmama had more to do with it. She didn’t like anyone interfering with her family. She still doesn’t.”
“Did you get the pistol from her?”
That brought a sheepish look to her face. “I bought it when I was fifteen. Grandmama knew before I took three steps into the house. She spent every day for a month teaching me to use it. She told me that you never bought anything you couldn’t use or didn’t learn to use.”
“I didn’t meet her,” I said.
“She has a bad leg. She also told me that she didn’t want to meet anyone I thought much of in a crowd, and the family was definitely a crowd.” There was the faintest pause. “She knows about you, though.”
“Oh?” I wasn’t certain I liked that.
“I’ve told her. She said that if you were talented and honest, you’d never amount to anything as a portraiturist.”
Even as I winced, I had to admit that the grandmother I’d never met was right. “Does that apply to furniture and designs?”
“Absolutely! We’re talented, but we’re not totally honest. We cheat anyone who tries to cheat us . . . and we’re better at it.”
That also surprised me not in the least.
“Will you be able to come to dinner before long?”
“I want to, very much, but Master Dichartyn has confined me to Imagisle until I’m totally well and better able to take care of myself. That could be almost a month.” I smiled, if faintly. “He also said that I’m to listen to you.”
The last words did bring the faintest hint of that mischievous smile I liked so much.
“I’m glad they think I’m of worth to you.”
