Black Jade

perhaps, as the great peaks shining in the distance, bui high enough to hope that we might have at least a day or (wo of surcease from battle and travail.

And so it came to be. We made camp that first night in the valley on some good, grassy ground above the river. While Kane, Maram and I worked at fortifying it, and Liljana, Estrella and Daj set to preparing our dinner, Atara went off into the woods to hunt. Fortune smiled upon her, for she returned scarcely an hour later with a young deer slung across her shoulders. That night we made feast on roasted venison, along with our rushk cakes and basketfuls of raspberries that Estrella found growing on bushes in the woods. Master Juwain chanted the Way Rhymes to Maram, and later Kane brought out the mandolet that he had inherited from Alphanderry. It was a rare thing for him to play for us. and lovely and strange, but that night he plucked the mandolet's strings and sang out songs in a deep and beautiful voice. He seemed almost happy, and that made me happy, too. Songs of glory he sang for us, tales of triumph and the exaltation of all things at the end of time. He held inside a great sadness, as deep and turbulent as oceans, and this came out in a mournful shading to his melodies. But there, too, in some secret chamber of his heart, dwelled a fire that was hotter and brighter than anything that Angra Mainyu could ever hope to wield. As he sang, this ineffable flame seemed to push his words out into the valley where they rang like silver bells, and then up above the snow-capped mountains through clear, cold air straight toward the brilliant stars.

With the liking of this immortal music, Flick burst forth out of the darkness above the mandolet's vibrating strings. At first this strange being appeared as a silvery meshwork, impossibly finespun, with millions of clear tiny jewels like unlit diamonds sewn into it. Strands of fire streamed from these manifold points throughout the lattice, making the whole of his form sparkle with a lovely light. The longer that Kane played, the brighter this light became. I watched with a deep joy as the radiance summoned out of neverness many colors: scarlet and gold, forest green and sky blue — and a deep and shimmering glorre. And still Kane sang, and now the colors scintillated and swirled, then mingled, deepened and coalesced into the form and face of Alphanderry. And then our lost companion stood by the fire before us. His brown skin and curly black hair seemed almost real, as did his fine features and straight white teeth, revealed by his wide and impulsive smile. Even more real was his rich laughter, which recalled the immortal parts of him: his beauty, gladness of life and grace. Once before, in Tria, this Alphanderry, as messenger of the Galadin, had come into being in order to warn me of a great danger.

'Ahura Alarama,' I said, whispering Flick's true name. And then, 'Alphanderry.'

'Valashu Elahad,' he replied. 'Val.'

Kane stopped singing then, and put aside his mandolet to stare in amazement at his old friend.

'He speaks!' Daj cried out. 'Like he did in King Kiritan's hall!'

The boy came forward, and with great daring reached out to touch Alphanderry. But his hand, with a shimmer of lights, passed through him.

Alphanderry laughed at this as he pointed at Daj and said, 'He speaks. But I don't remember seeing him in King Kiritan's hall.'

So saying, he reached out to touch Daj, but his hand, too, passed through him as easily as mine would slice air. Then he laughed again as he turned toward Estrella. His eyes were kind and sad as he said, 'But the girl still doesn't speak, does she?'

Estrella, her eyes wide with wonder, spoke entire volumes of poetry in the delight that brightened her face.

'But where did you come from?' I asked Alphanderry. 'And why are you here?'

'Where did you come from, Val?' he retorted. 'And why are any of us here?'

I waited for him to answer what might be the essential ques-tion of life. But all he said to me was, 'I am here to sing. And to

play.'

And with that, he reached for the mandolet, but his fingers passed through it. It was as hard, I thought, for such a being to grasp a material thing as it was for a man to apprehend the realm of spirit.

'So,' Kane said, plucking the mandolet's strings, 'I will play for you, and you will sing.'

And so it was. We all sat around listening as Kane called forth sweet, ringing notes out of the mandolet and Alphanderry sang out a song so beautiful that it brought tears to our eyes. The words, however, poured forth in that musical language of the Galadin that even Master Juwain had difficulty understanding. And so when Alphanderry finally finished, he looked at Master Juwain and translated part of it, reciting:

The eagle lifts his questing eye

And wings his way toward sun and sky;

The whale dives deep the ocean's gloam -

Always seeking, always home.

The world whirls round through day and night;

All things are touched with dark and light;

The dusk befalls on lights decay;

The dying dark turns night to day.

The One breathes out, creates all things:

The blossoms, birds and star-struck kings;

With every breath all beings yearn

To sail the stars and home return.

The dazzling heights light deep desire;

Within the heart, a deeper fire.

The road toward heavens' starry crown

Goes ever up but always down.

As Kane put down the mandolet, Alphanderry looked at Master Juwain and smiled.

'Am I to understand,' Master Juwain asked him, 'that these words were intended for me?'

It was one of the glories of Alphanderry's music that each person listening thought that he sang especially for him.

'Let's just say,' Alphanderry told him, 'that there might be a sentiment in this song that a master of the Brotherhood would do well to take to heart. Especially if that master guided his companions on a quest through the dark places in the world.'

'Were you sent here to tell me this?' Master Juwain asked him.

In answer, Alphanderry's smile only widened.

'Who sent you, then? Was it truly the Galadin?'

Now sadness touched Alphanderry's face, along with the amusement and a deep mystery. And he said to Master Juwain, and to all of us, 'I wish I could stay to answer your questions. To sing and laugh — and even to eat Liljana's fine cooking again. Alas, I cannot.'

He looked skyward, where Icesse and Hyanne and the other glittering stars of the Mother's Necklace had just passed the zenith. In that direction, I thought, lay Ninsun, the dwelling place of the Ieldra — and the light that streamed out of it in the glorre-filled rays of the Golden Band.

'But if you could remain only a few moments longer,' Master Juwain persisted, 'you might tell me if — '

'I can tell you only what I have,' Alphanderry said with a brilliant smile. And then he added:

The road toward heavens' starry crown Goes ever up but always down.

He reached out to touch Master Juwain's hand, but this impulsive act served only to brighten Master Juwain's leathery skin, as with starlight. And then Alphanderry dissolved back into that brilliant whirl of lights we knew as Flick. Only his smile seemed to linger as Flick, in turn, vanished once again into neverness. 'Ah, how I do miss our little friend,' Maram said, staring at the dark air.

Kane, I saw, stared too, and his dark eyes wavered as if submerged in water.

'But I wonder what he meant,' Maram continued, turning to Master Juwain, 'His verses are even more a puzzlement that your Way Rhymes.'