“You are a risk that I cannot have wandering around unprotected.” I stared at him in shock. He turned in time to catch my expression and suddenly laughed. It was a rough, stumbling sound as though he hadn’t laughed lately. “I don’t believe that you are going to come attack me.”
“That isn’t what I was thinking,” I protested.
Crossing back to me, he crouched down. Looking into my eyes, his face grew serious. “What has Errol taught you about the Elitists?”
Puzzled, I listed all the facts I knew about them. Master Aleron nodded when I finished.
“They have also begun kidnapping untrained, talented young women to marry their men. Leaving you here, unprotected, would be foolishness.
“When I register your acceptance into the community of talents, your ability and training will become public record and cause a small sensation among talents. If I leave you here, on the coastline, others may try to take you.”
“You don’t need to convince me that the Elitists are evil. I have seen what they did to Blan.”
“And they are capable of much worse.” Closing his eyes, he wearily lowered his head. “I fear the end is coming, Zez.” The weight of his voice shook me. I heard the crises he listed for Errol, but his fear then was nothing compared to the hopelessness in his slumped shoulders now. “I fear for our nation. The Elitists are going to be unstoppable unless we do something soon, but I am not even settled on what to do.”
“The Almighty will make it clear,” I reminded him.
Slowly he nodded. “The Almighty will make all things clear.” Rubbing a hand across his face, he laughed bitterly. “Forget me protecting you. I am going to need your clear sight to keep hold of the big picture. No sooner am I out of the pit of self-assurance and self-centered thinking, than I am slipping into the tar again.” He smiled at me, studying my face with tired, brown eyes. “I propose an exchange. I will take you with me. You join my household as my aide, and I will teach you everything I know. In return, you promise to constantly remind me of the Almighty’s omniscient omnipotence.”
“It seems as though I am getting the better end of the deal.”
“So, it is a pact?” He extended a large hand over the short distance between us. Something about his dark eyes told me that there was more to this agreement than what was spoken, but I didn’t care. He needed me.
“Agreed.” I gripped his wrist with my hand as he closed his fingers around my wrist. It was a childish gesture, made over trades of marbles or favorite rocks. However the sensation of his large fingers completely encircling my arm erased the simplicity and made it something more.
“YOU WILL COME BACK,” Candra demanded as I packed the last of my clothing. “You have to come back and visit. Who else will help me add another room to the tree house?”
“Selwyn isn’t going away. He can help you more than me anyway.”
Candra frowned at me from her perch at the head of my bed. “But he doesn’t understand why I want to add to a perfectly good tree house.”
“You didn’t tell him about your plans to move out there next summer have you?”
“He wouldn’t understand,” she protested. “Besides he isn’t going to be here. Ilias is taking him too.”
My copy of the Revelation paused on its trip to the trunk as I frowned at Candra. “What do you mean? Why?”
Candra shrugged. “How should I know? Father is going, too. He said something about preparing for the future. You are coming back, right?”
I settled the Revelation into the corner, tucked beneath my new dress uniform and a small copy of the talent’s Code. Apparently Adreet had known ahead of time that I would be accepted as an Aide in the Sept Son’s household. My stomach turned in apprehension as I smoothed the deep blue cloth. “I don’t know Candra,” I admitted finally to her and myself. “I don’t know what is going to happen next.”
Suddenly, Candra launched herself at me. “I am going to miss you,” she told me with a huge squeeze that drove the breath from my lungs. Slipping my arms around her, I returned the hug.
“I am going to miss you, too. I will write.”
Candra retreated with a grimace. “I won’t promise to write back.” Her penmanship was legendary for its cryptic form. “But I will be glad to get your letters. You must tell me all about the exciting things that you have to do for Ilias.”
“I doubt they will be all that exciting. He is only going to be training me. I expect to be busy studying more rules and procedures.”
The door opened as I closed the lid of my trunk. “Wait,” Eloine exclaimed. “I have something for you.” She presented a lumpy-looking package wrapped in brown paper. “I intended it to be for your birthday.”
Accepting the gift, I hugged her.
“Is your trunk ready, Zez?” Galatea asked busily as she sailed into the room, hair swinging in long waves down her back. “The man has come for it and mother won’t send him up until you are finished packing.”
“Just give her a minute,” Candra protested.
I thanked Eloine and promised to open the gift on my birthday, which was only a week away. Closing the trunk lid again, this time with the gift inside, I locked it. Adreet called the girls downstairs to attend to a chore and I was suddenly left alone in the barren room.
Looking around at the plain walls, cleared shelves, and the neat bedding I felt frightened. I was stepping out into the unknown and facing mysterious responsibilities
