Captives

can learn Adept powers. Rolf makes the evidence undeniable: Aradia and I are not some peculiar special case. It is one talent, not two.'

'Then… we cripple ourselves,' said Melissa. 'Our own beliefs destroy our powers. But why-?'

'Melissa,' said Torio, 'what would have happened to you in the Aventine Empire if you had shown Adept tendencies?'

'That's not what I mean,' she replied. 'I know how things are-but I don't understand why. If the Empire had Adepts, trained like Readers and loyal to their homeland, the savages would never have been able to hurt us. And you-why would you prevent children from Reading?'

'I almost got killed for it,' said Julia.

'It's the same question,' Melissa insisted. 'Why not use both talents?'

'You can't,' said Aradia, 'not to their fullest. I am not a very good Reader-not even as good as Julia-because I will not give up my Adept powers.'

'What you just saw,' added Lenardo, 'is the limit of my Adept ability. But Aradia and I are adults. My daughter sometimes accuses me of discouraging her from learning Adept powers, but that's not true. We do not know what could be accomplished by someone who exercised both talents from childhood. But after you have learned to rely on one power, you are unwilling to compromise it. The food you eat to keep up strength for Adept functions dulls Reading-and using Adept power weakens the body, if only temporarily. Sleep and food restore it-but in the meantime Reading is as diminished as if you were critically ill.'

'And eating the cattle fodder Lenardo prescribes for clear Reading,' Aradia supplied, 'weakens the body, making it impossible to use Adept powers to their fullest. I feel secure when I am at the peak of physical strength. If I allow myself to become weak, my neighbors will attack and destroy me. Even since we formed our alliance, not a year has passed without our being attacked by other Lords Adept. That is why Adept powers are the ones we encourage. A Reader cannot protect himself against Adept attack.'

'Or anybody else's,' Melissa said softly. 'The Emperor wants Readers, because he can control them. He couldn't control Adepts. Lord Lenardo-you are a Master Reader. Is it… deliberate?'

'Is what deliberate?'

'Does the Council of Masters know that Reading and Adept powers are the same? Is all our training designed to stifle our Adept powers?'

'No,' he replied. 'Master Clement has been a member of the Council for many years. He would know-and when I was sent into such danger here, he would have told me. No, Melissa, I think the division took place so long ago that it has passed from memory. There are not even legends, at least none that I know of.'

'And that is strange in itself,' said Aradia. 'We have no stories linking Reading and Adept powers either. Nothing to say how they came to be divided.'

'Perhaps we will find out one day,' said Lenardo. 'Meanwhile, though, we must discover how to reunite them. Torio and Melissa, spend all the time you can teaching Rolf to understand what he Reads. Aradia, write that letter to Lilith. Wulfston, please excuse me-'

'We all have things to do,' Wulfston said as he rose from the table. 'Julia, will you please come relay for me in case the Readers need to contact me?'

As they got up, Rolf automatically picked up his stick. Torio took it from him, saying, 'You don't need that.'

'But even if I am Reading, it's not vision,' Rolf protested. 'That was seeing-what happened when we all perceived Lord Lenardo's vision?'

'Yes,' Torio replied.

'I understood what I felt and heard, but not that-other. It frightened me. I'm not sure I want to'see'-I don't know how to interpret it.'

'I don't know if you'll ever'see, Rolf,' Torio told him honestly. ' 'Visualizing' is what Readers call it, and it's an advanced skill. It takes concentration-I don't visualize unless I have a reason for it. Right now you must learn an easy form of Reading, sensing where objects are so you won't run into them.'

Melissa watched them, both blind, Torio so secure,

Rolf uncertain and awkward. Rolf was not Reading now; he clung to Torio, fearful and disoriented. 'Rolf,' she said, 'think of what you said yesterday. The way you sense water-you can sense other things-anything. You just turned toward me-you can sense where lam.'

'I heard you.'

//Now you're not hearing me.//

'Yes I am. – oh.' //Can I do that, too?//

//Indeed you can,// Torio told him gleefully. //That's good-try it all, Rolf. We'll help you.//

They made it a game, Torio and Melissa moving about the room, making Rolf find them. They placed furniture in his way… and soon he found he could sense it and walk around it. In an hour, he was negotiating a veritable obstacle course, laughing and crying at once.

'That's enough for today,' Torio said at last. 'Let's go up to your room, Rolf, and I'll teach you a meditation exercise. You should end each lesson by lying down for a few minutes, completely relaxed, to absorb it all.'

'Yes, my lord, my lady. And… thank you. I never dreamed it would be possible-' He started for the door, faultlessly turning in the right direction, but automatically putting his hands out.

'Not necessary,' said Torio, touching Rolf's right hand. 'You lead the way now.'

'Yes, my lord.'

Melissa watched them go. Then she turned, shoved a chair back into place, and picked up Rolf's discarded walking stick. Holding it on the palms of her hands, she willed it to rise in the air. Nothing happened. She tried imagining it sliding off the tips of her fingers-but it didn't budge except to quiver slightly as her muscles began to twitch. Yet I know I have the power, locked inside me.

With a sigh, Melissa started to leave the great hall, but stopped before a display of painted shields, symbols of the savage alliance. The blue lion she did not know, and had seen no banner bearing it. Apparently it was the symbol of the Lady Lilith.

She recognized Lord Wulfston's symbol, the black wolf's head on a field of white. Next to it hung a shield made from the same pattern, but with the wolf's head white on black and facing in the opposite direction. The Lady Aradia-brother and sister had chosen symbols that showed they were indeed alike, despite outward appearances.

The last symbol was audacity itself: the red dragon's head. Lord Lenardo, of course. What courage, she thought, to turn the brand meant to mark him with dishonor into the symbol of a savage Lord of the Land! The man impressed her, not least for his ability to adapt to a whole new life. She remembered Jason scolding her for changing her mind-but Jason had died rather than risk the possibility of change.

These people lived with change-they were actively attempting to change the world for the better, and changing themselves to do so. Unstifled by the rules of the Academy, even their Reading powers blossomed beyond the norm. It was shameful how Melissa's powers lagged behind Torio's. Julia was years beyond what would have been expected in the empire, and as for Lenardo-how had he Read the field of quicksand from a distance at which none of the Master Readers could locate him?

Curiously, without malicious intent, Melissa Read for Lenardo. He and Aradia were in one of the rooms upstairs, Lenardo seated in an armchair, relaxed, Aradia just fastening something over her hair.

But it was Lenardo who had provoked Melissa's curiosity… and she could not Read anything other than where he was. 'Aradia,' he said suddenly, 'please go down to the great hall and find Melissa. Explain the funeral preparations to her.'

Melissa burned with embarrassment at invading their privacy, but Lenardo's attention was elsewhere. Aradia came downstairs, Reading, but unable to distinguish Melissa until she was halfway down the stairs. No, she was not a very good Reader, but she was one, and an Adept, too.

'Lady Melissa.'

Aradia had changed clothes. She was now all in gray, her hair covered with an unadorned headdress, a veil beneath her chin so that her face looked out from a circle of gray cloth. 'If you will come up to the wardrobe room, I will help you find appropriate garments for the funeral.'

'Yes, my lady,' Melissa replied, and followed Aradia upstairs, past the sleeping rooms, and into a large room where numerous garments hung on pegs. There were chests and shelves, too, but most were empty.

'My brother has been here only a year,' said Aradia. 'There is not much of a collection yet. We brought gray