Captives

'If knowing what's going to happen means Having flashes like Lenardo's,' she replied, 'then I don't want to know.'

'That wasn't what I meant-but that disturbs me, too. All our efforts-the earthquake at Gaeta that nearly killed you, and led me to lie to Portia-the storm, the quicksand-in the end everything happened just as Lenardo foresaw it. If we had done nothing-'

'The earthquake would have happened anyway,' Melissa said. 'It would have been much worse, though, Torio-what happened was Lenardo's vision, not the prophecy.'

'What do you mean?'

'The prophecy said the earth would devour Tiberium. It didn't. You Read what happened: If Aradia and the other Adepts hadn't been able to draw some of the stress away from beneath the city, this whole area would have caved in. There would be no city standing here today-there would be nothing but a hole in the ground.'

He pondered that. He had himself Read the possibility of total collapse, and yet the city stood. 'So perhaps our meddling did some good after all. I want to think it did.'

'Of course it did! I'd have done the same things you did, Torio-anybody would. What sane person would not try to prevent the deaths of thousands of people if he had it in his power?'

He turned to her, appearing to look at her as he had taught himself to do as a boy. She was studying his face. 'You forgive me for Gaeta?'

'There is nothing to forgive. You were trying to prevent the major quake-and I have certainly seen enough since that night to know that there are limitations even to the powers of Readers and Adepts working together. But I'm not afraid anymore. I was always afraid to test my powers… until I crossed the border. Until I met you.'

She closed her eyes, her face turned up to his. For privacy in this villa full of Readers, Melissa was not Reading. Torio had been Reading only enough to find his way. Now he stopped, but found no difficulty placing his arms around Melissa, drawing her close, meeting her lips with his.

Torio had never kissed a woman before-but he quickly found the way to shift their position so they could comfortably indulge in a prolonged embrace. His heart was pounding, but he refused to let his mind wonder where this might lead. He simply enjoyed the moment.

When they broke off kissing, Melissa remained in Torio's arms. Her head fit neatly against his shoulder, so that he could rest his cheek against her hair, breathing in its fragrance. Still… 'I'm not sure we should be doing this,' he said with little conviction.

'I am,' Melissa replied. 'I'm… not sure where it will lead for us, Torio, but it's not wrong for Readers to touch each other.'

He felt her turn her face up again, and there was no reluctance in his response. But in the midst of their kiss, he heard the sound of footsteps. Torio began to Read just in time to find Wulfston turning away in great embarrassment at having walked in on their private moment.

'Wulfston-don't go.' Both Torio and Melissa spoke, almost in unison.

The Adept halted, flustered. 'I'm sorry. I was just going to sit out here for a while. I didn't know anyone was-' He essayed a rueful smile that didn't quite succeed. 'Until I can learn to Read, I'll try to be more alert… or louder.'

Melissa and Torio were sitting side by side on the bench now, a hand's span apart. 'We were discussing what happened here in Tiberium,' said Melissa.

'And at Gaeta,' said Torio. 'Wulfston, you and Aradia always say that you work with nature.'

Wulfston smiled. 'That seems to be what you were doing.'

Torio felt himself blushing, but forced himself to go on. 'But there are times when you work against it.'

Wulfston accepted Torio's serious tone and sat down on a bench opposite the couple. 'We worked against nature to prevent the destruction of Tiberium.'

'Exactly!' said Torio. 'And Melissa just pointed out to me that we succeeded. The earth did not swallow the city!'

'True,' Wulfston agreed. 'We achieved part of what we intended. But we have to take responsibility for all the things that happened that we didn't intend-the political damage we created will be much harder to repair than the earthquake damage.'

'And the shambles we've left the Readers in,' added Melissa.

'Not just those who joined us,' said Torio. 'What about those not involved in our plan? There are thousands of young Readers in training, hundreds of Magister Readers, scattered Masters who were not part of Portia's circle. They are not our enemies, and yet they certainly have no reason to trust us.'

'After the way the Readers used them,' said Melissa, 'the Adepts won't trust them again soon, either. What do we do, my lord?'

'What you have done, Melissa,' Wulfston replied. 'Learn one another's powers. Then learn the right way to use them together. Gaeta happened because we didn't have enough geological information; we can take care that that kind of error never happens again now that we have many Readers to gather information for us.'

'But Tiberium-' said Torio.

'Human nature,' said Wulfston. 'I don't know if we'll ever learn to judge it accurately-but we must try. If we don't want one war after another, we must understand and trust each other. It won't be easy, but it's the only answer.'

Not everyone agreed with Wulfston, as became evident at dinner that evening. Everyone was awake now, Aradia well enough to be up for the day, although she would do more healing in the night. She opened the session by turning to her husband to say, 'Well, Lenardo, like it or not, it seems we now have an empire to rule.'

'Have we? We didn't come here as conquerors, Aradia.'

'But it was foretold-'In the day of the white wolf and the red dragon, there will be peace throughout the world. The empire tried to breach that peace,' she said.

Lilith agreed. 'We can't walk away and leave these people to fight out a government among themselves. The Senate is gone, the royal family is gone. They'll end up with a military dictatorship.'

'What about the Readers?' asked Decius. 'I'm surprised that the members of the Path of the Dark Moon have not yet challenged our right to remain here. I've seen Alethia and her husband, but where are the others?'

Melissa explained, 'They've gone into hiding, out of shame. They misused their powers, Decius-they sought vengeance. They killed Portia and the Emperor and the Senate-I almost joined them, the emotion was so strong. When I realized what I was doing I stopped-but there was no stopping that group mind. When the rapport was gone-most of the Readers suddenly could not Read. Everyone who joined the killing spree has lost some Reading ability-some are mind-blind. I do not think we need fear an uprising along the Path of the Dark Moon, unless we treat them so badly that they are willing to sacrifice what little power they have left.'

'We will not treat anyone badly,' said Wulfston, 'but we have no advantage here as we had in lands Drakonius controlled. The Aventine government did not mistreat its citizens; we cannot win their loyalty with simple kindness.'

'Why not let the people form a new government?' asked Torio. 'Let them elect a new Senate.'

'Encourage them to hold elections and then walk away?' asked Lenardo. 'That might be a solution.'

'Not without a strong ruler,' said Aradia. 'Lenardo, haven't you learned yet that human nature is much more unpredictable and dangerous than the nature of wind and fire, earth and water? We prevented an earthquake from devastating this land-but people destroyed it just as effectively, by destroying people.'

Torio noticed how different Aradia's view of human nature was from her brother's. Nonetheless, he agreed with both of them on one point: 'We have started something we must finish. Just over a year ago, Drakonius caused the earthquake at Adigia. He made the fault under the empire unstable-and walked away. We had to finish what he started. I started a war with my lie to Portia-the idea that we can raise the dead created such fear that the empire sent an army against us.'

'Torio is right,' said Melissa. 'He didn't walk away-he discovered a way to prevent a real war, and saved many lives. We finished the earthquakes; the fault is stabilized. Now the Aventine army has surrendered to us, again, but the people here are leaderless, just as unstable as that fault used to be. Should we end one kind of instability only to create another?'

Lenardo looked around the table. 'I think I am outnumbered,' he said.