Thawed Fortunes (4 page)

Va'del was happy that the repercussions would
be less for Jain, but he was fairly sure she'd been disciplined
already, and he was more worried with each passing minute about
just what exactly they'd done to her.

What if she can't see me anymore? What if
whatever happened to her is so bad she doesn't want to see me ever
again? That's probably why she chose not to sit close to the
center.

Va'del knew Jain wasn't the slightest bit
fickle, but that knowledge hadn't been very comforting when he
walked into the room and saw her sitting so far away from her usual
place. With so many of the older girls still gone, Jain could have
easily had any spot she'd wanted. The only logical reason for her
to sit where she had was that she didn't want to talk to him.

He'd been telling himself for cycles that it
had always just been a matter of time before she realized that
someone so smart and pretty could have any of the candidates. The
mantra hadn't actually done anything to alleviate the pain of Jain
having decided not to settle for an orphan who'd probably never be
able to link with her again.

Va'del turned a corner and found himself in
complete darkness as he walked the last few feet to the cavern
housing the hot spring. Before he was able to completely enter the
room, a warm, shaking Jain wrapped him in a hug that was
surprisingly intense.

"I was so worried you wouldn't come."

Va'del wrapped his arms around Jain and
whispered into her hair. "Of course I came. I couldn't have done
anything else. I would have come every night on the slight hope
that maybe you'd changed your mind and still wanted me. Are you
okay?"

Jain created a small sphere of light to float
above them as the pair sat down, and then waited several seconds,
drying her tears before finally answering. "I think so. Bell and
the Mistress must have questioned me for two or three color cycles
after the Lore time. They were both so stern. The Mistress is
always that way, she has to be or she'd spend all of her time
dealing with minor complaints from all the Daughters, but Bell is
usually so nice and approachable."

Jain took a shaky breath. "After I told them
what happened, they asked why I thought it was okay to violate the
rules concerning linking. Then they wanted to know how I learned to
do it in the first place. Then they wanted to know how I felt about
you, how well we knew each other, and about a thousand other
things."

Va'del felt himself tense up as Jain's tone
told him that everything wasn't okay. "Did they punish you?"

Her head still against Va'del's chest, Jain
nodded. "Yes, mostly just minor stuff. They seemed to think they
could keep everything a secret by telling everyone it was Cindi's
link with you that carried the day. As long as none of the other
girls get the idea they can get away with something similar, they
both seemed to think the circumstances justified what I did."

I wonder if the Council will be that
understanding with Cindi and me.

"Va'del, they told me I wasn't to see
you."

"Because they're worried it will happen
again. Is that why you were avoiding me in the Lore Chamber?"

Jain was silently crying again, and Va'del
could feel her tears leaking through the thin linen of his shirt.
"Is that what you thought? That I'd just abandoned you? I thought
if I looked properly subdued they'd offer a lighter punishment. I
wanted to tell you so badly, but you wouldn't look at me."

Va'del felt his insides tighten up as he
realized just how easily their misunderstanding could have spun out
of control. "I looked in from the shadows of the corridor. Once I
saw that you were so far away I thought for sure you'd decided I
wasn't worth the problems I've caused. I couldn't bear to be seen
as continuing to follow after you like a starving gurra lamb when
you'd so obviously made your decision. That's why I didn't look at
you."

Jain shook her head violently. "You came for
me when nobody else would have, that outweighs any problems you
might think you're causing. My feelings aren't based on that one
act, but that's part of why they've forbidden me to speak to you.
They're worried I'll be so overcome by the fact that you rescued me
that I'll do something foolish. I think they're worried about what
will happen if you're never accepted as a candidate. We're really
not supposed to spend very much time around normal boys. Not until
we've decided for sure that we're going to become a healer instead
of a Guadel. They said if you were to become an actual candidate
they might relax the prohibition a little, but until then I
shouldn't get myself caught up feeling things that might make it
harder when I finally have to make my choice."

Before Va'del could
respond, Jain pulled him down into a kiss.
It's been so long, I forgot how incredibly soft her lips
are.

For a moment, everything else in the world
seemed to fade away to unimportance, and Va'del felt a flash of
regret as they separated.

"It's too late though, I love you. I loved
you even before the bandits captured me. I should have said so
before, but I don't think I realized it was true until they asked
me all of those questions. I couldn't tell them I've already made
my choice, but I have."

Va'del felt his throat tighten up, and it
took him two tries to get the words out. "I love you too. When they
took you away after the avalanche, I just kept thinking about how
empty everything would be without you. That's why I came after you.
Not to save everyone else from the bandits. It was to save
you."

Jain nodded again, but Va'del continued
before she could say anything. "Ever since Jasmin and her family
were killed, I've wanted to become a Guadel more than anything
else, but that doesn't mean anything if I can't be with you."

The teenager paused as Jain started crying
again. "What's wrong?"

"I feel the same way about you, but I think
your becoming a candidate is the only way that we have a chance to
be together."

"What do you mean?"

"I think if you don't become a candidate,
they won't let us marry, not even if I decide to become a healer.
They are just too worried about some kind of rogue Guadel to let me
become a healer and then marry someone who's had candidate
training."

##

On'li bit back a mild profanity and stopped
herself from rubbing her throbbing temples again. It seemed
impossible that so many fairly intelligent people could really be
so stupid. Every single point Ja'dir had raised in response to
On'li's attempts to get Va'del and Cindi acquitted had been
ridiculous. On'li honestly would have expected Ja'dir to get
laughed out of the chamber. Instead there were Councilors who had
demonstrated new levels of stupidity again and again over the
course of the afternoon. A'vril's speech from a few days before had
been just the opening Ja'dir and the others had needed.

"And so you see, in a society ruled by law,
we simply can't have people flaunting those laws, regardless of
what accidental good may come of their actions. That would quite
simply lead to chaos as people broke whatever law they pleased and
then did some small good to offset their action."

Cindi, despite being still only half her
previous size, seemed well on her way back to her old, opinionated
self, and was quite obviously fuming, but since she wasn't a
Council member she wouldn't be granted the chance to defend
herself. It wasn't one of their finer traditions, but Cindi was
only present in case the Council had questions for her.

It was terrible taste, but there wasn't
anything to be done about it at this point. Of course, the more
On'li thought about it, the more reason she could see for Cindi to
be so apt to believe that her opinion was always the right one.
When the 'best and brightest' the People had to offer demonstrated
this kind of idiocy it would take the Goddess Herself not to assume
the majority of people must be bumbling idiots.

Before Javin could rise to his feet and try
to poke holes in Ja'dir's arguments, Per'ce leaped to his feet and
slammed his hand down against the stone table. "That's ridiculous.
Those laws are in place for a purpose yes, but none of us are
served by blind, unthinking obedience to them."

On'li and Javin exchanged a startled look.
Per'ce just continued to surprise everyone. His bloodline was the
most conservative of any created by the Goddess. It made absolutely
no sense for him to be coming down on their side in this.

Per'ce continued. "We aren't dealing with
children. People are able to tell the difference between when the
spirit of the law is violated, and when the letter of the law is
broken. If you punish people who haven't broken the spirit of the
law, you commit a grave injustice."

Javin stood as Per'ce seemed to be winding
down, and nodded his support. "Not only that, but I don't believe
the supply of saints to be nearly as great as you seem to think it
is. If you make that kind of self-sacrifice the cost of doing the
right thing, you'll quickly find people stop doing the right
thing."

Per'ce nodded his thanks, as the two men
returned to their seats.

The discussion having
finally come to a limping close after more than two color cycles,
A'vril called for a vote on the motion to acquit. On'li watched as
the voting made its way around the circular table until it hit the
four swing voters. One for, one against and then two more
for.
We did it, they won't be
punished!

The relief that On'li felt rush through her
was offset more than a little by the fact that those who'd voted
against the motion were very obviously unhappy with what had just
happened. That kind of anger almost always came home to roost. Some
of those thwarted Councilors, maybe even A'vril, would oppose On'li
and Javin on something that they otherwise might have approved. For
no other reason than that they wanted to return some of the pain
they'd been made to experience today.

##

Jain suppressed a shiver as she walked down
the dimly-lit hall towards the training salle. She was far enough
back from the group ahead of her, that they'd disappeared around a
corner, creating the illusion that she was utterly alone. Rattling
around nearly all by herself in the section of the dormitories
reserved for girls her age had finally driven home just how few
Daughters there actually were. Even when everyone was in residence,
there were still a number of dormitories sealed off and never used.
If the dormitories had actually been full at the time just before
the Goddess left, then the People really had declined in strength
from what they'd once been.

Jain felt a little embarrassed that she'd
stumbled onto the realization for no other reason than that she was
lonely. She'd hoped things would get better when she heard that the
first few caravans were returning, but so far none of the girls
who'd returned were willing to talk to her. It made the chance to
go see Va'del even more precious than it would have otherwise
been.

By long-standing tradition, there were a few
blocks of time each week where the Daughters were allowed to go
watch, and to a certain extent mingle with the candidates, many of
whom would someday be their husbands.

Before Va'del had arrived, Jain had always
dreaded the prospect of having boys walk over and want to talk to
her. She'd never known if they had been interested in her as a
person, or just wanted to claim one of the prettiest girls for
their own. Even worse had been the nagging suspicion that some of
them were only interested because they needed to marry one of the
Daughters if they were going to become a full-fledged Guadel.

Jain had always tried to suppress that last
thought. Most of the boys really were fairly kind-hearted, and she
suspected more than a few would have been heartbroken to know she'd
wondered how much of their interest was because of the power she
represented. Unfortunately, after seeing the way that Be'ter eyed
the girls, mentally grading them like prized gurra in some kind of
contest, she'd never been able to completely stop herself from
wondering.

Va'del had changed all of that though. He
hadn't pursued Jain because she was pretty, he'd pursued her
because he needed a friend. Even more remarkable, she'd let slip
that she was one of the weakest Daughters, and he hadn't minded. If
Be'ter had learned that she was the weakest out of her year class,
Jain was positive he wouldn't have acknowledged her even as much as
he did the plain girls.

Va'del really was astonishing, which made
honoring the prohibition against talking to him very difficult.
She'd come to weapons practice every day since in the hopes of at
least seeing him, but so far had always left disappointed.

As the small group of Daughters came around a
bend in the corridor, Jain scanned the clumps of trainees and
candidates, feeling her heart sink until suddenly she caught sight
of Va'del. Fi'lin was working with him, probably trying to figure
out just how rusty he'd gotten over the last month.

Jain found a place on the wall that was far
enough away from the other girls that she wouldn't have to pretend
to participate in the conversation they were pretending to include
her in, and then leaned back and watched Va'del. He was going
through one of the complex forms that Fi'lin, the seemingly
emotionless weapons master, believed turned novices into master
swordsmen.

Va'del had always been one
of the best students, but now he moved with a painful slowness.
Jain felt her face redden in embarrassment as she realized just how
badly he'd been treated while imprisoned.
How could I have missed that?
It
seemed impossible that Va'del could really continue to love someone
who was so thoughtless. He'd nearly died in that cold, dark cell,
and rather than making sure he'd been okay, the first thing out of
her mouth had been to tell him that they couldn't talk
anymore.