Not exactly at Aradia's table, as she was seated in the ornate chair behind the permanent table, with the family of the dead woman. Trestle tables had been added down either side of the great hall to accommodate the large number of guests. Lenardo suspected that Wulfston belonged at the high table but had taken his present seat to keep an eye on Lenardo. He soon found out why.
The red-haired woman was looking him over. "They're afraid of Adepts in the empire, I hear. Was that why you was exiled, a fine-looking man like you?"
"Lenardo has… unusual abilities," put in Wulfston. "I'd not advise you to try your wiles on him, Jenna."
"Someday a woman will tempt you, me black beauty,"
she replied.
"Probably so," said Wulfston, unperturbed, "but not you, unless all you are seeking is Wulfston's wedding
right!"
That puzzling exchange, which was greeted with raucous laughter, reminded Lenardo of the fact that Aradia claimed virginity was necessary to keep her powers intact, yet her father was supposedly a more powerful Adept than she was. The next day, he asked Wulfston about it.
"Aren't you more likely to have Readers born of Readers than of non-Readers?" Wulfston asked curiously.
The two men were in Wulfston's room. Lenardo under orders from Aradia to keep the young Adept occupied in conversation so he would rest physically. He didn't mind, as he had many questions to asic-except that Wulfston had the annoying habit of answering questions with new
questions.
"Yes," Lenardo told him, "but the very best Readers remain celibate, virgin, so as never to impair their powers. I take it you, as well as Aradia, are 'virgin-sworn,' as she puts it, for the same reason?"
"True. However, both of us owe it to future generations to pass on our powers. As a man, I can wait for a long time yet, and of course a man's part in the production of a child is quickly done. Nerius regained almost all his abilities, by maintaining celibacy once Aradia was conceived." He gave a sad smile. "He says it took over two years to regain the strength he has now, and that he can-could- sense distinct limitations. I just hope that one day I might attain the power Nerius had before his illness!" "And Aradia?"
"Her powers were approaching her father's when he fell ill. It is possible she will exceed his abilities, but she owes her people an heir. One day she will have to sacrifice her powers, unless she can find a younger Adept her people will accept as her successor." "You?" suggested Lenardo.
"I am only five years younger than Aradia. Perhaps my child one day, once our lands are safe from attack. If it destroyed my abilities permanently, I would do it to save Aradia from her mother's fate."
"Aradia's mother… died in childbirth?" "No. Terrible as that is, it would have been preferable." As Wulfston did not seem to be inclined to continue, Lenardo suggested, "If it's a secret-"
"No. Everyone knows. Aradia's mother was an Adept, of course-two Adepts always produce an Adept child. Is that true for Readers?"
"Yes, although we test all children because sometimes Readers are born in families where both parents are non-Readers."
"You test every single child?"
"Of course. Readers are precious, and all are academy-trained to their highest level of ability."
"That is something to consider-a system for reaching and training every Adept…"
Lenardo noticed that Wulfston was only too eager to change the subject. "What happened to Aradia's mother?" he prompted.
"A woman's part in bearing a child is long and difficult. She could not regain her powers after her child was born. When Aradia was two, she killed herself." "How terrible for Aradia," said Lenardo. "They say-servants' gossip-that she claimed Aradia stole her powers and that she tried to kill the child."
"Her own baby? Surely she was mad.".
"Aradia was already showkig Adept abilities." "At two years old?"
Wulfston nodded. "There are legends of great Adepts who emerged from the womb and proceeded to heal their mothers, but those are fancy, I think. Two is early but not impossible. I was three."
"You don't really believe a child could steal her mother's powers?"
"I don't know," said Wulfston. "The very act of sex limits the powers of both parties, even if no child is conceived. It is the only instance of the state of the body affecting Adept abilities. It is a mystery, Lenardo-the passing of life from one generation to another. It is best not to question such things too deeply."
"Why not?" asked Lenardo, who had been taught to seek knowledge above all.
"People who become obsessed with that mystery become depressed and may even..-. abandon life." Wulfston's tone, and the euphemism, suggested that suicide was unacceptable here.
"Wulfston," said Lenardo, "do you not believe that a person's life is his own, to do with as he sees fit?"
"No! My life, for example, is pledged to Aradia. I would give it in her defense, but I have no right to abandon it, no matter what grief or pain I suffer."
"But there are circumstances… What about Nerius? He is dying, and while he lives he is a danger to those around him-"
Tears brightened Wulfston's eyes. "He's alive! Yes, he will die, but from that tumor hi his brain, not from…" The man shuddered at the thought. "Suicide!"
Lenardo waited while the young Adept regained control. "Wulfston," he said gently, "we kave differing beliefs hi this matter. In the Aventine Empire, suicide is not acceptable as a coward's way of avoiding debt, pain* or punishment When a situation is hopeless, feowever, why should a dying or dishonored man continue to endure? We have no Adepts to stop the pain of the grievously ill.
Nerius' situation is even worse-he is hurting, even killing, the people he loves. He doesn't know it-I can Read that. If he did know, don't you think he would expect you to stop him?"
"Yes, of course," said Wulfston. "But we have stopped him, Lenardo. We didn't have to take his life to do it." "What value is Nerius' life to him now?" Wulfston stared at him. "Life is the greatest value. Without life there is nothing."
Lenardo recalled yesterday's funeral service, with no mention of deities or an afterlife. "Wulfston, what do you think happens to you when you die?"
"To me? Nothing. When life ceases, that is all." "The body dies, but the person, the mind, the… individual must continue."
"That is superstitious nonsense, like the gods you swear by," Wulfston scoffed. "If the mind survived, Adepts would certainly make their presence known. Why, a powerful lord could go right on ruling after his body was returned to the elements! There are fantastic stories of that very thing, but everyone knows they are fairy tales. I suppose you believe in the winged folk of the wood, too?"
"If I ever Read one, I would believe!" Lenardo replied impatiently. "Wulfston, every Reader knows the mind-the personality-is a separate thing from the body. We experience it! And if it is separate, then there is no reason for it to die when the body dies."
"Have you… Read the presence of someone… after his body has died?"
Lenardo could sense Wulfston's desire to be told yes. But he could not have the man's confidence in him built on lies. "No, I myself have not-but others have."
"They told you they had. It's all superstition to chain your mind."
"You accuse Readers of chaining minds? You, who casually implant suggestions-?"
"Clean and simple barriers against pain," said Wulfston, "or to hold prisoners as we held you. Would you rather have been chained in a dungeon?"
"It would have been more honest!"
"Honest!" Wulfston glared at him, but then his fury subsided. "That will always be the crux, won't it? How can either of us judge the other's honesty?"
And why do we care so?
Lenardo's Reading abilities approached normal as his strength returned. He ate the huge meals Aradia provided, slept all night and part of each day, and on the third day woke on schedule at dawn, feeling completely rested. Having given his word not to leave his room, he lay still and Read beyond the castle, finding the flat rock where the only sign left of the funeral pyre was a bit of ash drifted by the morning breeze.