A man may find happiness everywhere he looks, yet he will not find his happiness save in the proper place. Many content themselves thinking they have found true joy while sipping at the tepid water of contentnt. They know no better; the man who has never trod a path will delight at every adow or deer trace that spares him passage through the bramble.
Yet when they first set foot upon their path, their eyes are opened. The way ahead is clear, the destination plain even though it may be years of travel before it cos. There is no burden that cannot be borne by a man walking his true path, no fatigue that may slow him.
When life delivers pain to you, therefore, do not despair. Every hurt dealt to you will sweeten the feel of the path beneath your feet, when at last you find it.
- The Book of Eight Verses, the Verse of Growth. (New Kheman Edition, 542 PD)
It was Michaels first ti in Leiks city center, for all that he had visited the city once before. The staged attack had been in the lower city, in the poorer districts that occupied the space between Leiks harbor and the affluent regions farther away from the stench of fish and smoke.
For a city as central to the War as Leik, the old districts were surprisingly normal. Michael watched out the window as residents did their shopping, hauled bundles of goods through the street and generally went about their quotidian business. There was an oddly tentative quality to them, however, one that Michael could not place.
It was plausibly due to the generous numbers of soldiers walking the streets, of course, but the conspicuously-ard ndiko patrols did not disrupt the urban idyll; to the contrary, the city fairly humd with excitent. A low background din of positive sentint suffused Leiks streets, setting Michael in a similarly-content mood.
Not all was happiness, of course. The outer districts of the city near the Ardan positions had suffered fires and other damage from the intense fighting, and though its residents had largely evacuated there had been deaths among those too stubborn or hopeful to leave.
Michael looked out at the street rolling slowly past, his mind drifting back to carriage rides through Calmharbor with his father. He had wondered often about the lives he glimpsed through the windows, tried to extrapolate sothing about the person from those stolen monts. It had always felt empty, sohow; the people blended into an undifferentiated mass in his mind, fading away seconds after his eyes left them.
The addition of Sparks soul lent color to that drab tapestry. The man walking on the sidewalk was ecstatic, another passing him on the street was anxious. Michael leaned back against the seat and let the flow of people wash over him, a slight smile touching his lips.
This was the first ti he had been genuinely grateful to hold Sparks soul within him. He felt a profound connection that had been absent in those prior rides, deepened all the more by the knowledge that he had helped spare these people so asure of the fighting. The routed Ardans had run rather than staying to resist, the scattered remainder of the garrison surrendering or succumbing within the first day.
He was jarred from his contemplation by the squeal of the trucks brakes as Zabala brought it to a halt; Michael sat forward and saw that they had arrived at the towns central plaza. The expansive square was thick with broad canvas tents, the space between them choked with soldiers and locals both. A long line of people snaked away towards a cluster of trucks offloading food. Other, smaller queues had ford outside of the tents; those waiting there bore wounds or bandages.
Those are the clinics? Michael asked.
Zabala nodded, pulling the truck to a halt. For the central district, he said. There are others on the outskirts, but this is the largest. He turned the truck off. Also the safest. I dont know where your friend is in this ss, but odds are hes with the main cadre.
I think Ill have walked off the stiffness by the ti we find Luc, Michael muttered, still too buoyed by the citys energy to be truly frustrated. Do you mind walking around to look?
Jauna, we can stay here for as long as you like. Makes my job easier when were in the middle of this many soldiers. Zabala gave him a smile that was almost genuine, then jumped down from the truck.
Michael sighed and followed. He began to walk down the nearest tent row, wincing as the nearby emotions took on the color of pain - but also hope, and relief. They passed by a line of people waiting to get into the near tent; Michael sent his sight inside to scan for Luc, finding only mundane doctors in ndiko uniforms.
He frowned. Only a few of these wounds are fresh, he said. Most of the injuries are older, and far more appear to be sick or feeble than wounded.
Zabala coughed. The way I heard it, the Ardans had this city locked up ever since the Judgent of the Star. Didnt want any unrest in the city, since it was their main port for resupply. Of course, that didnt endear them to the resistance, especially since your friends were feeding them the story that the attack was an Ardan plot.
But it was an Ardan plot, Michael said. We found proof.
The fortins shrugged, his eyes tracing over the next line of people. Point is you told them, and they believed it. Ardans had to crack down hard. The Watcher was here for weeks, started requiring passes to be out in the streets and sending n to peoples houses in the night. Nasty business. Nobody was running out to the doctor.
Michael nodded, finally placing the odd hesitance he had felt before; daily life had not been daily life for so ti, here. Those walking the streets were not just going about their routine, they were reacquainting themselves with it.
You said not to look for smiling faces, before, Michael said, sending his sight into another tent. Even if theyre not smiling yet, the city seems happy enough to have us here. I cant imagine - ah, found him. He ca to a halt.
His sight had found Luc sitting on a spare cot, inspecting a young girls knee while her parents hovered nearby. It was marred by a thick, twisting scar that snaked along the skin. He laid his fingers on the scar and told her to flex the joint; she did, wincing with evident pain.
After a few monts Luc laid his palm over the scar and told her to bend it once more. Michael saw the subtle twist of Lucs soul around the hand - Michaels hand. The girls face went blank. She slowly bent her leg, then again with excited vigor. She jumped up and hugged Luc around the shoulders, babbling incoherent joy.
Lucs eyebrows went up with shock; his eyes crinkled at the corners as he returned the hug, pulling away to smile at her and her parents in turn. The strength of their sudden happiness was dazzling. Michael felt montarily disoriented, taking a step back and blinking fresh tears from his eyes.
He felt Zabalas hand on his shoulder and pulled his sight back, taking in the soldiers concerned eyes.
You okay? he asked. Want to go in and talk to your friend?
Michael shook his head, looking back towards the tent. Another ti, he said, smiling again as he felt his heart pound from the borrowed joy. I think hes busy.
Reviews
All reviews (0)