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.'I'm hungry, Mother.That kind of hurt."'Is he all right?" That was his grandfather's voice, sleep-roughened, and Royalt emerged from the hall.'Should he eat?" asked Lucenda.'He feels all right.But he's white.Let him eat." Royalt's voice was firm, but not harsh, and he smiled at Alucius, as if they shared a secret."He can tell us later."'Grandma'am?" Alucius asked.'She's still sleeping, but she'll be fine.Better than she's been in years.I can tell that," Royalt offered."Now, you need to eat, as much as you» can.'No prickle," Alucius said, shivering once more, and taking a step toward the kitchen.'No prickle," his grandfather agreed."But plenty of cheese and meat.You can even have the soft current bread.You just sit at the kitchen table and let us get you what you need."Alucius trudged into the kitchen, aware that his legs were unsteady, and his vision blurring.Almost immediately, Royalt thrust a chunk of soft bread and a tumbler of the costly berry juice he had been saving for Veryl before his grandson."You need to eat.Start with this.Eat slowly while we get you something warmer." He pulled a blanket around Alucius's shoulders.Alucius looked at the food blankly.'You need to eat it, dear," Lucenda said.Royalt left and then returned wearing trousers, boots, and a jacket thrown over his nightshirt."I'll see about eggs, daughter, if you'll get the stove going."Lucenda nodded, and immediately went to the coal scuttle.Alucius smelled the acrid scent of coal, both burning and unburned.He nibbled at the soft bread and took a sip of the juice, carefully.He didn't want to spill anything that cost more than a copper a tumbler.Before long, he looked down.Although he had eaten slowly, there weren't even crumbs before him.With the growing warmth of the stove, and what he had eaten, his shivering subsided.'Your grandfather should be back with some eggs soon," Lucenda said."I've got some ham from that shoulder Dercy brought, and I'll fry that up with some egg toast."'I am hungry, still." Did using Talent take that much energy? He'd fallen asleep when he'd tried to save Lamb, and all he'd done then was persuade the little ram to take a bottle.It didn't seem long before Royalt returned."Not so many eggs as usual, but enough."'The stove is heating up.The coals hadn't burned down, not really… You'd started it up for tea last night."Alucius watched as his mother made the egg toast.He found his mouth watering, and he wasn't exactly surprised to find himself eating three pieces, and two large chunks of ham—and then another piece of egg toast.Both his mother and grandfather ate as well.'Alucius…" Royalt said gently, after finishing his own breakfast."Your grandma'am is much better.She might even be as strong as she once was.We won't know that for a time, though." He paused."Last night… can you remember what you did?"Alucius took another swallow of the berry juice, trying not to feel guilty about drinking two glasses of it.It did taste so good, and he'd been so hungry and thirsty."I woke up, and I thought I'd been stabbed.I hadn't been.Then I heard voices.Grandma'am was saying something hurt so much, and you said you'd be getting her tea and aspabark.You don't give that unless it really hurts.So I climbed down the ladder and sneaked into your room." Alucius moistened his lips."I know I wasn't supposed to, but… she hurt so much… I just held her ankle, and I wanted the pain and everything that caused it to go away.Forever.Everything felt white, and then black." Alucius shrugged."Then I woke up on the couch, and Mother was crying and hugging me."'I was worried," Lucenda explained.Royalt nodded, then tilted his head to the side, fingering his stubbly chin for a time before speaking."You have more of the Talent than I do, or than your father did.If anyone knew how to train you, you might even have become a healer."'A healer? There are healers?"'No.Leastwise, we don't know of any." Royalt coughed."That's not a blessing."Alucius felt confused.Being able to heal someone wasn't a blessing?Royalt looked directly at Alucius, his gray-green eyes intent."You must remember one thing.Until you are a full herder, with a family of your own, you are not to tell anyone outside the family that you can do this.Not your friends, not any girl you love, not anyone."Alucius swallowed at the total seriousness in his grandsire's voice, and the iron resolve behind the hard words."Is what I did that bad?"'It is not bad at all, Alucius.It is dangerous.You felt very weak.Your mother worried about you all night.What would happen if, say, the Council of the Iron Valleys knew? What if they threatened to kill your mother if you did not heal a wealthy trader? Or if the Lord-Protector of Lanachrona sent his men to kidnap you? What if he threatened to kill us if you did not heal his son? Or, even if he rewarded you, would you like to spend the rest of your life in a palace tower, guarded day and night because you were so valuable? Unable to walk anywhere without guards? Unable to see a sunset alone? Unable to walk the stead with Lamb?"Alucius swallowed a second time.Those were things he'd never considered.All he'd wanted was to help his grandma'am.'If… if you keep your secret to yourself," his grandfather continued, "you can do whatever you are meant to do.If you do not, then your life will be short, and someone else will tell you what to do every day that you live.Whenever you want to tell someone beside the three of us… think about that.Do you want to live your life, or have a life where every step is commanded by someone else? Where people surround you every moment, watching you?"Alucius shivered.'You're scaring him," Lucenda said.'I have to.He looks more like a herder than any in generations.It's his life, and he must understand." Royalt went on."Talent is not like a powerful explosion.It is not a force that can stop a falling boulder or bend metal.It grows like the quarasote, slowly.It underlies everything, and is everywhere, but few indeed can even sense it.Even when they do, fewer still can use it.Yet people would believe you could, and failing to do what people wish makes them angry."'I understand," Alucius said slowly."Even… even if herders kept it to themselves, someone would always want me to heal a lamb or someone in their family.And if I didn't… they might tell, or be angry, because they'd know?"'That's one reason why herders never tell those outside their families about Talent and herding—even other herders," his grandfather said.'It will be hard enough, Alucius, even keeping it to yourself.If you can indeed heal others, you will always have to measure, to choose who you can heal, and how much.And never tell anyone.It must always seem like the person just got better.And that, too, will be difficult, because we all want others to know our value."His mother's eyes were bright, and Alucius looked from one to the other.Finally, he said, "We can tell Grandma'am, can't we?"'She already knows," Royalt said gently.'I have you three I can talk to."'For now, Alucius, and for years to come," Lucenda promised.But Alucius could sense the sadness that went with her joy and pride.Micron, MadrienThe Matrial sat on the south side of the circular ebony conference table, with the wide glass windows behind her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]