20.1 Inheritance

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"It will end when the Creator intervenes. Then it shall begin."

-Prophecies of Tilda the Scribe, 100:1

  

THEY AROSE BEFORE dawn and hastily resumed their journey, feeling the goal now within their reach, though the immediate nearness of Rupert's passing still numbed their minds and hearts. As they left the camp, they paused for a few minutes at Rupert's grave, bidding him farewell.

   They bowed their heads and stood silent for awhile, until Frederick called out, "See you around, Rupert!", and walked off. The others left in ones and twos, leaving Aeden and Betha.

   Aeden whispered, "Goodbye, friend." and they turned, hands intertwined, looking to the east. They walked swiftly the whole day, passing through a flat, arid land full of dried mud and weeds. On and on they marched, diverting to neither the left nor right, but aiming straight for a distant range of mountains, though from the master healer's knowledge gained the night before they knew the compound lay much closer. Aeden quickened his step and caught up to the master healer.

   "Sir, I have a question. Several, actually."

   The healer motioned, "Ask, then."

   "Why would Priam steal that toy from you?"

   "I'm afraid I do not know."

   "You don't?"

   "No. Are you surprised? I don't know all things. I do have thoughts and feelings, but no facts."

   "Well then, what are your thoughts and feelings on the matter?"

   The master healer, still hesitating, replied, "They are ... my own. I will tell you only that I found the toy far away to the south and east of the southern city of Penumbra, in the mountains. It was many years ago when I was travelling to the kingdoms of the south, past Franckland, on a diplomatic mission of peace and healing-I was sent by the king to help alleviate the suffering there due to a plague. On the way, as I passed through the mountains I came upon a ruin-an ancient place overgrown by trees and under centuries' worth of layers of needles and soil. There were still a few structures remaining, though, and inside one of them I found the artifact. It was made of pristine, gleaming metal, which was why it caught my eye. I would have expected any metal object found in a ruin to be severely rusted beyond recognition. I took it and saw that it actually was a mechanical contraption, though covered with a script that I never could decipher. I've kept it hidden, only showing it to people I've inducted into the society in order to assist me in explaining to them what we are, but I haven't exactly kept it a secret. I've brought scores into the society since then."

   "Do you think one of them may have joined Lord Shiavo and told him of it?"

   "I don't know. I don't know how any would find the toy significant at all. What gives me pause is that I saw another one, once. The lord of the city of Elbeth gave me an audience, and during our talk he took me on a tour of his estate. In one of the chambers, which he called his chamber of relics, he showed me a collection of ancient artifacts which had been gathered into his keeping over the years. I saw another gleaming metal toy in one of the display cases. "What a curious toy," I remarked to the lord. "Yes," he said, "the keeper of this chamber recently added it to the collection. A fascinating child's plaything." I looked, and it was nearly identical to mine, with small differences. "Where did he find it?" I asked, and he replied, "He goes often into the mountains to the east for hunting and sport. He came upon a ruin he had never encountered before and found it there. I paid him handsomely for it, as I always do when he brings me some new trinket." I let the matter lie so as not to draw undue attention to it, but the coincidence remained in my mind ever since. Are there more of them? No one knows. Are they significant? Again, I do not know, but apparently someone thinks so to have sent Priam back to us to steal mine."

   Aeden said, "Priam often spoke of the hunting trips with his father. He would always bring back a few things from one of the ruins if their hunting took them near one. In fact, before the invasion, on their last hunting trip, they found a new ruin they had not seen before, high up in the mountains. It was nothing but a single door set into the rock wall of the mountain. They tried entering but it was locked, and no amount of bashing with rocks even so much as scratched the door. It was metal, with the same look as your toy-not rusted at all. They figured they would return someday with some metalsmiths and attempt to enter it somehow."

   They walked for several minutes, pondering the recent events, before the master healer spoke up, "You had more than one question?"

   "Yes." Aeden began "Yes I did. When I was in Rupert's mind, just before he died, I put my hand on the wall where his memories were displayed, and I could feel him. I could feel everything that he felt in those memories. And now that I think about it, the first time I used a rohva power, during my tournament duel, I think I felt that man's feelings as well."

   The master healer nodded, "Well then, you must be a rohva of either the first or the second kind. All the firsts have been able to do that, as well as the one of the two seconds that I know. Did it surprise you?"

   Aeden answered, "Surprised me. Changed me. I felt what Rupert felt and I had never felt those things before. And there's more. When we did the rite for Rupert, kneeling there in the circle around his grave, when we stood in the healer's hall, I felt all of you. I couldn't read your minds, I just felt everything that all of you felt. Is that normal?"

   The healer said, "Well, frankly, there have not been a whole lot of deaths in the society. A handful, to be sure, and I have not attended all of them. I had not heard of this, but it would not surprise me, given the firsts' propensity for this sort of thing. A bit of folklore has built up in the society over the years, one thing in particular being the disposition of each kind towards a particular gift. The firsts are the feelers. They feel strongly the emotion of others. In my experience they have been the most compassionate. On average." He said this last part with a skeptical look at Aeden.

   "What are the others?"

   The healer went on, "Well, not every kind has a specific thing or gift or quality, but most do. The thirds tend to compulsion and justice. The fourths I know are tireless workers, needing little sleep. The fifths are seen as strong and coordinated in body-master Arturo, for example, is of the fifth kind, as is our Stuart."

   "Are you talking about me?" Stuart called back.

   "Yes, Stuart. You're wonderful." The master healer replied, before continuing, "The sixth kind is especially skilled at having a fundamental knowledge, or feeling, almost, of how our rohva minds work. They are most able to split their attention between their inner rohva selves and physical surroundings. Clara is a sixth, I believe. The eighths are brilliant. Simply brilliant. Rupert was of the eighth kind, as is Gregory. The ninths are tumultuously emotional. Anger, joy, love, passion, hate, they have it all, only double or triple than most of us. The tenths are builders. They love all things they can touch and feel and build or assemble. Edwin is a tenth, as is I believe Frederick. The elevenths have a quickened sense about them. Their vision exceeds that of most people-some tell me they can see colors that we cannot, and yet have not the words to explain them-try describing red, for example. They hear more closely, and their noses and tongues are sharpened-in more than one way, mind you, as is evidenced by Diana, a true rohva of the eleventh kind."

   "And the seconds, sevenths and twelfths?" Aeden asked.

   "As I said, not all of them are necessarily known for one thing in particular, and even if you are of the ninth kind, for example, doesn't mean you can't control yourself. All tenths are not laborers. I never recall seeing Frederick build anything. Though he does seem to touch Darla quite a bit more than necessary."

    Aeden snorted, and the noise brought Rupert to his mind. "Rupert was of the eighths. That makes sense-he was very smart. He taught me much about mind dueling. What are you?"

   "I am of the twelfth kind. Frankly, I do not know what my strengths are. Of the handful of twelfths that I know, there is nothing really that sets us apart. Other than being unnaturally wise, of course. And humble." He said, his eyes twinkling.

   "What makes us one kind or another? Were my parents both of the first kind?"

   "Probably at least one of them, but we don't know. All this knowledge has been lost for thousands of years, and we have reconstructed but a sliver of what our race once had. But the future lies ahead, and you will live to see our knowledge broadened. By how much, no man can say."

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