The Book of Terrus: The Wise and Powerful

Chapter 3 - Chasing Dreams

"Stop being so obstinate and let me have at least half of this one."

"Alright, Marden agreed with you. There, good enough?"

"It'll do."

Lhara joined Tarun in half-reclining, looking up at the streaming white clouds not so far overhead. Some of them were even low enough that they were pierced by the Teeth like needles through cotton. The sound of the flock calling to one another echoed endlessly, magnified by the mountains around them.

"Tarun?"

"Mmm?"

Lhara sat up, bits of dirt and seeds clinging to her hair. "Do you ever think about what you'll do? After Marden marries Yelaina, I mean?"

Rolling onto one side, Tarun studied her with slate grey eyes. "I think about that all the time. I know Aunt Rhena would just die of happiness if I would agree to court someone from Trosk and settle in the village."

"And would you?" Lhara asked, surprised.

"No! Come on now, you know every man in Trosk like I know every woman. Could you really see yourself marrying any of them?"

"You mean besides Andris?" Lhara tried not to roll her eyes too cruelly. "I think Aunt Rhena has the same hopes for me as she does you."

Tarun laughed and grabbed a handful of blackberries from Lhara's open pack. "We aren't all Marden or Eima, able to fall in love with someone we've known since our swaddling days. Can you imagine?" He feigned gagging. "In my opinion, a good romance needs a little mystery, or at least something still left to the imagination."

"Oh I agree! So what then? Are you going to try to set up some sort of trade? Or buy into the flock with Marden?"

"Neither." When Lhara urged him to elaborate he sighed. "I...maybe it's stupid, but there's something I've always wanted to try to do. You remember Da's stories of Amenthere, told to him by traders from the west?"

"Yes, of course."

Tarun's voice took on an eager, determined edge. "I know it's a slim chance, but I've always dreamed of applying to the Academy. It's the biggest and best school in all of Goran, and they have masters in every possible subject there. I could become a scholar, or a judge, or anything I wanted. Or at the very least, if I could be anything in the world, I would like to be educated."

To say that Lhara was taken aback would be an understatement. She knew that Tarun liked reading; he poured over the same weathered old books night after night in his bed by candlelight. Still, Amenthere felt like part of another world, so far away on the other side of the Teeth. Nobody in Trosk had ever even been west of the mountains, much less all the way to the capital. The thought of her brother leaving and going so far away was startling.

"Would they even let you in, Tarun?" Lhara asked uncertainly. She didn't want to discourage him, but neither was she sure she liked the idea. "Doesn't it cost money to study at the Academy?"

Rather than deflate though, Tarun just shrugged. "I don't know, but I hope to at least apply to get in someday. It's the sort of thing that I'd rather try and not succeed, rather than never try at all and live to regret it."

Lhara sat in silence for a moment, digesting the thought. If Tarun were to leave Trosk she knew they'd miss him terribly. But as a second son there was no good reason for Tarun to just hang around town either. Deciding not to worry about it for the moment, Lhara just nodded and looked back up at the sky.

"What about you?"

"Me?"

"No, Old Longbeard." Tarun said sarcastically, gesturing at one of the larger rams grazing nearby, the tuft of hair on its chin sweeping the rocks as it chewed. "Yes you! What will you do once Marden is married, since you don't have designs on anyone yourself?"