It’s only one person whose behavior I’ve changed so far.
But changing even one person matters.
The weak infrastructure in Crystal Hollow isn’t because of the shattered buildings; the shattered buildings merely reveal the weak infrastructure.
I could use my power as a sage to bring them all together for a moment, but that’s not what Tasa needs. That won’tlast.
They need to support each other through all the moments.
That can’t be built with a grand action from an outsider, but step by step, one act at a time.
Methodical, deliberate, difficult, thoughtful work—thatis the domain of resolve.
“Hey!” It’s the cantankerous old woman. “Priest man. Word is your friends are on their way across the water, and they don't look like folks coming to help. You going to do anything about that?”
It’s also the work of a lifetime—
And time is the one thing I don’t have.
“I’m not a priest,” I tell her reflexively.
She snorts. “Sure you aren’t. I wasn’t born yesterday—”
“I’m a sage.”
All around us, Crystal Hollow grows quiet.
Sages have that effect here, it seems.
I look at Tasa; see my own anxiety reflected back on me.
The seeds are planted, but they need time.
I will find a way to give it to them.
Even if I can’t be here to see them bloom.
Tasa
Kovanbowstomymost irascible client. “I will head them off,” he says. “Thank you for the warning.”
The old woman nods. “There’s truth to it, then? The rumors that the priests were trying to turn the sages against us for their own ends?”
She’s making sure no one gets in Kovan’s way, I realize.
Because of course there are people who would be relieved to see the priests. Some even crossed to the mainland to petition them, after the detonation, and have been holding out hope despite the weeks of priests demonstrably not rushing to our aid.
Kovan, though, doesn’t know when someone is trying to help him—or is so scrupulously honest that he can’t seize an opportunity when one smacks him in the face—because all he says is, “I do not know the specifics of what they wanted the Sage of Wrath to do. But I know what they have asked of me.”
He takes a breath.
And looks atme.
“And I do not believe,” the sage says quietly, but firmly, “that it is in Crystal Hollow’s best interests for the Sage of Wrath’s working to come down.”
His words hang in the air.
Impossibly damning, coming from a sage.
