“We?” Romasa interrupts. “Youare an outsider. What you’re proposing is an insane risk. For whatever reason, the Quiet has fallen. The priestswillcome, andno onecan stand against them, do you understand? What you’re proposing is a child’s dream,and the people at risk are the ones whose homes are here, not you. It isn’t worth it.”
The room rumbles with assent. Troubled, frustrated, but no one disagrees.
They don’t think anyone can stand separate to the priests. And why would they?
Even the Quiet fell.
But:
I didn’t.
The Sage of Wrath still lives, in spite of them all.
They don’t know that, though.
I close my eyes for a moment, readying myself.
I squeeze Zan’s hand, then reach toward the bow in my hair.
“Yora—” he starts.
But then before I can speak, someone else does.
Into the quiet, Teren says, “Would you turn me over to them, then? To enslave?”
I whip to face him, wide-eyed.
The talisman isn’t around his neck anymore.
Gods damn it,that’swhy he’s been fingering it, not just as a crutch—
Romasa frowns at him. “The priests cannot be crossed, but they certainly don’tenslavepeople, that’s a gross—”
She breaks off mid-word as Teren glows green.
“They enslave people like me,” he says quietly. “Or am I suddenly not a person anymore, do you think?”
This time, the room is utterly silent.
I don’t dare close my eyes again, on alert for anyone who might attack Teren, even as my thoughts trip over themselves.
How dare he risk himself when he has so much to lose and I wasright here—
And the shit of it is I can see immediately that this reveal will be more effective from him, because theyknowhim, when Imight as well be a myth, and he has just singlehandedly stopped the turning tide in its tracks—
But if I can’t even protectone personwith my own power, ifIcan’t even win when I fight, what good am I—
“Goddammit, Teren,” Haben finally growls. “This is why the priests have been in Crystal Hollow, then? Now that the Quiet is down, they can sense you?”
“Yes,” Teren says simply. “I came here for sanctuary when I was a child, had to grow up without my own parents. I have lived among you for years, and the Quiet has been down for days, and nothing has changed for you. I am not dangerous to you, but the Order is dangerous to me.”
That, at least, I could do, I think with some bitterness. I can transmit old knowledge, even if my own wisdom can’t save anyone.
“You knew this?” Romasa directs her accusation at Nomi. “Your stake in this meeting isn’t the business from the proposed ice line—it’s your connection to Teren?”
Nomi nods. “Yes. And it goes further than that. The people who live in my house have been sheltering sages for centuries. The Order won’t let me go if they take Teren, and they won’t imprison me, either, not with what I know. They will kill me.”
Romasa sucks in a breath. “That is a stretch, Nomi, and I’m surprised at it from you. I know you’re close to this issue, and I respect you from stepping down so we might discuss it, butkilling? They might not even know—”
