Lady of Poison_ The Priests - Bruce R. Cordell [43]
Silence interposed between them and grew to a span Marrec found uncomfortable.
Marrec said, "You seem a bit short in temper this evening. Perhaps you would prefer that I leave you alone to your observations?"
Ususi shrugged then surprised Marrec with, "No. Stay. I have few conversations with people, and even less with those from so far to the west. Please, tell me of the lands from which you hail."
"Very well," Marrec said with a smile.
See? He thought. Reach out a little, and you shall be rewarded.
Marrec continued, "What do you know of the Sea of Fallen Stars? You've heard of it, then? How about fabled Waterdeep?"
Later, his conversation with Ususi concluded, he returned to his room. The mage proved to be a good listener, which was a trait rare in Marrec's experience. Usually, in purely social situations, it was he who listened and the other who talked, telling Marrec of himself, his triumphs, his children, or the happenings in his day. When Marrec did get a word in edgewise about himself, it was clear that many people used that time to formulate what they would say when they next had their chance, instead of listening in return and showing that they had listened by asking a question related to what had just been said.
Ususi wasn't like that. For that matter, neither was Gunggari, probably why he and the Oslander had struck up a friendship and traveling arrangement.
Of course, when it came to listening, none could top the ever-quiet Ash.
Marrec was Ash's putative guardian, and she shared his room. She sat on a small bed brought up to the room by a servant after Marrec inquired if something more accommodating to her small frame might be had. Marrec studied the girl, looking for any changes. As always, no expression crossed her face as she stared without sound out the open door opening onto the garden.
He sighed and seated himself next to her.
"Well, girl, here we are, and I don't know if we're any closer to finding out your role in all this."
He held up a small, delicately carved stone vessel for her to drink from. When she was finished, Marrec continued, "You and me, we're a lot alike, you know."
He wondered if he had told the same thing to Ash before. Probably. Undeterred, he continued, "I was a foundling, same as you, and like you I was not… am not… entirely human."
He stopped, studying the girl's face for any hint of surprise. Nothing.
"I'm not a healer like you, though. My ability… is more destructive. It's a burden. I've done things that I'm ashamed to admit."
He sighed. Thoughts he had tried to bottle up over the last few years began to bubble to the surface of his mind, and his lips.
"I can't help but wonder if my past… crime… is somehow responsible for Lurue's disfavor with me? Maybe this is all some sort of test, or quest, for me to finally cleanse the monster that lives within me, finally repudiate it once and for all."
Ash began to trace the lines of stone faintly visible behind the wall plaster. Her wide blue eyes reflected a gulf of emptiness, or Marrec dared hope, acceptance.
"If you are somehow connected with Lurue, then you know what I've done. You know my vow, too; that never again shall I call upon the power of my heritage, lest ill once again befall me or befall those I hold most dear."
Marrec cleared his throat, and went on, "That vow sustained me in the early years of my service to the goddess. All seemed well. I thought it was all behind me, but with this gradual quieting, and my loss of contact with her divine spark, I just wonder…"
He whispered, "Is it my crime? What more must I do to gain forgiveness?"
He reached forward and touched Ash's brow with a finger. The girl turned, gave him the tiniest of smiles, then went back to" tracing mortar lines.
Marrec spoke no more, but the memory of what he had done would not be bottled up.
CHAPTER 13
The ranger Thanial's revelation was nothing short of a life-altering shock. Could young Marrec really be born of creatures he'd been taught to fear and despise all his life? How could he