The Shattered Land_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [32]
“Great, and what does this have to do with anything?”
“Merrix took the first steps toward the warforged, but his creations lacked true sentience. It was Aaren, his son, who created the first warforged—who adapted the creation forges to breathe true life into metal and wood, but Aaren had no interest in creating soldiers. He wanted to understand the nature of life—to try to fashion a creature with a soul.”
“House Cannith was only interested in war,” Pierce rumbled.
“That’s right. Aaren’s forges were taken from him. The best artificers of the house were set to work, ordered to find a way to duplicate and adapt his creation to produce superior soldiers. My parents were part of this effort. I grew up in a small, hidden forgehold, and I never saw a human child. My parents were always busy, devising new tools for the warforged or new body designs. I spent my childhood with the warforged themselves, discovering the world as they did; but no warforged remained at the hold for long, and my friends would all go off to war. There was a time …”
Her voice shook; she paused, and closed her eyes. Before Daine could move, Pierce reached out and put his hand beneath hers. She smiled wanly and squeezed his hand, then continued.
“There was a time when I envied the warforged, when I wanted to be a warforged. At least they had a purpose. I felt like no one wanted me around.”
“Thaask said your mother wanted a daughter …”
“I know! But that’s not how it felt. She was warmer than my father, it’s true, but she was always busy, and she and my father were always preoccupied with new designs, with the next idea. I guess I began to think of myself as a redundant model. They could always improve the next generation of warforged, but the daughter … they had to live with what they had.”
She took a deep breath. “Things improved when my dragonmark manifested. It appeared when I was nine—years before the normal age. At that point, my training began in earnest. I was sent to Sharn, to the towers of the Twelve, to Cannith enclaves across Khorvaire. I barely saw my parents again after that, and I didn’t give it much thought. At last I had my purpose! I performed much of the usual work of the day, building wands for the battlefield, helping with the warforged. Eventually I caught the eye of Hadran d’Cannith.”
Daine held up a hand. “If you don’t want to talk about him …”
“Why stop now? I never loved Hadran. Never. He was wealthy and powerful, and it was a good match. It was my duty. Really, I never thought twice about it, but then my father interfered. He said that he wouldn’t consent until I’d served four years serving on the battlefield as warforged support.”
“What?” Daine vaguely recalled Lei saying that she never wanted to be a soldier, but he never guessed that her parents would have ordered her into such danger.
“He never asked me. He never explained his reasons. He simply gave his orders, and like a good soldier, I followed them, so I ended up with you.”
“What does this have to do with Thaask?”
Lei looked away, and her voice tightened in her throat. “Just hearing him talk—knowing that there was a time when she wanted a daughter as much as she wanted that better warforged—it just hurts. Knowing that that love was there once—but somehow, I never received it, and now I’ll never see her again.”
Daine didn’t know what to say, so he just put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. She clung to him, and soon tears began to flow. For a moment they just stood there, Pierce watching to the side. Then Lei broke away.
“I’ll be all right,” she said, sniffling and rubbing her