To Storm Heaven - Esther Friesner [30]
Geordi felt Ma’adrys’ shoulder stiffen under his hand. “Do you test me too, starlords?” Her voice was tense with resentment. “Do you, too, brush aside my questions to teach me humility? Have I failed again by seeking to learn too much? I know I am far from perfect; I am too curious. My teachers often warn me of this. They say it would be a shame if I could not master the prying spirit when that is my one remaining flaw.” “I wouldn’t call healthy curiosity a flaw,” Dr.
Crusher said.
“Who are these teachers of yours, Ma’adrys?” Geordi asked quietly. This was a part of her story he had not yet heard.
“The blessed ones who teach all those like me in Evramur.” “What do you mean, all those like you?” Captain Picard leaned forward, intent on her answer.
“You ask this?” She was only a little surprised. “So it is a test. Very well, since that is your pleasure, starlord. The others like me who were brought there, flesh and spirit. See, we all wear the green robes, to set us apart from the sacred guardians. It is a great boon, to be taken into Evramur while still alive, but it is also a great burden. Although we walk the holy streets and see many wonders, we may not behold the faces of our loved ones who came there before us until we have cast off the final imperfections clinging to our bodies.” “What nonsense!” Valdor exclaimed.
“Legate Valdor, if you will not restrain your tongue out of simple courtesy for another’s beliefs, then keep silent on my orders,” Ambassador Lelys said through gritted teeth. Her colleague gave her a poisonous look, but shut his mouth. She turned a pleasant face to Ma’adrys and said, “You are mistaken, child. We do not test you and we are not the starlords of your people’s tales. Look about you again. Can you not see that we spring from many worlds?” Ma’adrys once more took in the different faces ringing the table. “Yeeeesss,” she said cautiously.
“And Geordi told me what—who that is and where he comes from.” She nodded in Lt. Worfs direction.
“Many worlds.” She pressed the dove-sign to her chest and bowed to Lelys. “Forgive me. All my life I was raised to believe that there was only one world, Iskir, and the holy realm of Evramur, and the star road of the gods. It is not easy to change the teachings of a lifetime.” “Think no more of it,” Lelys soothed.
“Please, Ma’adrys, tell them the rest of your story,” Geordi said.
Was it his imagination or was her smile even warmer now? Geordi felt his heart leap. She was so beautiful, with a keen, quick mind. As for what she believed… It doesn’t matter, he thought. Whatever she believes—whatever lies she’s been told none of that matter& Not so long as she knows that I wouM never lie to her.
She was speaking again, repeating the same tale she’d told him earlier, in the palace, in the abandoned tower: “When Mother Se’ar lay dying, I went to gather dawnsweets to freshen her house. I climbed the mountain where Avren pastures his flocks, seeking the flowers, but when I had gathered enough for my needs there was suddenly a great light all around me, and a shining messenger stepped out of the light to tell me that I had been called to holy Evramur. Then he cast a handful of glittering dust over me and I fell into a deep sleep. When I awoke, a great lady was bending over me. She told me that for my virtues I had been lifted up, flesh and spirit, into Evramur.” “And you believed this?” aldor rapped out harshly, in spite of Lelys’s orders for him to keep silent.
Ma’adrys regarded him serenely. “Of course not.
How could I? I knew I was not worthy of that highest blessing. I said so to the lady, but she only laughed and told me that if I had believed myself worthy to enter Evramur, I would still be picking flowers in Avren’s meadow.” “Ma’adrys, you know that this is not Evramur, don’t you?” Captain Picard asked, indicating the conference room and the wall surrounding it.
“Oh yes,” the girl responded without hesitation.
“Geordi told me that he was going to bring me aboard a starship. I was not afraid. In Evramur I often saw pictures