Page 110 of The Seeker
Her mother’s expression smoothed into practiced calm. “Do you want to do that?”
“Ata has agreed to share her memories with me. All of them.”
Patiala’s eyes went wide. “Has she? Does she know—?”
“She knows I amsomasikara. She sensed it immediately. She wants to give me the whole of her memories. Everything. She wants to be released from this life so she can die and join her people.”
Patiala let out a long breath. “Have you agreed to this?”
“I have.”
“You’ll need to wait until after your mating. Magic like she is asking—”
“Will be exhausting. I know. But I’ll be mated to Rhys when it happens. I’ll be able to draw from his magic too.”
“This time line concerns me, Meera. A mating ceremony while there is a threat against the haven is… troubling. Asking you to do a memory spell while we’re still under threat—”
“Maybe Ata knows something we don’t.”
“That’s possible.”
Meera could tell her mother wasn’t convinced. “She has martial magic, Mata. Powerful spells I’ll be able to teach to other singers. While I don’t anticipate using that magic, I do see the necessity of it for now.”
Patiala smiled. “So the storehouse of Irina martial knowledge will reside in the memories of a staunch pacifist? Surely the Creator laughs.”
“I would never withhold knowledge my sisters needed.”
“No, but you’ll be cautious distributing it, won’t you?” Patiala took a deep breath. “Perhaps that is as heaven would want. We don’t know what kind of magic she wields. Whatever it was led to five hundred years of peace on this continent, the longest stretch any of our people have gone without war. So perhaps it is wise to hold this knowledge close.”
“Five hundred years of peace,” Meera mused. “I can’t imagine such a gift.”
“But every gift has a price, doesn’t it?” Patiala tucked a long lock of Meera’s hair behind her ear. “We don’t know what the price of that peace was. Has she spoken about the Fallen-slaying magic the legends talk about?”
“She said only that peace was achieved by making the Fallen very afraid.”
Patiala’s gaze turned inward. “What do the Fallen fear?”
“Nothing. Not as far as we know. But I do not doubt her magic.”
“And only a mated pair can perform this magic?”
“I only know Ata’s mate was a part of whatever spell killed Nalu. Akune, her mate, is dead, though Ata says she’ll be able to teach Rhys what magic he needs to perform just like she can teach me.”
Her mother’s eyes shone. “So my daughter would become an angel-slayer with the heavenly blade of her voice.”
Meera kept her shoulders straight. “Yes.”
“Another burden.”
“Knowledge is never a burden.”
“What an incredibly stupid thing to say.” Patiala spoke sharply. “Of course it can be a burden. Knowledge is the greatest burden there is, and you’ve been loaded down with it since before you could speak.”
“Mata—”
“This is why you are unhappy, isn’t it? It isn’t the responsibilities of mating or the man you’ve chosen. It’s the weight of more knowledge. More magic.”
Meera said nothing. What could she say? It was arrogance to say a gift was too heavy. It felt ungrateful.
