Page 26 of Warrior's Reign
* * *
This was the afternoon for students, but Numar did not mind. Even once flown from the nest, his bestaja’ekostill always returned for counsel or even simple comfort.
The tall, somberadoansettled next to him in silence. This one carried the weight of his duties like a shroud. There should be joy in service.
“When will you tell her?” Numar asked his student.
Because he was no longer bound by his Vow of Silence, the student replied. “She would feel betrayed.”
“She loved you.”
“Yes.”
Numar waited for theadoanto work through his own thoughts, then after a time said, “Your pursuit of Silence is enviable. If you hope to reach the upper paths, you must learn balance. Silence is not the banishing of emotion. It is the embracing of emotion, and directing it into a flow at peace with the planet’s energy. You cannot suppress—”
Theadoanturned his head slightly, still shrouded in a deep hood, and looked at Numar. Numar sighed and abandoned the oft repeated lecture. “Give your mother my love when you see her.”
“And my father?”
Numar snorted. “One day I will have words with him over winning Aanyah from me.”
But his words held no rancor. It was an old jest. He would never admit his love for thisadoanstarted because of his mother, but the four of them knew. So he would do what he could to help him steer his heart in the right direction. But theadoanhad to stopfightingit first. So young—only youth thought love was an obstruction.
It was unfortunate he would likely have to learn the difficult way.
“I understand what you counsel,” his student said. “You don’t understand the darkness that lives in me. I could hurt her. What if I corrupt her path?”
Numar refrained, barely, from rolling his eyes. It would not be dignified. “What have I told you?”
“That darkness is simply the other face of Silence, old one.” An edge in his voice. He did not like being lectured.
“What else?” Numar demanded.
“That until I stop fighting the darkness, I will never achieve what I seek.” Theadoanunwound his long legs and rose, faultlessly graceful. “You did not see what I became, though.”
Numar shrugged. “I don’t have to see. Do you know how old I am,aja’eko? I was old when your mother and father came to Yna Ipaluk. Young ones always wail and gnash their teeth, thinking they’ve invented decadence and abasement.”
“I’ll consider your words in this matter.” And then he took his leave.
Watching him, Numar murmured, “That would be a first.”
* * *
Before she left the grounds, Reign stopped at her training circle. They’d dug it out themselves years ago, her partner silent at her side as over the course of days they’d ripped out the grass, then refilled it with soft white sand, the edges of the circle perfect. Then they’d planted the tall wildflowers for privacy. The grounds of the academy were vast, and students of a certain rank were allowed to make their mark by constructing their own circles.
Reign stood in the center, facing the statue of Haeemah, and closed her eyes. She began to move slowly, limbs flowing through the Forms.
In her mind, the silent one morphed into being. Tall, broad shouldered form draped in gray, the cloth covering his face obscuring even his eyes; not even the skin of his fingers showed. Nothing ‘showed’ but the precision, the grace, the mastery of his Forms as he tutored her without words; merely by his presence.
“Reign, I would like to introduce you to someone,” Numar said. “Though you have already met in a fashion.”
If in a fashion meant he’d kicked her ass in the cohort’s circle yesterday. She jumped up from her meditation, glad of the excuse to shed the half-hearted struggle to calm her temper after the fight with a classmate. Dude had had it coming for weeks.
The male stood at Numar’s side. She stared at him, hand on her hip.“Yesterday was instructional,” she said.
Numar pursed his lips slightly. “As you have doubtlessly heard, this one has taken a Vow of Silence in order to further his path. During that time he has agreed to take on one of myaja’ekofor additional training. I have chosen you, as you could benefit from the additional instruction.”
“You mean desperately, right?”
