Defiance melted as her eyes grew liquid. "You never punish me. You're the only one that's got the right, Father. Don't you care about me?"
He suddenly remembered that she had called him "Father" in her panic that afternoon. "I'm not your father," he said bluntly, not knowing how to approach the real problem.
"But you must be," Julia insisted. "There's nobody else like us, nobody that can talk in their minds. I feel it. You're the only one like me. You bought me from Mama. I thought you loved me because I was like you, but then you gave me to everybody else-and-and-" Angrily, she struck away the tears that rolled down her cheeks. "My mother was right. Men don't care nothing about their children, except great lords for the pride of it or the fear. I've got your powers. You had to claim me, but you don't want me. You don't love me. You just want me to stop using my powers so I won't use them against yo«!"
Lenardo was astonished. How could he handle this savage child? His only weapon was truth.
Kneeling before Julia, he took her hands. "Julia, you and I are not the only Readers in the world. I'm not your father, but if I were, I would certainly never have abandoned you. You're too young to understand that you're insecure because you never had anyone to rely on, not even your mother. Child, I will give you things you can trust in: your own abilities, the Readers' Honor, other Readers. But what you need right now is one person you can trust, and under the circumstances, that has to be me."
The wide brown eyes searched his.
"I'm going to open my mind to you, Julia. Read me."
Hesitantly, her thoughts met his. //You're not my father?//
//No. I never left the Aventine Empire before last spring.//
Because his memories were totally open to her, she caught a trace of the pain of his branding. //They hurt you,// she said, sliding her hand up his arm to rest over the dragon's head. Ill hate them!//
//No, child, you mustn't hate people you don't know. I have many friends in the empire, Readers like us. You can trust any Reader, Julia, if you yourself are trustworthy.//
Ill don't want other people, just you.//
//You have me. I promise, I'll take care of you. Trust me, Julia.// Stubbornness intruded, born of many disappointments. //Have I ever lied to you or broken a promise?//
//No, but you took me when you didn't want me.//
//I do want you. Can't you Read that?//
//Yes.// But she also felt walled off from him.
//Julia, I cannot give you every minute of my day. I have too much work. I'm the only Reader-// It suddenly occurred to him, //Child, would you like to help me?// In the empire, children were given Reading responsibilities within the Academies from the day they entered. There was no Academy for Julia, but the whole city could become her Academy.
//You'll let me work with you? All the time?//
//Not all the time but certainly a great deal more time, if you will work seriously. No tricks, and no spying on people's secret thoughts.//
Tears spilled again, but they were tears of joy. She flung her arms around his neck. Ill promise! I'll be good. Oh, Master Lenardo, I want to be with you. I love you!//
He let her hold on to him for a moment and then gently removed her arms.
"Don't push me away," she pleaded.
"You don't have to touch, Julia." //Between Readers it's the same whether we're touching or not.//
//If it's the same, then I'd rather touch.//
He smiled, brushing her tears away and recalling that Torio had never formed a Reader's aversion to touching. We assumed he needed that reassurance because of his blindness, and we didn't force him as we did the other boys. Taking Julia's hand, he said, "Very well… for now. I'm far behind in today's work. Come along and see if you can learn to Read where the drainpipes have broken."
"Master Lenardo?" Julia's thoughts were guarded, and he did not seek to break her shield. "You could be my father. You could adopt me."
"I will take the matter under consideration."
"What does that mean?"
"I'll think about it."
"Oh." She was silent for a moment and then said, "I'll prove worthy. You'll see."
His first impulse was to discourage such ideas. Then he recalled who he was and where he was. If Julia could be taught honesty and responsibility, one day she would make a far better leader than he was. I may need an heir, and where else am I going to find one?
By the time autumn approached, Lenardo's lands were in good shape, the storage bams were full, and a large section of Zendi was in livable condition. They had, however, very little to trade for goods they did not produce.
Lenardo's land had little forest. His first inclination had been to allow people to hunt freely, but Helmuth warned him, "They'll kill off your game in one season, my lord. It would take years to replenish. You must appoint huntsmen to kill a proper limit and distribute the meat."
Wulfston, on the other hand, had large forests and little farmland. Along the coast, his people fished, and Lenardo sought for something to trade this year, when he could not afford to give up grain. "Trade your abilities," Wulfston wrote to him. "Come Read the iron deposits in the Western Hills and mark them for mining. Then negotiate with Aradia and me for a trade route across your land between my mines and her iron works." It was all so obvious to Wulfston and Aradia, raised to rule.
Lenardo's wider concerns were interrupted one day by Arkus. "My lord, I was your enemy, and you gave me the chance to become your friend."
"You have proved a good friend, Arkus. What is disturbing you?"
"My lord, it's Helmuth."
"Helmuth? But it was Helmuth who first suggested that I put you in charge of the troops from Zendi."
"I know, my lord. He's been most fair with me, but he is your chief adviser, while I am still commander of a fifty-man troop."
Lenardo was sorely tempted to Read exactly what was going on in Arkus' head. "Has Helmuth refused you a promotion? No one's been thinking in military terms since-"
"No, it isn't that. It's Josa." He blushed. "Where she comes from, what she's used to. I'd want to, anyway. I mean-"
"You want to get married," Lenardo finally interpreted.
"Yes, my lord."
"Then what is the problem? Does Josa want to marry you?"
"I think so, but I must ask Helmuth's permission. Josa's father entrusted her to him, to arrange a good marriage for her."
"Would you make her a good husband?"
Arkus sighed. "I'm a soldier, my lord. I don't know how to be anything else, and in peacetime there's no advancement."
Lenardo chuckled. "Arkus, you have spent the past three months rebuilding a city, and there is more to be done-years of work. Go find Helmuth and ask his permission. I'm sure he would be happy to have his niece marry the chief architect of Zendi."
Helmuth, coming to collect Julia for a lesson, was indeed pleased with Lenardo's appointment, but it was Julia who with childish bluntness told him, "What a good idea. Make it a big public ceremony, Master Lenardo. That way he can't ever forget what he owes you."
Lenardo agreed. "It is time for a party, isn't it? Everyone has worked hard all summer. We should hold a festival."
"Oh, yes," the girl said in normal childish excitement at the prospect of a party. But immediately his little savage began to scheme. "We must invite your Adept allies, Aradia and Wulfston and Lilith. That way everyone will see that you have powerful friends, and the Adepts will all be beholden to you."
Helmuth smothered a grin. "The child is right, my lord. I was about to suggest the same thing, although I would not have stated the motive so openly."
Lenardo said, "It was in my mind, too, although I was conscious only of wanting to invite my friends. I will write the invitations today."
The next day, Arkus formally asked Helmuth for Josa's hand, and the wedding became part of the festival plans. Julia quickly found out, for the news spread at once, and she spent hours each day Reading for the workmen still repairing the city. She had, quite effectively, cut Lenardo's work load in half. It seemed wrong to place such a burden on an eight-year-old child, but for Julia Reading was not work but play, satisfying her avid curiosity. She was developing a sensitivity Lenardo had seen only once before in so young a child, in Torio.