"No, it is not nonsense. Your people believe that their destiny and yours are bound up together. You should encourage such beliefs, for who is to say they are wrong? There is an old saying: In the day of the white wolf and the red dragon, there shall be peace throughout the world. Aradia is the white wolf. You are the red dragon, the thing that cannot be, a Reader Lord in a land of Adepts. You are marked with the sign, my lord. Do not deny it."
Wulfston was the first of Lenardo's guests to arrive. He came in style, at the head of his army, dressed in rich brown velvet embroidered in gold, riding a fine bay stallion. His banners bore the wolf's head, but in black on a white field. Lenardo was waiting for him in the forum, with Julia at his side. The girl still had some trouble visualizing what she Read. When Wulfston first came in sight, she gave a start.
//I've never seen a man all black like that before. Aren't you frightened, Master Lenardo?//
//Of course not. Lord Wulfston is our friend.//
//But I can't Read him!//
//Lords Adept cannot be Read, Julia. Considering your propensity for mischief, that is probably a very good thing.//
He stepped forward as Wulfston dismounted, and they exchanged formal greetings for the benefit of the gathered crowd. Julia managed a rather shaky curtsy, watching Wulfston warily. The fact that this was the first person she'd met whom she could not Read bothered her far more than his appearance.
Wulfston walked with Lenardo and Julia back to their house, maintaining formality for the staring crowds. Once they were inside, though, Lenardo found himself caught up in a bear hug.
"My, but I'm glad to see you," Wulfston exclaimed. "I missed you almost as much as Aradia." He held Lenardo at arm's length, looking him up and down. "But you look wonderful. Ruling agrees with you, eh? And your people. I don't have to Read to tell how they love you already."
"They'd respond favorably to anyone after Drakonius."
Wulfston laughed. "I won't frighten you with all the mistakes you could have made, but you've had good luck, too. Especially in finding an apprentice Reader." When he turned to Julia, she stepped back hesitantly, and Wulfston said, "What's this? Surely you're not afraid of me? From what Lenardo told me, I didn't think you'd fear the ghost-king himself!"
He had instinctively taken the right tack. Julia bridled. "I'm not afraid of anyone."
"Then come and greet me properly, child." When he held out his arms to her, she launched herself into his embrace and was picked up easily, corning to rest astride his hip, her head on his shoulder, blissfully at home.
Wulfston hugged her and continued to carry her effortlessly as they walked through the house to Lenardo's room. "What a joy this child must be to you, Lenardo. I can remember Nerius carrying me just this way. I always felt completely safe."
"Master Lenardo doesn't like to hold me," Julia informed him.
Wulfston cast a puzzled glance at Lenardo, who said, "Julia is a Reader. I've explained to you-"
"But she's just a child," said Wulfston, sitting down and establishing Julia on his lap. "Surely at her age-" Then he said apologetically; "Lenardo, if I'm interfering in your discipline, I'm sorry. I didn't think."
"It's all right," said Lenardo, sitting down opposite them. "Julia will outgrow her compulsion to touch as her Reading ability develops. What upset her at first was that she can't Read you." Yet he felt a remote twinge of jealousy as he watched Julia settle happily.
"I can Read you now, my lord," she said, "at least what you're feeling. You're awfully nice."
"You caught me in a good mood," Wulfstone teased, no more taken in by her flattery than Lenardo. Yet it seemed that Wulfston automatically knew more of what Julia needed just now than Lenardo did. No, not what she needs. What she wants.
Julia lifted Wulfston's pendant. "Look, Master Lenardo, just like yours!" Then she held it against her cheek, saying, "No, it tells a different story." "Hmm?" Wulfston looked to Lenardo for clarification.
But Lenardo was just as puzzled. "What do you mean, Julia?"
"When I hold yours, it tells me about you… and an old man, a great Lord Adept… and a soldier, lots of battles-and then another soldier. I never went back any further because he died."
Lenardo felt the tingle of discovery. "Wulfston, do you mind if Julia Reads your wolf-stone? She could have gotten the history of mine from me, but I don't know how, as I've had no occasion to think about it."
"How can anyone Read a stone?" Wulfston asked.
"Let her try."
"You've been building a castle," said Julia. "Before that, another castle… the same old man-battle-he dies-terrible sorrow. He was your father. Before that, years of sadness… back further, great happiness. You and a little girl-such fun! I wish I could play with those children! People call them… Nerius' black and white wolf cubs. Further back you're a little boy, way younger than me. You draw the stone to you-terrible fear! Loss!"
"Stop, child," said Wulfston. With trembling hands, he extricated the stone from her clasp and then looked at Lenardo. "Can you do that?"
"No. It is a rare talent. I didn't know Julia had it until right now. That part about the wolf cubs-I never heard that before. And Julia cannot Read you."
"You can't Read things?" Julia asked Lenardo in astonishment.
"Not that way, Julia, not to tell their history. When I left the empire, of all Readers there were only three with that talent."
"Can nonReaders have it?" Wulfston asked.
"Yes, very rarely.
Wulfston nodded. "Like the many people with a single Adept talent."
"In a way, except that Reading is really a single talent, and one's skills are a matter of degree. Only two skills-this ability to Read the history of an inanimate object and the power of prophecy-never appear without the basic ability to Read thoughts. It's fortunate for me, though, that the varying Adept talents exist. Having none myself would put me at a great disadvantage were it not for all the people willing to use theirs to aid me."
"A lord who knows everything about everybody is as powerful as a lord who can do anything to anybody," said Wulfston.
"People don't seem to mind that much," Lenardo replied. "When they first find out, they panic. But soon they learn that I don't care about their fantasies, their memories-" "But they know you'd care about a plot to sieze power or to hurt or cheat people. You're better off than an Adept, Lenardo. You can stop such things when they begin. I can only punish after the fact."
"Master Lenardo hardly never-ever-punishes nobody," said Julia.
"Yet there is order in his lands, Julia. You grow up to be, just like him, and someday you will be a great ruler, too."
Lenardo was finding the role of "great ruler" as awkward as an ill-fitting garment. Alone with Wulfston, and later Lilith, as cool and placid as ever in her blue traveling gown, he felt comfortable, at home among equals. But on display before his people, formally greeting his guests, he felt like a child playing a game and doing it badly.
Aradia was the last to arrive, in the greatest splendor, all in white-by some Adept power kept free of the dust of the road-and wearing her crown of twisted gold.
//Oh, isn't she beautiful!! was Julia's reaction. //She looks like the queen of all the world.//
But Aradia, too, shed her formality the moment they were away from the crowd, hugging Lilith and Lenardo and then throwing herself into Wulfston's arms. "How I've missed you, little brother. Oh, how fine you look-a true prince." She turned but remained standing with one arm about Wulfston's waist. "Lenardo, you've done wonders. And what audacity, to hold the first celebration when you had the worst conditions to overcome."
"We've made a good start," he replied. "I hope you're willing to put up with some lack of elegance if not discomfort. In all this city, there were not four complete chairs, but by cobbling together some pieces, I've managed so that we can all sit down together."