Jindigar gazed at the ensemble of symbols. "Well, pioneering does require improvisation. The test is whether it works." He motioned to Krinata to stand to one side, asking, "Can you focus your whole attention on these symbols?"
"I can try," she said without much hope. She was much too interested in what was going on, but he was attempting a job he wasn't qualified for, and she wanted to help.
"Do your best," he replied, and turned and went into the space between the carved X and the wall. Singly, the others went behind the symbol to face him. Sometimes their low voices could be heard, but she was more fascinated by the hand growing from the tiny garden, turning to flame. The duad link vibrated, tantalizing her with near insights from time to time, a pattern trying to form, delicate, unstable, guided by that symbolic hand beneath the balanced X which formed the shape of the Oliat array:
ProtectorReceptor
Center
FormulatorEmulator
At one point it seemed that the carved hand had turned from wood to polished indigo agate, and now real flames rose from the fingertips, casting light and warmth on the world cupped in the palm and growing in the soil that nurtured the hand. The plants around the hand had matured, become vines twining around the fingers, shading the pond. Each of the seven flame jets emitted a single musical note, forming a chord.
She had just begun to see how the flames both rose from the fingertips of the hand and descended from the X, tracing out a branched path like a lightning strike, depicting the way all things were of one fabric, when the last of the candidates emerged, followed by Jindigar, and the whole vision shimmered back to reality—a wooden hand, no flames, no obvious significance.
As the candidates had returned they'd divided themselves into two groups. There were six in the smaller group, everyone else in the larger, as the last man came around to the front. He looked from one group to the other as a total hush fell. He turned to the array of symbols and chose and ate a piece of fruit. Then he picked up the platter of fruit, offering it to the group of six, who had drawn closer together. Krinata had learned to .recognize fear in a Dushau, and she saw it now as the last man faced them.
Jindigar announced, "Indito will take your Center."
Indito proffered the tray of fruit to each of the other six, and each hesitated as if his life depended on it before selecting and eating a fruit.
When the tray was returned to its place, Jindigar addressed them. "You will be a very substandard Oliat, in great danger from your own lack of experience, but if you survive long enough, you'll gain skill and serve this community well. I'll speak to the Outriders I brought with me, and to your own Senior Outrider. They'll be waiting if you can Temper and Balance."
Zannesu was with the new Oliat, as was Darllanyu. Jindigar's gaze locked to hers for a moment, then he added, "Indito, if you're very clever, you'll set Dar as your Outreach, and Zannesu as Inreach." He named off the other Offices but added, "Of course, it's your Oliat, and not my place to advise further."
Jindigar swept Krinata toward the portal, leading an exodus. The oppressive heat of late afternoon made Krinata's knees sag, and from how tired she was she realized how exhausted Jindigar had to be. The others dispersed, and Darllanyu caught up with them near the Historians' temple, where Threntisn was sitting on the porch, at a makeshift table, eating fruit and sipping from a canteen.
Stopping Jindigar, Darllanyu said to Krinata, "I must thank you for grieving Avelor's with me. If we never speak again, I want you to know you've given me a Law of Nature I could never have apprehended without you."
Krinata was nonplussed. Jindigar explained, "Dar, I suspect Krinata doesn't recall peripherals."
"But when she saved me from Avelor's beasts, she—"
"Avelor's beasts?" asked Krinata.
"You don't remember," stated Darllanyu. Bewildered, she complained, "Jindigar, what good is a grieving she can't remember?"
"Humans are like that. It doesn't worry me."
"Nothing ever worries you."
"Let's not quarrel. This may be an ending for us."
"You chose to send me into Indito's."
He riveted her with a peculiar gaze, a ragged tone to his voice as he said, "If I'd been an Active, I probably couldn't have. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
It was Darllanyu's turn to manifest some other personality, ready to shuck off all the affairs previously important to her and turn in a different direction. Those two personalities warred within her as she locked eyes with Jindigar.
Then, suddenly, choosing duty above gratification, she whirled and strode back to the temple.
Jindigar watched her go, one hand almost beckoning her back. But, resolutely, he turned away, gripping Krinata's arm as Zannesu had—repressed tremors pulsing through him. Could Dushau seduce each other into Renewal?
As they made for the street of houses that led to the gate, Threntisn called, "Jindigar!"
TEN
Farfetch
Jindigar stopped, paused before turning as if summoning strength, and then called back to Threntisn, "Yes?"
Threntisn beckoned, and Jindigar glanced at Krinata. She
offered, "I could find my own way to the gate"
"This can't take long. I must find the Outriders. Can you wait?"
"Sure," she agreed, and expected to park herself near one of the newly planted saplings. But Jindigar kept his hold on her elbow as he headed for the Historian's porch.
As they approached, Threntisn piled up two more stacks of lumber and laid out some more fruit from a net bag beside him. "Come—there's fresh—whatever these are. We must name these things, you know."
Jindigar remained standing. "Your department. I'm on an errand, Threntisn."
"Bluntly, do we have an Oliat?"
"Maybe, though anywhere else they'd be called a heptad."
"Not my business to assess your risks—"
Jindigar tensed. "But it's your business to set them."
Krinata had never seen Jindigar's anger before, and she well understood it, for Threntisn had set impossible conditions for taking the Archive from Jindigar.
"Sit down," urged Threntisn. "I'll have someone escort Krinata to the gate. You and I must speak frankly."
Jindigar looked to Krinata. "This concerns my apprentice too. And, if I were her, I wouldn't appreciate being disregarded."
"If I were you," said Krinata to Threntisn in her best Dushauni submission-mode, "I wouldn't assume that the senior Oliat priest had been detailed to escort a visitor to the gate."
Threntisn gazed at her in astonishment, then a smile lighted his face and he stood, sweeping her a courtly bow. "My apologies. I hadn't realized you were so deeply involved. Jindigar—please. I won't keep you long."
They took seats, and Threntisn handed Krinata one of the nicest yellow fruits, which could be eaten skin and all. It was cool and juicy, and she was thirsty! "Thank you."
Jindigar likewise accepted a fruit and idly toyed with a very large loop of string on the makeshift table. "You may speak freely in front of Krinata."
"I saw you with Dar. I'm sorry it doesn't seem to be working out. She's so much closer to Renewal than you are."
"There's no telling how long Indito's will last, if it ever forms. But—I can't make plans until I've delivered the Archive. I can't even train Krinata. The Archive's unaltered now, but my every thought sets it resonating. Every association—even references to people I've known—every personal memory leads me to it. I wouldn't dare try to Center even if they'd have me—Threntisn, didn't you see how I almost pulled the entire grieving zunre into the Eye with me? I didn't mean to do that! I could inadvertently pull an entire Oliat in there with me. The thing's a giant trap now. Take it, and let me use my talents for this community."