"And what do your thoughts tell you?"
"That whole Rite of Attainment, the snotty way you treated me. You were setting me up to find my father, weren't you?"
"Possibly."
"You knew one of the Masters would tell me the truth. And you dumped all over me so that when the time came I could choose my father if my heart told me it was the right thing to do."
"I do not admit this."
"You figured it would be easier for me if I hated your guts."
"Do you despise my guts?" asked Chiun.
"If I hadn't before this, why should I start now, Little Father?"
And Remo smiled.
Chiun's wise visage began to come apart. He forced it to tighten. "Quickly, what is the lesson of the coins?"
"Empires come and go, but gold is forever."
"Close enough. And your visits with the Masters who came before you?"
"Every Master has a different lesson, but the one that stands out is that the Void is what you make it. If you are unhappy in life, you will be unhappy in the Void."
"What else?"
Remo thought a moment. "I think the most important thing I learned is the lessons you are taught when you are young are the ones that get you through life." Chiun wrinkled up his face. "Who taught you that?"
"Sister Mary Margaret."
Abruptly Chiun lifted a bony finger. "Look to the sky, Remo. What stars do you see?"
Remo gazed upward. On either side of the Silvery River were two very bright stars.
"That's Kyon-u the Herder and Chik nyo the Weaver."
"Not Altair and Vega?"
"Kyon-u and Chik nyo," said Remo. "When Chik nyo becomes the pole star, the House will still be standing even when America has become the ancient Greece of that century."
Chiun's hazel eyes beamed with a radiant pride. "You are a true son of my village."
"Thanks, Little Father."
"And you are the true treasure of Sinanju."
Before Remo could say anything, Chiun lifted two balled fists and held them before Remo's chest. Remo blinked. "Lodestones?"
"You have met the challenge of every Master except me. This is your last chance to prove yourself to your ancestors."
They circled one another warily, eyes cold, bodies tense, fists upraised, yet hardly moving. No blow was landed. No countermeasure struck. An hour passed. Then two. The concentration on their faces was deep and fierce and intense.
At one point Chiun tried to break Remo's concentration. "You understand that you and I are of the same blood, do you not?"
"I can live with it." Remo frowned. "I didn't meet every Master, did I?"
"No. But the others may appear to you if they feel the need is there. For no Master is ever truly alone." Remo nodded. "There's one thing I still haven't figured out."
"What is that?"
"Why didn't you tell me about Sunny Joe years ago? Were you afraid of losing me?"
"Not as afraid as I was that Emperor Smith would order me to dispatch your father to keep secret the fact you still lived. For you know that is what he would demand of me should he learn you are no longer a fatherless man."
Remo said nothing. They fell into a tight silence once more.
Somewhere in the third hour the Master of Sinanju abruptly broke off and said, "Enough. You have shamed neither the Master who trained you nor the House you serve."
And stepping back, Chiun bowed deeply, a forty-five degree bow, and said, "I bow to you, Remo Williams, future Reigning Master of Sinanju."
And Remo bowed equally in return, and for the first time in his life, his heart was full to overflowing.