Delon stroked his jaw. "I understand, Burel. But listen, if everything is already determined, if the story is completely told, I can't think of a single good reason as to why we are even here. Can you?"
Burel laughed.
"What's so amusing?" asked Delon, smiling.
"Ah, my friend, you have just asked me: what is the purpose of life?"
Delon sighed and shook his head. "I did, didn't I?" He looked out to sea with its sapphirine waves rolling from rim to rim. But then he turned back to Burel and said, "Still, Burel, given your philosophy, can you think of even a single reason, good or no, as to why we are here?"
Burel frowned in thought for a moment, but finally said, "Perhaps there is a clue in what Lady Aiko related as a Ryodoan belief: perhaps we are born and born again, living many lives before we reach Paradise, or reach the next world, or move on to whatever awaits, indeed if there is anything awaiting us at all. If it is true that our souls migrate from one life to the next, then it may be that all is predetermined so that each of us will learn by experience exactly what it is to be good and to be evil and to be a mixture of each, what it is to be hated and loved and ignored, to be a thief and a murderer and a rapist and a priest and a devout worshipper and an unbeliever and any other thing you can name, including worms and gnats and snakes and all other things which swim and slither and crawl and walk and fly. And perhaps when we have learned all-all sides of what it is that we can do and be- perhaps then and only then are we permitted to leave this world and progress to the next, be it Paradise or no. For then and only then may we have lived enough and know enough to measure up to this new place in which we will then find ourselves."
"Good grief, Burel, that would mean we'd need live countless lives throughout an eternity!"
"Don't take me wrong, Delon: I'm not saying that I know this to be true. I am also not saying that one should countenance evil, or believe in the migration of the soul, or in Paradise, or in anything else whatsoever. I am merely saying that I do not know aught for certain, yet I have faith: faith in the goodness of Ilsitt; faith that those above the gods are all knowing and, hence, they know all outcomes, then and now and forever; faith that what we do is preordained; and lastly, faith that one day I will know."
Delon took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Finally he said, "Burel, you are indeed a keeper of faith."
Burel glanced forward to where Aiko stood in the bow, then turned to Delon once again. "There is, of course, one thing I do know for certain."
Delon cocked his head. "And that is…?"
"I do love Lady Aiko."
Delon laughed and lifted his voice in a brief but glorious song of adoration unbound.
When quiet fell again, Egil looked at Burel and said, "I once would have claimed that the purpose of life is to live bravely, but experience has taught me that living bravely is not enough. Besides, living bravely is not a purpose at all, but merely a manner of thinking and behaving, a manner in which one gains approval from one's love and family and clan… and perhaps from the gods themselves. Perhaps our only purpose in life is to gain the approval of the gods."
"I would not go too far down that path, Egil," said Burel.
"And why is that?"
"Let me give you an example: the Fists of Rakka say that the purpose in life is to fear Rakka, to worship Him, to obey Him. They claim there is no God but Rakka, and we are here to glorify Him."
Egil shook his head. "I could not glorify a god who rules through fear."
Burel nodded. "Neither could I, yet this is an example of how one goes about gaining the approval of a given god."
"Ah, Burel, I see."
Aiko made her way back from the bow and sat down beside Burel. He took her hand. "Tell me, Aiko, what is the purpose of life?"
She looked at him and finally said, "The first rule of life is to live."
"Nothing more?"
"Nothing more."
Alos snorted. "If you ask me, the only reason we are here is so the gods can have someone to meddle with for entertainment."
Delon laughed. "I think you have it, old man. If indeed the gods-or those above the gods-are responsible for life, they did it to be entertained. And that is our purpose: to put on a show."
Burel looked at Ferret, but she merely shrugged, and so his gaze moved on to Arin.
The Dylvana cleared her throat. "We can't know what the prime movers had in mind when they set all in motion. Perhaps each of us is but an insignificant link in a long chain which arose from a lowly beginning and is meant to span to some exalted end. Just where that chain began, I cannot say; nor can I say where it now stands nor where it will ultimately end, if indeed it will end at all; for I know not the minds of those who forged the very first link. Yet each of us is but a link from the past to the future, and none I know of can say what the chain overall is meant to do. In this, I believe Ferai has the right answer."
Delon turned to Ferret, his eyes wide. "What did you say, luv?"
"I didn't say anything," Ferret answered. "I merely shrugged my shoulders, for when it comes to the purpose of life, I simply do not know."
"Exactly so," said Arin. "Exactly so."
"According to the charts," said Egil, "we're verging into Rover waters. Keep a sharp eye, and if you spy a sail-"
"A maroon sail," blurted Alos, his voice high and tense.
"Ah, yes, a maroon sail, well then, call all hands and make ready to drop our own canvas."
"Drop our own canvas?" asked Ferret. "But why?"
"So we'll be harder to spot," replied Egil. "Our hull rides low in the water, and a bare stick-a bare mast, that is-will be difficult for them to see. But should they spot it regardless, well then, with all hands haling, we can be up and running within twenty beats of a heart."
"Can we outrun a Rover?" asked Delon.
Egil turned up a hand and looked to Alos. Drops of perspiration clung to the oldster's upper lip and he snapped, "Adon's balls, how should I know?"
Egil swung back to Delon. "Perhaps they'll not bother to come after us when they see we're but an insignificant sloop and not a fat mercantile ship instead."
Aiko growled and gestured to Burel and Arin, saying, "Should any draw near they'll first have to deal with our arrows, and I've seen Dara Arin's skill, and I know my own and Burel's. And should that fail to stop them, then they'll have to answer to the edge of our steel when we board them."
"When we board them"?" asked Delon, then laughed.
He was joined by the others, all but Alos, who sat at the tiller heaving and puffing, his breath coming in tremulous gasps.
For twenty days and twenty nights, through fair weather and foul, the Brise had cut through the Avagon Sea, beating a zigzag away from Sabra to run a westerly course. And in all that time they had seen but one other ship and absolutely no land whatsoever, not even a tiny isle. But just at dusk on the twentieth day, with the seas yet running high from the blow of the day before, below the thin crescent of a new moon standing on the far western rim, like ebony clouds of a gathering storm lying low in the distance ahead, they saw land at last, seemingly black in the onrushing night.
"There it is," said Egil, "the Island of Kistan."
CHAPTER 60
Arin glanced at the crescent moon, new and vanishingly thin, the slender arc now sliding downward beyond the dark silhouette of Kistan. "Alos, I have decided: we must make the run at night. Art thou up to it?"
Alos's jaw dropped. "Are you mad?"
Aiko leaned forward in the dusk to come nearly nose to nose with the oldster, the Ryodoan's dark eyes glittering. "Answer the question," she hissed through gritted teeth.