“I cannot ease your sorrow,” he said, speaking so softly that Linden barely heard him. “That attempt was made, and it failed. But one fear I will spare you. The One Tree is not destroyed. It is a mystery of the Earth. While the Earth endures, it too will endure in its way. Perhaps your guilts are indeed as many as you deem them — but that is one you need not bear.”
Findail's unexpected gentleness made Linden's eyes blur. But the pained slump of Covenant's shoulders, the darkness of his gaze, showed that he had passed beyond the reach of solace. In a voice like the last drops of blood, he replied, “You could've warned me. I almost-” The vision of what he had nearly done clogged his throat. He swallowed as if he wanted to curse and no longer had the strength. “I'm sick of guilt.”
Honninscrave remained huddled over Seadreamer. Sevinhand and Gale wrath looked to him for instructions; but he did not respond, did not notice them at all. After a brief pause of respect, the First told the Anchormaster what to do.
Wrapping his old melancholy about him, Sevinhand rallied the crew. The anchors were raised, the sails set. In a short time, Starfare's Gem swung away from the grave of the lost Isle and headed northward into the open sea.
But Covenant did not stay to watch. Bereft beyond redemption, he left his companions, shambled in the direction of his cabin. He was dying with a knife in his chest and no longer had any way to fight the Despiser. Linden understood. When he turned his back on her, she did not protest.
This was her life after all — as true to herself, to what she was and what she wanted to become, as the existence she had left behind on Haven Farm. The old man whose life she had saved there had said to her, You will not fail, however he may assail you. The choices she had made could not be taken from her.
And that was not all. She remembered what Covenant had told her about his Dead in Andelain. His friend, High Lord Mhoram, had said to him, Do not be deceived by the Land's need. The thing you seek is not what it appears to be. The same prophecy was true for her as well. Like Brinn, she had found something she had not come seeking. With Covenant after their escape from Bhrathairealm, she had let some light into the darkness of her heart. And in the cavern of the One Tree she had found a use for that part of herself-a use which was not evil.
Since Covenant could not bear it now, she accepted from him the burden of hope. You will not fail — Not while she still believed in him — and knew how to reach him.
Yet she did not try to keep the tears from her eyes. Too much had been lost. As she went to stand beside Honninscrave, she folded her arms over her heart and let the long grief of the quest settle in her bones.