Farfetch

Jindigar a

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."

Za

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 Za

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."

"I can't. My oath forbids."

"Couldn't you see the Archive is unaltered? You came into it to rescue us."

Krinata listened, haunted by echoes of memory—suddenly unable to sort dream from reality. Did she remember being sucked down into a whirlwind called an Eye, or had that been a nightmare from the bad times out on the plain?

"With Grisnilter's Seals broken there's no way to test his Archive. No one could check every record in it against other Archives. It would take more than a lifetime! But we were all able to get out, which clearly indicates that the structure is undistorted. Your zeal convinces me that the contents are probably unedited. That's why I made my offer. I'll chance it, if I have proof of your fidelity to satisfy our Criteria. Surviving Centering would be sufficient."

"But that's impossible. You saw that at the grieving. My identity is pledged to Raichmat's multicolony just as it is to delivering Grisnilter's Archive. Since the Archive will destroy any Oliat zunre linked to me—in fact, it prevents my completely dissolving the duad I'm holding with Krinata, and so it endangers her too—I can't fulfill either pledge.

"Shoshunri Observed that it's impossible to achieve Completion by forsaking fidelity or to achieve fidelity by forsaking Completion. You're demanding I choose between two vows of equal force. Either choice is a forsaking of fidelity. So you're asking me to forsake fidelity to prove fidelity."

He knew something like this could happen, thought Krinata. That's why he fought Grisnilter so hard.

"That's a good description of what you're demanding of me," the Historian replied. "I'm pledged to protect the accuracy of our memory. I dare not introduce a questionable Archive into our colony's permanent record. This is now my community. For a Historian, the community becomes Identity. I wouldn't expect an Aliom to understand Identity, but you come of a Historian family...."

Jindigar seized on that. "Yes, and so I know this community must have this Archive—the risk of taking it is less than the risk of delay, for I will fail eventually."