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"I've tried to think of a solution." Jevrin spread his hands. "8 don't see
any." '
-The Last Hawk 347
"Do you know the third passage from Roaz?"
"Something about virtues, isn't it?"
" '1 seek three virtues,' " Ixpar said. " 'The strength to face my enemy, the
courage to face my fears, and the wisdom to face my failures.' "
"Which do you seek now?"
She gave him the gun. "The one Roaz missed. The brains to find an answer."
Stahna Varz, Successor to the Varz Manager, set the letter on Avtac's desk.
"This came today from Karn."
Avtac glanced up from her papers. The letter looked, from its thin size, like
the usual request for verification of Varz attendance at Council. "You have
authority to respond to Ministry communications."
Stahna spoke quietly. "Not this one."
Avtac picked up the letter. "What is it?"
"An offer for Sevtars contract."
"Are you making a joke, Stahna?"
"No."
"Then Ixpar Karn is making a joke. A childish one." Avtac pushed the letter
across the desk. "Throw it away."
"Perhaps you should read it first."
Avtac considered her. Then she opened the letter. The message consisted of one
sentence.
She read it.
And read it again.
Avtac took up a quill and parchment. The note she wrote was brief. She rolled
it into a scroll, tied it with a thong, sealed it in wax, and handed it to
Stahna.
"Send this to Kam," she said.
l of Kam watched the flock of windriders land. People peered out of towers,
climbed up on housetops, scaled every
11 of every building in every section of the city. Like vines growing fresh on
the roofs, heavy with fruit, spreading leaves
1" a profusion of life, the people crowded out to watch. After today, Coba
would be changed forever. A Sixth Level was coming to Karn.
348 Catherine Asaro
Ixpar waited in the Hall ofTeotec, watching from a win above the airfield as
the Kam escort disembarked from
central rider. Then a tall figure, robed and cowled in bla stepped down. The
escort walked with him across the tar and crossed the gardens outside the
Estate. When they di& peared from view, she left the window and faced the
great d ble doors of the Hall.
Moments later the doors swung open and a retinue swept followed by a double
column of aides. The Calanya es entered next, with the cowled man in its
center.
Suddenly it seemed to Ixpar that the Hall would burst people. With a motion of
her raised hand, she dismissed eve one: retinues, aides, guards. They looked
at her in conster tion, but when she met their gazes with silence they left.
Then she stood alone, on the dais in the great Hall where Council had convened
for two millennia. At the end of the the robed figure watched her. When he
pushed back his c
longer rolled, and her heart ceased its beat.
Incredibly, at first he looked no older than on that day ship had made its
flaming descent into the mountains ab Dahl. Then she saw the gray in his hair,
the dulled sheen of skin.
But it was Kelric.
He walked down the Hall, his cloak billowing out beh him. As he drew near she
drank in the sight of him, still familiar after so many years. He climbed the
dais and cami the Circle, never smiling, never taking his gaze from her fi
When he stepped down into the Circle, his eyes were 1 with hers. The Oath
waited for their voices to give it life raise it to a power greater than ever
before known.
Ixpar spoke. "For Kam and for Coba, do you enter the ( cle to give your Oath?"
"Yes." The burr of his accent was still strong.
A chill ran up her back. "Do you swear to keep forever discipline of the
Calanya? To hold my Estate above all else you hold in your hands and mind the
future of Kam?"
"Yes."
_ The Last Hawk 349
"Do you swear, on penalty of your life, that your loyalty is to Kara and only
to Kam?"
"Yes."
"In return for your Oath, I vow that for the rest of your life you will be
provided for as befits a Calani." Silently, she added: No one will ever hurt
you again. On penalty of my life, I swear it.
Then, finally, she spoke the question she had waited half her life to ask.
"Will you accept the bands of an Akasi?"
When he said nothing, only looked at her, Ixpar died inside. Fumbling, she
reached into her pocket for the other armbands, those with no Akasi
inscription.
"Yes," Kelric said.
It was one word, one simple sound, but it had the power to change a world. She
swallowed, then put back the armbands and took the pair out of her other
pocket. The Akasi bands. She slid them onto his arms, making them the sixth
pair he wore.
"Kelric Sevtar Kam," she said. "You are now a Sixth Level Calani of Karn."
For a long moment he looked at her. Then he spoke in a husky voice. "What
price a Sixth Level?"
Silence echoed in the Hall. Her words fell into it like stones.
"The rule of a world."
t1
.t '
:. ;
VI
Karn
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t
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36
SunSky Bride Denied
Ixpar drummed her fingers on her desk, wondering what demented ancient had
thought up the custom that made a Manager wait half her wedding night before
going to her Akasi. Did Kelric really need all that time to prepare? It seemed
more likely he would get bored and go to bed.
She got up and paced around the office until she came to the mirror. She
hardly recognized her reflection; the unfamiliar lace blouse and velvet pants
were foreign to her usual plain trousers and shirt. She had freed her hair
from its braid, letting it fall to her waist. Tendrils curled around her
cheeks.
Would he think her attractive? Was she? All she saw in the mirror was Ixpar.
She had no idea whether or not her appearance pleased. It had never occurred
to her to worry about it before. Beauty wasn't on the list of qualifications
for a Minister.
No, not Minister. Manager. All her life she had taken it for granted she would
rule Coba. Now the title was gone, for her and all future generations of Kam.
Would history curse her for what she gave to Varz? When she and Kelric were
buried, what would it matter that a Sixth Level had existed?
It matters, Ixpar thought.
She had wrestled with her decision. Who truly ruled Coba:
Minister or Quis? In the past those two choices had been the same. Now the
patterns were in upheaval, re-formed in ways no one yet understood. The Quis
of a Sixth Level combined with the hidden Memory of Kam; it would be a power
never efore known on Coba. Kelric's legacy would survive for millennia. But
could it swamp even the might of a Varz Ministry?
Ixpar didn't know the answer. Faced with that uncertainty, th Kelric's
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