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with not even an itch remaining. This still gives you some pain, I can tell does it not?
Yes, a little, Magda said. She had so little experience with such cuts that she had
thought it natural. She saw Peter looking up, in surprise and consternation, at her bare
arm and the red seam there, and she pushed her sleeve down to cover it.
Alida said, Jaelle must have been wounded first, and got most of the poison.
Rohana sounded anxious. Can you help it, Alida?
Oh certainly. I learned to treat such wounds at Neskaya Tower; it is nothing
much. You were Tower-trained in Dalereuth as a girl; can you monitor for me?
Rohana nodded. Certainly.
But Rohana watched, faintly troubled, as Alida uncovered her matrix jewel. She
knew she should send the two Terrans away. This, she knew, was one reason why
Lorill Hastur had interdicted any serious contact between Terran and Darkovan; he
was unwilling they should learn anything about the ancient matrix sciences. Yet, if she
should make a point of dismissing Magda and Peter from the room now, she must
explain why.
She had told no one here that they were Terrans, but she was sure Gabriel
guessed. When he had seen Peter s almost unbelievable likeness to their son Kyril, and
heard that he was the prisoner from Sain Scarp, he must have known; but he did not
really want to know, Rohana realized, that she had gone against his wishes again.
Because then I would have to tell him, in so many words, that he is not the keeper of
my conscience; and even now I do not think Gabriel wants to know that in a way he
cannot pretend to ignore.
And the woman, Magda, was Jaelle s oath-sister and had a right to remain. As for
the man she saw Jaelle clinging to his hand, saw the tenderness in his eyes, and knew
what neither of them knew themselves, as yet.
Put that away. Lady Alida. I will have none of your sorcery, Jaelle said weakly.
I must, child. There is poison in the wound and it is spreading to your eye; it
can damage your sight. If I do not treat it now &
I do not care, said Jaelle in great agitation. I will not allow
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Rohana said sternly, Stop it, Jaelle. You are behaving like a frightened child who
will not have a cut bandaged! I had not believed you so cowardly!
Alida s voice was kinder. I know you were afraid of me when you were a child,
Jaelle, but I hoped you had outgrown your fear.
I am not afraid, Jaelle said, shaking with anger, but I will not have you
meddling with my mind! Once is enough for a lifetime!
Suddenly Rohana recalled what Jaelle was talking about. On that single extended
visit to Ardais, which she had demanded before allowing Jaelle to take the Amazon s
oath, she had insisted that Jaelle be tested for laran; Melora s child, and with the flame-
colored hair that marked the telepath strain, would surely have one of the Comyn gifts.
Jaelle had been frightened and helplessly reluctant, but on this point Rohana would not
be moved. Alida had done the testing, and Jaelle had come away white as a corpse and
looking deathly ill. It was the only time since her mother s death that Rohana had ever
seen Jaelle in tears. When Rohana had sent her away, a little calmed and comforted,
Alida had said:
Yes, she has laran; I think she is a powerful telepath, but for some reason she is
blocking it. I could break her defenses, of course; but whether I could ever put them
together again afterward that is another matter. And since you have allowed her to be
fostered among the Amazons, I think she would find life intolerable in a Tower. Let
her take her own way.
Rohana had left it at that. She had complied with the law that every child of
Comyn blood-legitimate or illegitimate; and in law Jaelle was illegitimate must be
tested. More was not necessary. She was sure it was the shock of rapport with her
dying mother that had forced Jaelle to barricade her own laran, but she had not tried to
find out. But was Jaelle s fear still so acute? Domna Alida only said, unoffended, when
Jaelle swore at her, You are ill, Jaelle. You do not know what you are saying. Shall I
really put you to the indignity of having your hands tied?
Magda almost cried out: No, you mustn t!
Jaelle, Rohana persuaded, you are not one of those Amazons who makes a
great thing of swaggering and comparing scars.
Alida said coolly, If she wishes to end her days looking like a battle-scarred
veteran of the campaigns at Corresanti, that is her affair; I am only concerned about
her eyesight!
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Peter was still holding Jaelle s hand in his. He raised his free hand to Jaelle s
cheek, caressed the smooth skin below the red slash. He said, as if there were no one in
the room but himself and Jaelle, You are so beautiful. It would be so dreadful to let
that beauty be spoiled.
Jaelle moved her other hand, clumsily, toward his; and Magda knew they all
knew that she would not protest further.
That wasn t fair, Magda thought. Jaelle is too vulnerable. Peter should not have
done it. &
Lady Alida moved her hand, and Magda could see the blue stone in it a jewel?
A brilliant flash, a twisting, sickening glare & Magda turned her eyes away, unable to
endure the sight. The leronis said.quietly, You were too busy cursing me to let me
explain, Jaelle, but I need not touch your mind for this. I am going to be doing some
very delicate cell-reconstruction work, so you must lie as quietly as possible, and try to
make your mind as blank as you can, so that your thoughts will not interfere. You can
sleep if you wish; it will be all the better if you do. I do not think you will feel any pain,
but if you do you must tell me at once, so that your pain will not blur what I am
doing.
Magda listened, in amazed curiosity. Hypnosis? All that about making her mind a
blank & ?
Rohana, you must monitor, Alida instructed. And you must warn me if I
come too close to the nerves, or to the small muscles near the corner of the eye, Alida
warned, and again the blue jewel flashed in her hand. Magda felt a little, twisting ripple
deep in her body, almost a sickness. Alida looked up, her face now remote and mask
like, looking at Magda without really seeing her.
Do not look directly at the matrix, mestra; many people cannot endure the
sight.
Magda turned her eyes away, but found them drawn back. Fakery, nonsense; but
what are they going to do to Jaelle?
Rohana approached Jaelle, bending over her; ignoring Peter, who still knelt on
the far side of the bed, holding Jaelle s hands. Jaelle s eyes had fallen shut again.
Rohana ran her fingertips along Jaelle s face, not quite touching her; down across the
bared shoulder and the swollen, horribly festered wound there. It seemed to Magda
that a line of light followed Rohana s fingertips, began to glow along Jaelle s skin & As
if I could see the bones through the skin. &
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Rohana said, No, not the bones, the nerve currents that lie among them & But
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