guide
To lead
To learn
To protect.
If you lack a high need
To improve life for all men,
Then turn aside now,
For you would fail the Kingdom.
I greet thee in the name of the new Kingdom,
And I charge thee: care for it well.
I am Zanek,
King of Gandalara
Charol sat motionless as Tarani’s vibrant voice spoke the words which the First King had left for all of his successors. When Tarani opened her eyes and smiled shakily, obviously moved as deeply by this memory as when she had first read those words, Charol twitched as if he were rousing from a trance.
“I—forgive me for my slowness, but I see contradiction in this. You have said that the message could be read only with the aid of the Ra’ira, and you have also said that the true Ra’ira was never
in
Eddarta to aid the High Lord?”
I felt that welcome sense of confidence that comes at the end of a struggle for understanding of a worrisome problem. Charol was verbalizing a lot of the same questions I had been suppressing or dealing with on the subconscious level. As we had talked, the questions—and some unrecognized answers—had surfaced to the conscious level.
“I think,” I said slowly, “that the specific mindgift discipline of the Recorder was developed long after Zanek’s time. Because of her Recorder training, Tarani has a very strong link with the All-Mind. I believe that her skills were functioning on an unconscious level, and they guided her and connected her to the craftsman’s memory.
“The Bronze has continued to be a test for mindgift—but the boys who have been tested since the fall of the Kingdom have been able to get only a few words, without the benefit of either the Ra’ira or Recorder training.”
“The words,” Charol said, with a deep sigh. “How could the Kings have turned against those wonderful words?”
“That,” I answered, “could be a matter of perspective. Once the Kingdom was well established, and all of Gandalara dependent on the Kings for leadership, it would have been an easy and logical step to begin to believe that the ‘highest benefit to all men’ lay in the comfort and security of the Kings.”
“So,” Charol said, “Zanek returned as Serkajon and took the Ra’ira away from the Kings. Having heard his message, I see why he would want to deprive them of its power, but—well, if it had been my choice, and I had seen my—well, my vision so corrupted, I believe I would have destroyed the gem.”
Good for you
, I cheered silently.
You just climbed a few points on my scale of good people, Charol—and removed any doubts I might have had about telling you all this.
“Zanek did try to destroy the Ra’ira,” I told the Elder. “The stone seems to be indestructible. So he did the next best thing; he used the Ra’ira one more time to choose twelve honorable men. He entrusted the secret of the stone to them, and charged them with keeping it safe from misuse.”
“The Council of Supervisors?” Charol asked.
“It seems to me,” Tarani said, “that Zanek would have made a deliberate choice
against
the mindgifted, so that the Supervisors themselves could not be tempted by the Ra’iras power.”
“That makes sense,” I said, “but it does make me wonder about the vineh.”
She looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Could the mindgift of controlling the vineh be a different
quality
of mindpower? Something like that used by the maufel in directing their message birds? Perhaps the Supervisors were not on guard against that sort of gift—or could not recognize it.”
“Or it may be,” I added, “that the Ra’ira has different levels of function—that the mindgifted can affect other people, but those with no natural gift—or one that has been unrecognized until the Supervisor screening—could learn to use the Ra’ira on animals.”
I glanced at Charol and realized that Tarani and I had left him behind. “I’m sorry, Charol—what you don’t know is that sometime in
To lead
To learn
To protect.
If you lack a high need
To improve life for all men,
Then turn aside now,
For you would fail the Kingdom.
I greet thee in the name of the new Kingdom,
And I charge thee: care for it well.
I am Zanek,
King of Gandalara
Charol sat motionless as Tarani’s vibrant voice spoke the words which the First King had left for all of his successors. When Tarani opened her eyes and smiled shakily, obviously moved as deeply by this memory as when she had first read those words, Charol twitched as if he were rousing from a trance.
“I—forgive me for my slowness, but I see contradiction in this. You have said that the message could be read only with the aid of the Ra’ira, and you have also said that the true Ra’ira was never
in
Eddarta to aid the High Lord?”
I felt that welcome sense of confidence that comes at the end of a struggle for understanding of a worrisome problem. Charol was verbalizing a lot of the same questions I had been suppressing or dealing with on the subconscious level. As we had talked, the questions—and some unrecognized answers—had surfaced to the conscious level.
“I think,” I said slowly, “that the specific mindgift discipline of the Recorder was developed long after Zanek’s time. Because of her Recorder training, Tarani has a very strong link with the All-Mind. I believe that her skills were functioning on an unconscious level, and they guided her and connected her to the craftsman’s memory.
“The Bronze has continued to be a test for mindgift—but the boys who have been tested since the fall of the Kingdom have been able to get only a few words, without the benefit of either the Ra’ira or Recorder training.”
“The words,” Charol said, with a deep sigh. “How could the Kings have turned against those wonderful words?”
“That,” I answered, “could be a matter of perspective. Once the Kingdom was well established, and all of Gandalara dependent on the Kings for leadership, it would have been an easy and logical step to begin to believe that the ‘highest benefit to all men’ lay in the comfort and security of the Kings.”
“So,” Charol said, “Zanek returned as Serkajon and took the Ra’ira away from the Kings. Having heard his message, I see why he would want to deprive them of its power, but—well, if it had been my choice, and I had seen my—well, my vision so corrupted, I believe I would have destroyed the gem.”
Good for you
, I cheered silently.
You just climbed a few points on my scale of good people, Charol—and removed any doubts I might have had about telling you all this.
“Zanek did try to destroy the Ra’ira,” I told the Elder. “The stone seems to be indestructible. So he did the next best thing; he used the Ra’ira one more time to choose twelve honorable men. He entrusted the secret of the stone to them, and charged them with keeping it safe from misuse.”
“The Council of Supervisors?” Charol asked.
“It seems to me,” Tarani said, “that Zanek would have made a deliberate choice
against
the mindgifted, so that the Supervisors themselves could not be tempted by the Ra’iras power.”
“That makes sense,” I said, “but it does make me wonder about the vineh.”
She looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Could the mindgift of controlling the vineh be a different
quality
of mindpower? Something like that used by the maufel in directing their message birds? Perhaps the Supervisors were not on guard against that sort of gift—or could not recognize it.”
“Or it may be,” I added, “that the Ra’ira has different levels of function—that the mindgifted can affect other people, but those with no natural gift—or one that has been unrecognized until the Supervisor screening—could learn to use the Ra’ira on animals.”
I glanced at Charol and realized that Tarani and I had left him behind. “I’m sorry, Charol—what you don’t know is that sometime in
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