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:Then tell only Arleej. Tell her to give the Dreamweavers some other reason for
going to the villages. It will be better if the Dreamweavers who come to your aid
don t know who they are aiding. They ll give the game away if the White read
their minds. If you are not dressed as a Dreamweaver, but as an ordinary
traveller, you will attract no attention at all.
She was right. It would improve his chances considerably. He had not wanted to
reveal himself to his people until he was sure it would do no harm. Arleej could
be trusted to keep his return a secret. She had kept his and Auraya s affair to
herself, despite her disapproval of it.
:I think it will work. Thank you, Emerahl, he said.
:Anything for a friend.
:Anything?
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:Almost anything, she amended.
:Have a nice day paddling in the swamp.
:Ha ha. Now go interrupt the sleep of a Dreamweaver.
Her mind faded from his senses. He paused a moment to reorient himself, then
called out a name.
?.Arleej?
It would be about the same time of day in Arbeem as it was here in Si. There was
a chance Arleej was already awake, but that might not matter. She had proven
herself sensitive enough to detect someone calling to her months before, when he
had sought her after Juran had sent him away.
:Arleej?
After several calls he heard a faint and sleepy reply.
:Hello? Who is this?
:It is the one you know as Leiard.
He sensed his connection with her waver as she nearly woke up from shock.
:Leiard! But& you are not Leiard. You do not sound like him.
:No. I am him, and yet I m not. There is much I need to explain to you. Do you
remember the link memories I had of Mirar s?
:Yes.
:They were not link memories. They were real memories. I am Mirar.
She paused.
:How long is it since you linked with another Dreamweaver?
:This is not a delusion resulting from me losing my sense of identity, Arleej. I
created Leiard and suppressed my own memories in order to live. Let me show
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you.
He drew up the memories, feeling her react with sympathy, anger and wonder as
she learned how he had survived. He explained how he had regained his identity
yet also retained Leiard s. When he had finished, Arleej was silent for a long
time.
:So you are Mirar, she said finally.
:Yes. I m back. And as always, I ve made a complete mess of things.
He sensed her amusement.
:I imagine there was not much time to plan for the future while you were crushed
and dying under the old House of Jarime. How could you have known the child
you taught would become a White? She is an extraordinary person. This hospice
she started in Jarime has been a great success.
:Hospice?
:Auraya has brought together Dreamweavers and priests in order to provide
healing for the poor and encourage cooperation and tolerance.
:She never mentioned that.
:You ve spoken to her recently?
:Yes, we have both been treating the Siyee, who have suffered badly from a
particularly virulent plague of Heart-eater.
:I hadn t heard. Should I send Dreamweavers there?
He felt a pang of guilt. If he had contacted Arleej earlier, Dreamweavers might
have made the difficult journey into Si in time to be of assistance. But he had
been so concerned with keeping himself isolated and hidden, and since no other
Dreamweaver was powerful enough to heal magically their help would have
been limited. Still, even those Siyee whose bodies could fight the disease needed
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care while they were sick.
:If there are any Dreamweavers willing to make the journey, send them. But
Auraya may have the disease under control by the time they get there, he told
Arleej.
:Will she? On her own? Her skills must be greater than I thought.
:I taught her all I know of healing with magic, he assured her.
:That was generous of you, what with her being one of the White!
:I know she will use it well.
:Yes. You are right. The hospice in Jarime is proof of that.
:There have been no protests? No trouble?
:Of course there has. But there s been a rumor going around that she did it to
prove that the priests and priestesses are better healers, so people won t be
tempted to join us.
:Which can t be true. She knows we re superior healers.
:But she can t have meant the opposite to happen, either.
:No, he agreed. She would not encourage people to join us. Juran would not
approve of this unless there was something in it for the Circlians to gain. He felt
a chill. Knowledge. They will gain healing knowledge from us.
:Yes, but not everything. I doubt they ll seek to learn any dream or mind-link
methods.
:Wouldn t they?
She hesitated.
:What do you think?
He considered.
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An the long term, attitudes can be changed, he said. In a few decades, after she
has encouraged the careers of healer priests who have open minds, the general
attitude toward mind links will soften. It gives her time to work at changing the
minds of other White, too. She is thinking like an immortal.
:I thought only that it was a chance to improve our standing among the people
and&
:And?
:Sometimes I feel it is more important that our knowledge survive than that we
survive. We have never held back from helping others, even if doing so was to
our detriment.
Her admission disturbed him. That the current leader of the Dreamweavers felt
this way about her people ought to appall him, but before he could think of the
words to reassure her realized that he had taught Auraya for similar reasons. He
was not free to roam the world performing healing miracles, so he had given her
the ability.
Perhaps it would be better if Dreamweaver knowledge was given to the world,
then the cult allowed to fade out of existence. In this age Dreamweavers could
only live a life of persecution and division. The gods, through the White, were
too powerful.
The way of life of Dreamweavers, of refusing to make war, of tolerance and
generosity, might be lost, but what would rise in its place? While Dreamweavers
represented that philosophy people would reject it. If Dreamweavers didn t exist,
some Circlians could take a similar philosophy to themselves without being
accused of thinking like Dreamweavers.
:Now that you are here we will grow stronger again, Arleej said, perhaps
interpreting his silence as dismay.
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:Not if I don t survive the next few weeks. When I taught Auraya I
unintentionally revealed my identity to the gods. I am fleeing toward the Sennon
coast.
:You can t return only to perish so soon! Is there anything I can do to help?
:Perhaps. The Siyee are tracking me, and keeping my location known to the gods
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