Part 9 (2/2)
The Oath IS everything. Day, night, waking, sleeping, honor is your life.
”Once you know that, you can no more do wrong than you can rise from the dead unaided.” He eyed Maglion coldly. ”Do you understand?”
”Yes.” But Maglion sounded unhappy.
”You do,” Moran agreed, ”and maybe you don't like it”
The boy turned even redder. ”Well - I mean - so, if a knight has been insulted, let's say wronged repeatedly” - he took great care to look away from Saliak - ”then a knight should fight the person that wronged him? A duel? For revenge, I mean?”
”For honor. Never for revenge.”
”If you're fighting him, either way, what's the difference?”
Moran leaned forward, hands on the table. ”Suppose someone tormented you for months and you challenged him and demanded an apology. If he didn't give one, you could fight him. But if he apologized sincerely, you'd have no choice but to accept it and not fight. That's the difference.”
Steyan muttered under his breath.
”Is that a problem?” Moran asked quietly.
The tall boy scratched his head, looked from side to side for help, and finally said, ”It's hard.”
”It is.” Moran intentionally dropped the Mask and spoke as a simple human being. ”Honor, when it's easy or you can't avoid it anyway, tastes better than food or drink.
When you don't want it, it eats at you, day and night.”
Tarli, looking unusually solemn, said suddenly, ”What if one kind of honor fights with another?”
Moran did not reply immediately. Finally he said, slowly and carefully, ”Learn this, and learn it well. There is only one kind of honor. Don't ever believe that a conflict with the Oath or the Measure means that there's a conflict of two honors.”
He relaxed. He alone knew what a crisis of faith that sort of question produced in a man. ”There are, however, conflicts between kinds of duty,” he added.
LATE IN THE SUMMER SHE SAID PLAYFULLY,.
”ARE YOU A FAMILY MAN?”.
”I'VE TOLD YOU.” MORAN HAD SHOWN HER HIS.
FAMILY TOMB, RECITED MOST OF HIS ANCESTORS'.
HISTORY.
SHE POKED HIM IN THE RIBS TEASINGLY. ”I MEAN,.
WOULD YOU BE GOOD TO A CHILD, NO MATTER.
WHO THE CHILD IS, OR WHAT IT'S LIKE?” ”OF COURSE I WOULD.”.
SHE WAVED HER ARMS, LAUGHING AT HIM, BUT.
THERE WERE TEARS IN HER EYES, TOO. ”I MEAN.
LOOK AFTER AND TRAIN, AND SEE TO ITS NEEDS.
DO YOU PROMISE, EVEN IF THAT CHILD COMES.
BETWEEN YOU AND SOMETHING ELSE YOU WANT.
TO DO?” HER LAUGHTER FADED. ”PLEASE - ”.
UNHESITATINGLY HE SAID, ”I'D DO ALL THAT.
AND MORE. NO MATTER WHAT I HAD TO GIVE UP.”.
HE PICKED HER UP EASILY AND KISSED HER.
REPEATEDLY. HE PROMISED THAT HE WOULD.
ALWAYS, FOR HER SAKE, ”LOOK AFTER AND TRAIN”.
CHILDREN.
LOOKING BACK, HE REALIZED THAT HIS.
PROMISE HAD MADE HIM THE BEST TEACHER THE.
KNIGHTS HAD EVER HAD.
Out in the courtyard, Moran squinted at the sun.
”Awfully bright, don't you think?” he asked casually. In the past month, the novices had learned to dread his casual questions.
He stared around in surprise. ”No? Ah. You're young.
You don't notice. Don't worry. I'll take care that you don't hurt your eyes by squinting.”
He handed each boy a blindfold, told him to put it on.
With some misgivings, he gave Tarli's to Saliak. The older boy tied it around Tarli's head, all but planting his foot in Tarli's back to pull the knot tight. Tarli, raising his hands to his head, made a small, startled sound.
”Something wrong?” Moran asked.
”Not really.” Finally Tarli said hesitantly, ”This is so tight, it hurts.”
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