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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 4129883" data-attributes="member: 143">Chapter 7OLD WOUNDS Dar emerged from the recessed door in the back of the cathedral, into the empty rectory courtyard.  The mass of the cathedral stood between the courtyard and the huge square on the far side, but he could still hear the droning din of the professional speakers hired to repeat the Patriarch’s words to the population gathered there, the huge crowds that could not fit inside the building.  The fighter took a deep breath, like that of a swimmer coming up from a long dive.  He glanced down at the fine garments he wore, expensive linens trimmed with soft frostfur and silver thread.  The backs of the gloves he wore bore the sigil of Camar, traced in gold.  He smirked.  While he had no official title in Camar, he was still too “important” to show up at an event as significant as this one dressed like a commoner.  Or so a dozen people had told him, including Allera. The door opened behind him, and he didn’t have to turn around to know who it was.  It sometimes felt like just thinking about her could summon her, that reassuring presence that was so much a part of him that he could no longer imagine what his life had been like without her. “I had no idea you were considering a new career as a rogue,” she said, coming up behind him to place a hand on his shoulder.  “How you escaped that press of well-wishers...  I thought maybe you’d pocketed a potion of gaseous form somewhere.”“People know to get out of my way.”“I hope you didn’t break any bones; that would be inconvenient.”  She came around and looked up at him.  “Are you all right?”He grunted noncommittally.  “Just needed a little air.  I’ve gotten used to life on the frontier.  There’s probably more people inside that cathedral than ten villages the size of Hope, twenty maybe.”“We’ll be expected for the Ritual of Commemoration, once they get started again.”Dar grimaced.  “Gah, it’ll take an hour just to get through the line to the privy.”“It will make people feel better if you say something.  Tiros gave people a sense of stability, and they need to know that Camar is in good hands, going forward.”“What does that have to do with us?  We aren’t part of this, anymore.”“Just because we live where we do doesn’t make us any less a part of this society,” she persisted.  “Maybe you should come with me, on my next circuit, when we place the newly trained healers in their communities, and check on the ones that...”He interrupted her with a waved hand.  “I have no more interest in the life of the wanderer.”“Is this about the... encounter... on the road, before?”He looked down at her.  “I’ve had enough of fighting,” he said.  “That’s one reason I went with you to Hope.  Here, in ‘civilization’, it always comes down to swords and blood.”“Sometimes swords are needed, to defend things that are worth protecting.”“I know that.  And I’ve shed my share of blood.”“More than your share.  And I know exactly what you are feeling, I too have felt it.  We have built something... important, at Hope.  The collegium has done a lot of good; we’ve trained over a hundred healers since we started.  You have done more than your share with that, as well.  There are a lot of lives that have been turned around at Hope.”“But we also cannot disengage completely from the world around us.  I know you’ve given a great deal; no one can fault you for what you’ve sacrificed for Camar.  I willingly came with you to Hope, to start a new community, to build a new life.  But I can’t turn my back on the outside world.  It needs us, still.”“Not all fighting is done with swords,” she said, touching his arm.  He covered her hand with his.  “You are still the diplomat.  You should give lessons to Darius’s Dragons on negotiation.”  He smiled, and turned to look off across the courtyard.  “I already have a job,” she said, with a smile.  Come on, I’ll...” She trailed off suddenly.  Sensing her tensing, he turned back to look at her.  “What’s the matter?”The healer’s expression looked vague, but then she turned and stared at a point just over his shoulder.  “I believe we are being magically scried,” she said. Dar’s hand darted to his hip reflexively, and he cursed as he remembered that he was not carrying any weapons.  “Can you tell who it is?”“No... wait, it’s gone.”Dar shook his head.  “Come on, let’s find Jaduran, or someone else with some authority here...”But he was interrupted a moment later as a flash of magical energy appeared in the courtyard, only about a dozen paces ahead of them.  The disturbance lasted only a heartbeat, and when it had faded, three newcomers faced them.  “By the hells...” Dar muttered.“Greetings, Corath Dar, Allera Hialar,” Setarcos said, with a short bow.  Dar did not recognize one of Setarcos’s companions, a muscled young Drusian clad in a simple brown robe.  But he certainly recognized the other, and also recognized the look of hatred that shone in her eyes. “Corath Dar,” Kupra said.  “Hardly a day has gone by without my imagining what it would be like to see you die.”</blockquote>

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