"Phyllis Eisenstein - Elementals 02 - The Crystal Palace" - читать интересную книгу автора (Eisenstein Phyllis)

Sepwin glanced sidelong at the velvet curtain every time they passed it, Cray pretended not to notice.
They didnтАЩt speak of the mirror these days, nor of the enigmatic image of the child.

Yet Cray thought of them sometimes, especially when he woke in the darkest part of the night and lay in
his bed, listening to the stillness. At those times, he could not keep himself from thinking of them.

One afternoon, he found himself alone by the SeersтАЩ dark pool. In the kitchen, Sepwin was cleaning the
breakfast dishes, and outside, the lady Helaine was watching for the arrival of her next supplicant; neither
of them needed him. The cave was very quiet, as quiet as the darkest part of the night. For a time Cray
trailed his fingers in the water, watching the ripples break up the reflection of his face. Here was an
ordi-nary mirror, he thought, offering no enigmas, just uncluttered reality. Only for a Seer could it be
more, not for him. He wiped his hand on his tunic and rose, stretching, thinking he would join Sepwin and
dry a dish or two. But his path took him past the chamber of the mirror, and he could not help seeing the
velvet curtain through its doorway. He paused then, alone, staring at that curtain. He paused, and at last
he took up a pair of torches to hang beside the mirror, and he looked.

The image had changed.

The child had grown. She was taller, slimmer, less babyish, and her hair that had been a short, dark
tangle now fell past her shoulders in two smooth braids. Her face was clean, and her dress was of finer
stuff. Only the gray and shapeless toy clutched in her hand had not changed. Behind her, the lozenge was
gone, leaving the wall featureless and cloudy white.

тАЬFeldar!тАЭ he shouted.

Sepwin came at a run, wiping his hands on his apron. тАЬIs something wrong?тАЭ Then he saw that Cray was
at the curtain.

тАЬSheтАЩs different,тАЭ Cray told him. тАЬOlder.тАЭ
тАЬWell, shewould be, after five years.тАЭ

Cray frowned at the image. тАЬWho is she, Feldar? And where?тАЭ

тАЬAh,тАЭ murmured Sepwin. тАЬSo it isnтАЩt nonsense anymore.тАЭ But when he laid his hands on CrayтАЩs head, he
found no more answers than before.

тАЬThis is so strange,тАЭ Cray said. тАЬI feel almost as though IтАЩm looking at some ancient tapestry, seeing a
scene that was real sometime, for someone, but not for me. Feldar, I donтАЩt understand why the mirror is
showing me this person from nowhere!тАЭ

Sepwin studied his friendтАЩs profile for a time, and then he said, тАЬI think you donтАЩt understand because
you donтАЩt wish to.тАЭ And he left Cray looking, still looking, into the mirror.

Every year after that, Cray went to the mirror at least once. In a series of still and silent portraits, he
watched the child grow, watched her face and limbs lose their baby fat and become slender, even
angular, watched her carry the same stuffed animal year after year. And all through that time Sepwin
could not feel a hint of where she might be, nor could Cray guess, from any background in the vision. She
seemed to live in a place filled with light, yet it was neither sunlight nor torchlight but some whiter
radiance, almost blue-white. And when that cloudy wall was not behind her, then there was no
background at all, just pale, fea-tureless haze.