"Robin Hobb - Tawny Man 2 - Golden Fool" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hobb Robin)

pitying one. It is a tribute to my friend that he did not take offence at them, but
rose. Gracefully. тАШIтАЩll let you be, then. I think you are choosing to mourn alone,
and if that is your choice, IтАЩll respect it. I do not think it is your wisest choice, but
IтАЩll respect it.тАЩ He paused and gave a small sigh. тАШI perceive something about
myself now; I came because I wanted you to know that I knew you were in pain.
Not because I could heal you of it, but because I wanted you to be aware that I
shared that pain through our connection. I suspect thete is an aspect of
selfishness to that; that I wished you also to be aware of it, I mean. A burden
shared not only can lighten it; it can form a bond between those who share it. So
that no one is left to bear it alone.тАЩ
I sensed there was some germ of wisdom in his words, something I should
consider, but I was too weary and wracked to reach for it. тАШIтАЩll come back to the
fire in a little while,тАЩ was what I said, and the Fool knew it was a dismissal. He
took his hand from my shoulder and walked away.
It was only when I later considered his words that I understood them. I was
choosing to be alone then; it was not the inescapable consequence of the wolfтАЩs
death, nor even a carefully considered decision. I was embracing my solitude,
courting my pain. It was not the first time I had chosen such a course,
I handled that thought carefully, for it was sharp enough to kill me. I had
chosen my isolated years with Hap in my cabin. No one had forced me into that
exile. The irony was that it had been the granting of my often-voiced wish.
Throughout my youth, I had always asserted that what I truly wanted was to live
a life in which I could make rny own choices, independent of the тАЩdutiesтАЩ of my
birth and position. It was only when fate granted chat to me that I realized the
cost of it. I could set aside my responsibilities to others and live my life as I
pleased only when I also severed my ties to them. I could not have it both ways.
To be part of a family, or any communiry, is to have duties and responsibilities, to
be bound by the rules of that group. I had lived apart from all that for a time, but
now I knew it had been my choice. I had chosen to renounce my responsibilities
to my family, and accepted the ensuing isolation as the cost. At the time, I had
insisted to myself that fortune had forced me into that role. Just as I was making
a choice now, even chough I tried to persuade myself I was but following the
inescapable path fate had set out for me.
 To recognize you are the source of your own loneliness is not a cure for it. But
it is a step towards seeing that it is not inevitable, and that such a choice is not
irrevocable.

ONE
Piebalds
The Piebalds always claimed only to want freedom from the persecution that
has been the lot of the Witted folk of the Six Duchies for generations. This claim
can be dismissed as both a lie and a clever deceit. The Piebalds wanted power.
Their intent was to mould all of the Witted folk of the Six Duchies into a united
force that would rise up to seize control of the monarchy and put their own
people into power. One facet of their ploy was to claim that all Kings since the
Abdication of Chivalry were pretenders, that the bastardy of FitzChivalry Farseer
was wrongly construed as an obstacle to his inheriting the throne. Legends of the
тАШTrue-Hearted BastardтАЩ rising from the grave to serve King Verity in his quest
proliferated beyond all common sense, ascribing powers to FitzChivalry that raise
the Bastard to the status of a near-deity. For this reason, the Piebalds have also