"Jean Lorrah - Empire 03 - Captives of the Savage Empire" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lorrah Jean)

"No, there's nothing wrong!" Alethia laughed. "I'm happier than ever in my life, Melissa. My husband and
I were just transferred here to Gaeta. I thought you might be taking your medical training by now."

Alethia's pregnancy was her second, it turned out; she had a son almost two years old, who was being
cared for by a neighbor while she went visiting. "I can't work now, anyway," she explained. "After about
the fourth month, my range is severely limitedтАФbut it comes back, Melissa. By the time Primus was six
months old, I was Reading as well as I ever couldтАФat least so far as I can tell. Well enough to be
wonderfully happy with my husband."
"You are happy? The man the Masters chose for youтАФ?"

"Oh, Melissa, I am so fortunate! You must meet him. When do you have a day off? Come spend the day
with me, and meet Rodrigo when he comes home in the evening. He's a navigator for the fishing
fleetтАФfinds the schools of fish for them, too. He's good at itтАФthey usually come in with a full catch by
the middle of the afternoon."

And how insensitive he must be, Melissa thought, to be able to shut himself off from the deaths of
all those captured creatures. Readers occasionally ate fishтАФbut they rarely caught them themselves.

"I'm glad you're so happy, Alethia," Melissa said cautiously. "I have an occasional afternoon offтАФnever a
full day. My next afternoon is the day after tomorrowтАФbut I have a very sick patient, and if I cannot
leave herтАФ"

"I understand," said Alethia. "Melissa, I cannot Read to the hospital now, to contact you. I'll show you on
the city map where our house is. I can still receive perfectly well from a stronger ReaderтАФthank the gods
for that, as it allowsтАж" She lowered her voice, and drew Melissa to where they could not be overheard
from the hallway. "I want to tell you what it's like for two Readers to be married. If it should happen to
you, you mustn't have the blind terror I hadтАФand that Rodrigo had, too. You'll probably be a
MagisterтАФeven a Master one day. ButтАж they're failing so many ReadersтАж you should know it's not
terrible at all to be married. You can Read me; you know I'm really happy, not lying to you. We'll talk
when you visit me, Melissa."

Melissa expected to cancel that first afternoon with Alethia, for her patient grew progressively worse,
until all they could do was dull her pain with opiates. She died just before noon, her father and Melissa on
either side of the bed, Jason Reading with Melissa. When the child slipped from unconsciousness to
death, it was Melissa's task to tell the father. She wished that he would rage, strike her, do anything but
thank her for her efforts in a voice gruff with tears, and leave her to her own inadequacies.

But Jason was there, his mind calming hers, telling her, //It happens to all of us, Melissa. There was
nothing more you could have done.//

//There has to be more!// she told him. //Why did you give me this patient if you thought I couldn't save
her?//

//Because no healer could haveтАж and you needed to learn that we cannot work miracles. Melissa, you
were born to be a healerтАФbut you must accept your limitations if you are ever to be one of the best.//

//How can I accept the deaths of children! We must find some way to stop infections so when we save
someone's life with surgery we won't be killing him with the organisms we admit with the knife.//