My poor lord, how bitter must have been his hurts in the past! I
wish that I could run back down the years and rub out the memory of
each, one by one. He has been named monster until he believes it —
but if he could only look upon himself through my eyes —
We shall walk together, and I shall build a mirror that he may
see himself as he is, and, so seeing, be free from all the sorrow
the Dark Ones laid upon him. Yes, we shall return to my people —
though they are not truly mine anymore — for I feel as one who has
taken another road and can look back only a little way. We shall
make sure that they reach Norsdale. For the rest —
So I thought in that hour, and wise was that thought. For
sometimes wisdom comes not altogether through age and experience,
but suddenly like an arrow flight. I nursed my key within my hand —
that bride gift which had been first my bane and then my salvation.
I put my other hand within my lord's, so we went together, turning
away for a space from the gate Neevor promised us, knowing within
my heart that we would return and that it would open upon—But what
mattered what lay beyond if we went together to see?
My poor lord, how bitter must have been his hurts in the past! I
wish that I could run back down the years and rub out the memory of
each, one by one. He has been named monster until he believes it —
but if he could only look upon himself through my eyes —
We shall walk together, and I shall build a mirror that he may
see himself as he is, and, so seeing, be free from all the sorrow
the Dark Ones laid upon him. Yes, we shall return to my people —
though they are not truly mine anymore — for I feel as one who has
taken another road and can look back only a little way. We shall
make sure that they reach Norsdale. For the rest —
So I thought in that hour, and wise was that thought. For
sometimes wisdom comes not altogether through age and experience,
but suddenly like an arrow flight. I nursed my key within my hand —
that bride gift which had been first my bane and then my salvation.
I put my other hand within my lord's, so we went together, turning
away for a space from the gate Neevor promised us, knowing within
my heart that we would return and that it would open upon—But what
mattered what lay beyond if we went together to see?