"Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The Room of Lost Souls" - читать интересную книгу автора (Rusch Kristine Kathryn)

truth.

тАЬDo the damned go to get cleansed?тАЭ I ask.

Her mouth closes. She takes a breath, sighs, then gives me that faint
smile all over again.

тАЬSome say the Room bestows forgiveness on those who deserve it.тАЭ
That faraway look appears in her eyes.

тАЬAnd those who donтАЩt?тАЭ I ask.

Tears well. She doesnтАЩt brush at them, doesnтАЩt even seem to notice
them.

тАЬThey never come back,тАЭ she says. Then she frowns at me. тАЬPerhaps
he went for forgiveness, not to disappear.тАЭ

I shrug. тАЬThe timing works. If he completed his pilgrimage to the
Room, he could have gone to the treaty-signing ceremonies.тАЭ

тАЬWith a pure heart,тАЭ she whispers.

тАЬHe was a hero,тАЭ I say without a trace of irony. тАЬDidnтАЩt he have one
already?тАЭ

And for the first time, she has no answer for me.

****

She has led me in a whole new direction. IтАЩm not looking for the
remains of a man. IтАЩm looking for something unusual, something special.

A man has a history and occasionally he becomes a legend. But a
man is rarely special by himself. Sometimes he becomes special in a
special time. Sometimes he rises beyond his upbringing to become
something new. Sometimes he starts a movement, or alters the course of a
country.

And sometimesтАФrarelyтАФhe changes an entire sector.

The way Ewing Trekov supposedly did with his friends as they
developed a plan for the war.

But that story implies that he didnтАЩt work alone. That if he had died
before he came to this outpost, someone else would have picked up that
mantle. That someone might not have performed as well. HeтАФor
sheтАФmight have done better. ThereтАЩs no way to know.

But like all humans, Trekov wasnтАЩt entirely unique.