"I thought so, too," said the old man. "I could not find my way back. The emptiness of the plane I was on drew at me… I could not find my way. I wanted to fill that emptiness, or escape it—but there was no place to turn! If I allowed myself to be drawn away, I knew I could never return to you—"
By this time all ten people who had formed the circle at the table were crowded into the small room. He looked at them, Read them, and shook his head in disbelief. "There was a… a beacon in the emptiness. It seemed… not as you do now, with all your separate personalities, but like one mind with the power of many—much greater than any rapport of Readers."
Tears were running down Torio's face. "We found our way to each other," he said, "Readers and Adepts together. It's right, Master Clement—it has to be right for us to work together!"
"Of course it's right," said Master Clement. "I would never have left the empire if I were not sure of that."
The old man looked around the group again, and smiled. "You are all so young—you have many years to build a new way of life. I have heard what you call it, my dear friends—and I thank the gods and all of you that I shall now live to see the beginning of your new way of life: your Savage Empire!"