"Your point is well taken. Your honesty is also to be commended. That's a very good start to handling your problem, but now we have to consider the other half of the equation. What about Linda?"
What about Linda?
Yet again, another difficult question. Ryson rubbed his forehead as he dug through his memories of his discussions with his wife. He tried to piece them all together and come up with a clear answer.
"She worries about me as it is. I'm not sure she would want to add to that."
"But maybe with a child she would have something to divert her attention," Enin proposed.
It wasn't a thought completely foreign to the delver.
"I know what you're saying. If she was taking care of a child, it might take her mind off me being gone, but I'm torn about that. I feel bad about leaving her alone. If she had a child, she might not mind as much, but then I'd be leaving them both. And that's not right. We shouldn't start a family just so I could run off and explore. It sounds terrible. I don't want to just leave everything to her. Raising a family is tough. I should be there."
Enin began to see a fault in Ryson's reasoning.
"That matter is now irrelevant," the wizard remarked. "You can't have children, so agonizing over whether or not you should be there for them is not the question. You seemed surprised to find out you couldn't have children with Linda. I asked if you had planned on having a family. You obviously didn't. As for Linda, you seem to be focusing on whether or not it would be fair for her to have them without you being around. That doesn't really answer the question. Do you think Linda wanted to have a family?"
Ryson couldn't avoid the issue any further. He had to give his honest opinion.
"I don't think so. That's the truth."
Enin nodded and accepted the presumption, but he would not allow the discussion to end there.
"Yet you seem concerned about leaving her alone. I'm just wondering if having children is the real problem. I don't doubt that has caused some immediate concern, but is there something else? I don't mean to pry, but I can't dismiss the obvious. You've been talking about leaving Linda alone. I know you do that because you have to… you're a delver. But you seem almost guilty about it. It sounds as if you may be questioning whether or not you really want to be a delver."
Ryson wasn't sure if it was anguish or relief that sliced through his spirit. The wizard cut right to the heart of the issue. Enin had addressed the concern that perhaps scared him the most, yet it was also the reason he came to the wizard for assistance.
"I'm not questioning it. I think she might be. Actually, I'm wondering if Linda wants to be with a delver."
"I see," Enin acknowledged as he considered the serious question with great deliberation. "I have spent time with your wife, even talked to her about it. She knew what to expect. She was always going to worry about your safety, but I don't think she ever held it against you, wanted you to be something else."
"That might have been before, but she seems different now. She made this remark about not having children and now she doesn't seem to care about anything. It's the magic she's immune to, not me, but something happened to her."
"It might have been a shock to her. Not wanting children and not being able to have them are two different things. In the back of her mind, it was always a possibility. Now, she realizes it no longer is. She probably just needs time."
It made sense, but the conclusion was much too abrupt for Ryson's liking. He had hoped Enin would be more proactive in offering a more helpful solution.
"So that's it?" Ryson asked.
"You hoped for more?"
"Yes! I don't understand this magic stuff, not like you do. I was hoping you might be able to do something."
"I can't change her immunity, and I can't make you something you're not."
"But maybe you can do something else."
"What did you have in mind?"
Ryson knew of Enin's great powers. He even knew of abilities the wizard had discarded.
"You used to talk about seeing the destiny in people, you had the ability."
"Yes, I did, and I blocked it out. I was making judgments of people based on what they would face, and that was wrong. No one should make a decision based on what I was able to see. It wasn't fair."
"That's not what I'm talking about. I believe Linda and I were destined to be together. Too many things happened to us for that not to be true. I was thinking you could validate that for us."
"There's one problem with that. I could never see Linda's destiny. I believe it was because she was immune to magic."
"But you could see my destiny."
"That is true, but you're not the one with the issue, she is, and I'm still not sure I understand how that might help you." Enin paused as he considered the entire situation. "Ah, I see. You want me to look into your destiny and tell you that everything is going to be fine between you and Linda, don't you?"
Ryson felt a surge of guilt. In essence, it was exactly what he wanted. He didn't want to admit it, but there was no sense in trying to avoid the knowing gaze of the wizard.
"Yes, is that so bad?"
"No, I understand your situation, but I don't think you understand mine. Even if I could just turn that ability back on, I'm no fortune teller. I saw destined events, moments of critical choices. We have several paths we can follow, but most of them lead to one significant event or another. Whether or not you were, or still are, destined to be with Linda would not necessarily be in the realm of my seeing."
"But you have seen things in the past regarding my destiny. Even though you couldn't see hers, you have to admit they fit together."
"Yes, it has always seemed you and Linda were on convergent paths."
"Then that's what I want her to hear. Maybe you could talk to her…"
At that, Enin held up both hands. He would have done almost anything to help Ryson and Linda, but the delver was asking him to influence someone about their most personal matters.
"Ryson, please do not ask me to get involved in… domestic issues. I am not unsympathetic to you and the problem you seem to face, but this is not the answer. In a way, you're hoping I can influence your wife with my abilities. I know you're not talking about casting a spell over her-we both know that would do no good-but it's almost the same thing. She may not be able to touch the magic, but she has some comprehension over its power. If I start telling her things she can never really validate, it's going to lead you both into trouble. No, this is something you have to work out another way. There's no magical destiny that will solve your problems."
"I don't want you to try to trick her, just tell her what you think."
"What I think? Sometimes I don't know myself. You talk about complications, think of my life for a moment. I know you think I often drift off, but that's not really the truth. At this very moment, my consciousness is trying to separate a half dozen different thought patterns that have me concerned with various levels of magical intricacies. I don't want to make it seem as if the magic assaults me, but it opens my awareness to paths I cannot adequately describe."
Enin paused to consider the delver's own awesome abilities and believed he might have found a way to offer more clarity.
"Think of your own senses," the wizard continued. "What you can see, smell and hear is far beyond my ability. I know there are times you can be overwhelmed by what you sense. That's why you have to go out and explore the world. If you didn't, I believe you'd go insane."