"You just wanted to see it?" "Originally, it was probably more of an excuse than a want," said Hal. "But now, if you'll have me, I'd like to stay awhile." "I take it," said Amid, "you might want to walk in the circle then?" "If that's allowable," Hal answered.
Amid grinned. He did not smile, he grinned. "For anyone else there'd be a period of observation first, a sort of apprenticeship, and a vote to be taken at the end of it, on him or her by all the members here," he said. "But I think we could do without that, since you're who you are."
He sobered. "In fact, no one but Artur and I knew you might be coming. It's probably best to keep your real identity secret as long as we can - which won't be too long. I think the other members will let you walk on my recommendation alone, if that's necessary." "No," said Hal. "Yes," said Amanda. "Amid, Hal doesn't know Kultis as it is now. Hal, you'd be doing the people here a favor to at least give them the excuse that they were never told who you really were."
Amid nodded, looking over at Hal. "She's right," he said. "Besides, it's not as if your coming in on the Guildmaster's recommendation alone was something otherwise unheard of. We've had people before this who were deserving, who've been let into the circle incognito. But..."
He turned back to Amanda. "It won't be more than a matter of weeks before they'll have guessed who he is, anyway. Secrets aren't easily hidden in a place as small as this ledge." "In a matter of weeks, the situation could be entirely different," said Amanda. "For now, let's do what we can to protect everybody concerned. Will Artur have spoken to anyone about who Hal is, when he went out just now to get the dinner?" "No, no. Not Artur," said Amid. "He volunteers no information. Besides, he's a highly intelligent individual, and even one who wasn't would have the sense to know the danger to Hal - and to us all, as you say - if it were known he was here on Kultis. " "In any case," said Hal, "I won't be here too long. But - Amanda, you were right. There's something here for me to find, in that circle. You were going to tell me about the one who started it?" "Yes," said Amid. "It was a Maran Exotic you'll never have heard of, named Jathed. He was a student of historic philosophy to begin with. He was ahead of his time in speculating that we Exotics might have gone astray from our original path. He spent twenty years, after he finished studying at various of our universities, examining our beginning - the Chantry Guild of Walter Blunt in the twenty-first century. How much do you know about that?" "A fair amount, as it happens," said Hal. "Good, then I won't have to go into too many details for you," Amid went on. "You know a chantry was a place, or an endowment for a place, where prayers could be said for a dead person, or persons, and that Walter Blunt chose this name for his organization back in the twenty-first century because by its very nature a chantry implies a relation of past, present, and future?" "Yes," answered Hal. "Well, it was that relationship as Blunt applied it that attracted Jathed. As I say, he spent his life studying the original Chantry Guild, You can see how the idea of a connection of past, present and future, now and forever, could lead to the concept of the transient and the eternal being the same. Jathed even went to Old Earth for a while. When he came back, he set himself up more or less as a hermit on the outskirts of a little town near here called Ichang-"
Hal looked at Amanda. "It's about forty kilometers from Porphyry," Amanda said. "We could have come through it on our way here, instead of through Porphyry, but Ichang's not a garrison town. I mean, it doesn't have a garrison of Occupation troops. The Porphyry troops have a contingent quartered there, but that's all. I wanted you to see what a garrison town on the Exotics, under the Occupation, was like." "This with Jathed was some years before the Occupation," said Amid mildly. "As I say, he became something of a hermit. You're probably already aware it's quite possible to live off the country in areas like the one just below us. There's enough insect, animal, bird, and vegetable life to keep anyone alive with just a couple of hours of food hunting a day. That's how Jathed lived. He deliberately wanted solitude to 'think through,' as he said, the proper direction of what should have grown from that original Chantry Guild."
Artur came in, followed by two men and a woman, all carrying loaded trays. Artur directed the setting of these at the far end of the table as Amid went on. "Now, of course, since the Others, and particularly since the Occupation," he said, "every one on our two worlds has necessarily begun to rethink the direction we Exotics took in our attitudes and our thinking after we emigrated to these planets. But Jathed was considerably in advance of them all. At any rate, he moved farther and farther back into the woods, to get away from even casual contact with people, and eventually - we don't quite know when - he found his way up to this ledge here."
"By that time, he'd acquired a few - disciples, let's call them. Yes, Artur?" "Everything's ready on the table. And hot." "We'll be right there. Wait-" For Artur had turned to follow those who had come in with him out the door. "You're to eat with us. That's an order. I want you to be a part of everything we decide with Hal, here. By the way, just to reassure us all, you didn't mention who Hal is to anyone?" "Of course not, Guildmaster!" "That's his way of reproving me," said Amid to Hal and Amanda, "when he calls me by my title. The reproof is for even needing to ask. We'll be at the table in a moment, Artur. Meanwhile, come and sit with us, and if I forget to tell Hal part of the story of Jathed, break in and fill the gap, will you?" "If you'd like me to," said Artur. "Thank you." "No thanks needed," said Amanda. "You should have taken the invitation for granted," "I'm sorry," said Artur, seating himself with them.
"And no apologies are needed, either," said Amanda. "Go on, Amid. " "Where was I?" said Amid. "Oh, yes, Jathed had started the walking down in the forest. He continued it up here, specifying the rules under which it was to be done, particularly the rule about how they were to chant. They were not to chant in unison, or try to walk in step, unless these things happened by accident. The idea was that they should be studying by themselves, even though they were in company. Above all, they were to utter nothing but the Law - about that last he was most emphatic. You'll have to remember that at all times, Hal. It's not a 'mantra' you're hearing from those people outside. Not a prayer, hymn, or incantation of any kind. Jathed hated the word 'mantra' and wouldn't allow it used by anyone around him, and he was a violent man about getting his own way." "He used to drive people off with a staff," put in Artur, "though he did that more when they were down in the forest - or have you told them about the earliest Chantry Guild in the woods below us, Amid?" "No. I mentioned it, then went right to the ledge," said Amid. "Now you see why I wanted you here? Jathed's first incarnation of his Chantry Guild was, as Artur says, down in the wild country below us, close to these cliffs, but not overly close. He already had a number of disciples by that time, and he set them to walking the circle he, himself, had earlier worn ankle deep. Of course, there were new people coming every day wanting to join. But as I say he wasn't easy to get along with. One mistake and the would-be member was out - chased out, in fact. Jathed walked around with the staff Artur mentioned, and anyone who showed what he considered 'incomprehension' but particularly the fault of calling the Law a 'mantra'- got chased out, with Jathed running behind them hitting them with his staff to keep them going at a good pace." "He called it a Law?" asked Hal. "Yes." Amid looked penetratingly at him for a moment. "He called it a Law and he meant it to be a Law, as clearly acknowledged as the Law of Gravity. And he was furious with anyone who wanted him to teach them. He claimed all that was needed was for each of them, individually, to study the Law." " 'The transient and the eternal are the same,' '' said Hal. "Yes," said Amid. "I don't fully understand it myself, either, Hal, but like many people who've come into contact with the Law, I can feel there's a power there, and I think Jathed was right, too, about the fact it can't be taught. Whatever's in it has to be found by individual effort to understand its meaning. You know, he said a strange thing. He said that in two generations everyone - and he meant everyone in the human race, not just those here on Kultis - would know the Law, and many would already have started to put it to use."