SenWi stepped out of the alcove and glanced all around. She knew that this was an unusual visit, and she sensed something deeper, some notion that the secular leader's presence here had something to do with Bran Dynard's return. Seeing no one watching her, SenWi leaned the broom against the wall and moved off, silent as a shadow. She headed down the corridor, turning the corner to see the laird enter Jerak's private room. SenWi paused at the wall and gathered her concentration, then lifted her chi, lightening her body weight as she scaled the decorated wall.
She crawled sidelong atop a ledge, moving right above the now-closed door to a transom, so she could look down upon the private meeting. They were exchanging formal greetings, and SenWi reconsidered her course. What was she doing here? What business was this of hers? Shaking her head at her foolishness, she began to ease away, but stopped short, when she heard Laird Pryd say to Jerak, "It would not be wise for the brothers of Abelle to harbor a dangerous animal."
"We are assessing her," the old monk replied.
It hit SenWi then that they were speaking of her. As she quickly moved away, she heard Laird Pryd say something about the need for proper security during such assessments.
She hit the ground running, slipping back into the main area of the chapel and then out the door. She thought that she should go to Dynard but wasn't sure where he might be. In the tiny prayer rooms, likely, but he would not be alone.
SenWi went out and around the corner of the building, moving into the alleys between the chapel and the castle. She found a quiet, secluded spot and leaned back against the brown stone wall, overcome by lightheadedness.
Her hand went instinctively to her belly, to the child growing there. "They are going to tell you that I must be turned over to Laird Pryd," SenWi told Dynard, in the language of Behr.
"They will not-" Brother Dynard started to argue, but he stopped short and leaped forward, grabbing his suddenly swaying wife. "Are you all right? SenWi!"
She put her hand comfortingly on his shoulder and managed a weak smile. "I am with child," she explained. "I am pregnant with your child."
Suddenly it was Dynard who needed the support to stand.
He gasped out a few unintelligible sounds, then, his eyes moist, he hugged his wife close, burying his face in her black hair and wondering if anything in the world could be more wonderful.
Finally, after a long while, Bran managed to move back to arm's length. "My Church will sanction our marriage only if you disavow the teachings of the Jhesta Tu."
SenWi's expression went cold immediately.
"Which of course you cannot do," Dynard quickly added. "Nor should you. I embrace Jhest as wholly now as I did in the Walk of Clouds."
"But your brethren will not approve."
"Not yet," he admitted. "These things take time. I will show them the truth, SenWi. It is my place in the world now-well, that and serving you as husband and our child as father." He couldn't suppress a grin, but his smile did not soften SenWi's concerned expression.
"I will teach them and persuade them," he promised her, taking her by the shoulders so that she had to look at him directly, had to see his determination.
"They will insist that I am handed to the charge of Laird Pryd," SenWi countered. "I heard them myself. He fears me, for some reason."
"Or he wishes to learn from you. Might it be that Laird Pryd has heard of your exploits against the powries?"
"He likely would have, since you boasted of it to his soldiers."
"Then perhaps he wishes to have you teach his soldiers or his son."
SenWi's lips went very tight and she shook her head.
Brother Dynard hadn't expected any different reaction, of course, for he understood that the Jhesta Tu weren't about to divulge their secrets of combat. To the southern mystics, the learning of martial arts was part of the process of learning the Book of Jhest, and to remove the specifics of combat from that overall process went against everything they believed. Dynard had made the suggestion of intent only to place a less menacing twist on the laird's apparent interest in SenWi, to try to lighten their shared fears.
"I just mean-" he started to explain.
"I am vulnerable now," SenWi interrupted, and she took Bran's hand and placed it on her belly.
He could hardly draw breath. He turned his hand over and clasped SenWi's tightly, pulling her close. He looked up at the sky as late afternoon turned to twilight. "Come," he bade her. "We will get you out to Garibond's house, where you will be safe. I will tell my brethren that you have departed for Behr, that you could not accept the terms of their demands." He was thinking as he went, improvising. "And I will remain steadfast in my support of your choice. I will teach them-I must teach them. I see my duty now to my brethren as clearly as Blessed Abelle must have seen his own when he discovered the glories of Pimaninicuit and the sacred gemstones. This is my place in life." He looked back down at SenWi's delicately curving belly and added, "My place in the wider world."
The couple went out soon after, as darkness fell across the land.
Before the dawn, Brother Bran was on his way back to Chapel Pryd, clutching the Book of Jhest, his expression one of complete determination.
He would teach them.
10
The Loss of Control SenWi awakened with a start and immediately tried to rise. A wave of nausea sent her tumbling back to the cot, and she gave a little cry.
As soon as she saw Garibond coming through the door toward her, she realized where she was-in the tunnels beneath his house-and she remembered her last conversation with her husband. Dynard had wanted to return at once to Chapel Pryd with the Book of Jhest. He was convinced that he would sway the brothers of Abelle, that he would enlighten them as he had been enlightened.
SenWi didn't believe it for a moment. She had counseled Bran against returning-or at least against returning with the book.
But he was angry, livid over the dismissal of their marriage by his brethren and outraged at the notion that SenWi would be "turned over" to anyone.
The discussion had gotten heated, SenWi remembered, with Dynard shaking his head so violently that it seemed as if he were using the movement to physically deflect her nay-saying.
Then, in the excitement of the moment, the dizziness had returned, had knocked SenWi off her feet. She remembered being carried to a cot and gently laid on it by Dynard. She remembered his bending low and kissing her, and leaving her with the promise that he would make them understand.
She settled back down and closed her eyes, finding her center and inner balance.
"Trust Bran," Garibond was saying as he came and straightened the blanket over SenWi. "He's a good one. He'll let them know the truth of it all."
SenWi kept her eyes closed and remained focused internally, though the man's words did register with her. She didn't doubt Garibond, nor did she lack faith in the abilities of her husband-hadn't he won over the entire enclave of the Walk of Clouds? But SenWi understood, where these other two apparently did not, that the monks at the chapel-Father Jerak and Brother Bathelais-already understood the truth, at least from a practical point of view. They understood perfectly well that Dynard honestly believed that he had found an extension of their religion, a supplement that strengthened and did not diminish the words of Blessed Abelle.
SenWi believed the same thing.
But she also recognized that the folk of Honce would not likely open their ears to that call. Nor would the monks, nor could they at this time when their religion was vying for the approval of the lairds.
She was desperately afraid for her husband, but SenWi couldn't hold her focus upon that. She was Jhesta Tu, attuned to the rhythms of her body, and she was beginning to understand that something was very wrong inside her. The lightheadedness, the overwhelming weakness, the nausea-all of that could be explained simply because she was with child. But there was something more, she understood. It wasn't just the symptoms but the intensity of them. She had seen other Jhesta Tu women through their pregnancies, women who were not nearly as accomplished in the way of Jhest as she, and they had almost always been able to use their chi to overcome any and all symptoms.