Utter mental silence fell in the chamber. Everyone was waiting on Mohandar's reply. There was no way to force his hand; he alone knew where this mysterious library was. Rosemary knew that Selendis was right. There was no way in hell this council would agree to let this be handled as a dark templar matter. Mohandar was no fool, he had to know this too.
Mohandar was still for a long time, his thoughts sealed away from them. Finally his eyes half-closed and his shoulders hunched in amusement.
"Well played, Executor. Well played indeed. All right. I would ask you to remember that this place is very important to us. I will tolerate no disrespect."
Selendis stood utterly straight. "My templar will be so informed. There will be no disrespect."
Mohandar turned his gaze to Rosemary, and his thoughts were for her alone.
"I have little love for your people, terran. If I could exclude you, I would. But it appears that you are inextricably involved in this situation. Know this—you may be leaving Shakuras, but you are still being evaluated by the protoss. Your actions may confirm our opinion of terran females as established by Kerrigan, or give us pause for thought."
"Yeah, I've figured that one out by now," Rosemary retorted. "Let's just get this show on the road, shall we?"
Anger, irritation, and amusement all vied within Mohandar for a moment, then he withdrew from her mind.
"It is agreed then," said Artanis. "Selendis may choose whatever templar she sees fit to accompany her. Rosemary, you will yet be of help, I think. Mohandar, we will take whomever you appoint to represent you in this matter. I—"
Vartanil flung himself on his knees before the hierarch. "Artanis, I beg you, permit me to attend as well!"
Artanis blinked. "You have already endured much, Vartanil. Surely you would prefer to remain here, to find friends and family and recover from your ordeal."
"I have grown to respect not only Zamara but the humans she has deemed worthy to accompany her," Vartanil said. "I have done much harm under the influence of Ulrezaj, our enemy. I was his tool. I would redeem myself by acting now for the right cause. Hierarch—I gave my word to Rosemary that I would not leave her side until Jacob and Zamara had been safely recovered. You would not have me be forsworn?"
Artanis was at a loss and looked at Selendis. Both templar were still for a moment, and Rosemary realized that a private conversation was taking place. Finally Artanis nodded.
"Very well. You will have a chance for your redemption. Your desire for such does you credit. But you must swear to obey the executor. Your fondness for the humans must not override your loyalty as a protoss."
Vartanil got to his feet, his eyes shining, his body straight and tall. Rosemary thought that at this moment he looked every bit as noble as any of the templar she'd seen.
"The two are not in opposition. You will see. Serving one serves the other. But yes, Hierarch, I do swear."
"Then go. Make haste. Executor Selendis, while your group ventures forth to Ehlna and the Alys'aril, others will be investigating other worlds. We will prepare for the arrival of the preserver."
Selendis bowed deeply, respectfully. "It shall be done. En taro Tassadar, Hierarch."
"En taro Tassadar, Executor."
And heaven help us all, added Rosemary. They were going to need it.
CHAPTER 16
JAKE MUNCHED ON SOME FRUIT AND THOUGHT longingly of a steak. He sighed when he realized he was also thinking longingly of rations.
When do we go back to Zeratul? he asked.
...We do not.
What? What do you mean?
He will either come to us now, or else we depart. We have pushed him as far as we can.
Jake bit his lower lip. I went too far, huh?
So I thought, at first. But perhaps it is what he needed. Zeratul carries more than one burden of guilt, of bringing tremendous harm to those he only sought to protect. Compassion is necessary, yes. But we do not have the luxury of days or months for him to heal from this. He must decide to join us, or we must press on.
Press on to where?
She was silent within him. Her stalwart spirit was close to despair. It rattled Jake and upset him more than he would have thought, and he was desperate to comfort her. More than just his life was at stake here, and Zamara had always been rock-solid.
He's not the only dark templar, Zamara.
We cannot go to Shakuras. He is the only dark templar I know of who is not on that world.
But... well... the protoss are on a lot of different worlds, aren 't they?
The protoss of Aiur are not the protoss who were banished from Aiur. The dark templar, to the best of my knowledge, stayed together. I knew of only two sources. One is closed to me by technology; the other has closed himself to me by choice.
Then we just go. We go somewhere that sounds logical and we eliminate places one by one.
Humor that was painful and sad moved through him. Jacob, there are quite literally hundreds of worlds. And each world is wide.
"Needle in a haystack," Jake muttered. "I understand."
She sent back a thought of utter bafflement until he explained the reference. Jake finished the fruit and tossed the rind and core into the little pool. He buried his face in his hands for a moment.
"Even if it is a needle in a haystack," he muttered, "we can't give up. We'll just keep trying, and trying, and if we fall down, we'll get back up."
"That," came a thought that was not Zamara's, "is the lesson of the humans."
Startled, Jake looked up. He saw nothing. He got to his feet, looking around. The mental voice belonged to Zeratul, but where was he?
And then, right where Jake was staring, something shifted. A ripple, a blur, then again nothing. And then there, over in the shadow of the large tree, there was a darker shadow, and then there was Zeratul.
Jake realized with a start that he had seen this before—he knew what to look for. His mind went back to the memories Zamara had shared with him: "The fugitives need to be able to cover themselves. To... hide," Adun had said.
And Raszagal's promise: "We will put our knowledge toward keeping ourselves safe. To merging with the shadows, unseen." And later, "We have studied hard, as I told you we would. Now we can bend light to hide ourselves."
"Adun toridas, "Jake whispered. Zeratul nodded.
"We learn, we dark templar. It is what has kept us alive," he said quietly. "We learned much when we were on Aiur, and we never forgot who we were. We learned from Adun that shadow and light are illusions, and how to clothe ourselves in them so that others see what we wish them to see. We learned from the cold darkness of the very Void itself knowledge and skills that we have mastered, skills that enabled us to work against the zerg in a way that other protoss could not. We learned from the zerg and their queen the price of trust too lightly given."