from the Marat chieftain up to the sun and back, frowning. "Before the One. You mean, before the sun?"
Doroga looked at her blankly.
"The sun," Amara explained, adding a gesture. "That is what you mean by the One, yes?"
"No," Doroga said, laughter in his tone. "The sun is not The One. You do not understand."
"Then tell me," Amara said, exasperated.
"Why?" Doroga asked. The question was a simple one, but there was a weight behind the word that made Amara hesitate and think before answering.
"Because I want to understand you," she said. "I want to know more about you and your people. What makes you what you are. What we share and what we do not."
Doroga pursed his lips. Then he nodded once, to himself, and turned around completely, facing Amara, and crossing his legs. He folded his hands in his lap, then after a moment, began to speak to her in a tone that reminded her of several of her better teachers at the Academy.
"The One is all things. He is the sun, yes. And the sunlight on the trees. And the earth, and the sky. He is the rain in the spring, the ice of winter. He is the fire, the stars at night. He is the thunder and the clouds, the wind and the sea. He is the stag, the wolf, the fox, the gargant." Doroga put a broad hand on his chest. "He is me." Then he reached out and touched Amara's forehead with a finger. "And he is you."
"But I've seen your folk refer to The One, and indicated the sun by gesture."
Doroga waved a hand. "Are you Gaius?"
"Of course not," Amara said.
"But you are his sworn servant, yes? His messenger? His hand? And at times you command in his name?"
"Yes," Amara said.
"So it is with The One," Doroga replied. "From the sun comes all life, just as from The One. The sun is not The One. But it is how we give him our respect."
Amara shook her head. "I've never heard that of your people."
Doroga nodded. "Few Alerans have. The One is all that is, all that was, all that will be. The worlds, the heavens-all a part of The One. Each of us, a part of The One. Each of us with a purpose and a responsibility."
"What purpose?" she asked.
Doroga smiled. "The gargant to dig. The wolf to hunt. The stag to run. The eagle to fly. We are all made to be for a purpose, Aleran."
Amara arched an eyebrow. "And what is yours?"
"Like all my people," Doroga said. "To learn." He leaned a hand down to rest on the steadily pacing gargant's back, almost unconsciously. "Each of us feels a call to other pieces of The One. We grow nearer to them. Begin to feel what they feel, and know what they know. Walker thinks all of this rusty metal your folk wear stinks, Aleran. But he smells winter apples in the wagons and thinks he should get a barrel. He is glad the spring is coming quickly, because he is tired of hay. He wants to dig down to find the roots of some young trees for his lunch, but he knows that it is important to me that we keep walking. So he walks."
Amara blinked slowly. "You know this about your gargant?"
"We are both a part of The One, and both stronger and wiser for it," Doroga said. He smiled. "And Walker is not mine. We are companions."
The gargant let out a rumbling call and shook its tusks, making the saddle-mat lurch back and forth. Doroga burst out into rumbling laughter.
"What did he say?" Amara asked, somewhat awed.
"Not so much say," Doroga said. "But... he makes me know how he feels. Walker thinks we are companions only until he gets too hungry. And then I can either give him more food or stand clear of those apples."
Amara found herself smiling. "And the other tribes. They are..."
"Bonded," Doroga provided.
"Bonded with their own totems?"
"Horse with horse, Wolf with wolf, Herdbane with herdbane, yes," he confirmed. "And many others. It is how our people learn. Not just the wisdom of the mind." He put a fist on his chest. "But the wisdom of the heart. They are equally important. Each of them part of The One."
Amara shook her head. The beliefs of the barbarians were a great deal more complex than she would have believed possible. And if Doroga was telling the literal truth about the Marat bond with their beasts, it meant that they