She nodded. “But sometimes it appears in families with no history of it at all.”
“You like things in a neat pattern,” Lleyn observed. “Life does not often oblige.”
“Life can be nudged here and there.”
“As with Rohan and Sioned?”
The singing had stopped, and they were now being presented with a towering pastry, a fabulous concoction of crust and fruit and sauce shaped like a fanciful hilltop castle. Lleyn and Andrade nodded their approval and it was taken to the next table.
“What do you plan for them, Andrade?” the old prince went on. “A line of faradhi princes? The others aren’t going to like that.”
“I do as the Goddess bids me,” she replied coldly.
“I have never believed in revealed truth,” he commented slyly. “It takes work and experimentation and confirmation to produce knowledge. Are Rohan and Sioned your experiment, Andrade?”
“You presume too much, Lleyn.”
“So do you.” He poured himself more wine. “I’m too old to be concerned for my own position. My son Chadric will come after me, and his sons after him—because you faradh’im left Dorval behind and will never return.”
“Now you’re the one looking for a pattern. Why do you think we won’t return to the places of our past?”
“For the simple reason that it is the past—and because, quite frankly, I would never allow it.” He regarded her thoughtfully.
“That’s why I like young Rohan. He wants to change things for the better, and he refuses to look back to the past. But his plans may not coincide with yours, Andrade.”
“My plans aren’t something I care to make common knowledge,” she muttered.
“Ah, but it’s the knowledge that counts, isn’t it? You Sunrunners rejected the isolation of selfish knowledge and chose to live on the continent, to disperse yourselves in service to the princedoms. Knowledge is useless unless it’s shared. And that should be the basis for desiring faradhi children of this marriage. The ancient Sunrunner seemed to know that one cannot stand apart from life, and became the living link between the lands. Now you would link them to royal blood. You want things dangerous to the other princes, Andrade.”
She knew from long experience that she could not stare him down the way she did nearly everyone else. That made him valuable. “Has age made you a philosopher then, my lord?” she asked sharply.
“One of its few advantages.” He paused. “There’s another rumor I’d like clarified, if you would. It’s said that Roelstra made use of one of your own. I won’t ask how. But I can see that it frightens you. It means you Sunrunners are vulnerable.”
“And you know all about vulnerability, sitting there on your impregnable island!”
“Peace, Andrade. I’m vulnerable, too, you know. I seek change. Old as I am, I’m yet young enough to relish upheaval when it leads to betterment. That’s a dangerous thing in any person, but in a prince it’s unforgivable.” He smiled. “I’ll support Rohan, never fear. Aside from the fact that I’m fond of him, I happen to agree with him.”
“Then why are we discussing this?”
“Because of that vulnerability I spoke of before. It’s an important thing, for it prevents tyranny. You and I know that you Sunrunners have your weak places. The other princes do not. Both of those things are your strength. Because you know yourselves to be vulnerable, you don’t overreach—which might possibly expose your weaknesses, and shatter the power you have with the princedoms. Consider Roelstra in the present case. He did not know his plans for Rohan were vulnerable to one fire-haired girl. Thus he’s attempted tyranny, and failed—and is now very dangerous. Consider also yourself. You didn’t know your people were vulnerable to whatever Roelstra did to your faradhi—and that’s failure, too.”
“Are you calling me a tyrant?”
“You have the potential,” he replied equably. “Let me annoy you a moment longer, and then we will do nothing but gossip about our neighbors. I describe to you a circle, Andrade. At the bottom, you Sunrunners were isolated and impotent. You are climbing the arc now until you approach the highest point of the circle. But there is another half to it—the fall from power.”
“I don’t want power,” she protested.
“Not for yourself, perhaps. But for your kind. I’m glad you faradh’im are in the world, giving of your skills and knowledge. But do not attempt to become the world, Andrade.”
“The rest of you have made a proper mess of it.”
“Do you think you will do any better?”
Andrade pondered this as a section of the pastry tower was