that had been made, including the time and place, where Drizzt and Catti-brie were to meet with the caravan. The merchants were putting out this very day, giving the pair less than an hour to get out on the road. They knew that this was yet another parting.
"They do Deneir proud," Cadderly agreed.
Drizzt was busy with his pack then, and so Catti-brie quietly pulled Cadderly aside. Her thoughts were on Danica, her friend.
Cadderly smiled warmly, seeming to understand what this private conversation might be about.
"Ye've got many responsibilities," Catti-brie began.
"My god is not so demanding," Cadderly said coyly, for he knew that Catti-brie was not speaking of his duties to Deneir.
"I'm meaning the twins," Catti-brie whispered. "And Danica."
Cadderly nodded. No argument there.
Catti-brie paused for a long while, seeming to struggle with the words. How might she put things so as not to insult the old priest?
"Ivan telled me something about yer ... condition," Catti-brie admitted.
"Oh?" Cadderly replied. He wasn't going to make this easy for the young woman.
"The dwarf says ye expected to die as soon as the Spirit Soaring was completed," Catti-brie explained. "Says ye looked like ye would, too."
"I felt like I would," Cadderly admitted. "And the visions I had of the cathedral made me believe that to be the truth."
"That was more than a year ago," Catti-brie remarked.
Cadderly nodded again.
"The dwarf says ye look like ye're getting younger," Catti-brie pressed. "And stronger."
Cadderly's smile was wide. He understood that Catti-brie was looking out for Danica's interests and her apparently deep friendship with his wife warmed his heart profoundly. "I cannot be certain of anything," he said to her, "but the dwarf's observations seem to be accurate. I am stronger now, much stronger and more energetic than when the cathedral was first completed." Cadderly reached up and pulled straight a few strands of hair, mostly gray, but with several sandy-colored strands mixed in. "Brown hairs," the old priest went on. "It was white, all white, when first the cathedral was completed."
"Ye're gettin' younger!" Catti-brie proclaimed with much enthusiasm.
Cadderly blew a long and deep sigh, and then, couldn't help but nod. "So it would seem," he admitted.
"I cannot be sure of anything," he said as if he was afraid of speaking his hopes out loud. "The only explanation that I can figure is that the visions shown to me-visions of my impending death-and the fatigue I felt at the completion of the Spirit Soaring were a test of my ultimate loyalty to the precepts and commandments of Deneir. I honestly expected to die as soon as the first service in the new cathedral was completed, and indeed, when it was done, a great weariness overcame me. I went to my room-I was practically carried by Danica and Ivan-and went to sleep, expecting to never again open my eyes upon this world. I accepted that." He paused and closed his eyes, recalling that fateful date.
"But now," Catti-brie prompted.
"Perhaps Deneir tested me, tested my loyalty," Cadderly said. "It might be that I passed that test, and so now my god has chosen to spare me."
"If he's a goodly god, then the choice is made," Catti-brie said firmly. "No good god'd take ye from Danica and the twins, and ..."
She paused and bit her lip, not wanting to give away Danica's secret.
"Deneir is a goodly god," Cadderly replied with equal determination. "But you speak of the concerns of mortals and we cannot understand Deneir's will or his ways. If Deneir takes me from Danica and my children, then that does not make him anything less than the goodly god that he truly is."
Catti-brie shook her head and didn't seem convinced.
"There are higher meanings and higher principles than we humans can understand," Cadderly said to her. "I hold faith that Deneir will do what is ultimately right by his needs and his designs, which outweigh my own."
"But ye hope it's true," Catti-brie said, her tone showing the words to be an accusation. "Ye hope ye get young again, as young as yer bride, that ye might live out yer life beside her and with yer kids!"
Cadderly laughed aloud. "True enough," he finally admitted, and Catti-brie was appeased.
So was Drizzt, listening in with those keen drow ears of his, only half his attention focused upon the task of packing his haversack.
Catti-brie and Cadderly shared a hug, and then the old priest, who seemed not so old, went to Drizzt and offered a sincere handshake. "Bring to me the artifact, this crystal shard," Cadderly said. "Together