temple. Not too fast, because of the heat. Not too slow, because otherwise they’d be stopped by citizens with questions about their aura. Everyone knew augurs weren’t supposed to answer questions outside a formal reading, but everyone thought they’d be the exception. Ever since Emperor Zarin’s death, even before the transition period stretched on, the people had been anxious—his death seemed to have rekindled an awareness in Becarans of their own mortality, and the lines at the temple for readings had only grown.
Yorbel wouldn’t have minded granting peace of mind to a few anxious citizens, a casual word here or there, like he’d done for the palace guard, except that he couldn’t promise it wouldn’t devolve into a mad rush for free readings. He knew the local guards wouldn’t appreciate it if he accidentally started a new riot in the streets. On the nearest street corner, a greenstone statue of a desert lion seemed to be staring at him reproachfully, as if critical of his thoughts.
“Only this morning,” Gissa answered. “I decided to postpone the very exciting task of sorting my travel laundry and instead seek you out. I am hoping you’ll dine with me tonight? Fill me in on all that I’ve missed?”
He wondered briefly how she’d known where to find him. The temple clerks knew about the summons, and all the temple guards saw him leave. It wouldn’t have been that difficult to deduce. “I can think of nothing I’d like better, except that I regretfully won’t be available.” As soon as he had all his affairs in order, he planned to begin his search. An idea occurred to him. “Gissa, since you’ve returned, I wonder if you’d do me a favor?”
“Did you kill another houseplant? You know there’s such a thing as too much love. One of these days you’re going to drown a plant so thoroughly that I can’t coax it back to life.”
“That’s not . . .” Well, truthfully, he had drowned another plant. It was only that they always looked so parched in the afternoon sun. “Yes, but I have some travel to do in the next few weeks, and I need someone to take over my readings.”
“You? Travel? Where?”
Yorbel made a face at her. “I travel sometimes.”
Gissa gestured at a palm-tree-lined plaza. “The walk from the palace to the temple does not count as travel. Where are you going, and why?”
He could have told her the truth. She was one of his oldest friends. Lies stain the soul, as was often said, especially lies between friends. But this . . .
There was friendship, and then there were politics.
It was better if the two were kept separate.
“The emperor-to-be is displeased with our progress in the search for his brother, and since I am the face he knows best of the augurs . . . I feel a little distance from the capital would be prudent.” All he said was technically true, despite the implications.
“The emperor-to-be is a fool to lose faith in you.”
He appreciated her loyalty, though he wished he hadn’t predicated it with a lie. He reconsidered telling her the truth, but no, he’d promised discretion. He was not so naive as to think all actions were split neatly between right and wrong. You had to balance your intentions with potential consequences. The challenge of navigating that kind of moral ambiguity was precisely why people needed augurs to guide them. “It may be for the best. I haven’t walked the sands in far too long. My soul needs this to keep its balance.”
“Wise of you to realize that,” Gissa said approvingly. “Then, to keep you from stagnation, I will happily do your scheduled readings. And save your plants.”
“Thank you, Gissa. You are relieving me of much worry.”
It occurred to him that he may need to tell many lies on his proposed journey. He wondered what the state of his soul would be at the end of it.
Better a tarnished soul than a dead friend.
He then buried that very un-augur-like thought deep within.
“How was your meeting with the emperor-to-be?” Gissa asked.
Yorbel knew he shouldn’t be surprised, since she’d obviously known where to find him, but still . . . It wasn’t as if the meeting itself was common knowledge to anyone but him and the student who had passed along the summons. He could have gone to the palace for any number of other purposes. “You’ve been back for mere hours, and you already know everything that’s going on with everyone. You have a