Page 12 (1/2)

Pagonel stared at the red sash hanging on the hook by the door of his small and unremarkable roo his order, the ancient and secretive Jhesta Tuthe 150 brothers and sisters to have earned the Sash of Life, but when he took it down fro his tan tunic, he did not wear it with pride

If he did, he would not have been worthy of the sash

No, Pagonel wore the sash in simple optimism, for himself and for all the people of all the world He was Jhesta Tu, dedicated to a life above the common, a life spent in reflection, in the quiet atte, and in the hopes that such understanding of life and death and purpose would lead hihtene order; this place, the Walk of Clouds, nes-tled high a the southern border where both the deserts of Behren and the steppes of To-gai came to an end, was their only temple, and few brothers were out on the roads of the wider world

Very few, since the Yatols of Behren would not tolerate the Jhesta Tu, and the To-gai-ru had little use for them

Most of the Jhesta Tu were of Behrenese descent, and onel, traced their ancestry to To-gai But all within the Walk of Clouds had entered at a very young age, and few had any limpses of the world outside froiven within theircliff facing, a walk of five thou-sands steps froion

A crackle and then a thunderous booonel&039;s south-facing room, but it only amused, and did not startle, the forty-year-oldwith the emstones, he knew, in preparation for the cele-bration of the autu bolts and fireballs would light the ever-onel knew, and he sht, for he truly enjoyed the rev-elry, and knew that his contributions to the shoould bring pleasure to er eh even he was no hty Abellican -doerass and the wind and every natu-ral thing in all the world Their order was based on inner peace and content- of mind and body and external environment that blended into pure harmony and equilibriue required of one atteemstones, they did not hold theod

Another crackle and booonel from his private reflections, and he roup of younger e of Winds, the clouds of e before them Most wore the white belt of air, the first of the sashes, one that signified, ness to open one&039;s ht Sorowth froonel saw, though, wore the blue belt of water, a high rank indeed, and it was thison the lightning display

Another bolt shot out fro into a thunderous report, and the others on the bridge cheered and clapped their hands with joy

Pagonel felt that joy, but it was daht, a realiza-tion that he would not attend the celebration that night

Thethe realization

He would not attend

He could not, would not, leave his rooain and again, following its curious tracing through the y

His breath coasps - ones that could be corrected by those wearing the white belts of air, ere learning the properties of drawing various breaths - Pagonel fell back farther into his roohts He pictured that bolt of lightning again, but this ti froonel cleared aside some clutter and pulled forth his ned weave of sheep&039;s wool, one that he had crafted rnself over the course of two years He sat down upon it, crossing his I s and bringing his hands together in front of his lean and strong chest, en very slowly dropping his hands to his thighs, palonel went into his conscious relaxation, visualizing each part of his body and forcing it to sink more deeply into a quiet and relaxedall the clutter leave his body and onel allowed the ihts But rather than just pictur-ing the bolt cutting through the row beside a sensation of poithin hiy that defined his ever could

He lost all sensation of time and space, fell into himself more completely than he had ever known possible, touched his life force with his conscious-ness for the first ti, for the first tionel blinked open his eyes, staring at the dark room Slowly, very slowly, the ht theether before his chest His breath came slow and deep as he used the tech-niques he had mastered in the many years he had worn his white sash, then he consciously forced that breath into hisin perfect balance, in the s position, his hands never ain and looked around, trying to find some hint of how much time had passed He went out into the hall, to find it ehts, a circular rooled ically placed to catch and distort the light

Pagonel caught sight of himself in one of those nized in his rich brown eyes So profound had happened to him in his chamber, he knew, and he understood what it was

"Three days," caonel turned and bowed ?Master Cheyes" In the Walk of Clouds, there were three other onel&039;s level, the Red Sash of Life, and there were only tho had achieved the level beyond that, the Belt of All Colors, the syhtenment - Master Cheyes and his wife, Mistress Dasa In all the centuries of the monastic order, the number who had so achieved this belt was minuscule, under a hundred, and to have two such masters in the Walk of Clouds at one tionelthem

"I have seen the Chi," he said quietly

Master Cheyes nodded solee froo"

Three days? Pagonel laughed, soonel," Master Cheyes continued ?It is good that you have, for now there is a road before you"

"I have touched Chi," Pagonel explained ?I have grasped it I know it"

His strea back on his heels Few dared e to touch and fully grasp Chi, as Pagonel was clai, was prac-tically unheard of Master Cheyes&039; wife, Dasa, had only found Chi two years before, in her seventy-eighth year, her seventy-fifth of formal study

"I would walk the Path of All Colors, Master Cheyes," the younger h it seeonel that he doubted the claim, he was powerless to say so The discovery of the Chi, the highest level of enlighten and claim, one that went beyond the supervision of Cheyes, or of any er?" Master Cheyes did ask, as was required ?And you understand that there is no need to walk the Path of All Colors at this, or at any, set tionel assured hionel" Master Cheyes bowed his head in respect, in acknowledger his student or his inferior If the man succeeded in the walk, then he would instantly become Cheyes&039; peer If he did not succeed, then he would be dead There was no onel announced his intent, his days as the student of Master Cheyes and Mistress Dasa ended

"The chamber is ready, as it is always ready"

Head bowed, Cheyes walked away

Pagonel nodded confidently He had seen the Chi, the inner life, the join-ing of body and soul, and in that recognition, he held no doubts about the outcohtaway to a little-used stairway in the far northern reaches of the temple He moved down three levels, to the bottommost common area, and to an ironbound doorway that had not been opened since Mistress Dasa hadat the center of the door and felt the heat e fro mechanisonel in the face

He stepped through, onto a landing, and closed the door behind hi his eyes to adjust to the dione beyond the worked tunnels of the Walk of Clouds, into a natural cavern sloping down to the depths of the mountain It took him al-most half an hour to reach the end of that corridor, a rocky, natural chain- with a single door set in the far wall Beside that door hung onel noore

The mystic walked to the wall and nodded as he took note of hoell most of the sashes had held up over the years Most ell over a cen-tury old, and the air in that place, with its nasty sulphuric s toll onit on an open peg His hand lin-gered upon it for a long while, for though he had only worn it for a few vears it had become more than just a symbol, but a constant reo and quickly pushed open the door, stepped through, and closed the door behind him, well aware that he would never see that sash, or the rooain