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You onel said to Brynn

The dark-haired woman looked at the mystic hard ?I JX sau die"

"I saw onel replied ?I saw you almost die"

"I sawin this dark gaer"

"How can I forget"

"I did not ask you to forget," the mystic clarified ?Never that We each are a coood and bad, and to release any expe-rience froet Do not dull the ies inspire self-destruction"

Brynn looked at hier dulls the consciousness," Pagonel explained ?Anger sets you on a path that you cannot easily break free of, even if common sense dictates that you take another course You watched Ashu die, but he died, in part, because he was blinded to the reality of the Behrenese trap, partly be-cause of pride and partly because of anger"

Brynn considered the words for a few ree ?It will be difficult to raise another band to battle the Wraps"

"That word rings foully off your lips, Brynn Dharielle"

She looked hard at the mystic

"Wraps," he explained ?A word of belittlement, a word to dehumanize your eneiven the chance, I would kill every Wrap every Behrenese,"she corrected, seeing the judg-ing scowl

"Would you? Would you kill a Behrenese child? A poor ai? Are you so hardened by the bitterness of defeat that you have changed fundaht of finishing off Behrenese warriors who lay dy-in the sand?" Pagonel stopped and smiled, then chuckled aloud at Brynn looked away, but she couldn&039;t resist The ht - and she felt foolish indeed at her fiery declaration

"Consider your feelings honestly concerning the Behrenese," Pagonel dvised ?Recognize that they are not all of one nize that they, even those you hate the s, are creatures with hopes for themselves and for their children not so different from your own"

"Do you ask that I abandon my cause?"

"No I ask that you re more Your path will not be bloodless, should you walk the road of war again There will be a heavy price to be paid, for the Behrenese and the To-gai-ru Is that cost worth the prize that will be freedohtest hesitation

"That is all"

Pagonel turned and walked away froe connecting tings of the Walk of Clouds e

With just a feords, the , had shifted her perspective - just a bit, but in a direction that Brynn was already thinking ht prove to be very productive

She knew that this would be but one of onel and his brothers and sisters of the Walk of Clouds would teach her in her stay there

"I ah we paint different la-bels upon our coods, and enact different rituals to reach the saonel reer Brynn Dharielle

Brynn looked at hiness, and more than a little disappointed She had just taken one of the greatest chances in her life, had just shown to thisthe last feeeks at the Walk of Clouds one of the greatest secrets of the Touel&039;alfar Her teaching of Oracle to Pagonel was a huge expression of trust, for the gifts that Lady Dasslerond&039;s people had shown to Brynn were not to be passed along She had expected that the mystic would be over-whelmed, would walk out of the room with that same look of disbelief upon his face that Brynn had worn in her first successful Oracle, when she had cohosts of her dead parents

He had been in the roo ti a height of intensity, a level of consciousness that transcended the bounds of mortality And yet here he was, obviously less than ionel started, but he looked at Brynn, whose face showed her disappointment clearly, and paused

"You know of the Abellican Monks of Honce-the-Bear?" the Jhesta Tu asked a moh use of geer who trained beside eonel nodded

"The Yatols view the stones as sacrilege"

Again Brynn nodded ?And the Jhesta Tu?"

"We have used theh to incorporate theiven the mystic&039;s quiet attitude toward Oracle

"Jhesta Tu atteemstones offer, the same power that your Oracle offers, within ourselves," the mystic explained He walked over and tapped Brynn on the forehead ?There is as ic and power in here," he said, and then he surprised her by running his hand down her face, down her neck, between her breasts and over her belly, all the way to her groin ?A line of strength fro back ?This is the core of your life energy, your Chi, and few are the people who can truly coy"

"Only the Jhesta Tu?" the somewhat shaken woonel explained ?And only after years and years of study Internal study"

He reached down and untied the black sash fro it up before the woman ?The Belt of All Colors," he explained ?It is the sy Three in the Walk of Clouds noear it, and of the others, well exceeding one hundred in nuhtenment to earn this sash"

Brynn reached up reverently to touch the belt, and only then did she see that it was not truly black, but was coth of the color spectru the sash about his waist Despite her prior understanding of who this ant at that ti with the Touel&039;alfar

"And what is Oracle beside such achievehed at her ?It is a very great thing, a precious gift, and a long stride along the road toward enlightenrew confused ?You see theonel said to her ?Co the out his hand to her ?As you shared Ora-cle with ued, Brynn took the h a door that she had not seen before, exiting the back side of the building Before the the onel leading Brynn at a trot at ti a bare rock face, the pair spotted a line of a half dozen h above the cold," Brynn observed

"That is the point"

Brynn stopped abruptly, and Pagonel pulled free of her hand He, too, stopped, and turned back to regard her

"What is this?"

"Ever ih and a greater sh the Jhesta Tu or-der Though ive them-selves to the wind are older and more experienced than you, I believe that you should try Your training has been auess, if you have perfected the meditation you call Oracle"

"And this is the next step ahead of Oracle?" Brynn asked, and still there was a hint of sarcash was any indication

"This is a step to the side, not ahead," the mystic explained ?This is our Oracle - one manifestation of it, at least"

Brynn held her intended sharp retort ?Then lead on," she decided a onel&039;s offered hand

They continued clirew ht up to the other Jhesta Tuinto line behind theht not be accepted, but none of the e her presence Besides, she realized, Pagonel was the highest-ranking of their order, along with Master Cheyes and Matron Dasa, and so she supposed that he could pretty much make the rules as he saw appropriate, especially the rules concerning his visitor to the h up on thefiercely about the fast in the shaded areas Brynn was about to remark that she was not properly dressed for the eleht private, for the seven Jhesta Tuno ht robes, and while a couple wore sandals, the others were barefoot

They ca out to the left to the facing of the steep her Brynn was surprised when the mystics went left, and even , out of the shelter of the rocks and walls The path dipped lower there, running out to a narrow north-facing ledge

The wind blew cold, so cold! Theto the end of the ledge and sitting down, cross-legged

Pagonel stopped and ushered Brynn past hie in place be-hind the other mystics She looked to herin with that saonel motioned for her to do likewise, and so she settled down

The others brought their hands up, pressing palether before their faces By the time Brynn did the same, the others released their hands down to their hips In unison, they arched their backs, lifting their hips up and back, then rolled forward slowly but steadily, folding up at the waist so that they wound up bent double over their crossed legs, heads pressing the stone, aronel, as still standing, and he nodded for her to assu, the wo low She couldn&039;t get quite as far down as the ed to settle into a somewhat comfortable position

Then she waited

And waited

For a long ti out under her ar them to shift to another position But none moved at all A cou-ple of them moaned softly, but other than that, they were all perfectly still and quiet