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The minutes passed and beca out, just fell into the hts to drift away, toat all

She fell deeper and deeper away froht her back to her consciousness sometime later She blinked open her eyes and was surprised to see that the sun had set

Brynn felt her reat effort, she lifted her head into the face of the cold night wind Shak-ing, the cold biting at all of her exposed flesh, the woonel was there, beside her, wrapping a heavy woolen blan-ket about her and helping her to her feet, then holding her steady while the feeling returned to her legs

He started to lead her away

of them?" Brynn asked

"Thev will return to the monastery tomorrow" R -nn stopped, her stare incredulous as she looked fro mystics ?They will freeze" &039; ?They have consciously slowed their bodies Their hearts barely beat and the cold will not wound them," the Jhesta Tu master explained Brynn stared at him in disbelief

"As you learned your Oracle, so these Jhesta Tu have learned theirs In me you will come to understand, if you choose to learn" He started away, nd Brynn went along for a short while, before stopping and staring at him hard

"But you were able to succeed at Oracle on your first try," she said, again with a hint in her voice that soonel washer

"Are you so concerned with how you measure beside me?" theainst that of the Jhesta Tu?"

Brynn didn&039;t blink

"All of thethemselves to the wind are your seniors," he explained ?And I ae Waste not your tis,Brynn asked ?To prove to ht you here not knohether you would fail or not," Pago-nel answered ?But it hardly matters I will teach you the technique over the next weeks, and when you return here, you will pass the night in quiet co within yourself to shelter frolanced back up the path

&039;Even in winter," Pagonel proht"

He led her back down to thethe dark path with the ease of faonel teaching her how to focus her thoughts upon one part, one aspect, of her body He showed her how to consciously relax, strengthening the connection betweenher control over herself, even to the point of slowing the beat of her heart

Brynn returned to the shelf three weeks later The following hly refreshed, Brynn Dharielle walked down the path beside a handful of Jhesta Tu, back to theto her on that long walk, but whenever she ot back were inevitably ones of acceptance

Brynn went up the ive herself to the wind h summer had blossomed on the land far below, up there only the discipline she had learned froonel and frohts On one occasion, Brynn remained up on that shelf for three days, deep within herself, and within the emptiness of dark peace

Every time she came back down the er, and felt that the road of her life was a bit more clearly defined She left the Walk of Clouds in the other direction often, as well, traveling down the thousands of stone stairs to the valley floor Finding the grassy fields where the horses ran was not difficult, and a single whistle and call al-ways brought Brynn&039;s best friend galloping to her side

On one suchway to autumn, Brynn and Runtly basked in the sunshine The woht a bucket and brushes doith her, and she knew all the right places to brush the pony, using just the right texture of bristle so that the pony kept throwing his head with approval

Brynn had coht up to Runtly just as the sun was rising, intending to spend the whole of the day with the pony, brushing hirass beside hi out delicious clover

The young ranger was surprised when she saw a figure approaching, tall and slender, though with a bit of a belly As he caonel

"Am I needed above?" Brynn asked, concerned, not because of any ex-pression or posture of the mystic, but merely froht that I onel replied ?And with him" As he finished, he walked over and stroked Runtly&039;s mus-cled neck as the pony happily munched at soonel&039;s hand, not seriously, not trying to in-jure, but esture

"He likes you, I am certain," Brynn said with a chuckle

"Or he likes the way I taste"

"Perhaps he sees our friendship as a threat to my friendship with hionel reiterated, patting the pony hard on the neck

"I enjoyed several hours of Oracle this ," the , nor was he saying that just to make her feel a bit better about her place at the Walk of Clouds

"A lesson learned in exchange for a lesson given?" she asked

"A valuable exchange"

"Was it?" Brynn asked in all seriousness ?Do your brethren share your enthusiasht contribute to your order? ?

"You are anxious"

Brvnn considered the statement for a moment, then nodded ?The Walk f Clouds is unaccustomed to casual visitors"

"Is that what you are?"

"Is that what I aht back at him ?I am not a ember of your order, yet you share its secrets with onel?"

"I wear the Belt of All Colors and a, not to me, nor behind vour back in whispers It is no Jhesta Tu&039;s place to question your presence here"

"But where do I fit in, in the judgonel?" Brynn asked ?Do you think me Jhesta Tu? Do you hope that I alk that path?"

"I think that you have been walking that path for most of your life," the mystic explained ?Whether you one day choose formally to claim yourself Jhesta Tu is irrelevant"

Brynn started to reply, but Pagonel stopped her with an upraised hand, patted Runtly hard on the neck one last time, then o, soon after the establishment of the Abellican Church in Honce-the-Bear, one of their eod He was taken in at the Walk of Clouds, as were you, and shared with us as we shared with hith-ened by that cothened inthe truths as you have learned thethened by your experiences here at the Walk of Clouds"

Brynn looked at the older?Why do you wish thened?

Is my cause your cause?"

"I do not know," the mystic admitted

"Then why?" Brynn asked ?Why did you risk your life to pull me off the battlefield outside of Dharyan? And why did you then bring me all the way to the south? Would you have done as much if it was another you had saved? Would you have taken another - even Ashu himself - all the way here and opened the secrets of your order to hi the words

"Then why?"

The mystic took a deep breath and leaned back a bit as Brynn leaned in eagerly toward him After a few moments, he looked away

"Because I see in you so much of my own heart," he said a short while later, and he turned back to stare into Brynn&039;s puzzled expression, that beautiful face only an inch from his own ?You understand Jhesta Tu - I knew that you would I knew that both of us would benefit" He stam-mered a bit, at a loss for words for the first ti her finger over his lips ?I know," she said ?I knew it, too, when first we er away, but Pagonel didn&039;t resu at her, and she at hionel wanted to do at thatback and ree

All that Brynn wanted to do at that h to initiate that level of intih in truth, to her physical inti more than an extension of the e all these months

They were so in hare difference

But Pagonel held back, and Brynn, so innocent and unawares in matters of physical intimacy, would not take this first step

They stayed on the field with Runtly until late that afternoon, then walked together up the long staircase back to the Walk of Clouds, Pagonel&039;s home and Brynn&039;s welcomed sanctuary