"Friesner, Esther - Star Trek - TNG 46 - To Storm Heaven(1997)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Friesner Esther M)

the sky pink and purple. Her life ebbed with the day's
dwindling light, but her thoughts were elsewhere.
I was never wrong, never. When I said that such a
One wouM die, he was as good as dead. In time, the
people knew this. Was I wrong to turn my gift to trade?
Ay, what choice did I have? I was widowed young, no
sons to labor for me, my daughters all wed to shepherds
even stupider than the usual run of such shell-skulls.
Well, I suppose it was the best they couM do, poor girls,
with no dowry worth the name.
"A shepherd's wife," she mumbled. "Nothing lower
could befall any woman." Her eyes rolled aimlessly
from side to side as her mind wandered.
The maiden at her side wrung out a cloth that had
been soaking in a bowl of water nearby and laid it
across the old woman's brow. It soon turned warm
and she gave it another cooling dip. "Be at peace,
Mother Se'ar," she soothed. "Let nothing trouble you.
You did what you had to do to live, as we all do. Don't
worry about it now."
Without warning the old woman siezed the maid-
en's hands in an iron grip, pulling herself upright so
that their eyes met. "You don't understand!" she
wailed. "I took what was holy and sold it as if it were
milk or fleece or grain! Because I could foretell death,
my neighbors thought that I could also forestall it.
They came to me with food and drink and cloth,
begging me to spare the lives of their loved ones."
She paused, panting for breath as painful memories
assailed her. Fools. Sorry fools. Those who were bound
to die, died anyway, despite my silence. When that
happened, I tom them it was because the gods willed it,
and they had caused me to utter the doomed one~
name in dreams. How couM anyone prove otherwise?
Who wouM stand against the way of the blessed
Balance? They did not understand, and I let them live
on in ignorance because it suited me, and because it let
me lead a life of comfort, plenty, respect.
"Nothing can justify what I have done," she
wheezed, shaking her head. "Nothing!"
"You are not responsible for what others choose to
believe." The maiden slid her arm under Se'ar's back
and tenderly lowered her to the pallet once more,
feeling the nubs of her spine poking against the age-
slackened skin.
The old woman gazed up into the maiden's tranquil
face and sighed. "You are a good gift, Ma'adrys. I
Wish I could tell you how often I have prayed to the
Lady of the Balances to work her holy transformation
on you and make you my own blood. But she would