"Mercedes Lackey & Larry Dixon - Mage Wars 03 - The Silver Gryphon" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

"Precisely," she said crisply. "What's the point of asking his opinion on this if you won't take it when
you know he's the authority?"
"But the likelihood that we'd need a bonesetting kit is so small it's infinitesimal!" he protested. "And
the weight! I'm the one who's going to be carrying all this, you know!"
 "But if we need it, we'll need exactly those supplies, and nothing else will substitute," she pointed out.
"We don't know for certain that there's a bone-setting kit at the Outpost, and I prefer not to take the
chance that the last few teams have been as certain of their invulnerability as you." Keenath looked smug
as she added it to the list, unbidden. "I'm going to insist on it. And if it isn't in that basket when we leave,
I'll send for one. We may be in a position of needing one and being unable to ask for one to be Gated to
us."
Tad flattened his ears in defeat as he looked from one implacable face to the other. "You win. I can't
argue against both of you."
Gryphons could not smirk like humans could, but there was enough muscular control of the beak
edges at the join of the lower mandible that one could be approximated. More than a touch of such an
expression showed on Keeth as they continued on to the next item. Part of the reason why Blade felt so
comfortable in the Silvers and with the gryphons in particular was that their motives and thoughts were
relatively simple and easy to understand. In particular, they made poor liars; gryphons were just too
expressive to hold a bluff effectively once you knew how to read their physical cues, such as the lay of
their facial feathers and the angle of their ears. Although they were complex creatures and often stubborn,
gryphons were also exactly what they appeared to be. The kestra'chern, her father in particular, were
anything but.
Their job was to manipulate, when it came right down to it. The whole point of what they did was to
manipulate a client into feeling better, to give him a little more insight into himself. But she wasn't at all
comfortable with the idea of manipulating anyone for any reason, no matter how pure the motive and how
praiseworthy the outcome.
Oh, I know things simply aren't that black-and-white, but—
Ah, things were just simpler with the Silvers. Issues often were a matter of extremes rather than
degrees. When you had only a single moment to make up your mind what you were going to do, you had
to be able to pare a situation down to the basics. Subtleties, as Judeth often said, were for times of
leisure.
She noted down another item, and let her thoughts drift.
I can't wait until we're away from here. I wish we could go without having to talk to my
parents.
Once they were away from White Gryphon, she would finally be able to relax for the first time in
several years. And once again, it was her father who was indirectly responsible for her unease of spirit.
He knows too much, that's the problem. When she had been a child, she had taken it for granted
that Amberdrake would know everyone of any importance at all in White Gryphon. She hadn't known
any reason why he shouldn't. But as she gradually became aware just what her father's avocation really
entailed, she gained a dim understanding that the knowledge Amberdrake possessed was extraordinarily
intimate.
Finally, one day it all fell together. She put the man together with the definition of kestra'chern and
had a moment of blinding and appalling revelation.
Not only did her father know everyone of any importance, he also knew the tiniest details about
them—every motive, every desire, every dream and indecision. Details like that, she felt deep in her
heart, no person should ever know about another. Such secrets gave the one who held them too much
power over the other, and that would weigh as an unimaginable responsibility.
Not that Father would ever use that power....
Or would he? If he had a chance to manipulate someone for a cause he thought was right, wouldn't
he be tempted to do just that? And wouldn't the fear of having such secrets revealed to others be enough
to make almost anyone agree to something that Amberdrake wanted?