"John Meaney - Sanctification (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Meaney John)

ruminations.

Long hours of walking over the cool blue crystal road while the sky
grew
hotter. Hours of slipping through throngs of robed gentlefolk, walking
past the giant stone pillars of arms reaching upwards, before she
reached
the ornate monastery. It was emerald and yellow stone, and, though
smaller
than neighbouring buildings, it seemed imposing and purposeful to
Ashara.
She walked around its edge, until she stood before a gleaming green
gateway. They must admit her. By this time, her master's household
would
have missed her. She did not know what punishment she was due: never
had
she heard of a servant willfully disappearing from her master's employ.
So, when she stood before the gate, she was determined. Despite her
poor
light garments, despite her bare feet and uncombed hair, she stood
straight and gazed with clear calm eyes at her future.
The gate's automatic system challenged her to state her business.
"I am going to be a Saint," she said.
Her name was Ashara and she was only twelve years old, but this was the
pivotal moment in her life.
"Who are you? How old are you?"
"I am Zenshara, and I am as old as the cosmos."
So she renamed herself, and gave the answer which had been drawn out of
her without volition. It sounded foolish and pompous to her, but it was
apposite - or the system found it amusing, or intriguing - for the
gateway
swung open. Ashara left her old life behind as she stepped through the
portal and became Zenshara forever.

The procedure was the reverse of what she would have expected, had
Zenshara considered the matter at all. She was kept alone in neophytes'
quarters, at the other end of the building from the established
students.
She would only graduate to the children's dormitories if she proved her
aptitude for this way of life.
She spent long hours alone, solving word puzzles and geometric
holo-problems in her small room. Sometimes a small, calm old man would
enter silently and watch Zenshara as she worked. After the first few
times, when he had gestured for her to continue as she turned to him,
she
had taken to ignoring him. Or rather, though she made no attempt to
communicate directly, she deliberately relaxed and ran through the
exercises more quickly than ever in his presence.
After five days they began to teach her the ancient disciplines.
The testing was not over: they needed to see just how quickly she could