"Sean Russell - The Initiate Brother 2 - Gatherer of Clouds" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russell Sean)

Hail turned to rain and Shuyun broke the silence. ‘ ’It is one of the lessons of the Botahist-trained that there
are times when speculation serves little purpose, Lord Shonto, General Hojo, if you will excuse me for
saying so. If we have considered all possibilities, then we must accept that we do not yet know enough.
Coins come from Yankura and make their way into the desert: that is truly all we know. There are,
however, other concerns which we can act upon. My teachers taught that we should begin where we may
and practice patience where we must.“

“Your teachers were wise, Shuyun-sum,” Shonto said, surprising Hojo. He had never heard anyone but
their former Spiritual Advisor, Brother Satake, come so close to criticizing his liege-lord. It was a measure
of how much Lord Shonto had come to trust this monk in the short time he had been in the Shonto house.
The lord turned the coin over in his hand one last time and then returned it to the table.

An almost imperceptible knock sounded on the inner screen and Hojo moved to open it a crack. He listened
to a voice neither Shuyun nor Lord Shonto could hear, nodded, and pushed the shoji closed.

Lord Shonto raised an eyebrow, a gesture his staff did not need explained.

“Jaku Katta has arrived in Rhojo-ma, Sire.”

Shonto reached unconsciously for the coins again but stopped himself. “Huh.” He turned his gaze back to
the opening in the shojis. “It would be interesting to know what the Emperor’s Guard Commander could tell
us of these coins.”

Hojo nodded.

“Please arrange a meeting with General Jaku as soon as convenience allows. We shall see if it is true—in
the dark tigers see more than men.”

Even by Botanist standards the Prefect of Seh was a very old man and his age inhabited his body in manner
uncommon among the Botahist trained. Monks typically remained lithe and youthful far past the age when
the untrained had slipped into infirmity if they remained alive at all.

Brother Nyodo, Master of the Botahist faith and Prefect of Seh, moved so slowly that he seemed always to
be progressing toward an early closure of the Form.

He set a tightly rolled scroll on his writing table and very slowly turned back to his guest; Senior Brother
So-tura, the chi quan Master of Jinjoh Monastery.

“There is no brother by that name in our registry; Hitari, yes but no Hitara. Was Brother Shuyun certain?”

“Prefect, I do not think it is possible for him to make such a mistake.”

“You think highly of this young Initiate, Brother So-tura. I begin to wish to make his acquaintance.”

“Perhaps that will become possible at some future time, Prefect. It is the Supreme Master’s wish, for the
time being, that we keep our meetings with Brother Shuyun infrequent. It is important that Lord Shonto feel
that his Spiritual Advisor is truly his.”

“I only hope this will not lead to…” the monk searched for a word, “… to the willfulness we experienced