It seemed like such a simple act, but it had caught the close attention of both men.
“Aren’t you going to eat that?” Thom asked, alarmed.
I looked to the muffin and bit my lip, nervous about their sudden interest.
“No, I don’t think I am.” I did not meet the eyes of either of them, although I knew they were both staring at me. Instead, I took another drink before placing my now empty mug next to the muffin.
“You are ready.” I froze at Dramin’s words, my hand coming back to rest in my lap.
I turned to him, nerves and excitement getting all jumbled up in my body.
“Are you going to show me now?” Dramin nodded his head once in response to my question.
“I’m not sure I am ready,” I answered honestly, my voice quiet.
“You are, Siln?.” I turned to Thom, his head nodding in encouragement.
“But... Ilyan said... Will I really hate him?”
Dramin smiled in response to my question, but his face was sad. “Ilyan has worried for the past eight hundred years if what he said in the Hall of Sight was the right thing. That is eight hundred years of nerves. Of course he is scared. But know this, all that you are about to see will happen, you cannot change it. You are ready to accept that, and that is why you are ready to see the sight.”
Dramin stood right before me, his frame towering over me.
“But what if I am not ready, Uncle?” I sunk away from him, scared of what was about to happen.
“I am afraid, child, that you no longer have a choice.”
Dramin placed his hand against my head. But instead of pulling out my memories as Ilyan had done, I felt my head go light and airy as this time he put them in.
Twenty-Four
Irecognized the room as a Hall of Sight the moment everything came into focus. This one was bigger and more ornate than the one in our cave. The same sunken pool of Black Water filled the center of the room, but instead of the raised shelf that surrounded it, a number of chairs and thrones had been carved out of wood and placed facing the pool. In each of the thrones a man or woman sat. They did not speak, they sat with their eyes closed, heads bowed. Their features were obscured by large woolen cloaks. I knew what they were doing and it worried me.
I let my eyes wander away from them to linger on the carvings and beautiful stained glass windows that covered the space. I didn’t know what I was doing here, and I was still shaky about the details of what Dramin had done to me and how he was showing me this. Even if I knew everything about the process, I didn’t think I could shake the nerves connected with what I was about to see.
I tried to find comfort in the fact that I was about to learn everything, but I was still worried. Ilyan’s begging me not to hate him still echoed through my head. I thought of his sleeping body, of all he had done for me, and straightened a bit.
“He is coming, can you feel him?” I turned toward the voice, surprised to see that one of the still figures had stood. His head moved from his bowed position to one of strength. I must have audibly gasped, but no one seemed to notice. I had come face to face with my Father. His face and body seemed younger, if that was possible, and his hair was shorter. He was powerful and strong, so much more than I had ever remembered seeing him. The change was startling. I could tell he was the patriarch among them. He was respected and revered, his commanding voice guiding all of them.
“We can feel him.” The remaining Drak in the hall stood in unison as they spoke as one. Their voices echoed around me and I jumped a bit at the intensity of the sound.
“He wishes to know,” Sain said, his voice deep and rumbling.
“Know of his future,” said another.
“Know of his heart.”
“Shall we tell him?”
“Shall we give him sight?”
“He is the only one who can see, the only one who understands.”
“That is why he has come, come to see us.”
I spun around as each voice spoke, their voices coming in quick succession. Each of the Drak stood still, their eyes black centered with glowing embers of color as they looked beyond their own sight and into the Black Water.
“He has come.” I turned toward my Father at his announcement, as all of the Draks’ eyes shifted from black to their normal multi-colored array. I looked around them, unsurprised to see Dramin standing to the left of my Father.
I waited, my nerves on edge, wondering what was happening, what they were talking about. No one in the Hall of Sight moved. Their eyes focused on the door that stood behind me, their gaze deep and unwavering. I heard the creak of the oversized door as it was opened, another gasp escaping me when Ilyan walked through.