Alector's Choice Read Online Free PDF Page B

smile widened slightly as
her eyes moved to Lystrana. “Congratulations, dear.”
    “Thank you. Might I
call upon you in the future?”
    “Always… you’ve done
so much for Dainyl.”
    Dainyl kept smiling.
Lystrana had done much for him. She’d advised him and guided him for nearly
thirty years, long before they were married, from when he’d been an
undercaptain with few prospects—and he’d listened and learned,.especially about
enhancing his Talent. He’d never been able to learn much from his mother, not
with her arrogance.
    “He’s done it all
himself, Alyra. I’m just good at listening.” Lystrana smiled warmly, projecting
warmth in a way that Dainyl had great difficulty emulating. “We must talk
later. I see Kylana beckoning.”
    Dainyl kept his smile
in place until they were well away.
    Lystrana squeezed his
hand gently, then spoke to the woman at the table they approached. “Kylana… if
we could join you?”
    “We’d be delighted.”
Kylana gestured to the seats to her husband’s right. She was extremely short
and slender for an alector, not even quite two yards tall, with a narrow face
and deep-set golden eyes—a throwback to a bad translation by her grandmother,
she’d claimed. Dainyl suspected it was the result of her own translation from
Ifryn to Acorus, not that he would ever have said so.
    Lystrana eased into
the chair beside Zestafyn, and Dainyl took the one to Lystrana’s right.
    “The word is that you
had an interesting day in Tempre on Octdi,” offered Zestafyn, turning to
Lystrana.
    “The missing golds,
you mean? They weren’t missing at all, it turned out. Just misrecorded.”
Lystrana paused as a lander serving girl appeared. “The Vyan Amber Crown.”
    “The same,” added
Dainyl.
    The server girl
nodded politely and slipped away.
    “Victyn was most
relieved,” continued Zestafyn. “He is a good sort, especially for a lander, and
he does try very hard.”
    “Sometimes, those are
the worst,” observed Kylana. “They wish to follow every rule and procedure.
They forget who gave them those procedures. I wish that we were allowed to tell
them of Ifryn and the power that resides there. Then, they wouldn’t forget.”
    Dainyl had his doubts
about that. Even alectors tended to forget about powers that were distant and
not exercised. That had been one of the points of the public execution— public
only to alectors.
    “Dearest,” replied
Zestafyn, “that may be, but it’s a waste of time to blame a tool for operating
the way it was designed.”
    “Zestafyn is so
philosophical,” said Kylana.
    “Just practical.” The
liaison’s deep voice was matter-of-fact.
    Dainyl nodded as
politely as he could, hoping that it wouldn’t be too long before the Duarch
appeared and the concert could begin. Unlike many, he’d actually come for the
music. At times, he had to wonder what a concert might be like in Illustra,
with a full orchestra and thousands of compositions from which to select. Then,
if Acorus were to be chosen to host the master scepter, there would be more
music, and plays, and a greater flowering of art and innovation.
    A single high chime
interrupted his thoughts—and the conversations around him. All the alectors
stood as the Duarch entered the concert hall. At three yards in height, he was
an impressive figure even among alectors, with his bril-liant white face,
flashing purple eyes, and hair so deep and black that, paradoxically, it seemed
to radiate light. His smile and the Talent behind it warmed the room.
    “Please. I apologize
for being late. Let us enjoy the music.”
    Beside the Duarch was
his wife, who also functioned as a regional auditor, and her smile was almost
as warm. One hundred and seven alectors now sat at the tables in the concert
hall. Roughly two thirds of the alectors assigned to Elcien, reflected Dainyl,
a trifle low for a concert, but then all had heard the quartet before. The
novelty was not in the players, but in the latest compositions