Cyador’s Heirs Read Online Free PDF Page B

Magi’i and those of the more senior Lancer officers, those whose rank is overcaptain and higher. As a practical matter, only the majer and the submajers, past and present, have dwellings anywhere close to the square, not that there are even a handful of them.
    Even farther east and extending north and south as well are the dwellings of the merchanters. Even closer to the river, and lower, if not low enough to worry about the infrequent floods of the Swarth River, are the houses and shops of the crafters. Just behind the river piers are the structures housing the warehouses and factorages of the merchanters, as well as the shops of various tradesmen.
    Lerial remains silent for a time as they ride down the boulevard, which leads directly to the Hall of Healing, just as the boulevard that angles southeast from the square leads to the headquarters of the Lancers, also located on a low rise above the river, with piers for the Lancer river patrol craft below the rise. Finally, he asks, “You never really answered my question about why the Hall of Healing is so far from the palace.”
    Emerya laughs softly. “You asked that years ago. You couldn’t have been more than ten. Do you recall every question you asked when you were told you needed to be older to understand?”
    Lerial smiles at the good-humored tone in her voice. “Probably not … but I remember the ones I thought were important.”
    “Sometimes those are the best to remember, but not always. Sometimes, the questions we forget to ask are the ones that are the most important.”
    Lerial has to think about that for a moment, then realizes that Emerya has still not answered his question. “Why is the Hall of Healing—”
    “Who needs healing the most?”
    “Everyone needs healers at times.”
    “What happens if you need a healer? Or your father? How many healers are there in the palace?”
    “Oh … the poorer people don’t have that many healers, and the Hall is closer to them?” Lerial pauses. “Then why didn’t you tell me that then?”
    “I did. You said that there had to be another reason.”
    Lerial doesn’t remember that, but he can sense that there is no evasion in his aunt’s reply. “Then there must have been.”
    “There is. There are several. Would you care to think what they might be?”
    Lerial thinks and finally says, “Because putting it there shows that Father cares about the people. It’s more visible there.”
    “Good.”
    “Why couldn’t you tell me that?”
    “You weren’t able to consider the political reasons then. What else?”
    Lerial shrugs. “I can’t think of another reason. Not right now.”
    “Who are the healers … most of them, anyway?”
    “Daughters … women of the Magi’i … most of them, anyway.”
    “Where do they live?”
    “Father and Mother … and you … located the Hall there so that they’d all have to leave where they lived to go to the Hall?”
    “Actually, it was your grandmother who made that point. She made it rather strongly. She said that the elthage and the altage classes of Cyador had become too separate from the people they ruled. She also made the point that the poorer folk wouldn’t travel to a healing hall in the middle of dwellings of those better off, and that defeated half the reason for even having a Hall of Healing in Cigoerne.”
    Lerial could see that. What he couldn’t see was his grandmother thinking that way.
    “She was very proud, Lerial, but she was anything but stupid or unobservant, something that your grandsire never understood. Had he listened to her, we all might still be in Cyad, enjoying the pleasures of the City of Light.”
    “You’ve never said anything like that before.”
    “I have. Just not to you. I told Lephi the same thing when he was your age. He insisted that I was mistaken. Assuming I’m still around when Amaira is old enough to understand, I’ll tell her, and Ryalah, in turn. Why am I the one? Usually, some things are better left