The Jongurian Mission Read Online Free PDF Page B

them through to another year, Trun knew that Bryn wouldn’t be here to share in their completion. No, Trun knew that the time had come to let the boy go. If he came back in the fall, so be it, there was plenty of work for a strong young man like him; and if he didn’t, well, it was the world’s gain, and she’d be a better place for it.
    * * * * *
    The stars were well overhead and the moon shone brightly as Halam sat gazing up at them from the edge of the barn’s open side. He sat astride a saddle resting on a log stump, his pipe resting in his hand. The milk cow and horse were both sleeping peacefully, with the soft glow of a lone lantern issuing forth.
    Halam shifted himself and turned his head as he heard a sound from the direction of the house.
    “Don’t worry, it’s just me,” Trun said as he limped into the lantern’s light.
    Halam jumped up from h is seat, gesturing for Trun to take his arm. “Here, let me–”
    “ No, don’t bother,” Trun cut him off, limping over to a bail of hay set up against one stone wall, “I can manage.” He eased himself down, right-leg outstretched just as he’d done earlier in the evening, and sat down with a noticeable grunt.
    “ So what do you think of this sight?” Trun asked, gesturing up at the nighttime sky. “Don’t expect you see much of these stars in Plowdon unless you ride out of the city quite a ways.”
    “ No, no you don’t,” Halam said, sitting down on the saddle once again. He tapped his pipe on his boot, and reached into his coat for his pouch of tobacco. “To tell you the truth, I don’t much think about it anymore. Seems I’m so caught up in work most days that once I get home I’m often to bed before the stars even have a chance to come out. Then by the time I’m up in the morning before the dawn, there’s just enough light out that they’ve already gone to bed for the day themselves.” He filled his bowl and replaced the pouch in the inside pocket of his coat. “It is a nice change to see them again on this fine night, I must say.”
    “ That it is, that it is.”
    The two sat in silence, each staring up at the night sky, thinking their own thoughts, wondering and waiting for what the other had to say. Trun spoke first.
    “ I’m thinking you’re right in wanting to take Bryn with you,” he said, shifting his gaze from the sky to his brother. “He’s too smart to be wasting anymore time hauling stones and plowing fields in the middle of Tillatia while the world rushes on without him.” He sat and looked back up at the stars.
    Halam kept his gaze on his brother for a few moments longer, then looked back up himself. Better to let Trun weigh his words and not interrupt his thoughts, he decided. He puffed away at his pipe, waiting for his brother to speak again.
    Finally Trun returned his gaze to the darkness beyond the lantern’s light.
    “I’d like you to take him to Baden and do whatever it is you do at these trade negotiations, but I don’t want you to bring him back come fall.”
    “ But,” Halam began, but he was cut-off by Trun’s outstretched hand.
    “ No, listen to what I’ve got to say,” he said. He looked up at the stars again for a moment, then returned his gaze to the darkness around them.
    “ This is no place for a lad as smart as Bryn. I want you to find him a task suitable for a young man of his learning when these talks are through, if not in Baden, then closer to home in Plowdon. Heaven knows he’ll not know the difference between the two anyway.”
    “ Are you sure about this, Trun, I mean, how will you get along without him?”
    “ Don’t you be worrying about me now, you hear? I’ll manage just fine without him. Did just that for many years before he came along anyway, and can do so still.”
    Halam glanced down at Trun’s right leg outstretched in front of him. He looked out into the darkness and nodded his head.
    Both men stared into the darkness of the night. After some time Trun straightened