Hope for Mercy by Bowen Greenwood

Author:Bowen Greenwood [Greenwood, Bowen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bowen Greenwood
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

The artificial prefab structure looked an awful lot like a tent. If AI-powered nanofab made its sides rigid, held it up, and even erected the structure again with each new day, well, that just made it a very efficient tent.

Wheeler walked up to it. The doors were open. Inside, he could see his Itinerant sitting on a chair. In front of him, sitting on the ground, was Jayda Carlsbad. Hal worked his thumbs and knuckles into her shoulders, massaging her upper back.

Jayda was a couple years older, but everyone assumed the two of them would wind up married. They were the last two gentle Hands of about the same age. Of course, that assumption came from a culture where the elders arranged one’s marriage. That culture was all but gone; neither of the two young people were ever likely to have someone officially match them.

They still gamely played the role, though. Perhaps the Matchmakers – back when there had been Matchmakers – weren’t the only ones to see the perfect fit.

Jayda caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye and bolted to her feet. “Elder! I mean…Good evening, Elder Wheeler. I know we should have a dispensation–”

Langston laughed. “Those days are long gone, Hands. Long gone. Although I guess part of that is why I came to talk to you tonight.”

Hal got up, too, his short blond hair rippling on his scalp as he tried to bring his startled expression under control.

“Warden, I know I should have stayed at the headquarters. I disobeyed a direct order. General Krane died. I’m sorry. I learned. I can’t stop thinking about him.”

“Take it easy, Itinerant. Yes, General Krane died. And yes, you have some responsibility there. He was my friend. I’m going to miss him. But you did pull my backside out of the fire. And,” he paused for a wink, “which may be more important to you, Carlsbad of the Union’s backside as well.”

Hal blushed. Jayda hid her face.

“I kid, but there’s a lesson in it. You made a choice. As a result, Jayda and I lived, and Krane died. Had you made the other choice, Krane would have lived, and I would have died. Don’t forget it. I’m going to come back to it in a second.”

Wheeler continued on a different tack. “In the old days, before the Fall of the Yard, a Warden would offer his Itinerant to the Elders as a Hand in Full. He would be asked if the Itinerant had put the good of others before his own.

“I’m both the last Warden and the last Elder, Hal. It’d be silly to offer you to myself. But the question of whether you’ve put the good of others before your own is definitively answered. You do it every day in this war.”

The older man smiled. He let his hands come to rest on Hal’s shoulders, and they met each other’s eyes.

“You are a Hand in Full, Hal Sable. We, the Elders of the Gentle Hand…” Langston paused, then let a wry grin steal over his face.

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