***
Ran-Del waited in respectful silence for Ji-Ran to speak. The old man took his time, and Ran-Del suspected his great-grandfather was probing his mind before he started asking verbal questions.
“Give me your hand, Ran-Del,” Ji-Ran commanded suddenly.
Ran-Del held out his hand, knowing that Ji-Ran would be better able to see into his mind once he had established physical contact.
“Now,” the shaman said, gripping his hand firmly, “tell me from the beginning, what happened to you.”
Ran-Del began his story with a description of his hunt, and his surprise at being shot down by strangers. He went on through his awakening at the Hayden complex, his efforts to escape, and his cryptic conversations with Stefan Hayden. At his great-grandfather’s insistence, he even related the conversation in Stefan’s office about Haven and Terra, in as much detail as he could recall.
Ran-Del had gotten to the point where he woke up on the prairie and found himself chained to Francesca when Ji-Ran held up a hand to stop him.
“The rest is not important. You may go now, Ran-Del. You may wish to send a message to that woman, also, to tell her that you’re safe and well. I’ll have a runner carry it for you.”
Ran-Del hid a smile. There was only one person whom his great-grandfather could mean by “that woman.” His mother’s name had been anathema in the Jahanpur household since the day she had married Amit Ramakdawala, and taken Ji-Ran Jahanpur’s only great-grandson to live among the Standing Rock clan. His smile vanished at Ji-Ran's next words.
“Your grandfather is waiting for you. I believe he wishes to speak to you.”
“Yes, Great-grandfather,” Ran-Del said, bowing slightly and turning to go.
“Tell Mina I’d like to speak to Francesca Hayden,” the shaman said, “as soon as she has rested sufficiently.”
Ran-Del was surprised, but reassured that Francesca appeared to have a guest’s standing. “Yes, Great-grandfather.”
Isayah was waiting for him as he came into the storage room. Ran-Del repeated his great-grandfather’s request.
Isayah nodded. “She knows. Come with me, Ran-Del.”
Ran-Del followed his grandfather to his grandparents’ private space. In addition to the bedroom she shared with Isayah, Mina had her own great room, a multipurpose room that provided a place to cook, eat, and entertain visitors. Unlike Ji-Ran’s great room, hers was actually used as a kitchen. Herbs and fragrant hanks of dried tea leaves hung from the rafters. Bins of vegetables stacked around the walls gave the room a pleasant, earthy smell that Ran-Del knew well. Isayah took a seat on a chair.
Ran-Del waited to see what his grandfather would do. Isayah pointed to a patch of the earthen floor not covered by the carpet. The spot was familiar to Ran-Del who had been called to this room many times, whenever his grandfather had determined that punishment was necessary.
“You will kneel, Ran-Del.”
Ran-Del knelt down in the dirt and held his breath, wondering how bad his punishment would be. His grandfather’s first question surprised him.
“By what right did you invoke the Fifth Discipline?”
Ran-Del lifted his eyes, startled. “Pardon, Grandfather?”
“By what right did you invoke the Fifth Discipline?” Isayah repeated. His eyes were sparkling, his muscles tense. Isayah must have controlled his reaction when Ran-Del had first told his story, but now he was letting his anger show. Ran-Del could feel it burning hot.
“I was a prisoner, Grandfather. There was no hope of escape.”
“No hope? No hope? You had been a prisoner only a few hours and already you had determined there was no hope?”
Ran-Del tried to recall the desperation and despair of that horrible time. “Stefan Hayden had many servants and many machines to help him keep me locked away. There was no way I could fight against so many of them.”
“And what dishonor was there in being a prisoner?”
He had a point. Ran-Del had assumed some nefarious purpose, but he hadn’t known it for sure. “I didn’t know what he planned, Grandfather.”
“So you weren’t in danger of dishonor, you had been a prisoner only a short time, and still you felt you had the right to invoke the Fifth Discipline?”
Ran-Del swallowed. “I—I was overwhelmed by the strangeness. It was all so different that it was difficult for me to think clearly.”
Isayah snorted. “You remembered the Fifth Discipline clearly enough, did you not?”
Ran-Del took a breath. It would go better if he admitted he had done wrong. “Yes, Grandfather.”
“You’re lucky that you’re not three seasons younger, Ran-Del,” Isayah said angrily, “or I would accord you a child’s punishment.”
Ran-Del flinched at the scorn in his grandfather’s voice and looked at the floor, unable to meet the older man’s stern gaze.
“You know it was wrong?” Isayah demanded.
“Yes, Grandfather.”
“Why was it wrong?”
It was so easy to see his error now, kneeling here in familiar surroundings. “Because I gave in to despair too quickly. I should have waited until I knew whether he meant to dishonor me.”
“You agree that you should be punished?”
Ran-Del nodded.
“Before I set your punishment,” Isayah went on, “we will speak of the woman.”
It wasn’t a question. Ran-Del waited.
Isayah shifted position in his chair, and glared at him. “Tell me precisely what happened between you and the woman.”
Ran-Del began to relate, haltingly, walking down to the stream, and how Francesca had announced that she would bathe. He described how she had wrapped herself in a blanket, and his own reactions once he had found himself in close proximity to a woman so scantily dressed. He found it extremely difficult to put what had happened into words. Isayah interrupted his stumbling recital with a question.
“Was she trying to seduce you, as her father wanted? Was it a snare to trap you?”
“No, Grandfather,” Ran-Del said emphatically, unwilling to compound his sin by pinning the blame on Francesca. “There was no deception in her. There was no desire, either, until I had—had let her see my own lust.”
“But it was she who stopped it?” Isayah asked bluntly.
“In a way. She told me to stop and think. She had no compunction about what we—what we almost did, but she was afraid that I would feel differently about it.”
Isayah nodded. “And then you stopped yourself?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
Isayah got up and paced the room, looking back at Ran-Del who still knelt on the ground.
“You know it was wrong?”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
Isayah shook his head. “You should marry, Ran-Del. It’s no good waiting for Father to change his mind about Bettine. He won’t do it. And even if Father died tomorrow, there’s no guarantee that Doan wouldn’t rule the same way.”
Ran-Del flushed but didn’t answer. There was no one in this village he wanted to marry if he couldn’t have Bettine.
“You like this woman, this Francesca Hayden?” Isayah demanded.
Ran-Del looked up, taken aback by the question. “She’s an outlander.”
“She’s also a woman,” Isayah said. “You spent only three days in her company, and you were ready to disgrace yourself to have her. You’re dry tinder, Ran-Del, and it didn’t take much to make you flame.”
Ran-Del could think of no convincing argument, so he didn’t reply.
“We will speak of it again, later,” Isayah said. “Take off your vest.”
Ran-Del slipped off his vest with a sense of relief. If his grandfather chose to inflict punishment on a part of his body that was normally covered, it meant he wasn’t angry enough to want to shame Ran-Del as well as to give pain.
Isayah moved to the fire that burned in the kitchen area. A small steel rod already waited, white hot and ready to use. Isayah wrapped a cloth aroun
d the end and picked it up carefully. He handed it to Ran-Del, who took it with his right hand.
“Where?” Ran-Del asked.
“Here,” Isayah said, touching his left side lightly with one finger.
Ran-Del lined up the rod carefully and then pressed it firmly against the flesh of his left side. Instantly, intense pain radiated from his side. He could smell his skin burning.
Isayah counted slowly to three and then jerked Ran-Del’s hand away. “Enough. Put it down.”
Ran-Del laid the rod on the dirt floor with relief. His side throbbed already. It would be worse very soon.
“You can get up now,” Isayah said, “although by rights I should make you show contrition for a few hours.”
Ran-Del’s face fell. He hated that form of punishment even more than having to inflict pain.
“Oh, get up, get up,” Isayah said impatiently. “I won’t do it. Go and find your grandmother. She’ll tend to the burn, and then you can use the Disciplines as you need them.”
“Thank you, Grandfather,” Ran-Del said gratefully. He had feared his Grandfather might prohibit using the Disciplines for a certain period of time, as he had done in the past for egregious offenses.
Ran-Del found Mina in her workroom. She put aside her spinning, clucked over the burn on his side, and applied a soothing ointment. Ran-Del appreciated the medicine, although he knew that he would get more benefit from the fact that she had been the one to apply the treatment than from the ointment itself. Mina had earned the three glass beads on her caste bracelet mostly from her ability to heal wounds and cure illnesses.
“There,” Mina said, applying a bandage. “That’s not so bad. It’ll heal in a day or so.”
“Thank you, Grandmother,” Ran-Del said, stooping to kiss her cheek.
She caught his hand and held it. “I’m glad you’re back, Ran-Del. I was worried.”
He pulled her close for an embrace and was forcefully reminded of the newness of his injury. Mina clucked again. “It wasn’t your fault, most of it, and by rights that hussy should have a worse burn right about now.”
“Francesca isn’t a hussy, Grandmother,” Ran-Del said gently. “And that’s not the only reason Grandfather punished me.”
She looked at him, frowning, and in a moment her face turned pale as she read what was in his mind. “Think shame, Ran-Del! How could you do it?”
“I’m sorry, Grandmother.”
She raised a hand and slapped his face as hard as she could. Ran-Del didn’t try to block the blow but simply stood and waited to see what she would do next.
Mina shook her finger at him. “You listen to me, Ran-Del Jahanpur! If you ever do anything that foolish again, I’ll heat the rod myself, and it won’t be a tiny little burn that doesn’t even show.”
“Yes, Grandmother.”
“Now go to your room. Get cleaned up, put on some clean clothes for heaven’s sake. And get some rest.”
“Yes, Grandmother,” Ran-Del repeated, and he kissed her cheek again.