The Navigator of Rhada, page 18
part #3 of Rhada Series
Skua appeared and nipped at him with her blunted old teeth. “Ky-nan again,” she said. He looked into the slotted eyes with interest. There was wisdom everywhere. One only had to search for it.
“Home,” the mare said.
“Yes, home now,” he replied. His lips firmed into a hard, straight line of determination. There was still LaRoss to be dealt with. It would be a harsh judgment, given in the manner of a Rim star king.
And Triad with the Royal Vulk to come. Yes, Gret had promised. He could relive adventures from the Age of Heroes. What did giving up an empire compare to that?
Janessa had paused to watch the last Imperial starship lifting. A breeze had risen and was blowing fresh from the Inland Sea.
Kynan raised his hand and waved to her. She turned and ran toward him. He thought about Evart and Pius and Clement waiting with his ship in the forest--waiting to make the last journey he would ever make as a consecrated Navigator. If there was a sadness there, it was lessened by his certainty that they, and thousands of others like them, would roam the galaxy for centuries yet to come, bringing the peace of God to generations of men yet unborn. And the Order--the dedicated priests who were the real Order--would never know what he had done to keep it pure. What did it matter?
He thought of a line of poetry written by a long-dead man of Earth’s Dawn Age. It was as true now as it had been when it was written: “Let tomorrow take care of tomorrow-- Leave future things to fate.”
Thinking that, he stepped forward to take Janessa in his arms.
Robert Cham Gilman, The Navigator of Rhada
