Chapter 9

Flamefall

Jacob’s eyes widened slightly. Elias shrugged.

“Another conclave?” Jacob asked. “I realize you are no longer a part of the Legacy but I also know that Isaac keeps you informed .. against all the rules.”

Elias tinged pink with guilty admission.

“Has something gone wrong with the treaty?” Jacob queried, frowning in concern. “You would know if there had, because you were one of the instigators. Isaac was another. He would know and he would tell you.”

“What about you?” Elias asked in reply. “We brought this about together, Jacob. Have any of the white haired people said anything to you of any problems big enough to warrant a second conclave?”

“None. None of my people and no problems that huge,” Jacob answered.

Elias sat down rather heavily. “Ah .. in that case, it probably means they want an additional clause to be debated.”

“Additional?” Jacob sat down too.

Three years had passed since Isaac had left for Luxor. There had been difficulties as everyone had been warned there would but they had been minor. Disagreements over protocol, about exactly where the line ran between bad and evil, about demarcation – who did what. Elias had retired as Precept but the Legacy Precepts still came to him for advice and solutions, just as the Flamefalls came to Jacob.

The two men enjoyed each other’s company and they had supported each other thru the years, especially so in this past year when Naomi’s loss had left Jacob reeling. His only comforts had been knowing that she had died in the line of duty, the closeness of his children and his grandchildren, and Elias’ silent, sorrowful presence.

So this order – to Jacob – to attend another conclave in Damascus had come as a surprise to both men.

“Perhaps it is the amount of violence, “Jacob suggested. “I have heard of more than a few fist fights between the Legacy and my people. Three years is not very long to establish a working treaty free of mishaps. They’re still flattening the wrinkles.”

“Maybe,” Elias agreed. “It would make sense – something in writing to stop the fights before they start. Give someone a bloody nose enough times, eventually he will demand arbitration and a resolution as to who has the final say in disputes.”

Jacob nodded slowly as he gazed over the courtyard of his discreet, modest house.

“That would be difficult to determine and work into a cooperation treaty. Such a question should be left open, to be decided upon by the participants. Otherwise .. it is no longer cooperation but a service agreement and we are not in service to the Legacy, nor are the Legacy in service to us. Not one or the other has a final say. And they already know that.”

“Then,” Elias replied, “you will have to wait and see why Eli has called this second conclave.”

Jacob was silent for a long moment. “We started a good thing, Elias,” he murmured at last. “We overcame our suspicions and, thru blood and sweat, there was the genesis of something profound. Something which will live long after we are dust.” He paused, studying his sandals. “What news have you had of Eli ..?”

Elias looked round quickly. “What have you heard?”

“I asked first.”

Elias shifted. “Not much. Eli would not promote his own problems. He’d prefer to sweep them under the rug. But .. Isaac has heard rumors. Problems in the Athens house.”

“How severe?” Jacob asked. “Minor difficulties, would you say? Intermediate? Short term or long?”

Elias frowned. “What have you heard?”

Jacob leaned forward. “He had a rotten fig in the barrel is what I’ve heard. A member of his house turned .. and had to be removed.”

“I heard much the same,” Elias nodded. “A member of the ruling house slipped into evil. Eli and the others were under threat so, reluctantly, Eli called on the local white haired people .. only to discover they already knew and were about to act. It was all .. very cleanly done. Quietly done. Eli was impressed but that is only rumor and hearsay. As I said, he wouldn’t promote his own problems.”

Again, Jacob nodded slowly. “Yet now he calls this second conclave. I wonder if they are connected.”

Elias smiled gently. “Well, my friend, you have three months to discover your answers.”

Jacob smiled too. “You’re wrong. We have three months to discover the answers.”

*****

Rebekah and Joseph decided to remain at home on this occasion. With Naomi gone, someone had to stay to supervise the children. Flamefalls had always been raised to be self-sufficient from an early age so it wasn’t really a case of looking after them. It was really more supervision – making sure they went training every night and took their turns on patrol in the desert with their older, more experienced companions.

Daniel and Ruth were saddened that they would have to travel alone but pragmatic about the reasons. Shem would be going with them as would Esau. Jacob, naturally, would be leading the party. Due to his age, however, they decided not to hurry the journey but to take it in gentle stages. Jacob was still fit and healthy, and strong enough to fight, but traveling such a distance in such baking heat and under such a merciless sun was wearing on his body. Thus it was that, having sent messages to the others, the Flamefalls set off only a few weeks after Eli’s summons had arrived.

There was one additional member of the group – Elias. He had protested that he hadn’t been invited to attend. Jacob had nodded his agreement.

“That’s true. You haven’t. In fact, you’ve been deliberately ignored but that is no reason to remain here. You can travel with us and, once we reach Damascus, enjoy your leisure while we go to the conclave. I would have you with us, Elias, and Isaac would want you with us as well. He is your son in everything but name and blood. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t want to see him again.”

So Elias traveled with them. Their progress was slow, only a few miles every day. The younger ones walked beside the two donkeys which bore the two older men.

Daniel was looking forward to seeing Isaac once more. He had been surprised that he had actually missed the Legacy men being in the town. Daniel’s work hadn’t changed but the peripheral activity had stopped completely and it was that which Daniel missed with a surprisingly fierce longing. The intense discussions, the wandering in the desert under the stars, the discovery of some curiosity and the delight Isaac felt which, somehow, transferred to Daniel, it was all that and more. Often the two men had sat in amiable silence, content knowing the other man was there. Flamefalls rarely had friends they trusted so much outside their own community. Isaac had been such a friend, and Daniel knew he would never have another take Isaac’s place.

When they halted each night, either in lodgings at a town or made camp in the desert just off the road, messengers came in search of Jacob. They were Flamefalls too but they were in spirit form. The spirit could journey far greater distances in one night than any physical body and they brought news from all around the Flamefalls’ far-flung world.

“Have you learned yet why Eli has called this conclave?” Jacob asked each one. “We will still attend but I’m curious as to his reasons.”

The replies he received were varying.

“Eli is .. agitated. Learning that a member of his own house was turned has unsettled him.”

“I’m not sure but I think it has to do with recent events in the Athens house.”

“Eli feels he can’t trust anyone.”

“He hasn’t said directly but he is disturbed. I’ve heard he finds it difficult to settle.”

“He’s rife with suspicion.”

Jacob reported everything he heard to Elias who considered the meaning.

“There’s an obvious thread there,” he mused. “And, in his place, I would be feeling much the same things. But why summon you? It is a Legacy matter, after all. A rotten fig in the barrel isn’t your concern .. beyond rooting it out and stopping the disease spreading.”

Jacob frowned. “Could it be that .. Eli believes we are somehow to blame for it happening?”

Elias looked surprised. “I can’t see how.”

“Temptation, my friend, is difficult to resist when there are no obvious and immediate drawbacks,” Jacob commented. “Or penalties. We are fortunate in that we have a rule and we know what will happen to us if we break it. A Legacy man is not so fortunate. If some agent of evil tempted him with offers of powers such as ours … ”

Elias frowned too at that. “I understand but .. why is that your problem? You did not tempt the man.”

“If he hadn’t known of us or what we can do … ”

“So Eli intends to blame you?”

“He could. Eli is not as stable as any of us would like. He is certainly not you, my friend,” Jacob pointed out. “He could well mean to blame us.”

“All right – and then what will he do? Demand that you stop being a temptation? Give up your powers?”

“He could demand that but all he will achieve is to drive us away,” Jacob replied bluntly.

Elias was uneasy. “Don’t let that happen, Jacob. The Legacy needs you. Eli may not want to admit it but it is the truth.”

“And faith has need of the whole truth,” Jacob quoted.

“So does understanding,” Elias recalled.

*****

The journey went well and faster than anyone had hoped. The Flamefalls arrived in Damascus with over a week to wait. They were a patient people and they knew how to usefully fill their time. As others arrived, they held their own informal conclave, discussing the reasons why Eli had called them here, how they were coping with the treaty between them and the Legacy, and generally catching up with old friends. Elohim had come for this meeting and he and Jacob spent many long hours together talking about the old days.

Isaac had sailed from Egypt up the coast to Sidon and then traveled inland. Daniel was overjoyed to see him again and didn’t grudge Isaac spending his first evening in the city with Elias. Come the morning, he would have his chance to fulfill Isaac’s prophecy.

The day dawned clear and hot and Isaac came in search of his friend.

“I told you, didn’t I?” he greeted.

“You did and I never doubted it,” Daniel grinned. “How are you?”

“Very well,” Isaac replied. “Busy but thriving on it. You?”

Daniel shrugged. “As always. Nothing has really changed for us but then we never expected it would.”

Isaac’s eyes darkened for a moment and he looked away to one side. “It will, Daniel.”

Daniel’s heart felt squeezed in his chest and he swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“A month ago .. I had another vision. I saw you and Ruth and your father. And I saw .. a great chain, forged of a bright metal. A path, narrow and straight, heading over the desert into the distant horizon,” Isaac answered. “I don’t know exactly what it means but I woke feeling strangled, smothered. I fear Eli intends to place limits about you .. or he will try.”

“Your earlier vision warned of arguments,” Daniel recalled soberly.

“If he tries to limit you, your father will void the treaty and we’ll separate .. and rightly so. You can’t be shackled.”

“You and I will still be friends. The original agreement between my people and your house will be unaffected. You know that.”

Isaac nodded. “Yes, and I am grateful. More grateful than you will ever know.” He glanced round and smiled quickly. “Don’t misunderstand. The Legacy has been and is my life. Before I joined, I had no purpose in anything. But knowing you has added riches I never expected.”

“Especially when you consider how you and I met,” Daniel remarked, quietly moved by the other’s confession. “Well, vision or no, we are here for the conclave. Tell me, are your visions always true?”

Isaac frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Does what you see always come to pass? Or can you use it as a warning and change the future?”

“Thus far,” Isaac replied in a heavy voice, “they’ve always been true.”

“Well, I don’t believe that everything is predestined. I believe we have choice because choice is the gift of the Lord.” Daniel straightened. “Let’s go.”

“And do what?” Isaac asked, hurrying along anyway at Daniel’s side.

“See if we can find out what Eli intends, and, while we do that, you can ask me about my children.”

*****

What they learned from the other Legacy Precepts already arrived in the city was no more than Jacob had already heard from the Flamefalls and, so, they went to the conclave still none the wiser.

Eli, however, appeared to be in a good humor and that, Jacob reflected, could be viewed in two different ways.

The two men nodded politely at each other then took their places on the benches. On this occasion, although Eli had called the meeting as leader, he had no chair and took a place amongst the others.

A moment’s silence fell, then Eli began to speak.

“Last night, I slept well,” he said, launching straight into his speech without thought of welcome or greeting. He paused and shook his head in wonder. “Last night .. I slept well and deeply for the first time in many months. I know why this happened,” he admitted quietly. “It happened because I knew I was safe.”

Eli stopped again and slowly rose to his feet. “I must make a confession. I did not want the Legacy to work alongside the white haired people, nor they alongside us. I felt they were a threat to us, to me, a chain about our necks holding us back and preventing us from fulfilling our mission. I was proud because I believed we were better than them, that we did not need their help. I was wrong.”

For a second or two, he looked down at the beaten earth floor.

“A member of my house .. turned from the light and embraced the darkness,” Eli then said. “At first, I was unaware of it. He seemed to be exactly the same man as he had always been. And, even when I started to suspect him, I was unwilling to admit it. He was my friend. It was impossible. Not a member of the Legacy. Not a member of my house. Not someone I had chosen and taught. It was a betrayal which went so deep, even my soul recoiled from the idea. In the end, of course, his actions gave him away and it was then that I made a second discovery. The white haired people already knew and were about to act, but that wasn’t the discovery. I found that, no matter what, they were .. incorruptible. The temptation to turn to the darkness and let it fill them .. yes, it was there, every day, every night, but it made not one whit of an impression upon them. They could resist it and they did.”

Eli gave a small, ironic smile. “No doubt, all those of you who willingly agreed to the treaty already share in this knowledge and I say nothing new to any of you. To me, however, it came as an immense revelation. I felt humbled and a fool. I had risked the members of my house and I had done that thru pride. Yet, despite my antagonism, my hostility toward them, the white haired people helped me. They did it quietly, with no fanfare of trumpets. They didn’t point a finger and tell me I’d been a fool. They just dealt with it and went away again. So .. I want to take this chance to say openly, in front of everyone, thank you.”

He bowed to Jacob and the Flamefalls. Jacob nodded back.

Eli felt cleansed by his admission. “That isn’t why I called for everyone to meet here today,” he then announced.

Daniel stiffened, his jaw muscles twitching.

“Obviously, the treaty works when both sides want it to work,” Eli continued. “When the Legacy makes the effort and the white haired people tolerate our mistakes and grant us the freedom to work in those areas which do not concern them – ”

“That isn’t strictly true,” Jacob interrupted. “We are patient people, yes, and we have tolerated mistakes as that can only lead to understanding but we do not grant you the freedom to be the Legacy, Eli. That is your business and we don’t interfere. You are already free and we have not granted you that nor restricted it in any way.”

“I apologize,” Eli murmured. “But … ” He hesitated, his eyes distracted, then he shook his head and began again. “The Legacy has rules. We know it but we do not .. scrutinize ourselves as much as we should. We have rules which govern the number of members per house but none which regulate our personal actions. Since Aeneas turned and betrayed us, my mind has been unsettled and very active in trying to decide how we can prevent such a thing happening again. I doubt, human nature being what it is and remembering that the Lord has given us free choice, that we can ever stop it happening but we can, perhaps, make the Legacy think twice and even retreat from such a choice. In the long hours of the night when I found it impossible to sleep, I thought the first thing I could do was order that the treaty be honored everywhere because it was clearly in our best interests to do so.”

The gathered Precepts were nodding their agreement.

Eli looked to Jacob. “Would I be right in thinking that you have no objection to me making this order?”

“None at all,” Jacob replied.

“So be it,” Eli said. “It is ordered.”

Daniel leaned toward Isaac. “When will the shouting begin?” he whispered. “Thus far, it has been a waste of our time coming all this way.”

Isaac shrugged helplessly and said nothing as he watched Eli with cautious eyes.

“Precepts,” Eli continued, “if you feel someone in your house is behaving strangely or you feel uneasy around them, you can invoke the Legacy tribunal procedure. You know that. But those wheels turn slowly. In the meantime, ask the white haired people for help. It is true, isn’t it, that you can detect evil?” Eli asked Jacob.

“Yes, even when it wears a mask,” Jacob answered. “In our experience, evil is often fair of face and sweet of tongue but we can see thru the disguise and hear the lies in the words.”

“There is your reason why,” Eli told the Precepts. “It may be there is a perfectly normal explanation – trouble at home, a sick child. But it may be, like it was in my house, that evil dwells in our midst, evil which, if left, will fester and spread like a disease. It is their job to protect the innocent; it will take but a moment to settle everyone’s mind.”

He paused again. “The second thing which came to me while I lay sleepless was to tighten the treaty and add to it.”

Daniel nodded. “Here we go,” he breathed. “The chains which choke.”

Eli looked at Jacob. “Would your people be prepared to act as our conscience? To be .. our police?”

Before Jacob could reply, there was a ripple of uneasy murmuring, and it came from behind Eli, not in front. The gathered Precepts were rising in agitation, their voices growing louder in protest. Behind Jacob, the Flamefalls were murmuring amongst themselves, debating this turn in their fortunes.

“Eli, this is going too far!” Simeon shouted. “Are we no longer capable of deciding for ourselves? Do you consider us children?”

Daniel leaned toward his father. “What will you say?”

“I don’t know,” Jacob murmured, bemused by Eli’s request. “I doubt they really understand what has been asked, not even Eli .. and he was the one who proposed it.”

“Eli, we already have the mechanism in place for tribunal!” another Precept yelled. “You, yourself, have just spoken of it. We do not need more regulation!”

“This is impossible! You cannot ask us to live and work knowing that .. we are being watched! The least minor transgression could be disastrous!”

“No, they don’t understand,” Daniel agreed, smiling broadly. “We target only evil .. and, in that case, there are no minor transgressions. Have they ever listened to anything we’ve ever said to them?”

“Eli!” Jacob called over the noise. Looking besieged, Eli turned toward him. “You need to discuss this matter. So do we. We will return in a few hours.”

Once outside, Daniel grinned again.

“And what’s put that smile on your face?” Ruth inquired mildly. She sounded amused.

“I understand Isaac’s visions now. He said to me before that he saw shouting and red faces. Only a few days ago, he spoke of the second vision he’d seen. A great chain, he told me, forged of a bright metal. A path heading over the desert, narrow and straight. And he saw you and me and Father. We thought it would be a restriction on us but I don’t think it is, not in the same way. The chain is us, the path is the road the Legacy must walk if we are to be their conscience. And the shouting and red faces .. well, that’s obvious.”

“Will it not be an obligation for us?” Ruth wondered. “It was a concern of yours, once upon a time.”

“We will discuss it,” Jacob interrupted. “Everyone will have their say. Nothing is decided yet, and not even Isaac’s vision will be a determining factor. If Eli has trouble with his people, it is for the Legacy to deal with, not us.”

Daniel was still grinning. Behind him, so was Shem. Flamefalls didn’t carry grudges and they didn’t really have time to think about revenge, not in the strict sense, but this was an opportunity to even the score a little.

*****

“Can we do it?” Esau inquired. “Could we act as their conscience? To be honest, I’m not sure what it means.”

“It means we keep them on the narrow path. If they willingly step off,” Daniel replied, “we punish them.”

“Kill them?” Elohim asked.

“If they step off the path, they are crossing the line. They become the enemy and a legitimate target,” Ruth explained. “What they don’t realize is that merely drifting into bad isn’t crossing the line. Daniel was right – I don’t think they’ve really listened to us or they’d know we can’t touch them for becoming involved in bad things.”

Jacob called for silence and the various conversations halted. Heads turned toward him.

“They may choose not to take Eli’s lead. If they do that, the matter is without purpose. Eli speaks from a position of vulnerability, of desperation. You could all hear it in his voice, even if his words were carefully chosen. However, that desperation could give him the strength to talk them round. Therefore, we must decide if we will agree or refuse the request.”

He paused for a moment. “We are very capable of doing what Eli asks. To a degree, it will give us an element of control over them – but it is a small degree and the control will be achieved thru fear. It has always been our hope that we could become friends with the Legacy, to walk closely beside them as they tread their path. If we agree to this, our paths will become more distant even if they are still parallel. The friendship we have attempted to foster will cool and become a true alliance, each calling on the other only in times of need. What are your feelings on that?”

“It would be an obligation outside our purpose,” Elohim remarked.

“Yes, it would,” Jacob nodded. “We fight evil and we are powerful enough to do that. The knowledge of that power would be the cornerstone of the Legacy’s fear. That fear will be their conscience.”

“On the other hand,” Shem commented, “if we say no to them, they are free to fall from grace whenever they want and, if that happens, we would have to kill them anyway because that is our purpose. The man could be someone we’ve known as a friend. I know that wouldn’t stop us from acting but it would leave a sour taste in the mouth. We might have prevented it if we’d kept a distant eye on them.”

“Does it restrict them?” Elohim asked.

“It doesn’t prevent them from doing what they’ve always done,” Ruth answered. “They can still hunt and kill the creatures we’ve always left alone because they believe it is the right thing to do. All it will accomplish is make them think twice before they cross the line and turn from an ally into an enemy.”

“How much of our attention will it take?” Esau inquired. “We train every night, we patrol, we have families.”

Jacob considered. “I would say that monitoring their activities will form part of training and patrol. We check the streets of cities and towns, and the shifting deserts for signs of evil. Checking Legacy houses would be simply an extension of that.”

“Will they allow us to enter?” Shem frowned, scraping a rough thumb nail along his bristled jaw.

Daniel grinned. “They won’t even know we’re there. We are the people who are living ghosts, remember? We can drift in, check them over, and drift out again. Another reason they will have to fear us. How can you prevent us from entering? You can’t.”

Jacob frowned. “I’m not sure this is right. Or good. At the start, we had suspicion and fear on both sides. In effect, this request, if we agree to it, tears apart everything we’ve done since Elias and I agreed to cooperate.”

“Yes, Father, but the fear and suspicion in the future will be for all the good reasons,” Ruth pointed out. “If they keep to the path, we will have no reason to act against them. It is only if they are tempted to betray the Legacy that they need to fear us, and rightly so. An evil soul will be judged and sent to Hell. Our duty is to send it for judging sooner rather than wait till after a long and destructive life.”

“Yes, Ruth, but how far ahead are you looking?” Jacob asked. “In a thousand years, our voices will be silent, our thoughts and deliberations on this matter lost to time. Our descendents may find themselves wearing chains we have forged, chains which can’t be easily broken. To agree to Eli’s proposal does put us under an obligation to serve the Legacy, even in a minor way. We have a small degree of control over them but they may end up having a large degree of control over us. This is a foundation stone. Once it is in place, they can build upon it.”

“We will be their army,” Daniel slowly nodded. “The only difference being our spears will point at them and not away.”

“It’s an obligation I can live with,” Shem decided.

Jacob sighed. “What is the majority view?”

*****

They returned to the chamber to discover a fight had taken place. Legacy Precepts sat nursing skinned knuckles and swollen jaws. Isaac was unharmed but he was uneasy.

“What’s happened?” Shem gasped. “I thought you people were all on the same side.”

“We are .. barely,” Isaac replied. “I’ve never seen such a furious argument between men of intelligence and learning. Eli was badly beaten.”

“Was anyone killed?” Ruth asked, shocked that members of a society could do this to each other.

“No, but that was more luck than anything,” Isaac replied darkly.

She strode forward to examine one man. “Your jaw is dislocated. Hold still.”

Daniel watched this in disbelief. “Another of our secrets .. gone.”

“Friends help each other, Daniel,” Jacob chided and went to assist in the healing.

Within thirty minutes, Eli was back, on his feet, and fired with fresh enthusiasm.

“You are healers too! Will this balance the scales?” he demanded of his belligerent Precepts. “The ones who watch us will protect us from evil. They will be our shield against danger. And, when we are hurt even to death, they will heal us. It is only those who are tempted and give in to that temptation who must fear the consequences!”

He turned to Jacob. “If we ask this of you, will you do it?”

“We have not debated everything of which you speak,” Jacob answered. “We are prepared to act as your conscience. We will ensure that you obey Legacy rules.”

“Then debate now,” Eli instructed. “I will not leave this city until I know I am safe.”

“Let us debate swiftly,” Daniel urged, “or this man will never leave us alone.”

“Jacob,” Isaac asked, “may I join you?”

“As much as I hate to say it .. you are not one of us.”

“I know. But .. if I had my choice .. I would not have you be my conscience. Not because I fear the consequences but because I would not have the distance between us.”

Jacob smiled sadly. “If I had my choice, I wouldn’t be your conscience either. I know why we both feel that way, Isaac. I understand. But the world moves on and we must move with it. Your place is here, with the other Precepts.”

Once again, the Flamefalls left the chamber but remained close to it. Their debate was rapid and much was said. Some argued that being a shield meant being available at any time. It meant being at the Legacy’s beck and call. Others argued that the good should be protected. Others still, Ruth among them, said that Eli had told the truth of things – a killer was feared but a healer was welcomed. It was a good balance.

Daniel kept himself slightly apart from it. He felt torn. He could hear the debate between his own people and he could also hear the discussions continuing in the chamber. A yawning chasm had suddenly gaped open before him. One small agreement – and that had been for the Legacy’s own good – and it had suddenly exploded into a charter of service – the one thing he had never wanted.

We did learn how to work with the Legacy, he considered. And it was good. For those few years when it was just us and the men of Elias’ house, it was really very good. And now, because of one man in Athens, we are going to lose it all. One stupid man who is already dead and in Hell. His evil touches so many lives and will last for centuries …

Jacob led the way back inside and silence fell. Eli held his breath. All eyes were directed at the Flamefalls.

“We agree.”

Isaac shook his head, his eyes sad. He rose wearily and moved to the door where Daniel stood. Behind him, Eli was in high spirits.

“We need to write this down. Jacob, we cannot call you the white haired people any longer. If you will not share your true name, we must invent another. I propose .. Legacy Enforcers.”

Daniel shook his head too and followed Isaac outside.

The street was deserted, dusty and filled with heat. The sun glared down like a single malevolent eye. Together, the two men walked away from everything, out to the city walls where they could see the desert beyond.

“It’s all changed now,” Isaac said quietly. “Friendship, cooperation .. lost. Now we have .. Enforcers. The chain of bright metal. A narrow path.”

“Two paths, Isaac. We are still separate but parallel. And your path is still broader than ours.”

Isaac glanced round. “You’ll still allow us to .. deal with the bad things in the world? You won’t restrict us?”

“We never could,” Daniel sighed. “We don’t become involved in that, but that will change as well. You’ll drag us in .. as a shield. You’ll demand the freedom to interfere and meddle in what you should leave alone, and we’ll have to take a step back and shut up. And all the other things .. the being there whenever you say you need us, the mopping up after something you’ve done has gone wrong, the …”

“Healing?” Isaac wondered.

Daniel smiled quickly. “That I’m glad to do. You’re my friend. That hasn’t changed.” He shook his head as he gazed over the desert. “Maybe, in the future, your people and mine will learn again to be friends and cooperate even more than we did. But, for now, we are both crushed by chains of obligation. Now, today, we outnumber you. Tomorrow, our numbers may dwindle while yours increase. My descendents will still wear the chains of service to the Legacy, chains grown rusty and stiff with age.”

“I wish it hadn’t happened,” Isaac whispered.

“So do I,” Daniel commented and turned to his friend, his face, his eyes solemn. “This is a debt, Isaac. A debt the Legacy owes my people. One day, we will demand that you repay it in full, so never forget how it came to be. I just pray that, when the day comes, you’ll be ready.”

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