12 Morn nodded and tears filled his eyes. He had
wept for his mother, he would weep for his father, also. But it passed
quickly. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his eyes.
"And his successor?" he asked, "What does he do?"
13 "He has ordered his forces to stand fast, to make no attacks.
Perhaps he intends to make a gesture of peace."
14 Morn rose. "I think," he announced, "we had better forego the
afternoon business. I would like to go to The Temple. I need a few
hours to gather my strength. Do you think you can handle any matters
that come to hand?"
15 "The Staff can fend for themselves for a while, father. I will
arrange your escort. Do you wish me to go home and tell my mothers?
They may wish to come and join you in your mourning, for The Lord God,
in his way, was kind to them, also."
16 "I sense in your thoughts," sighed Morn, "such hatred, such
bitterness."
17 "I am sorry, father," Bright Star apologized. "I am trying to keep
it beneath my thoughts."
18 "It is all right," assured Morn, "to you he is merely the symbol of
your peoples' oppression. You never knew the man. You never knew the
kindness he could express. The cruelty was not his. It is that accursed
Throne, that Holy of Holies, that curse of curses! That thing which
takes the good from decent men and replaces it with something defiling
and evil………that thing which I WILL someday help to destroy.
19 It is not my father that ruled The Empire, he was only the vessel it
used. It is that THING, that THING within The Holy of Holies that has
lived for too long. Try to understand that, my son. Try to understand
that there was once a good man but he died, long ago.
20 It is only what that Thing left behind, that