Robert Charrette: Find your own truth

"Feeling better?" he asked, coming through the door.

"Not much, but I can feel my fingers." Hart held up a hand swathed in pictograph-decorated bandages. He sat on the bed and gently brought the hand to his lips. "Glad to hear it. Kelly Gray Eyes will be pleased, too. But you'd better not stress it before the next healing ritual. You how those Bear shamans are about patients who don't follow orders." "Too well," she said.

He reached over to the telecom, brought up the medical file, and fed it the data from the monitors. The medical expert system said it would be another few days before she was up to light exercise, but from the insistence of her roaming hand he doubted she'd want to wait. He captured her fingers in a double-handed grip and held them still in his lap. He didn't want to wait, either, but one of them had to be disciplined.

Thwarted, she seemed subdued. They sat in companionable silence for several minutes. Inu padded over and nosed his way under Sam's left arm. insistiaag on being petted.

"Did we win?" she asked softly. "We're alive." "What about Spider?" "Gone."

"Destroyed?" she said incredulously. Sam shook his head. "Not even the Great Ghost Dance in all its power could destroy Spider, for that would violate the Dance's own magic. Spider is a part of the earth as much as any totem. Spider will be diminished for a time; harmony demands it."

Hart watched the dog for a while, then said, "I have a vague memory of someone saying something about you being mundane. -Was I dreaming?" "No." "That's awful."

"I don't think so," Sam said with a shrug. Then he smiled at her. "That is, unless it means that you don't want me around anymore."

"I'll have to think about that," she teased. "But during the raid on Weberschloss, you touched my mind and used the Dance to send magic to help. You were there with me."

"Yes."

"I mean we shared… you know…"

"Yes."

"And you don't want to leave me?"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

She used her good hand to grab his arm and pull herself to a sitting position. Slipping both arms around him, she gave him a fierce hug. "I don't deserve you."

"Should I argue?"

Inu barked and Hart shushed him while Sam said, "Who asked you?" The brief flurry of excitement exhausted Hart's reserve. Sam laid her down and closed her eyes with kisses. But she wasn't ready to sleep, and he no longer had the power to compel her. She reopened her eyes.

"Sam, maybe when I'm healed we can find a way to open you to the power again."

"Why? I'm content with the way things are."

' 'I couldn't live like that.''

"You don't have to."

Her brow furrowed. "I don't understand."

' 'I walked the paths of power when it was time for me to do so. Now it's time for me to find another path. I don't miss the magic much, and it's left a lot of good things in my life.'' He touched her nose. ' 'Having been a magician has made some positive changes in my life."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Well, for one thing, I've learned to sing a lot better."

"This is a major improvement in your life?"

"Uh-huh." Sam cleared his throat, then began:

The world before me is restored in beauty. The world behind me is restored in beauty. The world below me is restored in beauty. The world above me is restored in beauty. All things around me are restored in beauty. My voice is restored in beauty. It is finished in beauty. It is finished in beauty. It is finished in beauty.

He could see in her eyes that she understood.