Starside novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Maelis Falls

Maelis looked at the Pool, and then at all of us.

She was gathering her smile back piece by piece, and it wouldn't fit.

"I want peace," she said. "For my people. For this realm."

The water rose a hand's breadth against the rim.

"That is not true," said the Pool.

"I want to keep my children fed."

The water rose again, and a ripple ran out from it across the black stone.

It stopped a pace from her feet.

"That is not true."

The challengers had begun to move closer, all nine of them with their Wardens.

The veiled court stood in a ring behind her.

Nobody said anything.

Maelis turned her head slowly, looking from face to face.

"Who are you to judge me?" she said.

"Every one of you came here for a wish.

"I gave you a doorway out of your small, sad lives."

"You gave us a graveyard," said the woman from the bridge.

"I gave you a chance."

"My brother took your chance," said the man who hadn't touched the water.

"He died at the ford, Maelis. He's one of the names."

Another voice, and another.

Everyone in the basin had lost someone.

They said it out loud, one after another, until the whole rim was shouting.

She had never had to hear it.

I saw that on her face, all the surprise and the outrage of a woman who had always been listened to.

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