and lovely, as if its owner was thinking about Uni all the time and might at any minute turn and bestow a shining smile on him.
He had no idea how long they walked, him following blindly, when suddenly he saw the dock and the ambassador’s ship and the Emperor in his most impressive robe. The wondrous magic did not last long. Suddenly, Uni found himself in a swirling crowd. It shattered the silence that had until this point filled his ears. He was afraid, more afraid than he had ever been in his life. What could be more horrible than the fear of losing someone dear, someone he felt was a part of his own soul? Uni helplessly looked for a way out of the crowd. He pushed people away from him, but the mass of bodies swirled tighter and tighter around him, lazily enjoying the defenselessness of his tiny boat in the churning vortex of the human crowd. The girl was gone, as if swallowed up by the crowd, and those precious moments of unforgettable joy dissolved without a trace in the hideous, drab gray of everyday life. Uni was struck by the realization that he no longer wanted any of the things he thought he wanted. The ray of light that had pierced his soul was dearer to him than anything else in the world, and he could not bear the thought of losing it. Like a wounded animal, he leaped over the people’s heads, over the heads of the horrible, stupid crowd. They did not hate or despise him, they simply never noticed him, as if he had no right to exist. But now, thousands of hands reached for him, grabbing his clothes, pulling him back, and a frightening choir of voices rose up from somewhere in this distance: “Uni, Uni!” Cold iron bands wrapped around his body. Uni struggled. He fought for his life, and…
“Uni? Are you still alive? You’ve been asleep for ages!” Vordius smiled down at him.
There was a fatherly note in his voice. Standing next to him, Sevelia Virando seemed to feel a threat to her parental monopoly, or perhaps she was offended by the thought that anyone would laugh at her poor, sick baby. “Vordius, you ought to be ashamed of yourself!” she spluttered. “He’s still so weak. How many times have I told you that you shouldn’t let him drink with you? And then you tried to keep me away from him. He’s my precious boy.” She looked down at her son and smiled softly. “Uni, my little boy, how do you feel? Did you sleep well? Your stomach doesn’t hurt, does it?” When she asked this, her face took on a look of suffering that was almost comical. “Whoever came up with the idea of holding ceremonies in the early morning. People need their sleep!”
“It’s an eminently reasonable custom, Emel Virando,” came Dag Vandey’s voice, smooth but melancholic. “The Deity sits on his throne at noon, so we conduct our affairs in the morning and rest at midday.”
Sevelia turned on him. “Just look at you, as healthy as a herd of cows while my boy lies here barely alive. Whoever will take care of him in that foreign land?” she began to cry.
Uni glared at his mother, but in his heart he was secretly glad to see her. “Mother, how good it is to see you,” he smiled as he worked himself out of her embrace and reached for his robe. “How did you gain entrance to the palace grounds?”
Vordius grinned. “Close relatives are always allowed in when a delegation is leaving. I’m coming with you, too, but only as far as the square. I’m not important enough to stand next to you once the ceremony starts,” he joked.
“Of course they let your mother in,” Sevelia said proudly. “Now, here is your robe. Get dressed. Don’t worry about your things. I’ve already packed them all, and the servants will put them on the ship. I bought you a new bag with an icon of Erezney, the patron saint of wanderers, and a blue ribbon symbolizing our blue river. I put some food from home in the bag so you can at least eat well the first few days. Don’t go around eating just anything, Uni. And don’t drink. I don’t want you touching wine at all.” She looked up at the ceiling. “What am I supposed to do with you?” She had cried all night and, even though she had promised herself she would not cry in front of her son, she couldn’t keep from uttering the thoughts that worried her. “I took your things to the Cathedral of the Sun to have them blessed. May our Lord keep you!” These last words were whispered.
“That’s enough, Mother. I’ll be fine, as long as you don’t worry about me.” Uni felt a strange surge of energy, but at the same time, everything around him seemed unreal: the colors were too bright, and the shapes were exaggerated. He threw on his robe and, avoiding his mother’s loving hands, smoothed out its deep folds that fell almost to his heels. Vordius stuck his chin out and nodded in approval.
“Point me toward the ceremony!” Now that he was ready, Uni wanted to occupy his mind with government affairs.
“Your hair! What about your hair?” Sevelia exclaimed. “We forgot about it!”
“To the demons of darkness with my hair!” Uni replied. “Vordius, let’s go. You, too, Mother. I’m off on a grand adventure today,” and he gestured theatrically toward the door.
Outside, they were met by Sorgius and Luvia.
“I didn’t know I had so many close relatives,” Uni said. Vordius just smiled.
“Aren’t you happy to see me, you old drunk?” winked Sorgius as he threw an arm around Uni’s shoulder.
Luvia was truly glad to see him. “How are you feeling?” she asked shyly.
“I’m fine!” Uni told her happily. “Thanks to you and your father for taking care of me!”
“You can tell him yourself,” Luvia said with a smile as Vordius took her by the hand. “He is allowed to be here because of his rank,” she told Uni.
“I doubt you’ll see him,” Sorgius remarked patronizingly as he tried to remove an eyelash from his eye. “Each person at the palace has, what was it called? ‘An assigned place to be and time to speak.’ And you’ll be standing in different places,” the short Vuravian explained to his friends. “Uni, you go over there,” and he waved up and to the right.
Uni looked and saw two well-dressed men greeting guests as they came up from the Cathedral of Light to the square in front of the Imperial Residence, which was cordoned off by guardsmen shining in gold.
“The rest of us have to go this way,” Sorgius added. “We’ll be waving at you. Don’t miss it.”
Is this it? Uni felt agitated. He couldn’t wait to be there on the square. He turned to his friends with an embarrassed smile. Vordius grinned. There was nothing in his sincerely joyful eyes that could have aroused the least suspicion. Drawing Uni into an embrace, he hugged him until his friend thought his ribs would break.
“Take care of yourself, brother,” he whispered with unexpected warmth. “I’ll find whoever it was that tried to hurt you. They won’t get far, you know me.”
“Please don’t, Vordius!” Uni was truly afraid for his friend, knowing his hot temper and his tendency to decide problems by the most direct means. “You told me that there were important people behind it. I think I may know who they are.”
“What?” Vordius took a step back in surprise. “You know who ordered the assassination and said nothing this whole time?”
“I didn’t exactly say nothing,” Uni kept his voice down so his mother wouldn’t hear too much. Vordius nodded and took him by the elbow. Together, they went away from their group into the crowd, where the noise provided them something like privacy. “And second, the idea literally just came to me.”
“Don’t keep me waiting!”
“Digenius Forsey,” the
