“We have to divide up the price first, Vella.” He looked mournfully at the pink stone. “It’s really going to be a shame to split that beauty,” he said.
“Keep it,” she said indifferently. “I don’t need it.”
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“Are you sure?”
“It’s yours. Get those papers, Yarblek.”
“Are you really sure about all this, Vella?” he asked her again.
“IVe never been more sure of anything in my life.”
“But he’s so ugly—sorry, Beldin, but it’s the truth. Vella, what could possibly have made you choose Aim?”
“Only one thing,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“He can fly.” Her tone was filled with a kind of wonder.
Yarblek shook his head and went to his saddlebag. He brought back the ownership papers and signed them over to Beldin.
“An’ what would I be wantin’ with these?” Beldin asked. The brogue, Garion realized, was a way to hide emotions so deep that the hunchback was almost afraid of them.
“Keep them or throw them away.” Vella shrugged. “They don’t have any meaning for me anymore.” ‘
“Very well then, me darlin’,” he said. He crumpled the papers up into a ball and held the ball out on the palm of his hand. The wad of paper burst into flame and burned down to ashes. “There,” he said, blowing the ashes away. “Now they won’t be troublin’ us anymore. Is that it? Is that all there is to it?”
4 ‘Not quite,” she said. She bent and removed the two daggers from her boot tops. Then she took the other two from her belt. “Here,” she said, her eyes now very soft, “I won’t be needing these anymore.” She handed the daggers to her new owner.
“Oh,” Polgara said, her eyes filling with tears.
‘ ‘What is it, Pol?” Durnik asked, his face filled with concern.
“That’s the most sacred thing a Nadrak woman can do,” Pofgara answered, touching at her eyes with the hem of her apron. “She just totally surrendered herself to Beldin. That’s just beautiful.”
*’An’ what would I be needin’ knives fer?” Beldin asked with a gentle smile. One by one he tossed the daggers into the air, where they vanished in little puffs of smoke. He turned. “Goodbye, Belgarath,” he said to the old sorcerer. “WeVe had some fun, haven’t we?”
“IVe enjoyed it.” Belgarath had tears in his eyes.
“And Durnik,” Beldin said, “it looks as if you’re here to replace me.”
“You talk like a man about to die,” Durnik said.
“Oh, no, Durnik, I’m not going to die. I’m just going to change a bit. You two say good-bye to the twins for me. Explain
things to them. Enjoy your good fortune, Yarblek, but I still think I got the better of that bargain. Garion, try to keep the world running.”
“Eriond’s supposed to take care of that.”
“I know, but keep an eye on him. Don’t let him get into trouble.”
Beldin didn’t say anything to Ce’Nedra. He simply kissed her rather noisily. Then he also kissed Poledra. She regarded him fondly, her golden eyes filled with love.
“Good-bye, old cow,” he said at last to Polgara, slapping her familiarly on the bottom. He looked meaningfully at her waist. “I told you that you were going to get fat if you kept eating all those sweets.”
She kissed him then with tears in her eyes.
“An’ now, me darlin’,” he said to Vella, “let’s be walkin’ a bit apart. There’s much t’ be said before we leave.” Then the two of them walked hand in hand up toward the top of the hill. When they reached it, they stopped and spoke together for a while. Then they embraced and exchanged a long, fervent kiss, and then, while they were still locked in each other’s arms, they shimmered and seemed almost to dissolve.
The one hawk was very familiar. The bands on his wings were electric blue. The other hawk, however, had lavender bands on her wings. Together, they thrust themselves into the air and rose in an effortless spiral up and up through the glowing air. Higher and higher they spun in that formal wedding dance until they were no more than a pair of specks winging up and out over the Vale,
And then they were gone, never again to return.
Garion and the others remained at the cottage for another two weeks. Then, noting that Polgara and Durnik were beginning to show signs of wanting to be alone, Poledra suggested that the rest of them go on to the Vale. Promising to return that evening, Garion and Ce’Nedra took their son and the nearly grown wolf pup and accompanied Belgarath and Poledra down into the heart of the Vale.
They reached Belgarath’s familiar squat tower about noon and started up the stairway to the circular room at the top. “Watch that step,” the old man said absendy as they climbed. This time, however, Garion stopped, letting the rest go on ahead. He reached down, heaved up the stone slab that was the step, and looked under it. A round stone about the size of a hazelnut lay
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under the stab. Garion removed the stone, put it in his pocket, and replaced the slab. He noticed that the other steps were worn in the center, but this one was not, and he wondered just how many centuries—or eons—the old man had been stepping over it. He went on up, feeling rather pleased with himself.
“What were you doing?” Belgarath asked him.
“Fixing that step,” Garion replied. He handed the old man the round pebble. “It was rocking because this was under it. It’s steady now.”
“I’m going to miss that step, Garion,” his grandfather complained. He stared at the pebble, frowning. “Oh,” he said, “now I remember. I put this under die step on purpose.”
“Whatever for?” Ce’Nedra asked him.
“It’s a diamond, Ce’Nedra.” Belgarath shrugged. “I wanted to find out how long it would take to grind it down to a powder.”
“A diamond?” she gasped, her eyes widening.
“You can have it, if you’d like,” he said, tossing it to her.
Then, taking into account her Tolnedran heritage, Ce’Nedra performed an act of sheer unselfishness. “No, thanks, Belgarath,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to separate you from an old friend. Garion and I can put it back where it was when we leave.”
Belgarath laughed.
Geran and the young wolf were playing together near one of the windows. There was a fair amount of maiding involved in their play, and the wolf was cheating outrageously, seizing every chance to lick Geran’s neck and face, which always sent the little boy into uncontrolled giggling.
Poledra was looking around at die cluttered circular room. “It’s good to be home,” she said. She was fondly caressing the back of the owl-clawed chair. “I spent almost a thousand years perched on this chair,” she told Garion.
“What were you doing, Grandmother?” Ce’Nedra asked her. Ce’Nedra had begun, perhaps without realizing it, to mimic Garion’s customary forms of address.
“Watching him,” the tawny-haired woman replied. “I knew that eventually he’d get around to noticing me. I didn’t really think it would take him all that long, though. I really had to do something out of the ordinary to get his attention.”
“Oh?”
“I chose this form,” Poledra said, touching one hand to her breast. “He seemed more interested in me as a woman than he did when I was an owl—or a wolf.”
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555
“There was something I always meant to ask you,” Belgarath said. “There weren’t any other wolves around when we met. What were you doing out there?”
“Waiting for you.”
He blinked. “You knew I was coming?”
“Of course.”
“When was that?” Ce’Nedra asked.
“Just after Torak stole the Orb from Aldur,” Belgarath replied, his mind obviously on something else. “My Master had sent me north to advise Belar of what had happened. I took the form of the wolf to make better time. Poledra and I met somewhere in what’s now northern Algaria.” He looked at his wife. “Who told you I was coming?” he asked her.
“No one had to tell me, Belgarath,” she replied. “I was born knowing you’d come—someday. You certainly took your time about it, though.” She looked around critically. “I think we should tidy up a bit here,” she suggested, “and those windows definitely need some curtains.”
“See?” Belgarath said to Garion.
There were kisses and embraces and handshakes and a few tears—although not really very many of those. Then Ce’Nedra picked up Geran, and Garion the wolf, and they started down the stairs.
“Oh,” Garion said when they were halfway down, “give me the diamond. I’ll put it back where it belongs.”
“Wouldn’t an ordinary pebble work just as well, Garion?” Her eyes were suddenly calculating.
“Ce’Nedra, if you want a diamond so badly, I’ll buy you one.”