He knew pain and shame and bitter loss. As he walked, all their shadows clustered at his heels.Book of the Seven Moons“I’M THE STRANGER,” Solon said quietly. “So I feel I should speak first.”They sat around the table in the great wooden room. From the garden the sun streamed in, lighting the tall images of Flain and Soren and Theriss in the colored glass of the windows. One shimmer lit Solon’s hands and bony wrists, showing clearly the long, twisted scars.“The choice is yours,” Tallis said to him kindly. “No one expects it of you.” Her shape had changed. Now she was a young woman, her long red hair plaited. He smiled at her.“Yes, but I expect it. It will be a relief, in any case, to be able to speak freely after so long.” Looking around at their faces, he breathed out and said, “My friends, my full name is Solon Karner. I have been a Relic Master of the Order for over thirty years now. My master was Caradan Sheer of Tasceron. When I was very young, even before the Emperor fell, I studied with her at the Shrine of the Shells at Ranor.”“The shrine!”
