Moonlit Path
an excerpt

Chapter 1: The Calling

You'd think everyone would want supernatural powers, perfect health and a very long lifespan. Especially when they didn't need to do anything dubious or face divine wrath in the afterlife - possibly quite the opposite.

Certainly Harad, son of Harade, had thought this was a good deal. Almost two years ago, when Harad was 16, he had chosen the path of a Lightwielder: One of those who channeled the holy aura called the Light. His head had been full of fantastic visions. After all, everyone knew that Lightwielders could see in the dark or through walls, heal any wound, know secrets and be warned of dangers, and many other wonders. You didn't need to be born to it either. You could have it for a song... if you only gave up lying, in word or in deed, for the rest of your life. Oh, and confessed all your past lies.

Well, it has been almost two years. Almost two years without lying, and the first of them largely spent confessing the thousands of trivial lies from his first 16 years. Who would have thought it was so much? The Light had this amazing ability to remind him of every tiny little deception and white lie. "Reveal secrets" indeed. He had thought the Light would reveal the secrets of the vast oceans and the starry skies, but it revealed his own shameful secrets. No wonder most people had the wits to stay far away from Lightwielding.

He is still here, a Lightwielder of sorts. Except as an apprentice he can still only channel a trickle of Light. And most of his time he spends here on the small farm, little more than a house and a garden, with the 86 year old widow Betta. While she doesn't look 80 or even 70, she is certainly not a nubile maiden either. The slowing of old age only sets in for real once you have channeled the Light to a goodly degree, and few are those who reach this before their hair is white and their skin is wrinkled. Betta is not one of those few, though she hardly looks a day over 60. Still, that's not a body that keeps a young man awake at night. Except for the occasional snoring, at least.

"You seem lost in thought, Harad."
"I was looking back a little, and reflecting on my life here." That is true as far as it goes, and the Light does not burn him for failing to mention every detail of his thought.
"Yes, you have certainly made progress. To think that it is still less than a year since first you called successfully upon the Light."
"And yet it seems to me that you have made more progress in this year than I have. I can see you shining more brightly when we Sing together."
"It is a true word: When one teaches, two learn. But some of the brightening may be due to your own heightened vision."
"I don't know. The night is still dark to me, the walls still made of wood rather than glass. And you still shoulder the burden whenever we Sing for any real purpose. I could possibly cure a hangnail alone, but not bring a man back from the brink of death."
"Still, every voice counts in the Light. Servants of the Light don't compete, we complete."

There is some comfort in her words, not least because she is even more unable to lie than he is. The more you channel the Light, the swifter and stronger the punishment if you stray from utter honesty. The Light may place no other requirements on you, but this one it enforces ruthlessly. You keep hearing about people who supposedly burned to death for some feeble lie. Of course, this was always long ago and far away. What kind of idiot would even try to do that? It is telling that these stories always come from people who never pledged their life to the Light. Lies are the bread they eat and the water they drink, the air they breathe and the bed they sleep in. It is utterly amazing how freely lies and inaccuracies run through the mouth of a human. Of course, most people don't like you telling them that to their face. Harad has tried.

"You are doing quite well for an apprentice, Harad." Betta lays a hand on his shoulder. "A time will come when you meet other young people who have not spent their time as eagerly as you have, who have walked where you have run. At that time, remember the true words that I told you: Servants don't compete, Servants complete. Never forget this, for it is the nature of the Light itself. A light never ceases to shine, even in a presence of a greater light. It may seem dimmer, but it adds to the light, never to the shadow. Remember this."
Something in her voice makes him ask. "Have you had a Telling?"
"Only a vague one. But you don't need a Telling to know. You will not stay here alone with me for the rest of my life. This is the nature of life, and besides you are restless."
"Does it really show? I try to fight it. It is a very good life I have here, and I am hard pressed to think it can get better. It is just that some days..."
"Some days it seems the cauliflowers have been blessed enough for one lifetime."
Harad has to laugh. She hit the nail there, and her tone of voice was perfect.
"Don't worry, Harad. When you go, the cauliflowers will do quite well."
"When I go?"
"It seems to be time, my boy. I can see Kar, the ferryman's son from Stand."

Indeed, there is a boy coming up the Sandy Road, although Harad would be hard pressed to pick him out from this distance. It is uncanny how an old woman can have sight like an eagle. Then again it could be she knew him from the Telling.

"Go meet him, Harad. He has a message for you."