:Pah,: Kantor said in disgust. :Why must the right answers be so unsatisfactory? But, Chosen, this might be right by your oaths, but must you remain bound by oaths to those who violated their responsibilities, not only to you, but to the people they lead?:

:If I break those vows,: he replied slowly, painfully, :I become no better than they. Who will trust me, if I break my vows? How can I trust myself?:

Silence again, as Kantor considered this as well. This time, his reply was only a frustrated sigh.

:I have no argument for you that would not also be sophistry,: Kantor admitted, after the silence had gone on for what seemed to be a candlemark at least.

Strangely enough, that reply brought him a modicum of relief. Kantor was with him. Kantor was at least as uncomfortable with the situation as Alberich was, but the Companion was with him. Kantor, his best and truest friend in the world, was not going to use that friendship to try and persuade him of something against his conscience. Now all he had to do was argue with himself.

He sensed Kantor thinking furiously and waited to see what the Companion would come up with. :I don’t suppose,: Kantor offered diffidently, :that you could get some sort of dispensation from the Priests of Vkandis absolving you of those oaths?:

:Geri won’t give that. He can’t offer it on his own authority, and I wouldn’t accept it from him even if he did.: No matter what the Sunpriests down in Karse did, Geri knew that, short of an apparition of the Sunlord Himself, there was no way that he could absolve Alberich of previously made vows.

And as for asking for some sort of message from Vkandis Himself—He flinched away from the very notion.

For whatever reason, the Sunlord had elected to permit the Sunpriests to act as they were. Only He knew what was in His mind. Alberich could speculate, but—

Here was the truth of it all: who was he that Vkandis should appear to him to absolve him of his oaths? Only one man in exile, one man who could only prove his faith by remaining faithful…

:Chosen—: Kantor said suddenly, interrupting his thought. :Let me ask you this. Suppose, just suppose, that you were not bound by those oaths. What would you do in that case, if you were completely free to do what you wished to do?:

What would he do? :I haven’t thought about it, haven’t even considered it. There was no reason to,: he replied honestly. And then answered just as honestly, :If I were free, I would aid all those agents without a moment of hesitation. I’d go myself, if the Council could be persuaded to trust me. In fact, I’d demand to go—:

:Why?: Kantor interjected. :Why would you demand to go?: