Vivienne rolled her eyes and looked about to interrupt, but Tiercel shook his head and held up a restraining hand.

“No, hear me out. Perhaps Deryniness is not a cumulative thing at all. Perhaps one either is Deryni or one is not, and nothing in between. We know that powers themselves are not cumulative between two people, other than to bring one weakened or untrained individual up to his full potential. If this were not the case, Deryni could band together and the larger, stronger groups defeat the smaller ones every time.

“But, no. We know, at least, that battle doesn’t work that way. We keep our duels on a one-to-one basis, and we forbid more than one individual to challenge at a time, and the custom is couched in legend, but why did that become the standard? Perhaps because of the very fact that the powers are not additive.

“Perhaps inheritance is governed on much the same principle. Other things are inherited in full from one parent or the other. Why not Deryniness?”

There was silence for a long moment as the Council digested what its youngest member had just said, and then Barrett lifted his hairless head.

“We are well instructed by our juniors,” he said quietly. “Does anyone know the present whereabouts of Morgan and McLain?”

No one answered, and Barrett’s blind eyes continued to sweep the table.

“Has any one of you ever touched Morgan’s mind?” Barrett ventured again.

Again, silence.

“What about McLain?” Barrett continued. “Bishop Arilan, we understand that Father McLain was an associate of yours for a time. Did you never have occasion to touch his mind?”

Arilan shook his head. “He was a fellow priest, and there was no reason to suspect that he was Deryni. And I should have risked exposing my own identity, had I tried to read him for any other purpose.”

“Well, you may wish that you had,” Thorne retorted. “I am given to understand that he and Morgan are on their way to see you. Something about trying to prove their innocence of the excommunication you and your bishops imposed on them. Personally, I shouldn’t be surprised if they tried to kill you.”

“I doubt there is that danger,” Arilan said confidently. “Even if Morgan or Duncan had reason to hate me personally, which they do not, they are astute enough to recognize that this kingdom is on the brink both of civil war and invasion, and that we must resolve the first in order to prevent the second. If the forces of Gwynedd remain divided over the Interdict imposed on Corwyn, we will be unable to repel the invaders. Deryni-human relations will have been set back at least two centuries.”

“Forget that for now,” Thorne said impatiently. “In case everyone else has forgotten, there is still the problem of what we must do about Morgan and McLain. The situation appears to have come to a head at King Kelson’s coronation, after which Morgan was censured for using magic openly. That is also why McLain was called to appear before the archbishops: the illicit and unpredictable use of powers neither of them should have, either by the standards of Church and state, which declare that they should have none, or by ours, which ought, at least, to be able to predict their capabilities.