The Killing Moon (Dreamblood) by N. K. Jemisin Read Free Book Online Page A

that corruption so that he can survive. But a Gatherer
destroys
corruption—and the power that allows it, if he must. If that way lies peace. That is what I mean, Acolyte Nijiri. You accommodated, where you should have rebelled.”
    And belatedly, guiltily, Nijiri realized Rabbaneh and the Superior were right.
A Gatherer does not seek help
, he had told himself at the time—and so he had not, thinking himself stronger for handling the matter on his own. Thinking
of
himself, when he should have held his fellow acolytes’ peace foremost in his mind. Of course Omin would do evil again; Omin was corrupt. There was no taming something like that.
    Better to have brought the matter to the Superior and Gatherers, and damn his pride. Better even to kill Omin, with his hands if not narcomancy, and then submit himself for the Gatherers’ judgment. Any action was better than complacency while corruption festered and grew.
    He knelt then, putting his hands and forehead on the floor toshow the depth of his contrition. “Your pardon, Gatherer,” he murmured against the stone, glad now that Ehiru was not present. Sonta-i still loomed over him, but that was right. How had he ever imagined himself ready to be a Gatherer? “I was wrong. I should never have… I should’ve done more. May Her peace ease my soul—I should have
thought
.”
    A moment of appropriate silence passed.
    “Well,” said Rabbaneh, with a sigh. “I suppose that will do. Sonta-i?”
    Sonta-i took hold of Nijiri’s arm, pulling him back to his feet. As Nijiri blinked in surprise, Sonta-i narrowed his eyes again. “He’s still hiding something.”
    “Boys his age will have their secrets, pathbrother. Even we are permitted a few of those.”
    With a soft sigh that was not—
quite
, Nijiri thought—disappointed, Sonta-i released him. “Very well; I agree.”
    “And we know Ehiru’s feeling on the matter.” Rabbaneh clasped his hands behind his back and glanced at the Superior with a questioning lift of his eyebrows.
    “He meant well, I suppose,” the Superior said, nodding, though Nijiri heard a hint of reluctance in his voice. “And peace
was
achieved among the acolytes, if by unorthodox means, and if only temporarily.”
    “He’s still young.” Rabbaneh shrugged, his smile returning at last. “If we had nothing to teach him, what need would he have of us?”
    “What, Gatherer?” Nijiri had begun to feel very stupid.
    At this, even the Superior looked amused. “A necessary final test, Nijiri. There is peace in submission, but sometimes greaterpeace—
lasting
peace—in resistance. We needed to know that you understood this.” He shrugged. “There are many paths to peace.”
    “We shall simply have to teach you to think farther ahead on that path, Apprentice,” Rabbaneh added, smiling again.
    Apprentice. Apprentice. Nijiri stood there, trembling; he barely noticed when Sonta-i shrugged as if losing interest and stalked away, returning to the Superior’s side.
Apprentice!
    He wanted, very much, to leap into the air and shout, which would have been not only a mistake, but an offense to Hananja, here in Her hall. So instead he stammered, trembling for a moment with the effort to control his joy, “You honor me, Gatherers, to bring—to consider—” He couldn’t think enough to form words.
    “Yes, yes.” The Superior glanced at the Hall’s narrow, prism-glass windows, beyond which the sun’s light still marked the western sky. The Dreamer had not yet risen. When it did, the Hall would fill with its silvered light, refracted further still by the windows into shifting, layered colors. That would help the moontear vines, which would not otherwise bloom indoors. “Please rise; we still have your oathtaking ceremony to complete, and then the Gatherers’ dedication. And there’s an additional matter we need to discuss.”
    Nijiri swallowed and nodded, feeling quite as though he could deal with
anything
now. He struggled not to grin like a