—The emptiness I would leave behind me, Jaan.
And that, he thought, would indeed be there within him, echoing "Meaningless, meaningless, meaningless" until his second death gave him silence.
—Keep me, Caruith urged, and we will die only once, and it will be in the service of yonder suns.
Jaan clung to his staff. Help me. No one answered save Caruith.
The sky whitened to eastward and Virgil came, the sudden Aenean dawn. Everywhere light awoke. Whistles went through the air, a sound of wings, a fragrance of plants which somehow kept roots in the desert. Banners rose above the Arena and trumpets rang, whatever had lately been told.
Jaan knew: Life is its own service. And I may have enough of it in me to fill me. I will go seek the help of men.
He had never before known how steep the upward path was.
But I pray you by the lifting skies,
And the young wind over the grass,
That you take your eyes from off my eyes,
And let my spirit pass,
—KIPLING
The Day Of Their Return Page 22
