The old man came out with three brimming tankards, set them down on the table, and moved a chair around until it faced the fireplace. Then he took one of the tankards, sat, and stretched his feet out toward the fire. Pull up a chair, Garion, he invited. We might as well be comfortable.
Garion did that. Its been quite a night, he said.
That it has, boy, the old man replied. That it has.
Shouldnt we say goodnight to Aunt Pol?
Durniks with her. Lets not disturb them. This is a special sort of time for married people.
Yes, Garion agreed, remembering that night a few weeks ago when his daughter had been born.
Will you be going back to Riva soon?
I probably should, Garion replied. I think Ill wait a few days, though at least until Aunt Pols back on her feet again.
Dont wait too long, Belgarath advised with a sly grin. CeNedras sitting on the throne all by herself right now, you know.
Shell be all right. She knows what to do.
Yes, but do you want her doing things on her own?
Oh, I dont think shell declare war on anybody while Im gone.
Maybe not, but with CeNedra you never really know, do you?
Quit making fun of my wife, grandfather.
Im not making fun of her. I love her dearly, but I do know her. All Im saying is that shes a little unpredictable. Then the old sorcerer sighed.
Is something the matter, grandfather?
I was just chewing on some old regrets. I dont think you and Durnik realize just how lucky you are. I wasnt around when my twins were born. I was off on a business trip.
Garion knew the story, of course. You didnt have any choice, grandfather, he said. Aldur ordered you to go to Mallorea. It was time to recover the Orb from Torak, and you had to go along to help Cherek Bear-shoulders and his sons.
Dont try to be reasonable about it, Garion. The bald fact is that I abandoned my wife when she needed me the most. Things might have turned out very differently if I hadnt.
Are you still feeling guilty about that?
Of course I am. Ive been carrying that guilt around for three thousand years. You can hand out all the royal pardons you want, but its still there.
Grandmother forgives you.
Naturally she does. Your grandmothers a wolf, and wolves dont hold grudges. The whole point, though, is that she can forgive me, and you can forgive me, and you can get up a petition signed by everybody in the known world that forgives me, but I still wont forgive myself. Why dont we talk about something else?
Durnik came back out of the bedroom. Shes asleep, he said softly. Then he went to the fireplace and stacked more wood on the embers. Its a cold night out there, he noted. Lets keep this fire going.
I should have thought of that, Garion apologized.
Are the babies still asleep? Belgarath asked the smith.
Durnik nodded.
Enjoy it while you can. Theyre resting up.
Durnik smiled. Then he too pulled a chair closer to the fire. Do you remember what we were talking about earlier? he asked, reaching for the remaining tankard on the table.
We talked about a lot of things, Belgarath told him.
I mean the business of the same things happening over and over again. What happened tonight isnt one of those, is it?
Would it come as a surprise to you if I told you that Pol isnt the first to give birth to twins?
I know that, Belgarath, but this seems different somehow. I get the feeling that this isnt something thats happened before. This seems like something new to me. This has been a very special night. UL himself blessed it. Has that ever happened before?
Not that I know of, the old sorcerer conceded. Maybe this is something new. If it is, its going to make things a little strange for us.
Hows that? Garion asked.
The nice thing about repetitions is that you sort of know what to expect. If everything did stop when the accident happened, and now its all moving again, well be breaking into new territory.
Wont the prophecies give us some clues?
Belgarath shook his head. No. The last passage in the Mrin Codex reads, And there shall come a great light, and in that light shall that which was broken be healed, and interrupted Purpose shall proceed again, as was from the beginning intended. All the other prophecies end in more or less the same way. The Ashabine Oracles even use almost exactly the same words. Once that light reached Korim, we were on our own.
Will there be a new set of prophecies now? Durnik asked.
Next time you see Eriond, why dont you ask him? Hes the one in charge now. Belgarath sighed. I dont think well be involved in any new ones, though. Weve done what we were supposed to do. He smiled just a bit wryly. To be perfectly frank about it, Im just as glad to pass it on. Im getting a little old to be rushing out to save the world. It was an interesting career right at first, but it gets exhausting after the first six or eight times.
Thatd be quite a story, Durnik said.
What would?
Everything youve been through saving the world, fighting Demons, pushing the Gods around, things like that.
Tedious, Durnik. Very, very tedious, Belgarath disagreed. There were long periods when nothing was happening. You cant make much of a story out of a lot of people just sitting around waiting.
Oh, Im sure there were enough lively parts to keep it interesting. Someday Id really like to hear the whole thing you know, how you met Aldur, what the world was like before Torak cracked it, how you and Cherek Bear-shoulders stole the Orb back all of it.
Belgarath laughed. If I start telling that story, well still be sitting here a year from now, and we wont even be half-way through by then. Weve all got better things to do.
Do we really, grandfather? Garion asked. You just said that our part of this is over. Wouldnt this be a good time to sum it all up?
What good would it do? Youve got a kingdom to run, and Durniks got this farm to tend. Youve both got more important things to do than sit around listening to me tell stories.
Write it down, then. The notion suddenly caught fire in Garions mind. You know, grandfather, the more I think about it, the more I think you ought to do just that. Youve been here since the very beginning. Youre the only one who knows the whole story. You really should write it down, you know. Tell the world what really happened.
Belgaraths expression grew pained. The world doesnt care, Garion. All Id do is offend a lot of people. Theyve got their own preconceptions, and theyre happy with them. Im not going to spend the next fifty years scribbling on scraps of paper just so that people can travel to the Vale from the other side of the world to argue with me. Besides, Im not a historian. I dont mind telling stories, but writing them down doesnt appeal to me. If I took on a project like that, my hand would fall off after a couple of years.