Seeker of Stars: A Novel Read Online Free Page B

father held out an arm.
    “No. This concerns you. You will stay.”
    There was no resistance in me. I played out the argument that would follow: Taz would argue on my behalf, and our father would argue on the side of the business. Salvi rolled his bleary eyes at me; he, too, knew what to expect. Taz patted my knee reassuringly as he drank his tea, wetting his argument.
    “My brother,” he began persuasively. “You need to consider—”
    “Consider?” Our father exploded. “I’ve done nothing but consider these last days and weeks. I’ve considered everything.”
    “But Melchi—”
    “I am Melchi’s father.”
    “Then do what is best for—”
    “I am sending Melchior to study with the astronomers.”
    The world spun around. My ears buzzed. I could not get enough breath. Taz’s mouth gaped. Salvi clapped his hands. Our father did not smile. This was no reward on his part, I knew; it was a reasoned decision he would rather not have made.
    “My brother, you bring me such joy,” Taz said at last, tears forming in his eyes. “Gladly will I pay for Melchi’s—”
    Our father dismissed the offer with a contemptuous wave of his hand.
    “The shop?” Taz asked next.
    “You were right years ago,” our father explained. “I am not so old yet. We will make fewer rugs than we have, but we will make enough. And in a few years, I will have a new apprentice.”
    “Who?”
    “My daughter,” he said, stunning us once again. “Little Daria will learn to help me.” None of us dared to ask, but our father answered the unspoken questions. “I have seen her, my Daria’s Daria. She is bright and beautiful like her mother. I am told she is good with her hands and smart. When she is ten, she will come to work with me, as Melchi did. Someday her sons or yours will learn to weave and dye.”
    It was unusual but not unthinkable for daughters to assist in family businesses, but never when there were sons. Salvi’s sense of duty rose within him once again, and he offered to take my place. Our father shook his head.
    “I considered that, but you have learned your routes well, Salvi. Melchi’s work suited him too, but I must find him another trade so he can support himself. There are fools who will pay to have their fortunes read in the stars, and fools who will read them. I still consider his hobby a waste of time, but others do not. It is the one profession Melchi would gladly do, and it is the one he is best prepared for.”
    I sat very still, as I did when waking from a brilliant dream, not moving a muscle, lest I break the bubble of joy.

~ 6 ~
    J ourney
    When the caravan pulled out next, for the first time in my life, I was not among those left behind. As our father became a speck in the distance, I suddenly realized with a pang of dislocation that I was farther from home than I had ever been before and that I would go even farther. I marveled to realize that I had always looked up and not outward, had never desired to see other parts of the world. Still my eyes were open to each new sight.
    As our camels settled into their rolling gait, Salvi, who was driving, also settled back. He grinned at me. “You finally escaped, little brother.”
    I had. Six weeks of healing, packing, and sending letters to the astronomers. And money. Our father’s first letter had received a polite refusal, which choked me with disappointment and shock. I had been so certain that the barrier of my father’s will, now removed, had been my only one. Taz laughed and told our father to write again and to send the letter with money. Taz delivered the letter and came back with a letter signed by the chief astronomer himself, welcoming me to study with them.
    The city was four days’ journey across the desert. I was fascinated by the new surroundings: the unbroken horizon, the ripples of sand disturbed only briefly by our caravan before the wind covered our trail, the signs of water invisible to my unpracticed eye. I was curious about how Taz