The Burden of the Protector Read Online Free Page B

blame him.
    Vìr was my elder by almost ten full years. Our friendship was misunderstood by my peers, seen as a curiosity. How could a young protector, proper in every way, spend so much time with the barbarian? I have to admit I didn’t completely understand it myself.
    And yet I was not the only one. One other in Ta’Énia befriended Vìr before me.
    Maéva.
    If my relationship with Vìr was odd, hers was seen as an aberration by all. To us, mere protectors, their relationship was learned of through murmurs and rumours. All knew and respected Maéva, who’d come to Ta’Énia as an ambassador of Vi’Alana and become a leading member of the League. How could it be, then, that she was the one who had secured shelter in our little village for Vìr and had made him a member of the League and had even gone as far as becoming his partner on many research projects?
    Thinking about that faraway past, it is my belief that Vìr found salvation not in the research and the League, but in Maéva. He loved her, was infatuated with her. When talking of her, he would constantly smile. She made him happy. That much was obvious. The same could probably be said for Maéva, although I was never close to her myself.
    Their strange relationship was not without difficulties. Vìr was often ridiculed and the target of insults. He seemed able to put it aside, to steel himself against it. But it was not so for Maéva. She came from a whole different world, he would tell me in confidence, worried. She was in a position of great respect and importance, being one of the most influential and revered members of the League. Her recommendations for research projects were almost always approved and put in motion. Yet, as she became closer and closer to Vìr, as she spent more and more time with him, her conflicts with the Sy’Iss increased. Vìr was torn by the whole matter, torn between spending as much time as he could with Maéva and protecting her by staying away.
    The Sy’Iss kept her until the end, but not without smearing her reputation. Her projects became more bold, possibly encouraged by Vìr’s ideas. Some challenged views and theories taken for granted for years. The conflict even made it to our ears, and although we protectors didn’t understand it, we were scared nonetheless.
    Vìr would often say how much she had to lose, when he had everything to gain.
    Before the end, I had the temerity in one of our rare exchanges to ask Maéva if it had been worth it.
    “Knowing everything that has happened, would you still bring Vìr to Ta’Énia?”
    “Absolutely,” she had replied without hesitation. “He completes me…” she added in a whisper.
    During all those years, through all the hardships, Maéva stayed loyal to Vìr, never letting him down. Not once.
    *
    Shading 3, year 3001, Dàr is 59.
    Let me add but one more observation about Vìr.
    One of his most prominent belongings was a large and curved sword, which he sometimes took with him on his expeditions to the Borders of Ul Darak. It bore on its wide blade strange markings and the shape of a long snake. The weapon, crude compared to the Taénian blades, which were more stylish and light, only added to Vìr’s isolation. Many feared it, saying it was cursed, an object of evil.
    I often wondered why he kept it with him. I saw it as defiance, almost provocation. But later, I realized that too much importance was given to the weapon. The Sy’Iss certainly didn’t care about it. To them, it was not his weapon or his origins or the colour of his skin that were terrifying and dangerous.
    It was his ideas.
    *
    Falling 4, year 2965, Dàr is 24.
    When Garòn came to replace me, I hid my injuries and my discovery. I went home, where I stayed, doing nothing, not eating, not drinking, just lying on my back on my tiny bed. I tried to clear my thoughts and reach some semblance of calm, but found it unachievable.
    As soon as the darkness of night had descended on Ta’Énia, I made my way to