The Gathandrian Trilogy 03 - The Executioners Cane

instructed her how to begin and how to keep the lines in perspective so the demands of the whole were not abandoned. The secret of carving is never to urge oneself onward. The importance of each cut, each moment of pressure between hand and tree cannot be underestimated. It is better to spend many day-cycles creating one simple piece than to create many pieces in a day. That is what the great sculptors know in their blood, and that, I tell you, is what Iffenia knew from the start. I am not a true sculptor and yet I saw how she was the moment the chisel nestled in her grasp. The colours of her mind flowed outwards through her skin and into the wood. Bright yellows and deep greens. I had never seen such combinations in anyone’s mind before, and I have not seen them since in anyone else. Others may say this indicates the division in her thoughts between what is and what should be and that this was the reason why she betrayed you all to the mind-executioner. But I saw these colours as beautiful, and I still do.
    Back then, the apple-willow responded to her presence in a way I had never seen for anyone in my father’s studio, and certainly not for me. It glowed first gold, as if some strange form of sunlight was warming it into life, and then into a steady cream colour. Like the ripening corn when the wind flows through it. Iffenia laughed and raised her dancing eyes to mine. I couldn’t help but laugh too, although my heart beat faster and I felt as if I were about to shout or run or perform some other act which would make those eyes smile at me again. I did not tell her that what was happening was so new and strange I did not know how to teach her anything she did not already guess at or understand. In a way I would never be able to.
    And she was of the glass-maker’s family. I watched Iffenia carve her bird and her rose for the whole of that afternoon, and I remember it now as one of the best days of my life. The wood responded to her touch, melting its voice into her skin and freely giving her whatever she demanded of it. I too heard the wood’s song and lost myself in its warmth and calling.
    That day, she created the best and most vibrant carving I have ever seen in a beginner. And though in the years to come, she was to surpass such work many times, it is the one I think of when I think of her. I have always kept it and I keep it with me now. She never knew that and I wish with all my mind I had told her so while I still could.
    Five year-cycles after that, we became bond-partners. My father grumbled at our joining ceremony but his words were empty. He was brought up to think those who worked with wood were not suited for the makers of glass, but he saw the way Iffenia and I looked at each other – the bond which flowed between us – and he did not gainsay our desire. She gave me joy and I gave her laughter. It was a wise balance.
    Without her, I would not have had the courage to turn from my background and the many sculptors whose bloodline mixes with my thoughts, and to become the elder you see before you now, Annyeke. It was always Iffenia who thought I could do anything, she who believed in me. For such a gift, I gave her what little wood-learning I could and she far surpassed my skills in it. In her, I found my own peace of mind, and the place I should be. Without Iffenia, I would never have thought to offer myself as an elder to this once-mighty city of ours – it was she alone who gave me the confidence and heart to do so. But, by the great stars, I wish with all my mind I had not done it. For look where we elders have taken Gathandria now.
    But that is in the past and we must look to the future, or else we will never survive, neither ourselves nor the countries and people under our jurisdiction. How we restore our streets and buildings and people is a decision you, Annyeke, must take and we must support. Still, I want you to know whatever Iffenia did, or tried to do, she did because of me. I miss her with every thought, with every breath, with every dream. The moments you knew of her are not the wholeness of the person my bond-partner was. She will be with me always. Remember that when you look into people’s minds, Annyeke. Because in life and in death, Iffenia and I have kept faith with each other, and nothing else truly matters. We have kept faith.

    *****

    As he finished speaking, the Chair Maker’s eyes filled with tears, and Annyeke stretched out her hand to touch his arm. He might have