The Seeress of Kell

had been yearning since the beginning of days. A plaintive "Why me?" hovered on his lips.
    And then Ce'Nedra was there, burrowing under his arm as she had during those first few heady days when they had finally discovered that they did, in fact, love each other. "What are you thinking about, Garion?" she asked softly. She had changed out of the antique green satin gown she had worn at the palace and now wore a gray dress of utilitarian wool.
    "I'm not, really. Probably worrying comes a lot closer."
    "What's there to worry about? We're going to win, aren't we?"
    “That hasn't been decided yet.”
    "Of course you're going to win. You always do."
    "This time's a little different, Ce'Nedra." He sighed. "It's not just the meeting, though. I’ve got to choose my successor, and the one I choose is going to be the new Child of Light and most probably a God. If I pick the wrong person, it's possible that I'll create a God who'll be an absolute disaster. Could you imagine Silk as a God? He'd be out there picking the pockets of the other Gods and inscribing off-color jokes in the constellations."
    "He doesn't really seem to have the right kind of temperament for it," she agreed. "I like him well enough, but I'm afraid UL might disapprove very strongly. What else is bothering you?"
    "You know what else. One of us isn't going to live through tomorrow.”
    "You don't really have to concern yourself about that, Garion," she said wistfully. "It's going to be me. I’ve known that from the very beginning."
    "Don't be absurd. I can make sure it's not you."
    "Oh? How?"
    "I'll just tell them that I won't make the Choice if they hurt you in any way."
    "Garion!" she gasped. "You can't do that! You'll destroy the universe if you do!"
    “So what? The universe doesn't mean anything to me without you, you know."
    "That's very sweet, but you can't do it. You wouldn't do it anyway. You’ve got too great a sense of responsibility.”
    "What makes you think you're going to be the one?"
    "The tasks, Garion. Every one of us has a task some of us more than one. Belgarath had to find out where the meeting's going to take place. Velvet had to kill Harakan. Even Sadi had a task. He had to kill Naradas. I have no task except to die."
    Garion decided at that point to tell her. "You did have a task, Ce'Nedra," he told her, "and you did it very well."
    "What are you talking about?"
    "You wouldn't remember it. After we left Kell, you were very drowsy for several days.”
    "Yes, I remember that."
    "It wasn't because you were sleepy. Zandramas was tampering with your mind. She's done it before. You remember that you got sick on your way to Rak Hagga?"
    "Yes."
    "It was a different kind of sickness, but it was Zandramas again. She's been trying to take control of you for more than a year now.”
    Ce'Nedra stared at him.
    "Anyway, after we left Kell, she managed to put your mind to sleep. You wandered off and, out there in the forest, you thought you met Arell."
    "Arell? She's dead."
    "I know, but you thought you met her all the same, and she gave you what you thought was our baby. Then this supposed Arell asked you some questions, and you answered them."
    "What kind of questions?"
    "Zandramas had to find out where the meeting was supposed to take place, and she couldn't go to Kell. She posed as Arell so she could ask you those questions. You told her about Perivor, about the map, and about Korim. That was your task.”
    "I betrayed you?" Her look was stricken.
    "No. You saved the universe. Zandramas absolutely has to be at Korim at the right time. Somebody had to tell her where to go, and that was your task.”
    "I don't remember any of this."
    “Of course not. Aunt Pol erased the memory of it from your mind. It wasn't really your fault, and you'd have been overcome with remorse if you'd been able to remember what happened."
    "I still betrayed you."
    "You did what had to be done, Ce'Nedra." Garion smiled a bit wistfully. "You know, both sides in this have been trying to do the same thing. We and Zandramas, of course have been trying to find Korim and to keep the other side from finding out where it is so that we can win by default. It was never going to happen that way, though. The meeting absolutely has to take place before Cyradis can choose. The prophecies weren't going to let it happen any other way. Both sides have wasted a great deal of effort trying to do something that simply could not be done. We should have all realized that from the very