Polgara the Sorceress

Then in the spring Algar and Anrak came to the Vale to bring us the news and to escort us to the Isle of the Winds.

It took us the better part of a month to reach the Isle, and Riva himself was waiting for us on the stone wharf that jutted out into the harbor. I noted that Beldaran had finally persuaded him to shave off his beard, and I viewed that as an improvement. Then we mounted the stairs to the Citadel, and I was reunited with my sister. She was awkward-looking, but she seemed very happy.

After they’d proudly shown us the nursery, we had a rather lavish supper and then Beldaran and I finally got the chance to be alone. She took me along the corridor that led from the royal apartments to a polished door that opened into those rooms Beldaran and I had shared before her wedding to Iron-grip. I noted that there had been a number of modifications. The hanging drapes that covered the bleak stone walls were almost universally blue now, and the golden lambskin rugs had been replaced with white ones. The furnishings were of heavy, dark-polished wood, and all the seats were deeply cushioned. The fireplace was no longer just a sooty hole in the wall, but was framed and mantled instead. Candles provided a soft, golden light, and it all seemed very comfortable. ‘Do you like it, Pol?’ Beldaran asked me.

‘It’s absolutely lovely,’ I replied.

‘These are your rooms now,’ she said. ‘They’ll always be here when you need them. I do hope you’ll use them often.’

‘As often as I can,’ I assured her. Then I got down to business. ‘What’s it like?’ I asked her as we seated ourselves on a well-cushioned divan.

‘Awkward,’ she replied. She laid one hand on her distended belly. ‘You have no idea of how often this gets in the way.’

‘Were you sick every morning? I’ve heard about that.’

‘Right at first, yes. It went away after a while, though. The backache didn’t come until later.’

‘Backache?’

‘I’m carrying quite a bit of extra weight, Pol,’ she pointed out, ‘and it’s in a very awkward place. About the best I can manage right now is a stately waddle, and even that puts a lot of pressure on my back. Sometimes it feels as if I’ve been this way forever.’

‘It’ll pass, dear.’

“That’s what Arell tells me. You remember her, don’t you?’

‘She was the lady who supervised all that dressmaking, wasn’t she?’

Beldaran nodded. ‘She’s also a very good midwife. She’s been telling me all about labor, and I’m not really looking forward to it.’

‘Are you sorry?’

‘About being pregnant? Of course not. I just wish it didn’t take so long, is all. What have you been doing?’

‘Getting educated. Father taught me how to read, and I’m reading my way through his library. You wouldn’t believe how much nonsense has accumulated over the years. I sometimes think the Tolnedrans and the Melcenes were running some kind of a race with absolute idiocy as the prize. Right now I’m reading “The Book of Torak”. The Master’s brother seems to have some problems.’

She shuddered. ‘How awful! How can you bear to read something like that?’

‘It’s not the sort of thing you’d choose for light entertainment. It’s written in old Angarak, and even the language is ugly. The notion of an insane God’s more than a little frightening.’

‘Insane?’

‘Totally. Mother says that he always has been.’

‘Does mother visit you often?’

‘Every day. Father tends to sleep late, so I go down to the Tree and spend that part of the day with mother. She’s teaching me, too, so I’m getting what you might call a well-rounded education.’

Beldaran sighed. ‘We’re getting further and further apart, aren’t we, Pol?’

‘It happens, Beldaran,’ I told her. ‘It’s called growing up.’

‘I don’t like it.’

‘Neither do I, but there’s not much we can do about it, is there?’

It was rainy and blustery the following morning, but I put on my cloak and went down into the city anyway. I wanted to have a talk with Arell. I found her dress shop in a little cul-de-sac not far from the harbor. It was a tiny, cluttered place littered with bolts of cloth, spools of lace, and twisted hanks of yarn.

The bell on the door to Arell’s shop jingled as I entered, and she looked up from her needlework. ‘Polgara!’ she exclaimed, leaping to her feet and sweeping me up in a motherly embrace. ‘You’re looking well,’ she said.

‘So are you, Arell.’

‘Do you need a new dress? Is that why you came?’

‘No. Actually I’d like some information about Beldaran’s condition.’

‘She’s pregnant. I’m sure you noticed that.’

‘Very funny, Arell. What’s involved in giving birth?’

‘It’s painful, it’s messy, and it’s exhausting. You don’t want all the details, do you?’

‘Yes, as a matter of fact I do.’

‘Are you thinking of setting up in business as midwife?’

‘Probably not. My interest is a little more general. Things happen to people – things that need to be fixed. I want to learn how to fix them.’

‘Women don’t become physicians, Pol. The men-folk don’t approve.’

‘That’s too bad, isn’t it? You can’t possibly imagine just how indifferent I am about the approval or disapproval of men.’

‘You’ll get yourself in trouble,’ she warned. ‘All we’re supposed to do is cook, clean house, and have babies.’

‘I already know about all that. I think I’d like to expand my knowledge just a bit’

Arell pursed her lips. ‘You’re serious about this, aren’t you?’

‘Yes, I think I am.’

‘I can teach you what you’ll need to know about childbirth, but–’ she broke off. ‘Can you keep a secret?’

‘Lots of secrets, Arell. I know about things my father hasn’t even dreamed of yet, and I’ve been keeping them from him for years now.’

“There’s a herbalist here in Riva. He’s grouchy, and he doesn’t smell very nice, but he knows which herbs to use to cure certain ailments. And then there’s a bone-setter over on the other side of town as well. He’s got hands the size of hams, but he’s got the right touch. He can twist and wrench a broken bone back into place with no trouble at all. Did you want to learn surgery as well?’

‘What’s surgery?’

‘Cutting people open so that you can fix their insides. I’m fairly good at that myself, though I don’t talk about it too often. There’s a surgeon here on the Isle as well as the herbalist and the bone-setter. He’s sort of fond of me because I taught him how to sew.’