Kewero reached over and took her hand. "You will be the catalyst who will coalesce our resistance. I understand you had no choice in this, but you are not alone. There are other men and women whose talents and experience will aid your fight. You will draw many to you. Others you will have to seek. You also have been given some valuable tools to use in your fight. The memories of all your ancestors are with you. When there is need, their knowledge, their experience will become yours. And everything I have learned through the years is yours."
"How many years, Kewero?" Flindra finally grew bold enough to ask. "You serve the Spirit, but how do you know all this? How does the Spirit speak to you?"
"I guess I never did explain my comment about how long I've been waiting for you. Forgive me. I guess I should tell you a little more of my history so you can understand me better.
"I was a counselor at the court of King Meldh. I was one of a group of five who advised the King. It became apparent early in the conflict with the Ansu that we were hopelessly outmatched. One day, the King summoned us and revealed a dream he'd had the night before. He'd been told in his dream that one of his counselors needed to seek out the wisdom and guidance of the Spirit to learn what we needed to do. King Meldh gave us a choice as to which one of us would go on this quest. In fairness, the five of us drew lots. It fell upon me to search for the information we needed.
"Once the selection had been made, the King and Queen called me to them for a private conference. The King now confessed the rest of his dream. He knew that he would die in the conflict, as would the Queen and most of his nobles. The knowledge I would discover was needed to aid his descendant in a future conflict and would give him no assistance in the present fight. My whole purpose was to provide protection and guidance for the future champion of his line. Only the Queen knew the full story of his dream. He had no wish to demoralize his people so he had kept his dream a secret. He asked me to do the same.
"The Queen then spoke to me. I still remember her words for they were spoken with such intense sorrow." The tone of Kewero's voice changed. There was boundless respect and tremendous sorrow in her accent as she recalled the words of the long-dead Queen. "She told me that it had been foretold at her birth that she would live to see her world destroyed, her child taken from her and that she would know the suffering of all the children of her line - the suffering only a mother can understand and endure. She was named for the suffering she would know for Kwenth in the Old Tongue means suffering."
Kewero paused and lowered her eyes. It was obvious her memories brought pain into her heart.
Flindra reached over and grasped her arm in a gentle and supportive touch. "You loved her, didn't you?"
"Very much." With a sigh, she looked at her pupil. "I told you once that you looked like your mother. You also look a great deal like Queen Kwenth. You could be her daughter."
She smiled. "You take after her in many ways, Flindra. Her auburn hair has marked all the children born of her line. It is a stamp of royalty. You share some personality traits with her, too. My Lady Queen was much loved by my people for she was so kind and good. I think you will match her kindness when you become Queen."
"Thank you," she answered with a shy smile.
"Having you here has done much to ease my sorrow. You remind me of her and it makes it seem that it wasn't so long ago when I shared deep discussions with my Queen."
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