"tither was fighting in Eddensea," Balasar said. "They have walls around
cities in Eddensea. They have armies. The Khaiem haven't got anything
but the andat."
""I'he andat suffice."
"Only if they have them."
"Ah. Yes. That's the center of the question, isn't it? Your grand plan
to do away with all the andat at a single blow. I have to confess, I
don't think I quite follow how you expect this to work. You have one of
these poets here, ready to work with us. Wouldn't it be better to
capture one of these andat for ourselves?"
"We will be. Freedom-From-Bondage should be one of the simplest andat to
capture. It's never been done, so there's no worry about coming too near
what's been tried before. The binding has been discussed literally for
centuries. I've found books of commentary and analysis dating back to
the First Empire ..."
"All of it exploring exactly why it can't be done, yes?" The Lord
Convocate's voice had gone as gentle and sympathetic as that of a medic
trying to lead a man to realize his own dementia. It was a ploy. The old
man wanted to see whether Balasar would lose his temper, so instead he
smiled.
""That depends on what you mean by impossible."
The Lord Convocate nodded and stepped to the windows, his hands clasped
behind his hack. Balasar waited for three breaths, four. The impulse to
shake the old man, to shout that every day was precious and the price of
failure horrible beyond contemplation, rose in him and fell. This was
the battle now, and as important as any of those to come.
"So," the Lord Convocate said, turning. "Explain to me how 'annot means
can.
Balasar gestured toward the couches. They sat, leather creaking beneath
them.
""I'he andat are ideas translated into forms that include volition,"
Balasar said. "A poet who's bound something like, for example,
WoodUpon-Water gains control over the expression of that thought in the
world. He could raise a sunken vessel up or sink all the ships on the
sea with a thought, if he wished it. The time required to create the
binding is measured in years. If it succeeds, the poet's life work is to
hold the thing here in the world and train someone to take it from him
when he grows old or infirm."
"You're telling me what I know," the old man said, but Balasar raised a
hand, stopping him.
"I'm telling you what they mean when they say impossible. They mean that
Freedom-From-Bondage can't be held. "There is no way to control
something that is the essential nature and definition of the
uncontrolled. But they make no distinction between being invoked and
being maintained."
The Lord Convocate frowned and rubbed his fingertips together.
"We can bind it, sir. Riaan isn't the talent of the ages, but
FreedomFrom-Bondage should be easy compared with the normal run. The
whole binding's nearly done already-only a little tailoring to make it