‘We found the child on the coast just as the Battle of Ranan began,’ Aelyn said. ‘We found him on the day my family died.
‘I have relived that day so many times in my mind. I have seen myself listen to Bueralan as he talks to the child. I have asked myself why I agreed to take him back to Ranan.’ She paused. I believe, had she been a different person, Aelyn Meah would have wept. But the woman before me was over ten thousand years old. She would not weep for her mistakes, no matter what had happened since. ‘I believe it came from a desire of hope,’ she said, surprising me. ‘Certainly, it is what I heard in Bueralan’s voice when he spoke. He wanted the child to be of such hope that it would make the suffering he had seen understandable. It would frame the world for him.
‘For a while, it did.
‘For a while, it did for me, as well. After the Battle of Ranan, Se’Saera gave a speech. I am sure you have heard it. She held up the heads of her enemies and proclaimed a new dawn. I was there. I watched her lift the heads of those I loved. The child made it easier that day. The child gave me hope that the sacrifices I had made were not in vain.’
—Onaedo, Histories, Year 1029