I.

It's not a memory, exactly. But I've heard the story told so many times that I can imagine it as if I'd been there, aware and paying attention. But I was only a child, eyes barely opened, soft down still on my forehead, when it happened.

The grey man with the long tapering fingers hovers over my cradle, his hand held flat in front of my eyes. Dark curtains block the sunlight from the nursery's lone window. He stares at me intently, as if trying to decide whether I'm paying attention. I see a spindly hand, palm flat.

He snorts softly and straightens, biting his lip thoughtfully.

"Find Kiru," he says softly to a slight bearded man standing in the doorway. Softly, but there is something muscular about his tone. The man strides out, robes swishing.

The grey man just stands there, silently peering down into my cradle until a shuffling in the hall announces an arrival.

He turns on his heel to greet the newcomer.

"Kiru," he says with a nod before turning back to me.

"Telian," chimes the woman who now leans over foot of my cradle, gazing at me with what must have been motherly pride. "You tested her?" she asks as she rearranges my swaddling cloths, then rests slim hands on the polished wooden railing.

"I have," he rumbles. Muscular still, but somehow strained. Then, almost whispering: "Kiru, the girl is stone blind. I --"

The knuckles gripping the foot railing turn white.

"No," she says. "Test her again. It must be too dark in here."

She tugs open the thick curtains, and mild afternoon sunlight spills into the nursery.

"The first time, I did it with the drapes open, lady," Telian says. "The second time, closed. The third, by lamplight. There is no doubt. I'm sorry."

Kiru sits down shakily in the pool of sunlight by the window. "She will never believe, Telian. And your fanatics would drown her before they'd let her grow up here. "

"Would you keep her, then?" Telian asks.

Kiru nods helplessly from the sunbeam, the rays glittering off unshed tears. "I'm being selfish, I know," she croaks. "But would it really be kinder to send her to Minashem?"

"Perhaps," he replies. "It seems bleak to us, but with the right fostering --"

"She might grow up to be Queen of the Blind, perhaps?" Kiru snaps. She slumps again. "I'm sorry, Telian. I shouldn't take this out on you."

"Please don't apologize," Telian sighs. "We will do what we can for her."