I
do swear
To serve Lovequest
With the sharpest edge of my mind, , , , ,With the softest tenderness
of my heart
With the holiest courage of my soul, , , , ,With the last endurance of
my flesh,
With understanding,
Or if necessary, without.
Where I cease to love Creation , , , , ,May I cease to love myself
--The Lovequest Vow of the Tilián
Original version
Table of Contents
(Please note: This is
a serial, not a single novel. Don't kill yourself trying to
read it all at once! Space it out the way you would a
television series running for years. That's how I wrote it.)
Book II: TESTS OF BLOOD AND FIRE *** Book
III: RESPONSIBILITY ***
Book
IV: BRAIDED PATHS *** Book
V: SHARING INSANITY *** Book
VI THE RIFT ***
Book VII: THE
BURNING ***
I. WELCOME TO THE CHARADOC!
FEBRUARY, 2708
2:
Sargeddohl Harbor *** 3:
Driving *** 4.
In the Mansion of Soskia Peshawr *** 5. Special Preparations *** 6.
Chinese New Year, Charadocian Style *** 7.
Hostage *** 8.
The Children of Cyran *** 9.
Necessary Measures *** 10.
The People Unseen *** 11.
Far from Civilization *** 12.
The Art of the Gun *** 13.
Watching and Witnessing ***
MARCH, 2708
14.
Rosary *** 15.
On Weeds and Wild Things *** 16.
Uncomfortable Necessities *** 17.
Jonathan's Confession *** 18.
Learning *** 19.
Aspirations *** 20.
Innocence and Realism *** 21.
Hard Mercies *** 22.
Thoughts Unbearable *** 23.
The New Normal *** 24.
Mitigation *** 25.
Morsels in the Dirt *** 26.
Granny Shtara and the Magic Jar *** 27.
Special Occasions *** 28.
Holy Days *** 29.
Breaking Points ***
APRIL, 2708
30.
Pushing On Anyway *** 31.
Just When Things Seem Most Desperate *** 32.
Long Night into Dawn *** 33.
The Ruins *** 34.
Not bad, for Slavery *** 35.
Wounds *** 36.
Political Dilemmas *** 37.
Matters of Trust *** 38. Points of View *** 39. Mercy Unromanticized *** 40.
The Things We Need *** 41. Awake, Asleep, and In-Between *** 42.
Fruitfulness and Decay ***
43. Dreams and Visions *** 44.
Frenemies *** 45.
Mischa *** 46.
Reunion *** 47.
The Policy of Til ***
Book II: TESTS OF FIRE AND BLOOD APRIL, 2708, continued
1. Malcolm deGroot *** 2.
Who We Could Become *** 3.
Egalitarian Initiation ***
4.
Party, Rebel-Style *** 5 Morning After, Rebel-Style *** 6.
Nursing. *** 7.
Mother Memories *** 8.
At Work in the Cornfield ***
9. Confessions *** 10. Healing on the Sabbath *** 11.
A Meeting of Officers ***
12.
Night-March *** 13.
The Test of Blood *** 14.
Samurai's Song *** 15.
Real. *** 16.
Shelter From the Storm ***
17. Earthquake Country *** 18. Battle of the Tanks *** 19.
Karol's Interrogation ***
20.
Screams in the Night ***
MAY, 2708 21, A Little
Bit of Smoldering *** 22. The Weak
Totter On Anyway ***
23. The
Sorcerer's Gun ***
24. A Dark
Enchantment ***
25. Creatures
of the Woods *** 26. Lucinda's
Band *** 27. The Power
of Information ***
28. The Wild and the Civilized *** 29. Girls
Like a Little Fun *** 30. Out on
the Town *** 31. Secrets
in the Dark *** 32. What
Matters *** 33.
Tumblebugs *** 34 No
Homesickness Allowed *** 35. The
Convent of St. Teresa ***
36. The Sacred and the Profane *** 37. Taxi-Ride
*** 38. Smoke *** 39. Aunt
Soskia's Warehouses ***
40. Madame's
Happy House *** 41. Madame's
Way *** 42. What
Teofilo Wants *** 43. Moving
Teofilo *** 44. Escape
from Sargeddohl *** 45. When It
All Catches Up With You ***
46. The Road
Gives You Too Much Time to Think ***
47. How to
Die *** 48.
Shame. *** 49. Sanctuary
*** 50. The
Secret Lore of the Debriefer's Guild ***
MAY/JUNE, 2708 51. Layers of
Past and Future ***
JUNE, 2708 52. Just Kids
*** 53. Entertainment *** 54. Some Must Leave and Some Must Stay ***
June, 2708, continued
1.
Catching Breath *** 2.
The Road to Tumblebugs ***
3.
A Reunion of Almost All ***
4.
Approved Education and Forbidden Thoughts ***
5.
Kief in Charge *** 6.
Mind Games *** 7.
The Laying of Traps *** 8.
What the Young Ones Want ***
9. Invitations to Destruction *** 10. Change is Life, Change is Death *** 11. Hungry. *** 12. A Trembling Balance Before Tipping *** 13. Enough Fooling Around *** 14. The Battle of Cumenci *** 15. Feast. *** 16. The Rituals That Must Be Kept *** 17. Flight from Cumenci *** 18. A Time for Extreme Measures *** 19. Biocost. *** 20. A Vacation is Just a State of
Mind. *** 21. Greenfire Ash *** 22. The Unforeseeable Path *** 23. Points of Culture *** 24. The Hunting Lodge *** 25. Cyran's Mountain Camp *** 26. Of Men and Women *** 27. Marching Orders *** 28. Life Between Battles *** 29. The Bridge ***
30. Twin Pines ***
31. Interactions ***
JULY, 2708 32. Brother Branko *** 33. The Heart Heeds No Scandal *** 34. A Gift from Gaziley *** 35. Out of Control *** 36. For the Sake of the Young *** 37. The Travails of Women Warriors *** 38. The Ecstasy of Sacrifice *** 39. The Gardener Mage *** 40. One Two Three *** 41. Blood in the Snow *** 42. Entering Hamalla *** 43. In the House of the Don *** 44. Lessons on the Art of Being Human *** 45. Flying. ***
46. O My Charadoc! ***
47. Lessons Learned *** 48. An Alternate Route *** 49. An Icy View ***
50. The Serpent of Koboros *** 51 New Journeys ***
52. The Battle of Mountain Maiden's Knees
***
JULY/AUGUST, 2708 53. Guests of the Abojans ***
AUGUST, 2708 54. The Chapel of St. Teresa *** 55. The Faithful on the Front *** 56. Friendclan Memories *** 57. Joy in the Face of Danger *** 58. Mountain Melancholy *** 59. A Fleeting Taste of Berries *** 60. Waiting for the Enemy *** 61. The Raid ***
62. Party, Courtesy of Stovak *** 63. On the Brink ***
64. The Defense of Abojan Pass *** 65. After the Battle ***
1. A Penitent's Last Refuge *** 2. A Change of Route *** 3. No Illusions Allowed *** 4. Overlapping Perspectives *** 5. Meetings and Separations *** 6. Assessing the Situation *** 7. Magic and Misdirection *** 8. The Devil's Road *** 9. Memory and its Vagaries *** 10. Dark Initiation *** 11. The Precariousness of Sacred Space *** 12. Overlap ***
13. Return to Koboros *** 14. Rest and Refuge *** 15. Obtaining the Needful ***
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER, 2708 16. Leaving Koboros ***
SEPTEMBER, 2708 17. Soldier Musings *** 18. Kiril's Detour *** 19. Parallel Marches *** 20. Pranks ***
21. Your Presence is Known *** 22. The Pranking Gets Serious *** 23. Breathe ***
24. Lyanfa ***
25. In the House of Rosebud *** 26. Bittersweet. *** 27. A Split Infinity *** 28. Bugs and Fireworks *** 29. The Care of Children in Time of War *** 30. The Big One. ***
OCTOBER, 2708
31. Rip *** 32. The New Reality *** 33. Songs. Stories, and Other Truths *** 34. Beliefs and Traditions *** 35. Medical Attention ***
36. Accommodations and Understandings *** 37. Sweet-Bits ***
38. Clues and Dreams of Fear *** 39. The Messenger *** 40. Covert Operations *** 41. Impact ***
42. Braintangle ***
43. The Dairy Farm *** 44. Generosity ***
45. To Change the World *** 46. Birthday Party *** 47. Not Actually a Party *** 48. Brainstorms ***
49. The Guilty Treasure of Crespus
Inglorius *** 50. A Question of Competence *** 51. Why They Do It *** 52. Whatever Rest One Can Find *** 53. Good People ***
54. O the Burning Night! *** 55. The Joys and Terrors of the Next
Level *** 56. The Vices of Our Aspirations *** 57. The Quest for Normal ***
OCTOBER, 2708, continued. 1. No Land for the Innocent *** 2. An Easing of Tensions *** 3. The Bitter Truth *** 4. Blue Shoe ***
NOVEMBER, 2708 5. Secret Ingredient *** 6. Day of the Dead... *** 7. ...Night
of the Dead *** 8. ...And the
Aftermath *** 9. Haunted *** 10. Placating
Ghosts *** 11. The
Forbidden Feminine *** 12.
New Friends *** 13. Gauging
Trust *** 14. Reeling to Congruity *** 15. Sacrifices ***
16. A Merry Meeting *** 17. On the Trail of Fear *** 18. Wake Up! ***
19. What we Can and Cannot Handle *** 20. The Cynics and the Naifs *** 21. Rough Night ***
22. Care for the Suffering *** 23. Improvising. *** 24. What Is and Is Not Food *** 25. Dangerous Lessons *** 26. Innocence as a Casualty of War *** 27. The Collaborator *** 28. Playing the Role *** 29. Threads and Bandages *** 30. Eyes in the Shadows *** 31. The Fall of the God of Freedom *** 32. Day of Rest ***
33, Facing Changes *** 34. Stopgap Measures *** 35. Damnation ***
36. The Damned Carry On *** 37. Witchery ***
38. What Are We? *** \39. What Are We Part Two *** 40. On the Road to a Rendezvous *** 41. The Orphan School *** 42. Plotting ***
43. Terrorism ***
44. Recuperation ***
DECEMBER, 2708
45. For Lufti ***
46. More Than Madness *** 47. Insomnia. *** 48. Down the Thorny Path *** 49. The Burning. *** 50. A Proper Burial *** 51. Blurring Boundaries *** 52. No Time for Subtlety *** 53. Kiril Takes Charge *** 54. Turning Point *** 55. Irrevocably Sacrificial *** 56. The Victory of Kiril *** 57. The Spoils of War *** 58. Wreckage of the Aftermath *** 59. The Power of Words *** 60. Orders ***
61. A Day's Work Done ***
DECEMBER, 2708, continued
1. The Return Trip Begins *** 2. A General Indeed ***
3, Loved Ones ***
4. Care for
the Sick *** 5. Lost and
Found *** 6. A
Conversation with Sanzio D'Arco ***
7. On the
Move *** 8. The
Servant's Cave *** 9. Sharing
Cigarettes *** 10. Micah's
Gap *** 11. We Burn! *** 12. Growing
Up in Ishkal *** 13.
Everything Must Change ***
14. The
Christmas Eve Feast *** 15. Christmas
at Midnight *** 16. Dance *** 17. A
Christmas Birth *** 18. The Joys
of Flight *** 19. A Game of
Traps *** 20. Reports *** 21.
Aftershocks *** 22. The
Burden of Flight *** 23. New
Year's Eve ***
JANUARY, 2709 24. The Changing of the Year *** 25. Truth *** 26. Fractures *** 27. The Black Advamce *** 28. Savagery and Civility *** 29. The Agony of Flight *** 30. Greenfire *** 31. Penance *** 32. Gathering *** 33. Insubordination *** 34. Lessons on Mayhem *** 35. A Song of Koboros *** JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 2709 36. Martial Madness *** FEBRUARY, 2709
38. Merchant Caverns *** 39. Futures Never Born *** 40. Mykolas Bobola *** 41. Robbie's Tale *** 42. The Ghost Road *** 43. Reconnaisance *** 44, Fury *** 45: Think Like a Conqueror *** 46. Laying the Groundwork. *** 47. The Final Push *** 48. Touching Base *** 49. Anticipation *** 50. We Meet at Abojan Pass *** 51. General Layne Estelle Aliso *** 52. After the Battle *** 53. Last Rites *** 54. Welcome Home! *** 55. Phoenix of the Vanities *** 56. Down *** 57. Color *** 58. Trade and
Transactions *** FEBRUARY/MARCH, 2709
59.
Confessions ***
MARCH, 2709
61. Battles in the Bloodstream *** 62. The Limousine *** VII THE BURNING MARCH, 2709, CONTINUED 1. This Weapon, Deirdre Keller *** 2. Influence on the Young *** 3. Into the Unknown *** 4. Of Failure and Success *** 5. The Gift of Mercy *** 6. Bullets and Communion *** 7. Little Sacrifices *** 8. Forever Blazoned into Song *** 9. Land of the Dead *** 10. Prayer *** APRIL, 2709 11. What's Sanity Anyway? *** 12. Welcomes *** 13. Our Past and Future Ghosts *** 14. Memories of the Dead *** 15. Getting the Lay of the Land *** 16. Red River *** 17. Interpersonal Relations *** 18. Holy Week *** 19. The Homelike Church *** 20. Master Barrahab *** 21. Abundance, Need and Illusion *** 22. Feelings *** 23. Taking
Responsibility *** 24. Children of the Heart *** 25. Seeking Shelter *** 26. A Smaller Band *** 27. The Pangs of Faith *** 28. Limping Along *** 29. Unforgettable *** 30. Frailties of the Mind *** 31. How Not To Treat Children *** 32. At It Again *** 33. Truth Hurts *** 34. The Things that One Gets Used to *** 35. All Our Ghosts *** 36. Confrontations with Truth *** 37. Chastening *** 38. Contagions of the Mind *** 39. Invalids *** 40. The Sleep of the Dead *** 41. An Interval of Peace *** May, 2709 42. The Newest Recruit *** 43. Regrets *** 44. Crash *** 45. Making the Best of the Mess *** 46. Home Sweet Home*** 47. Unexpected Applications of Gift*** 48. Fire Out of Bounds*** 49. Going Back*** 50. Family*** 51. Light and Darkness*** 52. Appalling Powers*** 53. Hearts on Fire*** 54. Medical Necessities*** 55. Traveling*** 56. Doctoring*** 57. Morning Care*** 58. Revelations of the Unwell*** Return
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