Clarion

DANITA WAS SILENT FOR A LONG MOMENT AFTER

her grandfather had finished the story. Finally she looked up at him, her dark eyes reflecting the flame from the fire.

"That was when the Treaty of Clarion was signed?"

The old man nodded. "The treaty was negotiated and signed during the next three days. Dorland called in the UNSA triumvirate members, as well as Hans Maiar and his top lieutenants. It wasn't hard to convince them to come. They all wanted to get their hands on Clarion."

"But Dorland Avery didn't know he would be able to persuade them to sign the treaty. Wasn't that risky, bringing them all together like that?" The old man smiled. "Dorland and the others were accustomed to taking risks." His hand lifted unconsciously to his cheek and touched the deep scar that slanted across his face. "Dorland knew that all he had to do was show them the kra'ith of humankind."

"It was that simple?"

212 William Greenleaf

"Well. . . no," the old man admitted. "They hadn't come to hear about the kra'ith. But they had come to find the secrets of the Tal Tahir. Dorland showed them the kra'ith and enabled them to realize for themselves the importance of a lasting peace. The rest of it grew from that." In truth, there had been many who hadn't believed the Treaty of Clarion would last a week, and it had certainly gone through some shaky trials. But the treaty had in fact lasted eighty years, and was stronger today than ever. During that time the Fringe Alliance and UNSA had grown together in mutual strength.

"What happened to High Elder Brill and the rest of the elders?" Danita asked.

"Alban Brill was old. Losing his hold over Clarion was too much for him. He died a few months after the treaty was signed. Elder Jacowicz died shortly after, but by his own hand. The rest of them moved back to Fairhope. Some became good

friends of mine over time."

"When was the university built?"

"After the treaty was signed. Dorland Avery's first students graduated a year later."

"You were in that class, weren't you?"

"Yes." The old man had graduated in Clarion University's first class along with all the other original Sons of God. Most of them were dead by now, but during their lifetimes they had formed a strong kra'ith and had succeeded in negotiating peaceful ends to thousands of conflicts along the stream. Others, like the old man, had instructed countless more at the university to take their places.

Dorland Avery and Paul Jurick both had lived long enough to see their plans succeed. All along the vastness-of the stream, humankind had not experienced the horrors of war in over sixty