most part, strictly utilitarian. Although it pains me to admit it, Beldinâs description of my tower was probably fairly accurate. It did look somewhat like a petrified tree-stump when I stepped back to look at it. It kept me out of the weather, though, and it got me up high enough so that I could see the horizon and look at the stars. What else is a tower supposed to do?
It was at that point that we discovered that Belsambar had the soul of an artist. The last place in the world you would look for beauty would be in the mind of an Angarak. With surprising heat, given his retiring nature, he argued with Belmakor long and loud, insisting on his variations as opposed to the somewhat pedestrian notions of the Melcenes. Melcenes are builders, and they think in terms of stone and mortar and what your material will actually let you get away with. Angaraks think of the impossible, and then try to come up with ways to make it work.
âWhy are you doing this, Belsambar?â Beldin once asked our normally self-effacing brother. âItâs only a buttress, and youâve been arguing about it for weeks now.â
âItâs the curve of it, Beldin,â Belsambar explained, more fervently than Iâd ever heard him say anything else. âItâs like this.â And he created the illusion of the two opposing towers in the air in front of them for comparison. Iâve never known anyone else who could so fully build illusions as Belsambar. I think itâs an Angarak trait; their whole world is built on an illusion.
Belmakor took one look and threw his hands in the air. âI bow to superior talent,â he surrendered. âItâs beautiful, Belsambar. Now, how do we make it work? Thereâs not enough support.â
âIâll support it, if necessary.â It was Belzedar , of all people! âIâll hold up our brotherâs tower until the end of days, if need be.â What a soul that man had!
âYou still didnât answer my question-any of you!â Beldinrasped. âWhy are you all taking so much trouble with all of this?â
âIt is because thy brothers love thee, my son,â Aldur, who had been standing in the shadows unobserved, told him gently. âCanst thou not accept their love?â
Beldinâs ugly face suddenly contorted grotesquely, and he broke down and wept.
âAnd that is thy first lesson, my son,â Aldur told him. âThou wilt warily give love, all concealed beneath this gruff exterior of thine, but thou must also learn to accept love.â
It all got a bit sentimental after that.
And so we all joined together in the building of Beldinâs tower. It didnât really take us all that long. I hope Durnik takes note of that. Itâs not really immoral to use our gift on mundane things, Sendarian ethics notwithstanding.
I missed having my grotesque little friend around in my own tower, but Iâll admit that I slept better. I wasnât exaggerating in the least in my description of his snoring.
Life settled down in the Vale after that. We continued our studies of the world around us and expanded our applications of our peculiar talent. I think it was one of the twins who discovered that it was possible for us to communicate with each other by thought alone. It would have been one - or both - of the twins, since theyâd been sharing their thoughts since the day they were born. I do know that it was Beldin who discovered the trick of assuming the forms of other creatures. The main reason I can be so certain is that he startled several yearsâ growth out of me the first time he did it. A large hawk with a bright band of blue feathers across its tail came soaring in, settled on my window ledge, and blurred into Beldin. âHow about that?â he demanded. âIt works after all.â
I was drinking from a tankard at the time, and I dropped it and went into an extended fit of choking while he pounded me