Free The Gully Snipe (The Dual World Book 1) by JF Smith Page A

what others thought of him, and Roald sought the approval and esteem of others.
    Nonetheless, tonight was not the night to tell his brother to be a man and to stop seeking forgiveness for something beyond his control. Gully said, “I’m sorry. I’m not, really. I didn’t intend for that to be a cruel thing to say. You know well I’ve never seen you as someone to taunt carelessly.”
    They sank into a silence again. Gully felt bad and truly had not intended for his comment to cut his brother. This time it was Gully’s turn to drink his mead all at once to soften his transgression. He poured again for himself and requested, “Roald, show me again the stars of your family. Show me to where good Astrehd has gone.”
    Roald sat up and looked to the sky. He said firmly, “ Our family, Bayle. Our family, our stars, our ancestors...”
    “Our family, Roald,” repeated Gully, trying to make it up to him.
    Roald moved over so that he was seated next to his brother instead of across from him. “There... directly overhead. Do you see the Trine Range constellation?”
    Gully said he did, and he was honest in his answer. The Trine Range constellation, the ancestors of the royal family, was the most prominent in the sky. Some of the other noble constellations he might have been sketchier of in his knowledge, but the Trine Range was impossible to miss.
    Roald’s outstretched hand and finger drifted down towards the east a little, towards the dark edge of Thayhold. “And there, do you see the Crown of Arguss? The constellation of the noble family veDaufone?”
    “Yes,” said Gully.
    “And next to it is the Swift Horse constellation?”
    “Yes, I see it.”
    “There... between the side of the Crown and the back leg of the Horse, do you see the three stars together, near the dark silhouette of Thayhold? They are faint, but you can see the three together.”
    “I do. I see them,” said Gully.
    “Those stars and the ones immediately around them are those of our family, Bayle.”
    He added, “Every day, it is my sincerest hope that when death takes me and I leave this world, I will have brought enough honor to my family that I will be found worthy to join them in the night sky.” Roald took a bite of cheese and chewed it thoughtfully while he said, “I doubt it will be the case, but that is no excuse for me not to strive for the privilege anyway.”
    Gully was about to argue the point with Roald, but Roald instead asked him, “Did your father ever show you his family stars?”
    “No,” said Gully simply.
    “No constellation? Any stars at all? Even just a single point of light, maybe?”
    “No, he never laid claim to even a single star in the sky,” said Gully. “But then, living in the woods as we did, we did not gaze at the stars much.” Gully had known nothing of the Iisen religion until the day he came to live with Astrehd and Roald. And if having any stars above meant that his father was now up there and that he was wasting his time looking for him in the world below, then he didn’t want any stars. Fortunately, Roald did not press the matter.
    A streak of light flashed across the stars for a split second as they watched, and Roald said with interest, “Did you see that? The shooting star-send? I wonder who is the lucky one tonight whose ancestors see fit to send grace and strength down below to him!”
    Gully might normally have called the whole thing nonsense. The idea that good people were deemed worthy by their forebears and chosen to join them as stars in the darkened sky to in turn watch their descendants and pass judgment on them seemed like so much flap-doodle. But he had learned years ago that Roald held to it all closely, and now even closer since his mother’s passing. It gave his brother comfort and hope, and for that if nothing else, Gully was willing to concede it had a certain value.
    He wondered if that was why he turned out the way he had. With no one watching him, with no fear of long term