Chapter 15
The DecisionBefore they reached the turn off to Kirkoway, Durston joined Mairi and Neil. He told Mairi not to be sad that her people had gone. It was inevitable that they should, and right that they should. She was strong enough now to stand alone and use what they had taught her.
‘How do you mean?’ Neil asked. ‘What can she do? What must she do?’
Durston looked at Mairi.
‘What do you think?’ he asked.
Mairi looked far away into the distance for a while and Neil could feel her stillness, her composure, her new strength.
‘I would like to heal the sick,’ she said. ‘And I would like to teach what I have learned.’
Durston smiled.
‘That is a good choice,’ he said, and nodded contentedly. He stretched his long limbs like a cat who has woken up from a sleep in the sun. ‘I will
