By the beginning of Adrian's second year, the nursery had become one of the least useful rooms in the Arvane residence.
He still slept there at night, but during the day he preferred to be anywhere else. The household had gradually learned that attempting to keep him confined was more troublesome than allowing him to explore under supervision, and Elira had therefore begun taking him with her whenever she moved through the estate.
Adrian walked now, although his balance was still uncertain. He could cross a room without falling most of the time, and whenever he did stumble, he usually pushed himself upright with an expression of determined irritation before anyone could help him.
His increasing mobility had also made the servants more cautious.
Objects that had once been left on low tables were moved higher. Doors leading to staircases were kept closed. The kitchen became strictly off-limits, particularly after Adrian discovered that the cooks kept interesting things there.
His curiosity was becoming difficult to contain.
One morning, Elira took him into the library.
The room occupied the western wing of the estate and contained several thousand books, although most were far beyond what a two-year-old could understand. Shelves covered the walls from floor to ceiling, and narrow ladders rested against them so that servants and scholars could reach the higher volumes.
Adrian had become fascinated by the books.
He could not read, but he understood that the marks covering their pages had meaning because he had watched his parents and tutors spend hours looking at them.
Whenever someone opened a book, Adrian wanted to know what was inside.
Elira placed him beside a low table.
"You may look at this one."
She handed him a children's picture book.
Adrian opened it.
The pages contained illustrations of animals, plants, rivers, mountains, and several familiar religious symbols.
He recognized the image of a tree surrounded by golden roots.
"Earth Father," he said.
Elira smiled.
"Very good."
He turned the page.
A blue figure stood above a great ocean.
"Sea Mother."
"Yes."
Another page showed a woman holding a flame.
"Lady of Hearths."
Elira nodded.
Adrian had learned the names of several gods during the previous year, mostly because he heard them constantly. Their symbols appeared throughout the city, and his parents had made no effort to hide religion from him.
Instead, they treated it as an ordinary part of life.
Adrian pointed toward another illustration.
"Who?"
Elira looked.
It depicted a tall figure with wings spread behind its shoulders, surrounded by spiraling lines.
"That is the Sky Queen."
Adrian studied the picture.
"What do?"
Elira paused.
It was a simple question, but she wanted to answer it properly.
"The Sky Queen governs the winds and the upper air. Sailors pray to her when they travel, and farmers pray to her when they need favorable weather."
Adrian looked back at the illustration.
"She makes wind?"
"According to the Church, yes."
"How?"
Elira smiled.
"That is a much harder question."
Adrian waited.
She touched his nose.
"You will have to learn a great deal before you can ask questions like that."
Adrian looked at the picture again.
"How?"
Elira laughed.
"You've already started."
Later that afternoon, Count Edric returned from the royal court.
Adrian heard the front doors open and immediately ran toward the entrance.
He was still unsteady enough that Elira followed closely behind.
Edric had barely removed his coat when his son reached him.
"Father."
The Count smiled.
"You came running."
Adrian grabbed his leg.
Edric bent down and lifted him.
"How was your morning?"
"Books."
"You were reading?"
Adrian shook his head.
"Looking."
Edric laughed.
"That sounds more accurate."
Elira joined them.
"He has started asking questions."
"What kind?"
"Mostly about the gods."
Edric glanced at Adrian.
"Already?"
"He sees their symbols everywhere."
Edric carried him toward the sitting room.
"What did you ask your mother?"
Adrian thought about it.
"How?"
Edric looked at Elira.
She smiled.
"Exactly."
Edric sat down with Adrian on his knee.
"How what?"
"Gods."
"You want to know how the gods work?"
Adrian nodded.
Edric considered his answer.
He could have given the easy response.
The gods were divine.
Their power was beyond mortals.
The Church understood their will.
That was what most people would say.
Instead, he decided to give his son something more useful.
"We don't know."
Adrian stared at him.
Edric continued.
"People know what the gods can do. Priests know how to ask for their blessings. Scholars have spent centuries studying the miracles they perform. But knowing what something can do is not the same as knowing how it works."
Elira looked at him with mild surprise.
"You are encouraging him."
"I am answering his question."
"Those are not always different things."
Edric smiled.
Adrian had already lost interest in the conversation and was examining his father's signet ring.
Edric watched him for a moment.
"Perhaps he will become a scholar."
Elira laughed.
"Perhaps."
The following week, Adrian left the estate with his mother for the first time without traveling to a temple.
They went into the city.
Valedria was enormous.
Adrian had seen it from carriage windows before, but this was different. Elira had him walk beside her for part of the journey, holding his hand while two guards followed several steps behind.
The streets were crowded.
Merchants shouted from their stalls. Horses pulled carts through the intersections, while craftsmen carried materials between workshops. The smell of bread mixed with smoke, leather, spices, sewage, and the salty scent of fish brought in from the river.
Adrian stared at everything.
A blacksmith struck a glowing piece of metal with a hammer.
Adrian stopped.
The sound echoed down the street.
"Fire," he said.
"Yes," Elira replied.
"Hot?"
"Very."
He watched the blacksmith strike the metal again.
Sparks scattered across the workshop.
Adrian stepped closer.
One of the guards immediately moved between him and the open doorway.
"Stay here."
Adrian frowned.
Elira smiled.
"You can watch from there."
He accepted that.
They continued.
A little farther along, they passed a shrine built into the side of a stone building. A woman stood before it holding a basket of flowers.
She placed the flowers beneath the symbol of the Lady of Hearths and bowed her head.
Adrian stopped again.
"Praying?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Elira crouched beside him.
"She is asking the goddess for something."
"What?"
"I don't know."
"Why?"
"Because prayers are private."
Adrian considered this.
They continued walking.
Near the center of the district, they reached a large public square.
A crowd had gathered around a priest.
Adrian could not see what was happening until Elira lifted him into her arms.
The priest stood beside an injured man.
Blood covered the man's sleeve.
The priest placed one hand over the wound and began praying.
The crowd became silent.
A faint golden glow appeared between the priest's fingers.
Adrian stared.
The wound closed.
The bleeding stopped.
The crowd erupted into cheers.
Adrian looked at his mother.
"How?"
Elira's expression became thoughtful.
"That is a miracle."
"How?"
She smiled.
"I suppose you are going to keep asking that."
Adrian nodded.
The priest noticed the noble family watching from the edge of the crowd.
He approached once the ceremony ended.
"My lady."
Elira inclined her head.
"Father."
The priest looked toward Adrian.
"Your son?"
"Yes."
The priest smiled.
"May the gods bless him."
Adrian looked at the man's hands.
"You healed him."
The priest laughed softly.
"With the goddess's blessing."
Adrian looked at his mother.
Then at the priest.
"How?"
The priest seemed amused.
"Because the Lady of Life permitted it."
Adrian frowned.
"But how?"
The priest's smile faded slightly.
It was not an offensive question.
It was simply persistent.
"The gods are not things mortals are meant to understand completely."
Adrian looked toward the healed man.
The priest placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Some mysteries are better left as mysteries."
Adrian said nothing.
Elira thanked the priest, and they continued through the square.
For several minutes, Adrian remained quiet.
Then he asked another question.
"Mother?"
"Yes?"
"If gods heal people…"
He looked back toward the priest.
"…can people heal people?"
Elira stopped walking.
She looked down at him.
"Doctors can."
"Like gods?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because doctors use medicine, knowledge, and skill."
Adrian thought about this.
He looked at the crowd.
Then at the priest.
Then at the injured man who was now walking away.
Two different methods had produced something similar.
The thought was beyond his ability to articulate.
But he remembered it.
That evening, Adrian sat beside his father in the library.
Edric had been reading reports from the southern provinces when Adrian approached the desk.
"Father."
Edric looked up.
"Yes?"
"Gods heal."
"They do."
"Doctors heal."
"Sometimes."
Adrian frowned.
"How?"
Edric smiled.
"You have asked your favorite question again."
Adrian waited.
Edric closed the report.
"Doctors study the body. They learn which plants can reduce pain, which medicines can treat illness, how wounds should be cleaned, and how bones should be set. They do not perform miracles."
"Why?"
"Because they are human."
Adrian looked at the books surrounding them.
"Can human learn?"
"Of course."
"Everything?"
Edric leaned back.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because humans have limits."
Adrian looked dissatisfied.
Edric noticed.
"But limits can change," he added.
Adrian looked at him.
"How?"
"Through knowledge."
The boy remained silent.
Edric smiled.
"You really like that word."
Adrian repeated it.
"Knowledge."
He pronounced it imperfectly.
Edric nodded.
"Yes. Knowledge."
Adrian looked around the library.
For the first time, the enormous shelves did not simply seem like walls filled with strange objects.
They were filled with answers.
He could not read them yet.
He could barely understand the questions.
But he had begun to understand that the world contained things he did not know, and that people could spend their lives learning about them.
That realization was still small.
It was no more than a child's curiosity.
But it would follow him for the rest of his life.
Outside the library windows, evening settled over Valedria. One by one, the temples lit their lamps, and the symbols of the gods appeared in warm colors against the darkening streets.
Adrian watched them from his father's study.
The gods were everywhere.
Their churches stood above the city, their priests walked among the people, and their miracles could be witnessed in public squares.
Yet one question continued returning to his mind.
If the gods could perform miracles, and humans could perform medicine, then perhaps the world contained more than one way of producing the same result.
He did not know what that meant.
He did not know whether the thought was important.
At two years old, he did not even have the vocabulary to explain it.
So he simply remembered it.
And then he turned back toward the books.