Sacrifice

Chapter 17 - The Projects

Once on the roof, Kalli had expected to be left to her own devices, but Raphiel settled himself comfortably in a chair and watched her work. Before she put her eye to her telescope she looked up at the heavens. They were as magnificent now as they had been that night when she was a child.

This is why she looked to the stars.

She settled in front of her telescope and started calculating positions.

They stayed there in silence as Kalli studied the stars and Raphiel made a study of her. After the witching hour had passed, he broke the quiet night air with a question.

"You're remarkably dedicated to your studies. Pray tell me how long you plan to remain this evening?"

Kalli glanced up from her charts embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I was unaware of the hour and that you wanted me to go."

"I don't recall telling you I wanted you to leave," Raphiel commented. "I merely inquired as to the hours that you planned to keep tonight."

Kalli glanced at the long list of coordinates that she had managed to calculate and record. "I had thought to stay as long as I was welcome in order to collect as much data as possible."

"Perhaps you're afraid that this opportunity will not be re-extended and that you need to make the most of this night?"

"Well," Kalli said, "there was no qualification in your offer as to the length of time I would be able to study from your roof. So yes, I had meant to make the most of each moment."

She watched the old man.

"Though perhaps this ambiguity was by design rather than coincidence?"

Raphiel smiled but didn't answer her question, "How many stars do you plan to map?"

Kalli contemplated the tapestry of stars and planets that hung in the sky above them. "All of them."

"That is the work of many lifetimes."

Kalli kept looking at the stars. "Maybe," she said softly, "but I would never tire of it."

Kalli finally looked away from the objects of her obsession.

"May I return another night?"

Raphiel nodded. "Before tonight I was unsure if I would invite you back, but you are as passionate about your own science as I was about my study of the sea at your age."

"You were a scientist?" Kalli asked.

"You never really stop being a scientist," Raphiel answered. "It's something that once in your blood never truly leaves. But that is a discussion for another time. You're welcome back tomorrow night so long as you answer my question before you go."

He inspected Kalli's face.

"And I'm afraid that I'm not as easily put off as my grandson. Who struck you?"

Kalli had to look away and take a deep breath. "I don't see what that has to do with science."

"I think that you will find that there is more to life than science and that more is discussed and discovered on this roof than pure quantitative data," was Raphiel's dry answer.

Kalli turned back to Raphiel. "I don't want your son involved in my problems. It would not bode well for him to interfere."

"Ah," Raphiel said, "I see you are under the same illusion as my grandson. Unfortunately, Makiel's father is not as ... open-minded... as myself when it comes to affairs between the Cirt people and the Imkan Empire. I'm afraid that my son would not risk his own well-being for an Imkanian no matter how dire the circumstances."