All right, here's next. I've always wondered about Joran meeting Polgara - he wanted to see her, and she him - but we never got to see if he even did get to do so... This chapter is about how they did meet...
mac-c: I don't know about Joran having Will & Word any more than Lelldorin has (as the Archer), but he might... I haven't really decided that yet!
Meeting Lady Polgara
After the meeting with Belgarion, Torgan permitted Joran and Torell to be a little more openly together. "Well, you won't get me to act against anything the Keeper approves" Torgan said and gave the two a stern look. "And remember, nothing improper. You'll marry after Joran bases his own business and until then, you keep your clothes on. Is that clear?"
"Crystal" they both said and went back to work.
Only few weeks later, early in the morning, a rare company of three entered the shop, coming to see Joran. They were King Belgarion, Lady Polgara and a child. Joran recognised the child immediately. This was the child he'd seen in his dreams. The Orb-bearer. Joran greeted Belgarion first, then the Orb-bearer, and lastly, Lady Polgara. She had raised her eye-brow at the word Orb-bearer, but said nothing.
"So you're the one who made that beautiful Crystal Wren" Polgara said. "You really wanted to give it to me? Are you sure you wouldn't have anything in return?"
"No, my Lady. A gift is a gift." Joran rejected more firmly than he had intended. "But you may tell all others who see the Wren that it's from me" he added with a smile.
"I see". Polgara laughed. "Not totally without self-interest, then. What's there for you when I go back to the Vale of Aldur?"
"Then that's the best place for it to be" Joran said dreamily.
"Errand" the child said with conviction.
Joran smiled and nodded. "I presume your errand is completed?" he asked.
"Belgarion" the child replied with a note of finality.
"I'd like to hear how little king Geran survived" Joran said, "I believe you know something of it".
"King Geran?" Belgarion frowned. "I thought you said his name was Prince Gared, Aunt Pol?"
"Prince Gared was king Geran's father" Joran said in confusion.
Polgara, however, had lost herself deep in thought. "Are you certain the survivor was named Geran?" she asked, obviously fighting off some confusion.
"Positive" Joran said. "Any Rivan would. My father, the Rivan Deacon – along with his predecessors, has made sure of that. We remember the names of our dead since the first day of fall in 4002. The Deacon begins with King Gorek the Wise and his wife, Queen Drusell. Their son, Prince Gared; Princess Arell, wife to Prince Gared. The eldest son of Prince Gared, Prince Bralon, only nine at the time. The second son, Prince Darral, only seven. And the third and last, King Geran the Survivor, who went into the Sea of Winds in refusal to be slain by the way of Issa, but willingly embracing the Sea of Belar. The list continues with every Rivan who's died since then. Their bodies were ceremonially given to the Sea of Winds, but the Sea always returned them, so we had to burn them instead. The last on the list is my mother, died on Gorek's Day, giving birth to me".
"Yes… I remember now" Polgara said. "He wanted to be a pirate, as I recall".
"So you saved him?" Joran asked. "There's that story of a bird…"
She smiled. "I was a bird when father and I flew here, because the ruining of Tolnedran roads warned us of the Nyissan attack. I saw him down there, not knowing him at first, but I dived to save that little boy. We hid under a platform until it was dark. I managed to heat the water enough to keep us warm".
"What did you do then?" Belgarion asked in sudden interest.
"First we hid in my house in Erat that's hidden beneath roses. Few know it still exists" Polgara said. "You've been there, Garion… we went there after your parents died we left for Faldor's when you were six months old".
"You didn't spend all the time in there, though…" Belgarion said.
"Of course not" Polgara said. "he had to get married, after all… Anyway, we spent our time learning different crafts, mainly in Sendaria, but occasionally in Alorn kingdoms… We moved often, and became more and more obscure each time".
Then the discussion went to Geran and Ildera, Belgarion's parents and how they had died.
Joran frowned in disbelief. "Stones won't burn" he said stiffly. "They tend to crack instead".
"I've seen the house. My father cut a passage for me into the wall – the last thing he did". Belgarion said firmly. "Trust me, that house did burn".
Joran bowed his head. Anyone else he would argue, but not Belgarion. And one stone did have a flame within. "Survivor of the fire in a stone house" Joran muttered to himself. Truth was even more miraculous than the fiction they had come up with for that passage…
"Is that why you have such a lack of understanding to danger, Garion?" she asked. "So that you go rafting without bothering to learn how to swim first?"
"I was about to get the hang of swimming when that log hit me unconscious" Belgarion said. "I've never heard of anyone who'd managed to swim after a quick hit on the head. And I'm not altogether certain that Chamdar didn't have something to do with that, too".
"Survivor of Water" Joran said. "Like king Geran the Survivor" he added quickly, but his eyes told Belgarion there was more. More 'survivor titles' awaiting for explanation.
Belgarion changed the subject. "You know, I wonder how people seem to accept me so readily..." he said. "It's been over thirteen centuries, after all".
"Some of us knew you'd come, Belgarion" Joran said. "My father kept telling me that I would see that day. He had this prophecy and it told exactly when the 'Survivor' was born".
"Prophecy? What prophecy? Neither Mrin nor Darine speak nothing of it", Polgara asked in sudden interest.
"The Rivan Prophecy, my Lady" Joran replied. "That was spoken by Iron-grip himself after giving the Sword to Daran the Regent, until the moment he held Daran's son in his arms. I have been told that Riva Iron-grip knew the time of his death before he died".
She frowned. "I... I must speak with your father" she said. "Where might I find him?"
"At the Temple of Belar, ma'am" Joran replied. "He's the Deacon, after all..."
She was gone pretty soon after that, hunting down a prophecy.
"I suppose that prophecy also mentions all these 'survivor' things?" Belgarion asked.
"It does, Your Majesty" Joran said. "There's a copy at the Citadel".
"Why didn't you tell her that?" Belgarion asked him.
"She didn't ask" Joran replied. "Besides, my father will want information about the whereabouts of your family for the record. And there's something you two ought to see, but I didn't want to show to her..."
"Oh?" Belgarion said.
Joran unwrapped a glasspiece, a figure showing the little boy giving the Orb to Belgarion. "Here you are", Joran said, presenting it to them. "As I told Your Majesty earlier, I recognised you as soon as I saw you -- at the market when Brand was presenting you to the people".
"Errand!" the little child clapped his hands.
"Yes, that was your errand" Belgarion told him. "It's over now so you might try and learn new words".
"Belgarion" the child said.
"That's a start, Errand" Belgarion told him. "Could you think of a third word?"
"The child didn't reply.
Joran smiled and unwrapped a glassfigure showing the child, Errand, patting a horse.
"Horse!" the child exclaimed.
"My my... it was all true then, I suppose..." Joran muttered.
"What was?" Belgarion asked.
"My father had this theory when the Orb was gone, Belgarion" Joran replied. "It run away to get your attention like a child".
"Could be..." Belgarion mused.
"What would you like me to do with those pieces?" Joran asked Belgarion. "Shall I give them to you or crush them?"
Belgarion blinked at that question. "You... you weren't going to sell them?"
Joran shook his head. "Only if you command me to" he said, "and in that case, I would be just as reluctant to keep the money".
The child hugged the figures protectively. So Belgarion decided to take the figures with him -- although he was not going to let anyone see it...