Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 301
lands, and they began to grow huge crops there, in open
defiance of the Winds.
"Our people have always believed that we have a silent
pact with the desals. All our laws were made to preserve the
pact. As far as we can see, the desals will always use the desert
to purify water for the continent. What was in the beginning,
will be always. So it should be with our laws, our kings and
our traditions.
"The laws are harsh. They dictate everything from our
professions to the size of the family. Our cities have grown
only so big as the desals will tolerate, and can grow no more.
We cannot divert the Winds’ rivers to suit our needs. The
nobility trace their lineage back to the time of Iasin, as do
people in the guilds and trades. All life is fixed. While your
nations have been in a constant uproar of change and growth
all these centuries, we know you will reach the same point
eventually. Humanity cannot rule Ventus. We are merely
tolerated. In my country, people believe that life will always
be like it is now, for all eternity.
"I should say, we used to believe that. Then came Queen
Galas, to upset a thousand years of tradition."
"What did she do?" asked Jordan. The swath of sunlight
that had blanketed the valley below was gone, leaving the
landscape blued by lowering clouds. More rain was coming.
Suneil pointed along the road that led past the long lake.
"Our lives are tied to the floods. We prosper insofar as we can
predict them. We have always relied on observation and our
records to do that. Galas had no need of such indirect means.
She negotiated with the desals, and the desert flooded when
and where and by how much she said it would. No sovereign
has ever had such power over nature. We prospered as we
never have.