Quoted By:
It is not like you could change your mind now. In the process of being made whole, being inducted as Full Brother, you gave up your eye – so in a physical sense, you are no longer whole. You are no longer fit for any sort of proper duty, unless you are hooked up to a Socket. And now it seems that you are somehow incompatible with Sockets. So where does that leave you exactly? If this one dies on you like the last, how many more will there be before they just write you off?
You would not be turned out on to the streets, of course, but that does not mean that you are excited about your prospects. Those who have been crippled in the service – and you suppose that would include you – as well as those who are too old to go on Hunts, have some manner of work found for them. In many cases, this is a promotion to a leadership position, but you are much too young to be considered for a post like that, unless it was in a chapterhouse <span class="mu-i">outside</span> of the Empire – which if it was not Nauretania it would probably be just like it. So if leadership is off of the table, then that means a teaching position somewhere – but setting aside that you know for a fact that you do not have the disposition for teaching, you have next to no experience as a Dosimetrist. Maybe you could teach Acolytes and Half Brothers … well, uh … climbing? Stealing?
Your snort of nervous laughter sounds like a sneeze. Still, it is a pretty funny thought. You could teach the children how to mug Witches. Turn the lot of them into a gang of little rakes.
Really though, if this Socket fails like the last – and the ones that replace it all fail as well, you will probably be released from the Inquisition, and retrained to serve elsewhere in the Faith. But the idea of spending the rest of your life – assuming your health does not go to shit as well – as a Velchanos in a temple smithy or an Undertaker or something … maybe you could see yourself doing that. But you cannot see yourself being happy with that.
And that only happens assuming that you are still clean and somewhat sound of body when you are retried. Pattern’s Perdition, if this Socket dies on you as well, who is to say that the shielding holds like last time? Who is to say that the graft will not eventually get rejected, and you get sepsis without anyone noticing? Becoming a Full Brother was supposed to open doors for you – instead, it opened pits. You are not sure if you are in the one with the flames, or the one with spikes, but …
Shutters overhead open, and a voice calls out to you.
“Good morning, Journeyman Antono. Are you here to see the master?”
“Why my dear, who else could I possibly be here to see?”
Oddly enough, Amalasuintha does not smile at that as you thought she would.
“The master has just stepped out, I am afraid. I would let you in to wait for him, but he has decided to paint the stairs. I cannot come down at the moment. If you would like, you may let yourself in.”
