Then brokenly, trying not to plead either in voice or look, Theria told him of the colony and that her father wished to make her oekist—the leader of the colony.
“We must not go unless you wish to go, Eëtíon,” she finished. “It will mean hardships again for you, pioneer life away from your art and the beautiful things that are your very life. It would put you far from Hellas when you have had to wander so many years.”
For his sake she saw Inessa as it really was—a ruin on a desolate shore, a struggle for mere subsistence, a fight with Nature and with human foes.
But Eëtíon noted only one thing.
“You would be oekist?” he asked, amazed.
“Yes, you and I together.”
“They would place that great task in your hands? Would the priests really do that?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“Oh,” he broke out. “It is better than anything I ever hoped for you. It is——”
She glanced up at him with such sudden relief that her eyes filled with tears.