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Belzedar, Kira and Tira became Beltira and Belkira. Makor and Din
and Sambar became Belmakor and Beldin and Belsambar. To each of
our names our as er joine e sym o o e an or
and we became his Disciples.
* A note here for the linguistically obsessed. 'Bel' may or may not be 'the
symbol of the
Will and the Word'. It is more likely that it means 'beloved'. 'Bel' is the
masculine form,
and 'Pol' is the feminine. Polgara's name derives directly from her father's
name, since it's
a patronymic like 'Ivan Ivanovitch' (Ivan son of Ivan) or 'Natasha Ivanova'
(Natasha,
daughter of Ivan) in Russian. Note that this principle does not apply to the
name of Pol's
sister, Beldaran, which perhaps indicates that Belgarath loved Beldaran more
than he
loved Pol.
And we built other towers so that our labors and our studies
should not interfere with our Master's work or each other's.
At first I was jealous that my Master spent time with these others,
but, since time was meaningless to us anyway and I knew that my
Master's love was infinite, so that his love for the others in no way
diminished his love for me, I soon outgrew that particular
childishness. And also, I grew to love the others as the bonds of our
brotherhood grew. I could sense their minds as they worked, and I shared
their joy at each new discovery they made. Because I was the first
Disciple, they often came to me as to an older brother with those
things they were embarrassed to lay before our Master, and I guided
them as best I could.
Thus passed a period of perhaps a thousand years, and we were
content. The world beyond our Vale changed and the people also,
and no more pupils came to us. It was a question I always intended
to pursue but never found the time to examine. Perhaps the other
Gods grew jealous and forbade their people to seek us out, or
perhaps it was that in their long passage through the endless
generations, men somehow lost that tiny spark that is the source of the
power of Will and Word and is the lodestone that draws their spirits
inevitably to the spirit of Aldur. So it was that we were seven only
and were unlike any other men on earth.
And through all this time of study and learning, our Master,
Aldur, labored in infinite patience with that grey stone he had
shown me on the night he had accepted me as his Disciple. C)nce I
marveled to him that he should devote so much time to it, and he
laughed.
'Truly, my son,' he said, 'I labored once at least so long to create a
flower which is now so common that none take note of it. It blooms
beside every dusty path, and men pass it by without even looking at
it. But I know it is there, and I joy in its perfection.'
As I look back, I think I would give my life, which has stretched
over so many years, if my Master had never conceived the idea of
that grey stone which has brought so much woe into this world.