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ôI am?ö
ôùand thereÆs that library to build.ö
ôHmm. Not this year, I donÆt think.ö
ôThatÆs what I mean,ö Medric said. ôYou are I are in it for some years at
least.
Karisùö
She looked at him, sullen as though she were the youth and he the elder
telling
her what to do. ôGo back to Meartown,ö Medric said.
ôWhy?ö
ôBecause the most important journeys all begin at home.ö
Karis opened her mouth, but said nothing.
Zanja said, ôThen we all should come to Meartown. The tribe should stay
together.ö
They all looked at her in some surprise. Then Medric said, ôTribe? A
community,
maybe, after Mackapee.ö
ôNo, a company,ö said Emil.
And JÆhan said, ôOr a family, perhaps.ö
Norina put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from speaking. Perhaps she
would have demanded that they found a new order.
ôBut not yet,ö said Emil. ôThe last thing you need, Karis, is to be
surrounded
by people who are slavishly waiting for you to tell them what to do with
their
lives. You must answer your own questions first.ö
Karis said mutinously, ôSo youÆre all going to abandon me out here in the
wilderness instead?ö
Emil said, ôWhy, yes, I believe we are.ö
Medric added irrelevantly, ôSlavish? ThatÆs a bit of a hyperbole, isnÆt it?ö
They argued amicably and finally settled on ôobsequious.ö Norina seemed to be
trying to tear her hair out of her head. Karis glanced at her and said
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irritably, ôWhat?ö
ôEat your porridge,ö Norina said.
Karis seemed flabbergasted. ôThe first words youÆve said to me in ten daysùö
ôEat your blasted porridge,ö Norina amended.
ôYouÆll be a rotten mother,ö Karis muttered. She put a spoonful of porridge
into
her mouth.
There is a stillness that comes across the earth sometimes, at dawn, or just
before a storm, a stillness as if the entire world lies stunned by
possibility.
So Karis became still, and so the agitated, half-hilarious talk of her
friends
fell silent, and so the breeze itself seemed to take its breath. Karis looked
at
the bowl of porridge as though she had never seen food before.
ôPorridge is pretty dull, as food goes,ö Norina said.
ôDull?ö Karis took another taste. ôThis is dull?ö
Comprehension struck Zanja like a stinging slap in the face. ôDear gods,ö she
whispered.
ôOh, my,ö said JÆhan.
But Medric grinned complacently and gave JÆhan his book, and Emil calmly
poured
out onto the ground the pot of tea he had just made, and packed his tea set
away. Zanja caught a glimpse of how irritating fire bloods could be when they
have realized a truth before anyone else. JÆhan got up and began fussing in
his
saddlebags, taking things out and putting them in again. Norina laced her
fingers across her knees and in silence watched Karis eat another astounded
spoonful of porridge. Of course, to a Truthken there is no such thing as
privacy, but Zanja felt it proper to look away, if only to hide her own
expression. She would have found something to do, like Medric and Emil, who
were
fretting now over how to distribute the weight of books and food between
their
two horses, but it just would have made her feel as foolish as they looked.
Karis scraped the porringer clean. Zanja took it from her and filled it up
again
with oats and dry fruit, and set it in the coals. Norina stood up without a
word, and went to help with the packing. Karis wiped her face with the ragged
tail of her shirt. ôI think IÆm hungry,ö she said, as though there were
nothing
extraordinary about her hunger. Then she looked at the cloth of her shirt,
and
touched it to her face again. ôWhatùö
Zanja felt the shirtcloth. ôItÆs soft, the way old shirts get.ö
Karis alternately felt her face and the cloth. Then she looked at her
callused,
soot black hands. ôI am alive,ö she said. ôIt feels very odd.ö
The flat heath spread out before Zanja, oddly out of kilter. When Zanja
looked
at Karis, she hardly could endure the sight, and had to look away again. The
silence became awkward, and at last Karis said in a strained voice, ôWell, I
must ask you, since you havenÆt volunteered. Where are you going to go?ö
Zanja turned, startled, pained that Karis would even think of sending her
away.
ôBecause IÆm going with you,ö Karis continued.
ôI think IÆll go to Meartown.ö
ôWell.ö
ôKarisùö
ôBe careful,ö she said hoarsely. Her attention seemed intensely concentrated,
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as
if she had been rescued from deep water and needed to breathe.
ôWith your permission,ö Zanja said, very carefully, ôIÆd like to court you.ö
Karis uttered a sharp laugh, but even her laughter had no peace in it. ôAnd
up
until now, what have you been doing?ö
ôWell, if this whole year has been a courtship . . .ö Zanja paused, and said,
ôPerhaps it has.ö
ôI donÆt think the earth sent me out to rescue you on a whim.ö
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