Read Online Earthborn (Homecoming) by Orson Scott Card - Free Book Online
Authors: Orson Scott Card
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the digger servants still hold the Legless One sacred,” said Aronha.
“Yes,” said Edhadeya, “and they’re always swearing by him.”
“They don’t say his name outright,” said Aronha.
“But Aronha, it’s just a snake.” Edhadeya wagged her head back and forth like a maize tassel. In spite of himself, Aronha laughed. Then his face got serious again, and he looked back at the sixteen soldiers, jogging out among the fields in single file, heading up the river to the southern border.
“Will they find my dream?” asked Edhadeya.
“If the Keeper sent you the dream,” said Aronha, “it must mean he wants the Zenifi found.”
“But that doesn’t mean that anybody in Monush’s party even knows how to hear the Keeper when she speaks,” said Edhadeya.
Aronha glared but didn’t look at her.
“He
decides whom he’s going to speak to. It’s not a matter of knowing how.”
“
She
can only speak to people who know how to listen, which is why our ancestor Luet was so famous as the waterseer, and her sister Hushidh and her niece Chveya as ravelers. They had great power in them, and—”
“The power wasn’t in
them
,” said Aronha. “It was in the Keeper. He chose them, his favorites—and I might point out that none of them was greater than Nafai himself, who had the cloak of the starmaster and commanded the heavens with his—”
“Bego says it’s all silliness,” said Mon.
The others fell silent.
“He does?” said Aronha, after a while.
“You’ve heard him say so, haven’t you?” asked Mon.
“Never to me,” said Aronha. “What does he say is silliness? The Keeper?”
“The idea of our heroic ancestors,” said Mon. “Everybody claims to have heroic ancestors, he says. By the time enough generations have passed, they becomegods. He says that’s where gods come from. Gods in human shape, anyway.”
“How interesting,” said Aronha. “He teaches the king’s son that the king’s ancestors are made up?”
Only now did Mon realize that he might be causing trouble for his tutor. “No,” he said. “Not in so many words. He just . . . raised the possibility.”
Aronha nodded. “So you don’t want me to turn him in.”
“He didn’t say it outright.”
“Just remember this, Mon,” said Aronha. “Bego might be right, and our stories of great human ancestors with extraordinary powers granted by the Keeper of Earth, those stories might all be exaggerated or even outright fantasies or whatever. But we middle people aren’t the only ones who might want to revise history to fit our present needs. Don’t you think a patriotic sky man might want to cast doubt on the stories of greatness among the ancestors of the middle people? Especially the ancestors of the king?”
“Bego’s not a liar,” said Mon. “He’s a scholar.”
“I didn’t say he was lying,” said Aronha. “He says we believe in these tales because it’s so useful and satisfying to us. Maybe he doubts the same tales because the doubt is useful and satisfying to
him
.”
Mon frowned. “Then how can we ever know what’s true?”
“We can’t,” said Aronha. “That’s what
I
figured out a long time ago.”
“So you don’t believe in
anything
?”
“I
believe
in everything that seems most true to me right now,” said Aronha. “I just refuse to be surprised when some of those things I believe now turn out to be false later. It helps keep me from being upset.”
Edhadeya laughed. “And where did you learn
that
idea?”
Aronha turned to her, mildly offended. “You don’t think I could think it up myself?”
“No,” she said.
“Monush taught me that,” said Aronha. “One day when I asked him if there really was a Keeper of Earth. After all, according to the old stories, there once was a god called the Oversoul, and that turned out to be a machine inside an ancient boat.”
“An ancient boat that flew through the air,” said Mon. “Bego says that only the sky people fly, and that
“Yes,” said Edhadeya, “and they’re always swearing by him.”
“They don’t say his name outright,” said Aronha.
“But Aronha, it’s just a snake.” Edhadeya wagged her head back and forth like a maize tassel. In spite of himself, Aronha laughed. Then his face got serious again, and he looked back at the sixteen soldiers, jogging out among the fields in single file, heading up the river to the southern border.
“Will they find my dream?” asked Edhadeya.
“If the Keeper sent you the dream,” said Aronha, “it must mean he wants the Zenifi found.”
“But that doesn’t mean that anybody in Monush’s party even knows how to hear the Keeper when she speaks,” said Edhadeya.
Aronha glared but didn’t look at her.
“He
decides whom he’s going to speak to. It’s not a matter of knowing how.”
“
She
can only speak to people who know how to listen, which is why our ancestor Luet was so famous as the waterseer, and her sister Hushidh and her niece Chveya as ravelers. They had great power in them, and—”
“The power wasn’t in
them
,” said Aronha. “It was in the Keeper. He chose them, his favorites—and I might point out that none of them was greater than Nafai himself, who had the cloak of the starmaster and commanded the heavens with his—”
“Bego says it’s all silliness,” said Mon.
The others fell silent.
“He does?” said Aronha, after a while.
“You’ve heard him say so, haven’t you?” asked Mon.
“Never to me,” said Aronha. “What does he say is silliness? The Keeper?”
“The idea of our heroic ancestors,” said Mon. “Everybody claims to have heroic ancestors, he says. By the time enough generations have passed, they becomegods. He says that’s where gods come from. Gods in human shape, anyway.”
“How interesting,” said Aronha. “He teaches the king’s son that the king’s ancestors are made up?”
Only now did Mon realize that he might be causing trouble for his tutor. “No,” he said. “Not in so many words. He just . . . raised the possibility.”
Aronha nodded. “So you don’t want me to turn him in.”
“He didn’t say it outright.”
“Just remember this, Mon,” said Aronha. “Bego might be right, and our stories of great human ancestors with extraordinary powers granted by the Keeper of Earth, those stories might all be exaggerated or even outright fantasies or whatever. But we middle people aren’t the only ones who might want to revise history to fit our present needs. Don’t you think a patriotic sky man might want to cast doubt on the stories of greatness among the ancestors of the middle people? Especially the ancestors of the king?”
“Bego’s not a liar,” said Mon. “He’s a scholar.”
“I didn’t say he was lying,” said Aronha. “He says we believe in these tales because it’s so useful and satisfying to us. Maybe he doubts the same tales because the doubt is useful and satisfying to
him
.”
Mon frowned. “Then how can we ever know what’s true?”
“We can’t,” said Aronha. “That’s what
I
figured out a long time ago.”
“So you don’t believe in
anything
?”
“I
believe
in everything that seems most true to me right now,” said Aronha. “I just refuse to be surprised when some of those things I believe now turn out to be false later. It helps keep me from being upset.”
Edhadeya laughed. “And where did you learn
that
idea?”
Aronha turned to her, mildly offended. “You don’t think I could think it up myself?”
“No,” she said.
“Monush taught me that,” said Aronha. “One day when I asked him if there really was a Keeper of Earth. After all, according to the old stories, there once was a god called the Oversoul, and that turned out to be a machine inside an ancient boat.”
“An ancient boat that flew through the air,” said Mon. “Bego says that only the sky people fly, and that
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