Gwyneth Jones by Divine Endurance

Author:Divine Endurance
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2011-04-24T21:00:00+00:00

PART TWO

Wide, wide flow the nine

streams through the land

Dark, dark threads the

line from north to south

I pledge my wine to the

surging torrent

The tide of my heart

swells with the waves.

Mao Tsedung

I am very angry with Cho. First she refused to follow me at that river, and now I find she has formed the sort of association I particularly warned her against.

The place I went to in that dry but unpleasant smelling vehicle was a farm camp. These people, it seemed, use their preoccupation with a large scale and exceptionally unlovely kind of landscape gardening as an excuse to gather numbers of themselves in very small palaces. I suppose it keeps them from spreading all over the place but I found the arrangement irritating. I did not announce myself. I soon realised that the Koperasi, though they think differently, are not to be included in the category of people who matter.

The Rulers, most sensibly, have as little to do with anything that goes on on this Peninsula as they possibly can. And yet, I was aware of their influence. I am aware of it even more now that I have come to this place: Ranganar. Everything is running down. This is the great natural process of course; I have known it all my life. But I must admit it gives me a peculiar satisfaction to feel these Rulers gently, without fuss, giving the process their assistance. I am now quite certain Wo is with them, helping them in this smooth descent.

It is pleasant to watch the thing, slowly rolling, but I wonder what will happen when there are two of them acting on each other, as Em said. I am eager to find out.

The Rulers are eager too. They are already aware of Cho’s arrival.

They must have been watching out for more of us since Wo came to them. They don’t fade away and drop off as quickly as the Peninsulans, so they don’t forget things so easily. They have contacts, naturally, in the palace of Jagdana (even that very private part, that thinks itself so special). Anyway, something alerted them.

Messages passed to and fro quickly — the Rulers do not share the Peninsulan passion for the simple life — and we could have been safe and sound, but for the stupidity of those bounty hunters. It was Cho they were supposed to be fetching. But they were greedy, and foolishly imagined their local celebrity was a much bigger catch.

All this I have picked up here and there. Essentially, it means that there are people waiting to take us to the Rulers (they don’t, of course, know what Cho is — that would be silly). The only problem is the association Cho has formed. I will try to get her to see reason, but these attachments were designed to be very stubborn. An added difficulty is that the ones supposed to be fetching Cho now are just as impressed by the local celebrity as the ones up in the Sawah, and nagging them does not seem to help.

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