The Winter Boy

Author:Sally Wiener Grotta
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780988387195
Publisher: Pixel Hall Press
Published: 2014-10-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 49

The Allesha heard her Winter Boy’s voice catch as he read the last lines of The Northern Border. Tayar counted a few breaths, to give him time to compose himself before opening her eyes.

“Why do all these stories have to be about failures?” he demanded.

“What?” Tayar hadn’t expected him to take that tack and was unprepared for the question.

Dov’s eyes were streaked with red; his face clouded with angry confusion. “You say I’m supposed to learn how to make peace among people, but all the stories we read are about how impossible that is.”

“Not impossible.”

“No? Have we read a single story that shows how peace can be made when people war?”

“Yes. The one you just read.”

Dov glared at Tayar. “Her man and children were killed. Her village destroyed.”

“And her enemy swore to fight for her peace, though it would take him a lifetime.”

“Even she didn’t believe it would work.”

“Didn’t she say she took away with her a seed of hope, and that hope is a cancer? In the years that followed, the Traveler devoted her life to finding ways to create peace, refining her approaches. Eventually, she did win.”

Dov picked up the book to thumb through the pages again. “Where did it say that?”

“Well, it didn’t say it — not in that story — but that is what happened.”

“So, did she ever go back? Did Wen and Dac win the Peace?”

“I don’t know,” Tayar admitted.

“What do you mean you don’t know?! You said—”

“What I know relates to the larger issues. The Traveler moved about our land sowing the seeds of hope. Over the years, they germinated until, eventually, they became what we have today — peace wherever the Alleshi and their Allemen are honored.”

“That’s no good. It’s like talking about a feast at the next full moon, when I’m asking how to hunt for tonight’s dinner.”

“Still, the story does give us hints. What did the Traveler do that changed the way the Murat and Mukane thought? More to the point, how would you have handled it differently?”

“No!” Bolting upright to sit against the sofa’s arm, Dov pulled his legs away from Tayar.

Stunned, the Allesha drew herself up into her corner.

“I don’t want to do this! No questions and answers and more questions tonight. This story deserves…”

“Yes?” It wasn’t so much Dov’s reaction to the tale that worried her as his combative tone.

“I don’t know. But it’s more than a lesson for you to drill into me. It’s Dawn and her great-grandmother and the Healer and Wen. I guess they’re all dead and maybe it doesn’t matter whether they died of old age or war, but… it does matter. So don’t play that game with me tonight.”

“I didn’t know you considered it a game. I thought we were exploring ideas together.”

“Sure! And your goat Danide exists only as a pet.”

“What?” He was veering in too many directions for Tayar to work out exactly where things went wrong.

“You use her. You get your milk and cheese from her. When she’s no longer useful, I guess you’ll eat her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.