'There is no simple answer to that question.'
'Is it true that this female, Jai, saw you with feet and legs implanted, that you remained thus for weeks, that you then came from the earth when a farl attacked the female?'
'That is true,' Duwan said.
'He is the Master,' Jai blurted. 'For he also speaks with the trees, as to the spirits of the departed.'
This had to be repeated, loudly, for Farnee. Around the circle elders were whispering to each other.
'I am surprised,' Farnee said. 'For that bit of superstition is as old as the race, and long since discredited. It is said that you eat of the the green, growing things. If you, as this female hints, subscribe to that ancient, dark, barbaric belief, why then, as it is reported to me, do you eat of the so-called green brothers?'
'I, too, eat of them,' Jai said, 'for they are made clean by his magic.' A sign came from the gathered elders.
'Do you have powers unknown to us?' Tambol asked. Duwan again thought carefully before answering. 'Unknown to you, yes, but not peculiar to myself, for all Drinkers have the same powers. All of you can grow fat on the green plenty of this land. All of you can draw sustenance from the blessed rays of Du. You can become one with the earth, with filaments that will grow from the pores in your feet. You can be healed by the good earth, and you can even regenerate a missing limb, as I did, when this female watched me as I was a part of the earth.' There was a general gasp of shock and disbelief.
'This, too, is true,' Jai said, 'for when I first saw the master his left arm was the size of the arm of a newly sprouted young one. It grew and became strong, as you see.'
'Superstitious nonsense,' Farnee said. He rose. 'I have decided. This strange one, this who calls himself Drinker, and Duwan, has been affected by the harmful rays of the sun to which he exposed himself. And so it is with the female, for you see, yourselves, how she is colored by the harmful rays. That he knows some of the secrets of the elders is his only claim, and I know not how he came into such secrets. Perhaps by contact with other free runners, for it is said that there are other groups, farther to the west. At any rate, I reject his claims.'
Duwan nodded. 'Then I will go as I came, in peace,' he said.
'Wait,' Tambol protested. 'The Council of Elders has not voted.'
'You are not yet a member of this council,' Farnee told Tambol. 'It is not your place to call for a vote.'
'We will have a vote,' one of the elders said.
'So be it,' Farnee said. 'All who vote with me, Eldest of the free runners, will stand.'
All but two of the elders stood.
'So be it,' Farnee said. 'Go in peace, strange one. You are doomed to die, doomed to be peeled by the Devourers, and I warn you, on pain of action, not to remain in our land, lest, in your delusion, you lead the Devourers to us. Is that understood?'
'May peace be with you,' Duwan said, although he was bristling at the threat. He took Jai's arm and she looked up at him wide-eyed. He turned, stepped over the legs of a seated elder, and made his way into the sunlight. Before him the males of the runners were gathered, some with bows in hand. With a snarl, he drew his weapons.
'I came in peace, to give you hope,' he said. 'I am cast out. It is up to you whether or not I go in peace.'
He thrust Jai behind him and holding his two swords at the ready, moved forward at a swift walk. The males of the runners melted from his path in silence. As he exited the valley through the narrow, rocky cleft, walking on stones protruding from the streambed, a volley of crooked, ineffectual arrows fell to his rear, causing Jai to scream in fear. Duwan, who had seen the runner males creeping among the tall brothers, did not even glance back.
Duwan sat moodily on a carpet of fallen needles. A storm was brewing, and its advance winds sighed through the upper branches of the tall brothers. The fire flickered and eddied in the gusts. A dead limb fell quite near the fire and, although she had seen before how certain trees seemed to give to Duwan of their deadwood, Jai started. They had halted only with the coming of darkness, having by then put several ridges and valleys between them and the valley of the free runners.
'Master, are you angry with me?' Jai asked.
Duwan shook his head without looking at her.
'You have not spoken to me, have not called my name since we left those weak ones.'
