Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Page 94

investigate when he stopped short. The barely visible vertical slit of the
door was widening, and a shadow moved behind it. It opened to a tall oval,
through which a person stepped into the room.
A girl, Falk thought at first, then saw it was a boy of sixteen or so,
dressed in loose robes like those he wore himself. The boy did not come
close to Falk, but stopped, holding out his hands palm upwards, and
spouted a whole rush of gibberish.
"Who are you?"
"Orry," said the young man, "Orry!" and more gibberish. He looked
frail and excited; his voice shook with emotion. He then dropped down on
both knees and bowed his head low, a bodily gesture that Falk had never
seen, though its meaning was unmistakable: it was the full and original
gesture, of which, among the Bee-Keepers and the subjects of the Prince of
Kansas, he had seen certain vestigial remnants.
"Speak in Galaktika," Falk said fiercely, shocked and uneasy. "Who
are you?"
"I am Har-Orry-Prech-Ramarren," the boy whispered.
"Get up. Get off your knees. I don't—Do you know me?"
"Prech Ramarren, do you not remember me? I am Orry, Har Weden's
son—"
"What is my name?"
The boy raised his head, and Falk stared at him—at his eyes, which
looked straight into his own. They were of a gray-amber color, except for
the large dark pupil: all iris, without visible white, like the eyes of a cat or
a stag, like no eyes Falk had ever seen, except in the mirror last night.
"Your name is Agad Ramarren," the boy said, frightened and subdued.
"How do you know it?"
"I—I have always known it, prech Ramarren."
"Are you of my race? Are we of the same people?"
"I am Har Weden's son, prech Ramarren! I swear to you I am!"
There were tears in the gray-old eyes for a moment. Falk himself had
always tended to react to stress with a brief blinding of tears; Buckeye had
once reproved him for being embarrassed by this trait, saying it appeared
to be a purely physiological reaction, probably racial.
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