Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Page 95

The confusion, bewilderment, disorientation Falk had undergone"
since he had entered Es Toch now left him unequipped to question and
judge this latest apparition. Part of his mind said, That is exactly what they
want: they want you confused to the point of total credulity. At this point
he did not know whether Estrel—Estrel whom he knew so well and loved
so loyally—was a friend or a Shing or a tool of the Shing, whether she had
ever told him the truth or ever lied to him, whether she had been trapped
here with him or had lured him here into a trap. He remembered a laugh;
he also remembered a desperate embrace, a whisper…What then was he to
make of this boy, this boy looking at him in awe and pain with unearthly
eyes like his own: would he turn if touched to a blur of lights? Would he
answer questions with lies, or truth?
Amidst all illusions, errors and deceptions there remained, it seemed
to Falk, only one way to take: the way he had followed all a long, from
Zove's House on. He looked at the boy again and told him the truth.
"I do not know you. If I should remember you, I do not, because I
remember nothing longer ago than four or five years." He cleared his
throat, turned away again sat down on one of the tall spindly chairs,
motioned for the boy to do the same.
"You …do not remember Werel?"
"Who is Werel?"
"Our home. Our world."
That hurt. Falk said nothing.
"Do you remember the—the journey here, prech Ramarren?" the boy
asked, stammering. There was incredulity in his voice; he seemed not to
have taken in what Falk had told him. There was also a shaken, yearning
note, checked by respect or fear.
Falk shook his head.
Orry repeated his question with a slight change: "You do remember
our journey to Earth, prech Ramarren?"
"No. When was the journey?"
"Six Terran years ago.—Forgive me, please, prech Ramarren. I did not
know—I was over by the California Sea and they sent an aircar for me, an
automatic; it did not say what I was wanted for. Then Lord Kradgy told me
~ 93 ~