Books In English "City Of Illusions" Ursula K. Le Guin | Page 96

one of the Expedition had been found, and I thought—But he did not tell
me this about your memory—You remember…only…only the Earth,
then?"
He seemed to be pleading for a denial. "I remember only the Earth,"
Falk said, determined not to be swayed by the boy's emotion, or his
naivete, or the childish candor of his face and voice. He must assume that
this Orry was not what he seemed to be. But if he was?
I will not be fooled again, Falk thought bitterly. Yes you will,
another part of his mind retorted; you will be fooled if they want to fool
you, and there is no way you can prevent it. If you ask no questions of this
boy lest the answer be a lie, then the lie prevails entirely, and nothing
comes of all your journey here but silence and mockery and disgust. You
came to learn your name. He gives you a name: accept it.
"Will you tell me who…who we are?" The boy eagerly began again in
his gibberish, then checked himself at Falk's uncomprehending gaze. "You
don't remember how to speak Kelshak, prech Ramarren?" He was almost
plaintive.
Falk shook his head.В "KelshakВ isВ yourВ nativeВ language?"
The boy said, "Yes," adding timidly, "And yours, prech Ramarren."
"What is the word for 'father' in Kelshak?"
"Hiowech. Or wawa—for babies." A flicker of an ingenuous grin
passed over Orry's face.
"What would you call an old man whom you respected?"
"There are a lot of words like that—kinship words—Prevwa, kioinap,
ska n-gehoy…Let me think, prechna. I haven't spoken Kelshak for so
long…A prechnoweg—a higher-level non-relative could be tiokioi, or
pre-Viotio—"
"Tiokioi. I said the word once, not…knowing where I learned it…"
It was no real test. There was no test here. He had never told Estrel
much about his stay with the old Listener in the Forest, but they might
have learned every memory in his brain, everything he had ever said or
done or thought, while he was drugged in their hands this past night or
nights. There was no knowing what they had done; there was no knowing
what they could do, or would. Least of all could he know what they
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