Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Eagle

Therrue soon returned home with Sparrowhawk's reply: "He said he was going to-night." Tenar listened to the news with satisfaction, glad that he had accepted her plan and kept away from the messages and messengers he dreaded.But when she had fed Heather and Therru with frog-leg meals, and put Therru to bed, and sang to sleep, she sat alone with no lamp or fire, and her heart began to sink.he's gone.He's not strong enough, he's lost and uncertain, he needs friends, and she wants him to leave people who are friends and who would be friends.He was gone, but she must stay, lead the Hounds away, at least know whether they were going to stay in Gont or return to Havnor.

His panic, and her resignation to it, began to seem so irrational that she even thought his leaving was equally irrational, impossible.He will make good use of his wisdom and hide in Mosi's house, because in the entire sea of ​​earth, this is the least likely place for the king to find the archmage.He'd better stay there until the king's emissary was gone, and then he could go back to Ogion's house, where he belonged, and things would go on, she tended him until his strength came back, and he gave her close company. The shadow of the door obscured the stars. "Hush! Wake up?" Aunt Moss came into the house. "Well, he's off." She said excitedly, as if conspiring, "Take the old forest road. He said he'd walk through the forest to the road to Midvale tomorrow. , all the way through Oak Springs."

"Very well," said Tenar. Moss sat down by herself, more boldly than usual. "I gave him a loaf of bread and a little cheese to eat on the way." "Thank you, Moss, it's very kind of you." "Madame Geha," Moth's voice in the dark took on the chanting tone of her incantations and spellcastings, "my darling, I've been trying to tell you something as far as I can, but I know you've been with the great I was one of them, and every time I think of this, I dare not speak again. But I know some things, even if you learn runes, ancient languages, and all the knowledge you have learned from those wise men in foreign lands, you Still don't know."

"Yes, Moss." "That's good. So when we talked about those witches know witches, and power knows power, I also said that the person who has left, no matter what he was before, he is not a mage now, but you deny That. But I'm right, aren't I?" "yes." "Hey, I was right." "He said so himself." "Of course he would say that. I can say he's a guy who doesn't lie, who doesn't talk to make people dizzy, and who doesn't run out of cattle and tries to drive a cart. But I'll be honest, I Glad he's gone because he's not that much of a thing now, so it doesn't work, it doesn't work anymore, and that's it."

Tenar had no idea what Moss was talking about, except for the part about "trying to drive a cart without cattle." "I don't know why he's so scared," she said, "Well, I know something, but I don't understand why he's so ashamed, but I know he thinks he should die. I know what I know about living Everything, is having something to do and being able to do; that's joy, glory, everything. And what's the use if you can't do those things anymore, or if they're taken away from you? One must have something... " Moss listened and nodded, as if benefiting a lot, but then said, "It must be a strange thing for an old man to suddenly look like a fifteen-year-old boy."

Tenar was on the verge of asking, "What are you talking about, Moss?" but stopped.She found that her ears had been pricked up, waiting for Ged to come back into the house from his wanderings in the mountains, she was waiting to hear his voice, her body denying the fact that he was gone.She glanced suddenly at the Witch crouching in a chair by Ogion's fire, wrapped in darkness. "Ah!" she said, many thoughts suddenly rushing into her mind at the same time. "No wonder," she said, "no wonder I never..." After a long silence, she said, "They... wizards... Is it a spell?"

"Of course, of course, my dear," said Moss. "They cast spells on themselves. Some say they made deals, like reverse engagements, with vows and such, to gain power, but I think it sounds It doesn't sound right, it's like dealing with Taikooli instead of real witches. The old mage told me they didn't do such things, but I know some witches do it, and it doesn't hurt." "That's what the people who raised me did, swearing chastity." "Oh, by the way, you told me there were no men. And those 'too firm'. Terrible!" "But why, why... I never thought..."

The witch laughed loudly: "That's their power, my dear. You can't think of it! You can't! Once they cast the spell, they can't think of it. How is it possible? Let go of the power? No, no! No, no. You get what you sow, and that's what all men should do. So those wizards know, those sons of power, they know it better than anyone. But you know, it's uncomfortable asking a man to be a man , even if he could call the sun down from the sky. So they cast the Binding Charm to forget about it completely, and they did. Even though it's a bad day, spells are often wrong, but I haven't I have heard of a wizard who broke the spell and used his strength to satisfy his carnal desires. Even the worst wizards dare not. Of course, there are still those who can use illusions, but they are only deluding themselves; The witchy kind, they'll try to charm the village women. But those little spells don't count for much in my opinion. The important thing is that both powers are equally powerful and don't interfere with each other. I I think so."

Tenar sat thinking, lost in thought.Finally she said, "They shut themselves off." "Well, wizards must." "But you didn't." "Me? I'm just an old witch, dear." "How old?" A minute later, Moss' voice sounded in the darkness, with a hint of a smile: "Too old to cause trouble." "But you said... you were never abstinent." "What does that mean, dear?" "Like a wizard." "Oh, no. No, no! Nothing to see, but I know how to look at them... that's not witchcraft, you know, honey, you know what I'm talking about... wink and the man will come , just like a crow is sure to babble. Maybe one day, two days, or two days later, he will come to me, "My dog ​​needs medical treatment", "I need herbal tea for my grandma", I know them Want something, if I like them enough, they might get what they want. As for love, want love - I'm not that kind of person. Maybe some witches are, but I'd say they slander their craft. I do it for money , but I take pleasure in love, that's what I think. But it's not all pleasure. I had a crush on a man here for a long time, for years, and he was good looking, but hard and cold. He died early Well, he is the father of the town student who moved back to live later, do you know who he is. Hey, I was so obsessed with that man that I exhausted all my skills and cast many spells on him, but it was all in vain Nope. Nothing. Carrots don't bleed. I would have come to Reyabai when I was young because I got into trouble with men in Gont Port. I can't mention that because they're all rich and powerful Man. They have the power, not me! They don't want their son with an ordinary girl like me, they call me a dirty slut. If I don't escape here, they will finish me off, like killing It’s like a cat. But, oh, how much I like that kid, his round and smooth arms and legs, and his big black eyes, even after so many years, I still remember it clearly..."

The two sat silently for a long time in the dark. "Moss, do you have to give up your power when you have a man?" "No need at all." The witch said complacently. "But you said that you reap what you sow. Are men and women different in this respect?" "Honey, what's the same?" "I don't know," said Tenar. "I think most of the difference is of our own making, and then complaining. I don't think 'magical feats,' power, make any difference to a wizard or a witch—unless the nature of the power different, or different skills."

"Honey, a man pays, a woman reaps." Tenar sat, silent but dissatisfied. "We seem to be a little power compared to them," said Moss, "but the power comes from deep, deep roots. Like an old blackberry bush. A wizard's power may be like a fir tree, big and Tall and great, but falls when a storm blows; a blackberry bush can't kill." She clucked like a hen, pleased with her analogy. "So!" she said emphatically. "Like I said, maybe he'd better go, or the town's going to start gossiping." "Chew your tongue?" "You are a woman of integrity, my dear, and integrity is a woman's wealth." "A woman's wealth," Tenar repeated indifferently again, and then said: "A woman's wealth, a woman's treasure, a woman's hoard, a woman's worth..." She couldn't sit still any longer, and stood up, stretching her back and arms. "Like a dragon that finds a cave, builds a fortress for its treasure, seeks safety, sleeps on the treasure, and becomes a treasure. Harvest, reharvest, never give!" "One day when you lose your integrity," Moss said indifferently, "you will understand its value. It is not everything, but it is difficult to replace." "Moss, are you willing to give up your status as a witch in exchange for integrity?" "I don't know." After a while, Moss said thoughtfully: "I don't know how to know. I have some talents, but I lack others." Tenar came to her side and took her hands.Startled by the gesture, Moss stood up and flinched a little, but Tenar drew her forward and kissed her on the cheek. The old woman raised a hand and stroked Tenar's hair timidly, as Ogion had done.Then she pulled away from Tenar's arms, muttering that it was time to go home, and started to the door, asking again, "Do you want me to stay, with so many strangers here?" "Go back," said Tenar. "I'm used to strangers." That night, as she lay asleep, she entered again into an abyss of wind and light, but this time the light was misty, red and orange and amber, as if the air were burning.She is at the same time and not in the element; flies in the wind and becomes the wind.The blowing of the wind, the power of freedom, no voice called her. In the morning, she sat on the doorstep and combed her hair.She wasn't blond like many Kargs—she was fair and dark, and still was, with hardly a trace of gray.Now that Ged was away, and she kept her integrity, she decided that her job today would be to wash clothes, and wash her hair with some hot water for washing.She dried her long hair in the sun and combed it.On a hot and blustery morning, sparks crackle as the combs dance through the tails of hair. Therru stepped behind her and watched.Tenar turned to find her almost trembling with concentration. "What's the matter, little bird?" "Fire flew out," said the child, with fear or excitement. "It's all over the sky!" "It's just sparks coming out of my hair," said Tenar, a little surprised.Therru was smiling, and she could not remember seeing the child smile before.Therru held out both hands, whole and burnt, as if to touch, to follow some kind of dancing trajectory around Tenar's floppy hair. "Fire, it's all flying out!" she repeated, and laughed. In that moment Tenar asked herself for the first time how Therru saw her, and the world at large, and realized that she had no idea.She could not know what to see with a burnt eye, and Ogion's words "People will be afraid of her" came back to her.But she had no fear of the child.Instead, she brushed her long hair harder, letting the sparks fly and hearing that little husky happy laugh again. She washed the sheets, the dishcloth, her underclothes, the change of dress and Therru's, and then (after making sure the goats were locked up in the pasture pen) spread the clothes out on the prairie hay to dry and stoned them. Live, because the wind is very strong, with a hint of the wildness of late summer. Therru is growing.For an age of about eight, she was still very small, but in the first two months, after the injury finally healed and the pain stopped, she was more daring to play around and eat more.Soon, the old clothes that Yunque gave her, which originally belonged to her five-year-old daughter, would no longer fit. Tenar thought she could call on the weaver Fan in the village, and see if he had a scrap or two of cloth that she would exchange for the rotten water from the pigs.She wanted to help Therru sew some clothes, and also wanted to visit old fan.Ogion's death and Ged's illness have alienated her from her village acquaintances. (She makes sure Therru is with Heather, and sets off for the village, thinking) The two of them, as usual, pull her away from everything she knows, including what she knows how to do, and the world she chooses to live in —There are no kings and queens, no extraordinary powers and conquests, no high arts, journeys, and adventures, just ordinary people doing ordinary things, such as marrying, raising children, farming, sewing, and washing.She thought a little vindictively, as if to shoot her thoughts at Ged, who was now on his way to Midvale.She pictured him walking along the road, approaching the little valley where she and Therru had slept together; she pictured the thin gray-haired man walking silently alone, with the half loaf of bread the witch had given him in his pocket, and a heavy sorrow in his heart. "Maybe it's time for you to find out," she thought. "It's your turn to know that you didn't know everything in Roke!" As she was lecturing him in her head, another image came in: She saw near Ged a man who had been waiting for her and Therru on the road.She couldn't help saying, "Ged, take care!" worrying about him, for he didn't even have a stick.Instead of the big, hairy-mouthed man she saw, she saw another young man in a fur cap, the one staring at Therru. She raised her head and looked at a hut next to Ashan's house, where she lived in the past.There was someone walking between her and the house, the very person she had just remembered and imagined, the man in the fur hat.He passed the door of the village house and the weaver's house without seeing her.She watched him walk through the village streets without hesitation.Either he walked towards the turning of the mountain road, or he went towards the mansion. Tenar followed far behind without thinking, until she could see where he was turning.He went up the hill, toward the white-collar house of Rhea, instead of the road Ged had chosen. She immediately turned around and went to visit old Ashan. Although Ashan, like many weavers, is almost solitary, he still shows kindness to the Karg girl in his shy way and is always ready to protect her.She thought, how many people have protected her integrity!Ashan, who is now almost blind, has an apprentice who does most of the weaving work.He is very happy to have visitors.He sat on an old carved wooden chair as if he was going to morning, with the origin of his nickname hanging on his head: a very large lacquer painting fan, which was a family heirloom of his family.It is said to have been a gift from a generous pirate to his grandfather for making the sails for him.This fan is on display openly on the wall.Tenar saw the fan again, and it was instantly familiar to her, with its fine portraits of men and women in brilliant rose and emerald and blue, and the towers and bridges and banners of the great harbor of Havnor.Visitors to Reiyabai were often brought to see this fan, and everyone agreed that it was the most valuable thing in the whole village. She admired the fan, knowing that it would make the old man very happy, and also because it was indeed very beautiful.Then he said, "Didn't you see many good things like this in your past travels?" "No, no. There's nothing like it in the whole of the Mid Valley," she said. "Did I show you the other side when you lived in my village house?" "The other side? No." Hearing this answer, the old man wanted to take down the fan no matter what, but she had to climb up and take off the fan carefully, because he had bad eyesight and couldn't climb up the chair.He directed her nervously, she put the fan in his hand, he inspected it dazedly, half-closed his eyes to make sure that the fan bones could slide freely, then put away the fan, turned it around, and handed it to her. "Open it slowly," he said. She unfolded as she said.The fan folded and moved slowly, and the dragon also moved slowly.Elegantly and meticulously painted on the yellowed silk are light red, blue, and green dragons moving and crowds, just like the crowds of people on the other side among the clouds and mountains. "Hold it up to the light." Old Fan said. She did so, and then saw the light penetrate the fan, making the two paintings merge into one, the clouds and mountains turned into towers in the city, men and women with dragon wings on their backs, and dragons can be seen with human eyes. "Did you see it?" "I see." She murmured. "I can't see it now, but it's in my head. I don't let too many people see it." "It's really amazing." "I always wanted to show it to the old mage," said A Shan, "but I forgot it when I was too busy." Tenar turned the fan again against the light, and set it up as before.Dragons hide in the dark, men and women walk in the daylight. A Shan then took her out to see a pair of pigs he raised. They were growing very strong, and they were gradually gaining weight. They planned to make sausages in autumn.They discussed the disadvantages of heather making rotten water.Tenar asked him if he could have a scrap of cloth to help the child make a dress, and he was more than happy, pulling out a large bolt of fine linen for her; while his apprentice, a young woman, frowned at the wide loom. The first job, as if to learn his aloofness and skills together. Walking home, Tenar thought that sitting Therru at that loom would be enough for a living.While much of the work is dull and repetitive, weaving is a noble craft, and in some hands even a noble art.Everyone thought that the weavers were shy and often unmarried because they often worked behind closed doors, but they were still respected; .Just that withered clawed hand?Can that hand throw the shuttle and arrange the weaving thread? Is she going to hide forever? But what else could she do? "Knowing what her life will be like..." Tenar wanted to think of other things herself, of the dress she was going to make.Lark's daughter's dress was made of rough handloom at home, as plain as dirt.She might have half-dyed the cloth yellow, or red with marsh red madder root, and paired it with a white apron or smock, trimmed with lace.Is the child supposed to hide before the loom in the dark, and never have lace on her skirt?If she cut it carefully, there should be enough cloth left over for a shirt and a second apron. "Therrule!" she called, as they approached the house.Heather and Therru were in the gorse pasture when she left.She called again, to show Therru the fabric, and to tell her about the dress.Shinan came out from behind the spring house, dragging Xipi with a rope. "Where's Therru?" "With you," Heather answered so calmly that Tenar looked around until she realized that Heather had no idea where Therru was, but only what she wished. "Where did you leave her?" Heather had no idea.She had never failed Tenar before, and seemed to understand that Therru must be watched over all the time like a goat.But perhaps it was Therru who had always understood this, so that she could be seen all the time?Tenar thought so, and since Heather couldn't offer definite directions, she began to search and call for the child, but there was no answer. She stayed as far away from the edge of the cliff as possible.From the first day they arrived here, she had told Therru that because one eye could not clearly judge distance or depth, she must never walk alone on the steep grassland below the house, or along the northern cliffs.The child has listened to her, and she has always been obedient.Maybe the child is forgetful?But she won't forget.Could she be approaching the edge of the cliff unknowingly?She must have been to Moss's, yes, because she had been alone last night, and she would go there again.definitely is. she's not there.Moss didn't see her. "I'll find her, I'll find her, darling," she reassured Tenar, but instead of following the trail up the hill to find someone, as Tenar had hoped, she began to tangle her hair for the Seeking Charm. Tenar ran back to Ogion's house, calling again and again.This time she looked towards the steep grassland below the house, hoping to see a small figure squatting by the boulder and playing.But all she could see was the sea, dark and rippling beyond the crumbling steppe, and she felt dizzy and depressed. She came to Ogion's grave, and then went a little further into the woods, calling.When she turned back across the meadow the kestrel was circling and hunting at the same point where Ged had seen it hunt the last time.This time it swooped down and attacked, its sharp claws grabbed a certain small animal and flew up to the forest.It is going to nurse its chicks, Tenar thought.Thoughts crossed her mind with great clarity and definiteness as she passed the laundry hanging on the grass: the clothes were dry and must be packed before dark;It was her fault, and it was all because she wanted to make Therru a weaver, shut her up to work in the dark, and keep her moral.When Ogion said, "Teach her, teach her all, Tenar!"; when she knew that the irreparable wrong must be sublimated—she knew that the child was entrusted to her, and she had neglected and broken her trust, lost her, lost the one and greatest gift. She went inside, searched every corridor in the house, poked her head into the alcove again, and went around another bed, and finally got dry mouth and poured herself a glass of water. Behind the door stood three wooden sticks.Ogion's staff and staff moved in the shadows, and one of the shadows said, "Here." The child crouched in a dark corner, curled up in a ball, not much bigger than a puppy, with his head buried in his shoulders, his arms and legs tightly bent, and his only eye closed. "Little bird, little swallow, little flame, what's wrong? What happened? What did someone do to you?" Tenar rocked her small body, shrunken and rigid as a rock, in her arms. "How can you scare me like this? How can you avoid me like this? I'm so angry!" She wept, and the tears fell on the child's face. "Oh, Therru, Therru, Therru, don't hide from me!" A shiver ran through the tangled limbs, and finally slowly relaxed.Therru moved, and suddenly clung to Tenar, burying her face in the hollow between Tenar's chest and her shoulders, and clung even harder, clung to Tenar desperately.She didn't cry, she never cried, maybe her tears have dried up.She had no tears, but let out a long whining sob. Tenar held her, and rocked, and rocked.Very, very slowly, the tight grip began to loosen, and the head rested firmly on Tenar's chest. "Tell me," murmured the woman, and the child whispered weakly and hoarsely: "He's coming." Tenar thought of Ged first, and as soon as her mind, still sharp with fear, realized that, and who "he" was to her, she smiled wryly as she went, and went on searching. "Who's here?" There was no answer, just a trembling from within. "A man," said Tenar softly. "A man in a fur hat." Therru nodded. "We saw him on the way here." no response. "Those four... people I got mad at, remember? He was one of them." But she remembered that Therru was in front of strangers as usual, with his head lowered, hiding his burns, and not daring to raise his head. "Therru, do you know him?" "I know." "It's you...you knew it when you lived in the tent by the river?" nodded. Tenar's arms were around her. "Here?" she said, and all her fear turned to anger, to anger that burned her like a stick of fire. She made a laughing sound: "Ha!" Then she thought of Kairazin, like Kairazin's laughter. But for humans and women, it is not so easy.This fire must be contained.The child must be comforted. "Did he see you?" "I hide." Tenar ran through Therru's hair, and said at last, "He will never touch you, Therru. Listen to me, and believe me: he will never touch you again, and he will never see you again, unless I tell you You're together and then he has to deal with me. Do you understand? My baby, my baby, baby? You don't have to be afraid of him, you can't be afraid of him. He wants you to be afraid of him, he eats your fear to survive We're going to starve him, Therru, we're going to starve him until he starts eating himself, until he chokes on the bones of his own hands... Ah, ah, ah, don't listen to what I'm saying now, I Just angry, just angry... Am I blushing? Am I red like the Gont woman now? Red like a dragon?" She tried to joke, and Therru looked up, looking up from her own wrinkled, trembling, fire-eaten face. Looking back at her, he said, "Yes. You are the red dragon." Just the thought of the man coming into the house, walking into the house, coming over to look at his masterpiece, maybe wanting to make some changes, made Tenar feel that it was not a thought, but a nausea, which was nauseating, but nauseating. Burned out in rage. They got up to wash their faces, and Tenar decided that the strongest feeling she had was hunger. "I'm starving," she said to Therru, and laid out a hearty meal of bread and cheese, cold beans in oil and herbs, sliced ​​onions, and dried sausage.Therru ate a great deal, and Tenar ate a great deal. As they were clearing the table, she said: "Therru, I'm not leaving you at all this time, and you're not leaving me, are you? We should be going to Aunt Moss's now, she was going to see you." Spell, but now that she's off the hook, she probably doesn't know about it yet." Therru stood still.She glanced at the wide-open door and flinched away. "We've got to bring in the laundry all the way. When I get home I'll show you the cloth I got today, so I can make a dress, a new dress, for you. A red dress." The child stood still and gradually retracted into his inner world. "Therru, if we hide, we are only feeding him. We will eat and drink, and then make him starve and thirst. Come with me." For Therru, this difficulty, this obstacle to the door to the outside world, was indescribably great.She flinched, hid her face, and walked trembling and staggering.It was cruel to make her cross, it was cruel to make her appear, but Tenar showed no mercy. "Come on!" she said, and the child followed. The two walked hand in hand across the grassland to Mosi's house.Once or twice Therru managed to look up. Moss was not surprised to see the two, but she carried a strange and vigilant look.She called Therru into the house to see the young ringnecks, and told her to pick two to take home.Therru immediately disappeared into her shelter. "She's been in the house," Tenar said, "and hiding." "She's doing well," said Moss. "Why?" Tenar asked roughly, not in the mood for charades. "Nearby... there is something nearby," the witch said, not panicked, but also uneasy. "There are villains around!" said Tenar, and Moss looked at her, flinching a little. "Ah, well," she said, "ah, dear, there's a fire around you, a fire that shines all over your head, and I cast a spell to find the child, but something went wrong, and it seemed to break away of itself, and I didn't know it Have you reached the end. I'm lost. I see great creatures. I look for little girls, but I see them, flying in the mountains, flying in the clouds. And you're like this now, your hair is on fire. Out What's the matter? What's the problem?" "The man in the fur cap," Tenar said. "A man of fair youth, and good-looking. The shoulder line of his waistcoat is ripped. Have you seen him around?" Moss nodded. "They hired him to stack hay at the mansion." "Did I tell you..." Tenar glanced in the direction of the house. "Therru was with a woman and two men? He was one of them." "You mean, to her..." "yes." Moss stood stiff as a wooden sculpture. "I don't know," she said at last, "I thought I'd seen enough, but apparently not. What...why would...did he go...to see her?" "If he's the father, maybe he's here to claim her back." "Get her back?" "She is his property." Tenar said calmly.As she spoke, she looked up at the top of Gongte Mountain. "But I don't think that's her father, I think it's someone else, the one who told my friends in the village that the child 'hurt himself'." Moss was still bewildered, still frightened by her own spells, by her vision, by Tenar's rage, by the filthy presence of evil.She shook her head, very lonely. "I don't know," she said, "I thought I'd seen enough. How could he come back like this?" "Come and devour," said Tenar, "come and devour. I will never leave her alone again. But to-morrow, Moss, I may have to ask you here in the morning to keep an eye on her for me for about an hour. I'll go to the mansion." Can you do me this favor?" "Well, dear, of course. I can put a concealing spell on her if you want. But...but they are there, the high officials from the King City..." "Well, they can see how the common people live," Tenar said.Moss flinched again, as if hiding from a gust of sparks that the wind blew from the fire.