Voices by Ursula K. Le Guin Read Free Book Online

the table.
    "As Caspro's fame has come to you," she said, "so the fame of the libraries of Ansul has come to us."
    "And your husband came here to see those libraries?"
    "He seeks the nourishment of his art and his soul in books," she said.
    At that I wanted to give all my heart to her, to him.
    "He must know," the Waylord said without emotion, "that the books of Ansul were destroyed, with many of those who read them. No libraries are permitted in the city. The written word is forbidden. The word is the breath of Atth, the only god, and only by the breath may it be spoken. To entrap it in writing is blasphemy, abominable."
    I flinched, hating to hear him speak those words. He sounded as if he believed them, as if they were his own words.
    Gry was silent.
    He said, "I hope Orrec Caspro brought no books with him."
    "No," she said, "he came to seek them."
    "As well seek bonfires in the sea,'" he said.
    She came right back, "'Or milk a desert stone.'"
    I saw the flicker in his eyes, that almost hidden glint, when she answered with the rest of Denios' line.
    "May he come here.?" she asked, quite humbly.
    I wanted to shout Yes! Yes! I was shocked, ashamed, when the Waylord did not at once answer inviting him warmly to come, to be welcome. He hesitated, and then all he said was, "He is the guest of the Gand Ioratth?"
    "A message came to us when we were in Urdile, saying that Ioratth, the Gand of the Alds of Ansul, would make welcome Orrec Caspro, the Gand of All Makers, if he would come and display his art. We are told that the Gand Ioratth is very fond of hearing tales and poems. As are his people. So we came. But not as his guests. He offered stabling for our horses, but not for us. His god would be offended if unbelievers came under his roof. When Orrec goes to perform for the Gand it will be outdoors, under the open sky."
    The Waylord said something in Aritan;I wasn't sure, but I thought it was about the sky having room enough for all the stars and gods. He looked at her to see if she understood the line.
    She cocked her head. "I am an ignorant woman," she said in her mild way.
    He laughed. "Hardly!"
    "No, truly. My husband has taught me a little, but my own knowledge is not in words at all. My gift is to listen to those who don't talk."
    "You walk with a lion, Memer said."
    "I do. We travel a lot, and travellers are vulnerable. After our good dog died, I looked for another guardian companion. We met with a company of nomads, tellers and musicians, who'd trapped a halflion and her cub in the desert hills south of Vadalva.They kept the mother for their shows, but sold us the cub. She's a good companion, and trustworthy."
    "What is her name?" I asked very softly.
    "Shetar."
    "Where is she now?" the Waylord asked.
    "In our wagon, in your stableyard."
    "I hope to see her. As I too am unburdened with belief, I am free to offer you the shelter of my roof, Gry
Barre—you and your husband, your horses and your lion."
    She thanked him for his generosity, and he said, "The poor are rich in generosity." Ever since she had spoken her husband's name, his face had been alight. "Memer," he said, "which room—?"
    I'd already decided that and was calculating whether the fish could feed eight if Ista made a stew with it. "The east room," I said.
    "How about the Master's room?"
    That startled me a little, for I knew his mother had lived in that beautiful, spacious apartment, upstairs from his rooms in this oldest part of the house. Long ago when Galvamand housed the university and library of Ansul, that apartment had belonged to it's head, the Master. It's unbroken, small-paned windows looked over the lower roofs of the house westward to Sul. There was a bedstead in it and nothing much else, now. But I could bring a mattress from the east room, and the chair from mine.
    "I'll lay a fire there," I said, for I knew the unused room would be dank and cold.
    The Waylord looked at me with great kindness. He said to Gry Barre, "Memer is my hands and