I did not come to give instructions or to receive instructions. If she won't treat me as an equal, I won't treat her as an equal."
"I can't tell her that," said Human.
"Then she'll always wonder why I left, won't she?"
"This is a great honor, to be called among the wives!"
"It is also a great honor for the Speaker of the Dead to come and visit them."
Human stood still for a few moments, rigid with anxiety. Then he turned and spoke to Shouter.
She in turn fell silent. There was not a sound in the glen.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Speaker," murmured Ouanda.
"I'm improvising," said Ender. "How do you think it's going?"
She didn't answer.
Shouter went back into the large log house. Ender turned around and again headed for the forest. Almost immediately Shouter's voice rang out again.
"She commands you to wait," said Human.
Ender did not break stride, and in a moment he was on the other side of the piggy males. "If she asks me to return, I may come back. But you must tell her, Human, that I did not come to command or to be commanded."
"I can't say that," said Human.
"Why not?" asked Ender.
"Let me," said Ouanda. "Human, do you mean you can't say it because you're afraid, or because there are no words for it?"
"No words. For a brother to speak to a wife about him commanding her, and her petitioning him, those words can't be said in that direction."
Ouanda smiled at Ender. "Not mores, here, Speaker. Language."
"Don't they understand your language, Human?" asked Ender.
"Males' Language can't be spoken in the birthing place," said Human.
"Tell her that my words can't be spoken in Wives' Language, but only in Males' Language, and tell her that I-- petition-- that you be allowed to translate my words in Males' Language."
"You are a lot of trouble, Speaker," said Human. He turned and spoke again to Shouter.
Suddenly the glen was full of the sound of Wives' Language, a dozen different songs, like a choir warming up.
"Speaker," said Ouanda, "you have now violated just about every rule of good anthropological practice."
"Which ones did I miss?"
"The only one I can think of is that you haven't killed any of them yet."
"What you're forgetting," said Ender, "is that I'm not here as a scientist to study them. I'm here as an ambassador to make a treaty with them."
Just as quickly as they started, the wives fell silent. Shouter emerged from her house and walked to the middle of the clearing to stand very near to the huge central tree. She sang.
Human answered her-- in Brothers' Language. Ouanda murmured a rough translation. "He's telling her what you said, about coming as equals."
Again the wives erupted in cacophonous song.
"How do you think they'll respond?" asked Ela.
"How could I know?" asked Ouanda. "I've been here exactly as often as you."
"I think they'll understand it and let me in on those terms," said Ender.
"Why do you think that?" asked Ouanda.
"Because I came out of the sky. Because I'm the Speaker for the Dead."
"Don't start thinking you're a great white god," said Ouanda. "It usually doesn't work out very well."
"I'm not Pizarro," said Ender.
In his ear Jane murmured, "I'm beginning to make some sense out of the Wives' Language. The basics of the Males' Language were in Pipo's and Libo's notes. Human's translations are very helpful. The Wives' Language is closely related to Males' Language, except that it seems more archaic-- closer to the roots, more old forms-- and all the female-to-male forms are in the imperative voice, while the male-to-female forms are in the supplicative. The female word for the brothers seems to be related to the male word for macio, the tree worm. If this is the language of love, it's a wonder they manage to reproduce at all."
Ender smiled. It was good to hear Jane speak to him again, good to know he would have her help.
He realized that Mandachuva had been asking Ouanda a question, for now he heard her whispered answer. "He's listening to the jewel in his ear."
"Is it the hive queen?" asked Mandachuva.
"No," said Ouanda. "It's a..." She struggled to find a word. "It's a computer. A machine with a voice."
"Can I have one?" asked Mandachuva.
"Someday," Ender answered, saving Ouanda the trouble of trying to figure out how to answer.
The wives fell silent, and again Shouter's voice was alone. Immediately the males became agitated, bouncing up and down on their toes.
Jane whispered in his ear. "She's speaking Males' Language herself," she said.
"Very great