Enders In Exile

was born for one war. I won it and I'm done."
    So now I'm torn. Do I
try to maneuver for him? Or do what he asks and ignore the whole
situation? He thinks I should spend my time on the voyage either in
stasis, so we'd be the same age when we arrived, both
fifteen—or, if I'm awake, then I should write a history of
Battle School. Graff has promised to give me all the documents about
Battle School—though I can get those from the public records,
since they all came out in the court martial.
    Here's my philosophical
question: What is love? Does my love for Ender mean that I do what I
think is good for him, even if he asks me not to? Or does love mean I
do what he asks, even though I think he would find being a figurehead
governor a hellish experience?
    It's like piano
lessons, dear parents. So many adults complain about the hideous
experience of being forced to practice and practice. And yet there are
others who say to their parents, "Why didn't you MAKE me practice so
today I'd be able to play well?"
    Love, Valentine

    To: vwiggin%[email protected]/citizen
From: [email protected]
Subj: re: Ender is fine
    Dear Valentine,
    Your father says that
you will be irritated if I say how shocking it is to discover that one
of my children does not know everything, and admits it, and even asks
her parents for advice. For the past five years, you and Peter have
been as closed off as twins with a private language. Now, only a few
weeks out from under Peter's influence, you have discovered parents
again. I find this gratifying. I hereby declare you to be my favorite
child.
    We continue to be
devastated—a slow, corrosive kind of
devastation—that Ender chooses not to write to us. You say
nothing of anger toward us. We do not understand. Doesn't he realize we
were forbidden to write to him? Why doesn't he read our letters now? Or
does he read them and then choose not to poke the reply box and say
even as little as "Got your letters"?
    As to your questions,
the answers are easy. You are not his mother or father. We are the ones
with the right to meddle and do what's good for him whether he likes it
or not. You are his sister. Think of yourself as companion, friend,
confidante. Your responsibility is to receive what he gives, and to
give him what he asks only if you think it's good. You do not have
either the right or the responsibility to give him what he specifically
asks you not to give. That would be no gift; that is neither friend nor
sister.
    Parents are a special
case. He has built a wall exactly in the place where Battle School
first built it. It keeps us out. He thinks he does not need us. He is
mistaken. I suspect we are exactly what he is hungry for. It is a
mother who can provide the ineffable comfort to a wounded soul. It is a
father who can say, "Ego te absolvo" and "well done, thou good and
faithful servant" and be believed by the inmost soul.
    If you were better
educated and hadn't lived in an atheistic establishment, you would
understand those references. When you look them up, please remember
that I did not have to.
     
                                                                                                                    Love,
                                                                                                                    Your
sarcastic, overly analytical,
                                                                                                                    deeply
wounded yet quite satisfied,
                                                                                                                    Mother
     
    To: [email protected], [email protected]
From: vwiggin%[email protected]/citizen
Subj: Ender is fine
    I know all about
Father's confessionals and your King James Version and I did not have
to look anything up either. Do you think your and Father's religions
were
a secret from your children? Even Ender knew, and he left home when he
was six.
    I am taking your advice
because it is wise and because I