Speaker for the Dead

did not want them fended off, and so he said nothing. Press her, Human, because you're right and this time Ouanda must bend.
      Feeling herself alone, knowing Miro would not help her, she gave a little ground. "Maybe if we only bring him as far as the edge of the forest."
      "Bring him here," said Human.
      "We can't," she said. "Look at you. Wearing cloth. Making pots. Eating bread."
      Human smiled. "Yes," he said. "All of that. Bring him here."
      "No," said Ouanda.
      Miro flinched, stopping himself from reaching out to her. It was the one thing they had never done-- flatly denied a request. Always it was "We can't because" or "I wish we could." But the single word of denial said to them, I will not. I, of myself, refuse.
      Human's smile faded. "Pipo told us that women do not say. Pipo told us that human men and women decide together. So you can't say no unless he says no, too." He looked at Miro. "Do you say no?"
      Miro did not answer. He felt Ouanda's elbow touching him.
      "You don't say nothing ," said Human. "You say yes or no."
      Still Miro didn't answer.
      Some of the piggies around them stood up. Miro had no idea what they were doing, but the movement itself, with Miro's intransigent silence as a cue, seemed menacing. Ouanda, who would never be cowed by a threat to herself, bent to the implied threat to Miro. "He says yes," she whispered.
      "He says yes, but for you he stays silent. You say no, but you don't stay silent for him ." Human scooped thick mucus out of his mouth with one finger and flipped it onto the ground. "You are nothing."
      Human suddenly fell backward into a somersault, twisted in mid-movement, and came up with his back to them, walking away. Immediately the other piggies came to life, moving swiftly toward Human, who led them toward the forest edge farthest from Miro and Ouanda.
      Human stopped abruptly. Another piggy, instead of following him, stood in front of him, blocking his way. It was Leaf-eater. If he or Human spoke, Miro could not hear them or see their mouths move. He did see, though, that Leaf-eater extended his hand to touch Human's belly. The hand stayed there a moment, then Leaf-eater whirled around and scampered off into the bushes like a youngling.
      In a moment the other piggies were also gone.
      "It was a battle," said Miro. "Human and Leaf-eater. They're on opposite sides."
      "Of what?" said Ouanda.
      "I wish I knew. But I can guess. If we bring the Speaker, Human wins. If we don't, Leaf-eater wins."
      "Wins what? Because if we bring the Speaker, he'll betray us, and then we all lose."
      "He won't betray us."
      "Why shouldn't he, if you'd betray me like that?"
      Her voice was a lash, and he almost cried out from the sting of her words. "I betray you!" he whispered. "Eu não. Jamais." Not me. Never.
      "Father always said, Be united in front of the piggies, never let them see you in disagreement, and you--"
      "And I . I didn't say yes to them. You're the one who said no, you're the one who took a position that you knew I didn't agree with!"
      "Then when we disagree, it's your job to--"
      She stopped. She had only just realized what she was saying. But stopping did not undo what Miro knew she was going to say. It was his job to do what she said until she changed her mind. As if he were her apprentice . "And here I thought we were in this together." He turned and walked away from her, into the forest, back toward Milagre.
      "Miro," she called after him. "Miro, I didn't mean that--"
      He waited for her to catch up, then caught her by the arm and whispered fiercely, "Don't shout! Or don't you care whether the piggies hear us or not? Has the master Zenador decided that we can let them see everything now, even the master disciplining her apprentice?"
      "I'm not the master, I--"
      "That's right, you're not." He turned away from her and started walking again.
      "But Libo was my father , so of course I'm the--"
      "Zenador by blood right," he said. "Blood right, is that it? So what am I by blood right? A drunken wife-beating cretin?" He took her by the arms, gripping her cruelly. "Is that what you want me to be? A little copy of my paizinho?"
      "Let go!"
      He shoved her away. "Your apprentice thinks you were a fool today," said Miro. "Your apprentice thinks you should have trusted his judgment of the Speaker, and your apprentice thinks you should have trusted his assessment of how serious the piggies were about this,