Gene Wolfe - Return to the Whorl

"Please, there's nothing to be afraid of. If you'd opened when we knocked, all this fuss would have been prevented."

"Who are you, sir?" The voice that had ordered them to go away was tremulous now.

He stepped inside and laid his hand on the householder's arm, calming him as if he were a dog or a horse. "My friend is blind. You're not afraid of a blind man, are you? And certainly you shouldn't be afraid of me. We haven't come to rob you. Put away that knife, please. Someone might be hurt."

The householder stepped back, evoking a terrified squeal from his wife. He held a candle in one hand and a butcher knife of substantial proportions in the other, and seemed inclined to surrender neither one.

"That's much better. May the Outsider, Pas, and every other god bless this house." Smiling, their visitor traced the sign of addition before turning back to Pig and wincing at his first real sight of that exceedingly large face, all dirty rag, straggling hair, and curling black beard. Pig was preparing to enter the house on his knees, ducking under the lintel and working his shoulders through the doorway.

"We're looking for eyes." It seemed a happy inspiration under the circumstances. "Eyes for my friend here. Do you know of a physician capable of replacing a blind man's eyes?"

"In the city," the householder managed. "In Viron, it might be done."

It was progress of a sort. "Good. What is his name?"

"I don't know, but-but…"

"But they might have someone?"

The householder nodded eagerly.

"I see-though my unfortunate friend does not. We must go to the city in that case."

The householder nodded again, more eagerly than ever.

"We shall. But we must rest first." He tried to recall when he had last slept, and failed. "We must find a place to sleep, and beg food-"

Oreb lit on his shoulder. "Fish heads?"

"Something for my bird, at least, and something-I'm afraid it will have to be quite a lot-for my friend Pig. We're sorry to have frightened you; but we could hear you inside, and when you wouldn't come to the door it made Pig angry."

The householder muttered something unintelligible.

"Thank you. Thank you very much. We really do appreciate it."

Loudly enough to be overheard, the householder's wife whispered, "… doesn't look like an augur."

"I am not. I'm a layman, just as your husband is, and have a wife of my own at home. Does it bother you that I blessed you? A layman may bless, I assure you; so may a laywoman."

"I'm Hound," the householder said. "My wife's Tansy." He tried to give his butcher knife to her, and when she would not take it, tossed it onto a chair and offered his hand.

"My own name is Horn." They shook hands, and Pig extended his, the size of a grocer's scoop. "Sorry ter a' scared yer."

"And my bird is-"

"Oreb!"

Tansy smiled, and her smile lit her small, pale face. "I'll get you some soup."

"You can sleep here," Hound told them. "In the house here, or… Would you like to eat out back? It's going to be a little cramped in here. There's a big tree in back, and there's a table there, and benches."

There were. Pig sat on the ground, and the other two on the benches Hound had mentioned. "We've beer." Hound sounded apologetic. "No wine, I'm sorry to say."

"How's yer water?"

"Oh, we've a good well. Would you prefer water?"

"Aye. Thank yer."

Hound, who had just sat down, rose with alacrity. "Horn, what about you? Beer?"

"Water, please. You might bring some sort of small container that Oreb could drink from, too, if it isn't too much trouble."

Tansy arrived with bulging pockets and a steaming tureen. "I try to keep fire in the stove, you know, so I don't have to lay a new one for every meal. I'll bet your wife does the same thing."

He nodded. "You'd win that bet."

"So when we have soup, why not keep it there so it stays warm? That way I can have some hot quickly. It-it really isn't any particular kind of soup, I suppose. Just what Hound and I eat ourselves. There's beans in it, and potatoes, and carrots for flavor."

"Guid ter smell h'all ther same. Ham, ter. Pig winds h'it."

The tureen received a place of honor in the center of the table next to Hound's candle. Four large bowls clattered down, followed by rattling spoons. "I'll get some bread. What's her name, Horn?"

He looked up, surprised.

"Your wife's?"

"Oh. Nettle. Her name is Nettle. I don't suppose you knew her as a child? Years ago in the city?"

"No. It's not a common name. I don't think I've ever known a Nettle." Tansy backed away, paused for a hurried conversation with her husband at the well, and retreated to her kitchen.

"She'll bring cups or something," Hound explained, setting his water bucket on the table beside the soup tureen, "and beer for me. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all." He paused, trying to collect his thoughts. "May Imight we, I ought to say-begin by telling each other who we are? I realize it's not the conventional way to start a conversation; but you see, I need information badly and hope that when the three of you know why I need it as badly as I do, you'll be more inclined to give it to me."

Tansy set a bread board, a big loaf of dark bread, and the butcher knife on the table, and handed pannikins around. "I can tell you who Hound and I are, and I will too, unless he wants to. Shall I?"

"Go ahead," Hound said.

Pig found his pannikin and pushed it across the table. "Better h'if yer fill h'it fer me."

"You know our names," Tansy began. "You wanted to know if I knew your wife in the city when I was a little girl, and I didn't. I grew up right here in Endroad. So did Hound. We did live in the city up until about five years ago, though. There wasn't any work out here then."

Hound said, "There isn't any now, or very little."

"So we went to the city and worked there till my father passed away, and then my mother wrote and said we could have the shop." Tansy began ladling out soup.

"Mother lives next door," Hound explained, "that's why it bothered Tansy so much when you said you'd kick in her door too."

"So that's what we do now. Hound goes into the city, mostly, and tries to find things people want that we can buy at a good price, and he's very good at it. Mother and I stay in the store, mostly, and sell the things. We have hammers and nails, we sell a lot of those. And tacks and screws, and then general tinware, and crockery."

Hound added, "We have drills, planes, and saws, all of which my wife forgot to mention. I did cabinet work before we got the shop. We own our little house. Mother owns her house and the shop. We give her so much each week from what the shop takes in, and she helps Tansy there sometimes. So that's who we are, Horn, unless you want to hear about brothers and sisters."

He shook his head. "Thank you. By rights, we strangers should have gone first. It was gracious of you to give the example yourselves." He returned the pannikin, which he had filled with well water. "Here you are, Pig. It's good water, I'm sure. When we met, you told me you were journeying west, I believe."

"Aye."

He ladled water into his own, then held the ladle so that Oreb could drink from it. "Are you willing to tell us anything more? If you aren't, that should be sufficient, surely."

"Ho, aye. Dinna like ter snivel's h'all. What yer want ter know?"

Tansy ventured, "What happened to you? How…?"

Pig laughed, a deep booming. "How come yer nae sae big h'as me? Freak's what Ma said."

"How you…" Tansy's voice fell away. "We-we'd like to have a child, and I worry, you know, that something might be wrong with it. Not… Not that it would grow up big and strong. I'd like that."

Hound said, "Without offense. Could you see, when you were a boy? "

"Ho, aye. Was a trooper's h'all. Got caught, an' they dinna like me. Seen a dagger comin' h'at me een, an' 'twas ther last. Took me 'round h'after, h'only Pig canna see 'em nae mair. Heard 'em, though. Threw things h'at me, ter. 'Twas h'in ther light lands, ther mountings. Doon here's flatlands." Pig spooned up more soup and swallowed noisily. "Yer nae eatin' naethin', bucky. What's wrong wi' yer?"