Page 5 of Something Human

“I guess they wouldn’t.”

“No, they just … stand.”

“In a circle?”

“Mm. It must be nice, not having to do sacrifices in the rain.”

“I guess it is. We do a lot of processions in the rain, though. Not in Pheme—it doesn’t rain all that much in Pheme. We haven’t quite adapted to the Karhan climate.”

“It is not to ‘adapt.’ Only to ‘put up with.’ But it makes you strong.” He made a fist, with a satirical expression. “That is our … what we tell ourselves, what the old men tell the young men. Hathavi virhavi.”

“Propaganda.”

“That may be it.”

They ate several more figs in silence.

“What have you heard?” Adares asked, by and by. Rus gave him a questioning look. “You said you had heard strange stories about Phemians.”

“Ah. The strange stories. Well—is it true that you make a kind of … ” He made a face, half disgusted, half apologetic. “A kind of liquor out of rotten fish. That is not true, is it?”

“No … well, it’s not a liquor, it’s a sauce—it’s for seasoning food.”

“It’s made of rotten fish,” Rus repeated, deadpan.

“Well, fermented. Like you do with grapes, you know, for wine—or barley or whatever.”

“Mm. But fish.”

“Yeah. It’s surprisingly delicious.”

“Surprising. Yes. Well … we eat raw meat. Not because we are savages and don’t know how to cook, you understand.”

“Of course. Do you eat it raw for … ritual purposes, or something?”

“No. We eat it raw because it tastes good. You don’t just eat a big piece of raw meat—you cut it up very fine, and mix it with some hasha—I do not think I know that Kosoth word. It’s a kind of thing that you grow, in the ground, and it’s red on the outside.”

“An apple,” Adares suggested.

“You grow apples in the ground in Pheme, do you?”

“Oh. A strawberry.”

Rus frowned at him. “Radish. I think. Radish. You mix it with the meat, and you eat it—right away, while it’s fresh. It’s very good. Delicious. Like your fish wine.”

“Right. Sounds disgusting.”

“It would be, with strawberries.”

They looked at one another and dissolved into laughter again. When they stopped laughing, they sat in silence.

It was strange, and it wasn’t. They had fallen into an easy friendliness, as if they had known each other for years. It would have been something remarkable if they had been soldiers serving together or two people introduced by a mutual acquaintance at a party. But they had been on opposing sides of a battle a few hours earlier. This felt far more natural than that.

Adares got up and fetched the apples and walnuts from the shelf. Rus took an apple and bit into it.

“Your Pseuchaian is beautiful,” Adares remarked, as he tried and failed to crack a walnut.

Rus gave him a suddenly wary look. “My what?”