“Then that’s what the tree drawing is in this moment.”

“But I just made it up.” Despite herself, Ma-ah was laughing, too.

“Exactly. When you force certain specific words onto objects, you limit them and their reality to you. So we have certain words which you’ve learned for the purposes of classification. But we never make the mistake of confusing the object with the name we’ve given it. All objects are changing constantly. No one word could ever express the entire reality of any one thing in all of its many aspects.”

She liked him best now when he was teaching her. In that role she could accept him and not feel threatened. Now she shook her head, laughing back at him. “But you are Sumpter. That’s a name.”

“It’s the name I gave you as mine at the moment you asked me,” he said, soberly.

“You mean it isn’t your name?” Ma-ah was scandalized.

“It is sometimes. I call myself other names, too—”

“If you don’t have the same name, how will people know who you are?”

“My face tells them,” he said. “At different times my friends call me different names, too. And I call myself what I please—”

She didn’t like the odd warmth in his expression as he spoke: it had currents of coolness in it, too, but also a lazy, frightening invitation. “I call you Sumpter,” she said, almost angrily.

“That’s because you try to limit my reality for your own purposes,” he said, without rancor. “You try to limit your perception of me, too. But right now I call you by two names—Sorana and Marunda. These names and words suggest two parts of you, seemingly in conflict at this instant.”

“I’m Ma-ah,” she said, irritated. She sprang up and paused. Sumpter made no move to follow her. “What two aspects?” she asked in spite of herself.

“The desire to control and the desire to surrender,” he said.

Her thighs felt warm and her head felt cold. The remark was so true of her in so many different ways that she just stood staring down at him.

“We’re called Speakers because we try to speak inner knowledge,” Sumpter said softly. “Often we put it into words for people who need them. But otherwise we free ourselves from words. The people in the world you came from are just beginning a long journey into discovery. We came here to help them because that’s our purpose.” Sumpter suddenly looked away. Ma-ah watched him, curious. He seemed almost uneasy.

“We’re beginning to mix our race with yours. Already on other parts of the Earth, this process has begun. You’re a part of this, Ma-ah. It’s time for you to mate. Since you’re with us and don’t want to return to your old world, then you should choose a man from the Speakers.”