“A part of your time—and no more! You have abandoned the eistaa and her commands that cause a city to live and grow. Therefore in order to live, to preserve the lives that you have saved from the wrath of an eistaa, you must find a way to order this new society by examining more closely the teachings of Ugunenapsa. But only part time, as I have said. The rest of the time you will work for the life and growth of this city. Since none of you knows how to grow a city I shall tell you and you will obey my orders. Discussion will not be possible—only instant obedience.”

There were many shouts of pained complaint at this and Enge stepped forward, voicing the thoughts of them all.

“This not possible. You will be our eistaa, that which we have rejected.”

“You are correct. I will be the waiting-eistaa. Waiting for you to produce a more acceptable way of governing your city. As soon as you produce this I will remove myself from this position that I do not welcome, but which responsibility I reluctantly assume since it is the only way to keep this city alive. I say this not as a suggestion but as an ultimatum. Reject my offer and I reject you. If I remove my skills your city dies, remove my food preparation knowledge and you starve, remove my medical skills and you die poisonous deaths. Remove myself and the uruketo and leave you to your waiting deaths. But you are the ones who have rejected death and accepted life. Accept me and you have life. So you can do nothing but say yes to my generous offer.”

Having said this Ambalasi turned about abruptly and reached for a water-fruit; her throat was dry from talking. There was shocked silence, broken only by Far<’s call for attention as she strode to the mound.

“Ambalasi speaks only the truth,” she said with great emotion, her large eyes as wide and moist as a fargi’s. “But within her truth is another truth. None doubts that it was the strength of Ugunenapsa’s thoughts that brought us here to this place. To find the simple Sorogetso waiting here. They will be trained in all the labors of the city leaving us free to pursue our studies of the truths . . .”

“Negative!” Ambalasi said, striding to the mound and interrupting with the coarsest of movements and sounds. “That is impossible. The Sorogetso, all of them, return to their old way of living today and will no longer be permitted to enter this city. You can only accept or reject my generous offer. Live or die.”