The IO Manuscripts

120,000 years ago the IO (f) people dwelt in what is now known as Antarctica. At that time, the earth’s climate was warmer, the icecap had melted and Antarctica experienced a temperate climate.

The f lived in a civilised, industrialised society, but they had developed into hermaphrodites (intersexuals), the birthrate was falling and the climate was turning colder, soon to plunge the earth into the current ice age.

The IO Manuscripts document the quest to save the f people, destined to be the modern humans that populated the whole world.

Introduction to The IO Manuscripts

About 120,000 years ago the f (pronounced io) people lived in what is now known as Antarctica. This was at a time when the earth’s climate was warmer and the Antarctic icecap had melted to enable Antarctica to experience a temperate climate. Then the southern seas cooled down again and the current ice age commenced.

The f called the land mass th landz. The magnetic South Pole at that time was located slightly further south and further east of its present position, just outside latitude 60° and almost on longitude 100° (note that north and south here refers to the magnetic poles and not the poles of the axis of rotation of the earth). There were lakes and hills in the temperate northeast. To the west lay a wet, stormy, mountainous archipelago extending northwards. Vast grass plains in the midlands were bordered by marshlands to the south, wet mountainous fjords on the west coast, and a sunny, hot mountainous desert along the east coast. A dense rain forest covered the wide, hilly southern peninsula where most of the mineral deposits lay.

The people of th landz called themselves f (a combination of their symbols for the sexes i.e. i for male and o for female). There were five f peoples with differing physiological characteristics. The white skinned (chaulk) lived in the west, on the archipelago. They were small and wiry with long faces and had fine features. The black skinned (kaabun) people lived in the hot, sunny east and were of medium height with round faces and flat features. The red (kopuur) skinned people lived on the central plains and were tall and well built with oval faces and fine features. The grey skinned (tin) people lived in the marshlands to the south of the plains and were of medium height with a stocky build and flat features. The yellow skinned (sulfuur) people lived in the far south and were small and slim with round faces and flat features. The average life span was about sixty years. Originally, the population was mostly male (i) and female (o) but some were hermaphrodites (f) with mixed male and female reproductive organs but were either more male or more female. Eventually, due to a genetic defect, all the people were hermaphrodites.

For many generations the peoples lived nomadic lives as hunter-gatherers in extended family groups. Eventually, all but the kopuur people became agrarian and settled on the land and lived in permanent settlements. There was tension and friction between the peoples and, inevitably, bloody wars. Eventually the kopuur acquired key technologies from the southern sulfuur people and, with the increasing threat to their nomadic life, the kopuur developed rockets and motorbikes, which they used to conquer the other peoples and too rule over them for a long period under th kopuur rool. The kopuur introduced a standard oral and written language to support the rule of law and developed standardised time, measurement and naming systems. During this era technological development was slow, being restricted by a lack of natural resources. The only plentiful metal was copper but they had no gold, coal or oil, and little iron. The level of technology was roughly equivalent to that of the Victorian age, with steam power being the main form of propulsion.

Then there was a natural disaster when an asteroid hit the earth, landing in the ocean to the north east of th landz. This caused an enormous tidal wave, which flooded the coasts and lowlands of the northeast and resulted in a continuous winter, which lasted for several years. This almost wiped out the whole population and the flora and fauna was devastated. Few animal and plant species survived and those that did often developed differently to those found in the rest of the world.

This disaster gave the other peoples the opportunity to rise up against the kopuur people and after a long war, or series of wars, the kopuur rool was overthrown and a unified, multi-coloured, multi-cultural, democratic but rigidly controlled society, called the sivileeun society was formed. Intermarriage of the peoples was encouraged and the mixed-race bronz coloured skin became desirable. The sivileeun society was organised around the nuclear family and childbearing became imperative, as many people were infertile. Most of the remaining kopuur were integrated with the other peoples but some of the kopuur realised that the only way to save the species from extinction was to try to recreate the fully male and fully female (i and o) people again and they coupled this objective with an attempt to preserve their traditional nomadic way of life on the vast central plains, which had been their homeland. But this movement was resisted by the rest of the people, and especially by the strikt sivileeunz, who believed that the kopuur were only trying to breed a super-race to rule all th landz again and they also believed that the only way to raise the birth rate was to force people to marry young and to have as many children as possible.

The kopuur knew that there were occasionally full males and full females born, and the qest was established by the kopuur to seek out these throwbacks. If they discovered an i then they aimed to preserve the sperm by freezing it and if they found an o then she would be artificially inseminated with the stored sperm. But i and o children, being regarded as freaks by sivileeunz, were usually killed at birth. Eventually an i was located (RKSMKL) and the sperm was stored in a freezer facility in a castle in the dethmist maashz to the south of the plains as there was a constant supply of marsh gas available there to power the freezers. The tradition was then started that the eldest i child ov th RKS family would lead the qest too find a fully female o and would be trained to carry out the artificial insemination. A long time went by before an o (eroita) was found but it turned out that she was infertile. Then within a few years another was located (uloila).

The f manueskriptz were written in the final flourish of the sivileeun civilisation and document the qest led by amioka to found the new dynasty of i and o people. But already, the signs of a breakdown in the sivileeun society were becoming obvious, due mainly to a change in the climate and the falling birth rate. Soon the f were to disappear from th landz as the current ice age set in. The kopuur, being aware of the climate change, plan that if a new race of i and o people can be produced then they will have to leave th landz and settle in what is now southern Africa. The kopuur knew that these people would inevitably descend into a primitive existence which could last for millions of years until some change in the environment once again produced the conditions for the f to flourish and spread throughout the world.

Discovery of The IO Manuscripts

I once knew a gentle, intelligent man named Jack Hill. He was a distant relation of mine, and he was about ten years older than me. I called him Uncle Jack but he was really a cousin on my Mother’s side of the family. We occasionally met at various family occasions and he seemed to take a liking to me. Over the years we had a number of rather strange conversations about religion, philosophy, science, technology and the arts. Of course, I did not understand all of what he told me - but it certainly had an effect on me. We lost touch for several years, then, in 1992, I met him again by chance when I was in London on business. I hardly recognised him but he certainly recognised me, even though we had not seen each other for years.

It was a dark, wet November evening. He seemed nervous, as though he was being followed, or being chased by his own demons and I thought him a sad, dishevelled, figure. My conscience was pricked by the thought that I should really have made the effort to see him more often when I was in London, but he just seemed so pleased to meet me again. I knew that he lived in a tower block south of the Thames and that he had never married, but apart from that, I knew little about his personal life. He looked as though he liked his drink, a little too much perhaps, but that evening, though we visited several pubs, he only drank one single malt whisky, well diluted with water, at each pub we went into.

At first, I was merely being polite by going on a pub-crawl with him, but after we had talked of family matters, on which he seemed well informed, he started to open up. He told me a long, disjointed story that was, quite frankly, unbelievable, but over the past years much of what he said has become more and more believable. We parted on the best of terms when the pubs closed but next morning I woke up with a thumping hangover. I promised myself to look him up again when I was next in London – but never did.

About a year later I received a letter from a firm of solicitors in Walthamstow. Uncle Jack had died. He had no money and an insurance policy barely covered his funeral expenses. He had insisted that his funeral should be carried out without any religious ceremony, with his body being cremated. One peculiar request, which I later saw the significance of, was to have his ashes put into the nose-cone of a large firework rocket and then fired into the air over London. This I did for him and I must admit it seemed a good way to mark the end of your life, exploding into the night sky - going out with a bang. He left what little he had to me. This consisted of the contents of his flat and a safe deposit key and a letter. This seemed quite intriguing, considering our conversation the previous November. I was curious to know what he had been working on.

The letter merely had the address of a city bank on it. So I went along to the bank, showed them the letter and opened the large safe deposit box. Inside was a large, heavy metallic object, about the size of briefcase, along with a thick file, some notebooks and another letter, which I reproduce below:

Paul,

When we talked that evening last November I did not explain how I came to find the f manueskriptz. It is not a tale of which I should be proud - but I did what I did and I have no regrets. Now, as my life draws to an end I feel the contents of the f manueskriptz should have a wider audience. I know that I should have revealed the existence of the manuscripts much earlier and made them available for analysis by scholars who would have been much more able than myself. But frankly, I do not think anyone else could have done a better job. I have devoted many thousands of hours of research into deciphering the f manueskriptz and it is only recently that some relevant discoveries have been made by others in the scientific community which support what the f manueskriptz tells us and this will make it easier for people to believe what I have discovered.

After graduating from Reading University in 1955 with a second class honours degree in Geology, I joined the British Antarctic Survey. Why? Well I suppose I should say that it was because I had a burning desire to push back the frontiers of science by uncovering the secrets of the geology of Antarctica. But in reality it was the only job I could get! Not many people wanted to spend half the year living in sub-zero temperatures in very primitive conditions, so I was very readily accepted. After a summer of training and preparation I found myself on the Endurance, the Antarctic exploration ship, destined for the British Region of the Antarctic. I had met most of my colleagues before we left and had trained with some of them but it wasn't until we landed that I fully realised what a strange bunch of misfits we were. I rapidly found that I had very little in common with any of them.

In particular, I seemed to aggravate the temper of the senior geologist and to a lesser extent the expedition leader (I will refrain from naming names - but they could easily be identified). They seemed to think that I was a bit beyond the pale. They were both Eton and Oxford, whereas I was minor (very) public school and Reading University. In a place like the Antarctic minor social differences became grounds for murder. At best, I was tolerated, as long as I didn't speak unless spoken to. But the spectacular landscape I found myself in, and the exacting and fascinating work, more than made up for any minor personal irritations. I kept myself to myself and immersed myself in my work.

One day in February the aerial survey reported that a huge landslide had taken place and that this had uncovered a pristine rock face in an area of uplifted sedimentary deposits. Eventually, when other work had been completed, it was decided that 'somebody' should be sent to investigate. It was not deemed to be an important mission so I was teamed with the other young and inexperienced member of the team to investigate the slip. This was quite late in the season and I was already looking forward to returning home.

The journey was not too unpleasant with clear blue skies and a warm (relatively speaking) air temperature. We made good progress to the edge of the ice sheet and were then only half a day's hike away from the landslip. The weather had been particularly warm in that southern summer and the ice and snow had receded from the coastal mountain areas to reveal previously unseen bare rock and soil. We made camp for the night and left some stores there for our return. The plan was that next day we would split up, one going north and one going south along the line of the landslip, leaving the dogs at the temporary base camp. We would spend one night at the landslip and then return the temporary base camp the next day.

Early next morning, we set out, I headed south, inland. The going was quite difficult but I was enjoying the prospect of the remote chance of finding something significant. This thought drove me on. The chance of putting one over on those scientific snobs buoyed me up. A set of dinosaur tracks or even better a fossilised dinosaur skeleton would be superb.

The terrain was difficult and I scrambled over the loose rocks and soft earth, taking frequent samples. Then, to my amazement, I started finding pockets of petrified wood and, more curiously, localised intrusions of other types of rock and metallic deposits that appeared to be copper based. This was most curious, in fact, astounding! I had never heard of anything like this before. At one point I even found a long discontinuity in the deposits with traces of the metallic minerals. After a few hours I gave up trying to log all these finds and sat on a rock to contemplate this puzzle. I had definitely found something but what the hell was it?

I then realised that I had been so engrossed in my work that I had not been aware that it was growing dark. Much to my consternation, I also discovered that bad weather was closing in from the pole. I hurriedly started to clear some loose rock and earth to form a flat area to pitch my tent. Suddenly, my spade struck something metallic. I scraped the rocks and dust to find that there was something imbedded at an angle in the loose shale and partially fused into the soft sedimentary rock. The object was about fifteen inches long by ten inches wide and four inches deep, smooth and apparently made of bronze.

My heart missed a beat when I realised that this had to be a man-made object! Either this object came from space or there must have been an industrial civilisation extant here in Antarctica in the very distant past. At that time we only had a vague idea of how long the ice had covered Antarctica, possibly some 30 million years, but there were also theories that there had been warm periods when Antarctic experienced an ice-free temperate climate. We knew that there was a warm period about 135,000 to 120,000 years ago, at a time before homo sapiens had started to migrate from Africa into the Middle East, in the early stone age. But the question that came to my mind was: what if they had first travelled from Africa to Antarctica? Then another, more devastating question entered my mind: what if homo sapiens had originated in Antarctica and not the African Rift Valley and had migrated from Antarctica to Africa? The level of human development could have been far in advance of that in the rest of the world at that time. We wouldn’t know about this as about 120,000 years ago the seas around Antarctica cooled once more to plunge the world into the present Ice Age, which we only started to come out of about 10,000 years ago. In those 10,000 years we have developed from the stone age to today’s advanced technological civilisation.

I considered these exciting possibilities whilst I hurriedly erected my tent over the buried object and prepared and ate a meal. Then I endeavoured to set the object free, as a full-blown storm roared around me outside my tent. With my geologist's pick I chipped away at the soft rock until I finally held the heavy metallic object in my hands.

All the while, I had been trying to work out how it got there. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that this might turn out to be the most important find in the history of modern mankind. You may wonder how I came to these conclusions so quickly, but it was already becoming clear to me that the other remains I had found earlier were also the remnants of an ancient industrialised civilisation. Not a civilisation thousands of years old but a civilisation over 100,000 years old, before the accepted dates for the earliest civilised humans, only 10,000 years ago, but those early stone age farmers would not have been able to make metallic objects like this, or have been able to alter their landscape as was apparent from my other finds.

Then there was also the question of what was inside the object. I scraped some of the oxidation off and found that there was a seam all the way around the object, half way down the short sides. This indicated that the object was not solid. Could it contain the remains of some long forgotten king or ancient artefacts or even written material? If it was the latter I was certain that it would have disintegrated a long time ago. That would be very disappointing.

My attention was brought back to the present by the screaming storm outside my tent. I had hardly been aware of it for the past few hours. Now I could see that the snow was pressing down on the tent, soon I would be snowed in and the tent would collapse. I went out and cleared the snow away. The storm was so bad that there was only a dim greyness in the sky when there should have been full daylight. Going back into the tent, I wrapped the object in some of my spare clothes and put it into my sample bag underneath the rock samples I had collected the previous afternoon and placed them all back into my rucksack.

For the next three days and nights I slept fitfully, ate and drank sparingly. I occasionally forced myself to leave the tent to clear the snow away. Finally, the storm blew itself out and I packed away the tent into my rucksack and started back to the temporary camp, some three days late. The terrain was somewhat different from that I had traversed four days ago. The landscape now covered by a thick layer of newly fallen snow. I was constantly falling into deep drifts of the soft snow. This made progress gruellingly slow. The weather continued to improve all day and it was a fine sunset that illuminated the final part of my journey to the camp. I was spot-on with my navigation as I could see the flag that we had planted as a marker. But that's all there was, apart from a box of supplies and some snowshoes. Oh, and a note:

‘Base radioed that a front was coming in. I waited as long as I could for you. Have been ordered back to base. Yours etc.’

So I was alone, and over a hundred miles from base camp, without dogs and a sledge. He had even taken the radio! I could only hope that they would send out the aircraft to search for me. But then I remembered that we had already dismantled the aircraft and stored it for the winter.

The next few days were a blur to me. The weather was atrocious and I just had enough food to sustain me. I was most afraid that I was going to miss the boat back to England and have to winter in Antarctica, all by myself, a most unpleasant prospect. But this would have been my lot if they hadn't sent out a patrol to search for us, a few days before the ship left. And by some fluke they found me. I was on the point of exhaustion and suffering from frostbite, I lost three toes, but at least I was brought safely onto the ship. No trace was ever found of my colleague and I have always wondered whether he had found evidence similar to that I had discovered. The doctor looked after me on the voyage home, nursing me back to health. For the first week or so on the voyage home I was delirious but I eventually came round to find that my rucksack, containing my sample pack, was by my side. Evidently I wouldn't let go of it from the time I was picked up.

By the time we arrived in England I was quite recovered but I was determined to keep my discovery to myself. The site of the landslide would, once again, be covered in snow and ice and would not be exposed again for many years - if ever. The Antarctic Survey people were a bit embarrassed about what had happened to me, and my colleague, and they were most keen to get me a safe berth in post-graduate research in Geology back at Reading University. Of course I chose to study the geology of Antarctica. But this was only a background to my real work.

I first analysed the metallic deposits I had collected and some scrapings from the object. I found both to be sophisticated bronze alloys that would have been impossible to find in natural form. Later, when radio-carbon dating was developed, I was able to get access to the first equipment and analysed the petrified wood. This confirmed the age as being about 120,000 years old.

After some time I finally managed to get up the nerve to open the bronze object. I borrowed a hacksaw from the University workshops and, late one Sunday night, I started to cut into the object, at the weld line around it. After cutting in about half an inch, I felt a 'give' and saw the metal filings being sucked momentarily into the object. I had to stop and sit down at this point for I suddenly realised that whoever had made the object had evacuated the air from within the object to form a vacuum to protect its contents. I knew then the significance of the small round weld at one end of the object, it was a sealed up hole where the air had been drawn off.

I finished the cutting lifted the top off. The two halves of the object had lips on them, presumably so that as it was welded up the contents would not be damaged inside. And I must say that the contents more than matched my hopes for a significant find!

There were two manuscripts, each slightly larger than an octavo book, and placed side by side, with a bronze separator between them. This was another safeguard, so if one side had been damaged, possibly the other might remain intact. But I was in luck; both seemed in perfect condition. Then my heart sank - the writing had disappeared! The pages were blank!

Then I calmed down as a possible explanation came to me - the manuscripts were the wrong way up! I gently touched the top page of one of the manuscripts; it didn't fall apart in my fingers. The paper felt smooth and firm, almost like plastic. Then I noticed that there were regular indentations on the paper. I leapt to the conclusion that there was writing on the other side, or rather, printing. I slid the top page off its pile and very carefully turned it over on the desk. A horrifying thought crossed my mind at this point - what if there was some terrible virus trapped in this time capsule?

Dismissing this thought, as I was so excited that I didn't really care, I took my first look at the writing. At first I was disappointed, as it looked as though it was a hoax. I had expected strange hieroglyphics that would take years to decipher, if at all. But it almost looked as if it had been written in some European language. True a number of the characters were quite different to those used in modern languages but equally some looked almost identical.

Once I had got over that shock I then realised that the writing did not use punctuation, except that each sentence seemed to be separated from the next by a hyphen. The writing was all in lower case, i.e. no capital letters, a blank line was used between what could be paragraphs and some lines were indented. What struck me most of all though, was that the text looked so very simple, logical and well ordered. The printing was superbly clean and accurate. Suddenly, I had a sensation that the person who had produced the manuscripts was in the room with me. Even though I am not a superstitious person, a tingle went up my spine and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I must have stood there for an hour or more, just staring at this one sheet of paper. All sorts of questions and possibilities went through my mind, mostly without any resolution. Eventually I forced myself to think about what I was going to do with this discovery. I admit that, once again, I acknowledged that I should really give this task up to others who would have the skills to decipher the writing and unravel the mysteries of this lost civilisation. I also admit that I immediately rejected this idea. I had an overpowering feeling that fate had decreed that I should find the manuscripts and have the opportunity to study them.

My first task was to make sure that what was on the pages did not deteriorate in the atmosphere. So that very night, I started to copy them out, using a pen, and making a carbon copy. After three months of working at the copying, evenings and weekends, and getting very little sleep, I put the original manuscripts back into the bronze case, soldered the two halves together again and, after evacuating the container, using the services of the physics laboratories at the University, I stored the manuscripts with the carbon copy in a safe deposit box in a bank. I left the key with my solicitor with instructions to open it if I died. I was somewhat alarmed to note that even over this short time the printing and the paper had had obviously started to deteriorate.

Over the intervening years I have spent many hours working on translating the manuscripts, all very enjoyable, if not always fruitful. But slowly a translation shaped itself. In the translation I have tried to present the manuscript in as close a form as possible to that written. I know that I have had to make a lot of compromises. Some references are very obscure and I could find no supporting references to them anywhere else in the manuscript. Quite frankly I didn't believe some of the things I translated, either because they seemed so fantastic or because they seemed so like our own experience that I would often wonder if it really was just an elaborate hoax. But then I would reflect that this might be the true state of a previous civilisation. Wouldn't the civilisation be very similar, yet very different?

The logic of the characters used and the grammar used was quite stunning. I got to wondering why our own language and writing could not be so simple - it would so aid learning but without damaging the richness of the English language. I spent hours trying to envisage how their language sounded but found it impossible to imagine. I made very many compromises to make sense of the manuscripts in our modern English language and literary forms. Others may be able to improve on my attempts. The thing that struck me was the similarity of some of the written characters to the ones we know. This may be a case of parallel development from much the same origins but it may also show that there is some long distant link between us and those ancient people. After all, recent research has shown that modern man is descended from a small community living on the coast of the very tip of South Africa - is it a coincidence that this is the nearest land to what we now know as Antarctica? Maybe the remnants of the people eked out a living there after the Antarctic ice cap formed. This would also mean that the search for the ‘missing link’ in human evolution is completely nonsensical. They are looking in the wrong place! This thought kept me amused when I was tired and almost on the point of giving up this work.

In my translation I have used pseudo-phonetic spelling and retained the sentence structure and punctuation (or lack of) in the manuscripts. My own feeling is that this is easier to read than modern English. It appears as though what we have now is overly complicated, sometimes nonsensical and even perverse at times! Why do we need upper case characters, punctuation, speech marks etc etc? I have also kept the f system of naming, along with their time and measurement systems and their number system, which used a base of six.

When I commenced the translation I was expecting to find that it was a formal history of the f people but it soon became apparent that it was something like a saga. Yes, there was information about the social and political systems and the technological achievements, but only as a background to the lives and loves of the members of the people involved in the qest. I was surprised about this but when I thought more carefully about it I realised how clever this was. Surely the best way to discover what life was like in any period of time is to have first hand accounts that explained the little details that formal histories miss or gloss over? I also discovered that all f people were required to keep an account of their lives, not so much a diary but a personal history. I suspect that modern historians wished that they had access to such material for their research! The manuscripts obviously drew on many such accounts and though they were private during a person’s life they were archived when a person died, thus providing a stunningly vast resource to their historians.

The biggest problem was to fix on a style to use for the translation. I felt that I had to relate it to some period that I knew and understood. The level of industrialisation was approximately that of early Victorian times (but with some startling differences) and the morals also somewhat paralleled this time, so I decided that I would use a Victorian style of writing. It may be a terrible compromise but I felt that I had to rewrite the f manueskriptz into something readable by modern readers. I also found some difficulty in visualising the topography and the flora and fauna. This would, of course, have been quite different to our own experience but I could not help but have pictures of some scenes in England in my mind for some locations and of the U.S.A. for others. Other readers may have their own pictures in their minds. We are only limited by our own imagination.

Another aspect of the manuscripts is that they are quite sexually explicit. It appears as though some sections of their civilisation thought of sex as an integral part of daily life and therefore sexual experience was described in candid detail, though there were other sections of the society who tried to repress this open sexuality. This sexual content, though toned down, is one reason why I have not considered publication before but it would be a shame to censor these sections completely as the sex is essential too explaining the society, the characterisation and the story development.

Well Paul, what you do with the manuscripts, my translation and my notes is purely up to you. I make no demands of you. Carry on with the work as I have done, publish the manuscripts, make money out of them (if you can), use them to pursue academic notoriety - I don’t mind. I came upon them by mistake and in doing so, nearly lost my life, but I have had so much enjoyment in finding out about this totally new theory on the origins of human civilisation, that I hope you will too.

Your dear friend

Jack

So this was the content of the letter. The safe deposit box contained the bronze case and letter, the carbon copy of the manuscripts. I found the top copy and translation, together with Jack's notes, which were very difficult to decipher in some places, in Jack’s flat. Over the past few years I have continued with his work. I am now publishing the first section of the manuscripts for all to enjoy and to correct the story of the origins of human civilisation.

The First Chapter of th qest

(Part 1 of The IO Manuscripts)

th qest

2523 1 1 1

th duurt staend yooth pauzd at th oepun frunt dau ov th smaul 1 roomd roundhous - hf rithmiklee kuurld and unkuurld hfr toez on th ruf stoen daustep - hf klenchd and unklenchd hfr broozd fistz az hf held hfr aamz rijidlee bie th sied ov hfr slim lieth bodee - hf woz kloethd in a skrufee kaus kloth shift - haaf tukd intoo a paer ov pachd kloth trouzuurz with th kros strapz fauling of hfr sholduurz - on hfr feet hf had a paer ov waun lethuur bootz - hfr silvuur sholduur length haer woz mated with dust and bloo untiedilee in th breez - beedz ov swet ran doun hfr kopuur cheekz and mixd with th tin dust too faum daak mudee bankz at eech sied ov hfr faes - a bludee noez and broozd cheekz shoed that hf had reesuntlee been fieting - hfr furoed fauhed shoed daak lienz ov dust and swet - but hfr kopuur ringd emuuruuld iez luukd kaamlee at th seen within th roundhous

insied th suurkuuluur room a famileeuur seen ov idilik domestik pees met th gaez ov th kopuur skind yooth - at th faa sied ov th room - bie th oepun bak dau - a slenduur puursun ov about 50 sunz wuurkd at th sink prepaering thf 3 meal - az hf wuurkd hf kontentedlee humd a chuen too hfrself - hfr waest length silvuur haer glisund and gleemd in th slaanting sunliet that streemd in throo th windoe abuv th sink - th kopuur silk skaaf around hf nek provieded a splash ov kuluur and machd th ribun that tied hfr haer bak from hfr faes - th fuul length tin kuluurd wuulun shift hung loos on hfr boenee fraem indikaeting that th shift had eethuur preeveeuuslee belongd too sumbodee els au that hf had lost a lot ov waet sints th shift had been maed - hfr hoemlee kopuur faes shoed lienz ov kaer and soroe but hf had obveeuuslee been atraktiv wen yunguur

th puursun woz skining a massam on a wuudun baud set besied th sink - th meet beeing destind fau th steeming kopuur pot that sat simuuring kontentedlee on th griduul ov th sentruul suurkuuluur stoen fierplaes - around th pot flikuuring finguurz ov flaem flaerd up between th gloeing fierstoenz ov th gas fier too lik th unduursied ov th pot - a konikuul kopuur funuul led th laezee haez ov smoek and heet up and out throo th konikuul thachd roof

sudunlee th yung puursun rezolvd too entuur th room - at th sliet slap ov th yoothz fuutfaul on th stoen flau th oalduur puursun tuurnd around - hfr faes brietund az hf sau th yooth but then a luuk ov konsuurn kaem oevuur hfr faes az hf tuuk in th chieldz unroolee apearunts

amioka - wot hav yf been geting intoo nou

hfr vois betraed a westuurn lilt az hf aansuurd hfr oen qestchun

been fieting agaen mf see - and with ekiose noe dout - hou iz it that yf 2 aa such guud frendz and yet yf aa aulwaez fieting eech uthuur - yf wil end up bie kiling eech uthuur noe dout - it woz oenlee th preeveeuus liet that yf wuur feesting and plaeing with ekiose at th seluurbraeshun ov th nue sun - nou yf hav been fieting agaen - yf 2 realee aa geting too auld too bee fieting liek lituul chieldz - noebodee wuud beleev that yf wil boeth bee ov aej soon

amioka gaezd bak at hf without enee chaenj ov xpreshun - amiokaz pael lipz wuur draun tiet intoo a thin detuurmind lien but th kaunuurz ov hfr mouth wuur near too tuurning doun and tearz fild hfr iez - hf luukd at th oalduur puursun fau sum tiem befau saeing eneething - then hf set hfr faes in a puzuuld froun az hf faumd th qestchun in hfr miend - but anoina had aulwaez taut hfr too kount too 10 and too think kaerfuulee befau saeing sumthing impautunt - soe hf kounted - 1 2 3 4 5 10 - and then hf fienuulee aaskd th qestchun that had fild hfr miend fau th paast spel au soe

anoina - aa yf mf real muthuur

anoina staated viziblee at this qestchun and thaer woz a traes ov panik in hfr vois az hf aaskd kaushuuslee

wie evuur doo yf aask that amioka

amioka plaanted hfr feet fuurmlee apaat and klenchd hfr fistz in frustraeshun

ekiose sed yf aa not mf real muthuur and that mf real muthuur woz dround in th see and mf faathuur woz buurnt too deth - and mf siblingz too

anoina luukd kloeslee at amioka

oe amioka - that iz not troo - at leest not aul ov it - it realee woz not liek that

hf pauzd - hfr nukuulz shoed chaulk az hf graaspd th nief tiet

mf doo not noe wot mf shuud sae too yf nou amioka - mf hav been dreding yf fiending this out but mf nue yf had too noe th trooth sumtiem - mf supoez that az yf aa soon too kum ov aej and wil bee oald enuf too bee mareed then - yf aut too noe th trooth about yfr familee

anoina stopd agaen too think - sudunlee hf seemd too kum too a desizshun

goe get yfrself kleend up and mf wil get th 3 meal on - then mf think wf hav sum seareeuus taulking too doo

amioka noded sloelee - hf waulkd stiflee akros th room and out throo th oepun bak dau too step doun ontoo th stoen paevd aereeuur at th rear ov th roundhous - hf stopd fau a fue beetz and luukd along th paath that strechd awae doun th jentuul sloep ov th gaadun and hf staerd out oevuur th wied safier wautuurz ov long faud eschuuree too th uthuur sied - thaer hf kuud see th baer braanchd treez and buurnt bronz fealdz ov uthuur smaul faamz - with thaer chaulk paented roundhousz and braas thachd roofz - nesuuld agaenst th opozit sloep ov th eschuuree - then - beeond this qieut paasteuuruul seen - th nauth westuurn hilz roez up az a daak safier waul ov haez on th horiezun - this woz a seen that hf had aulwaez tuuk hfr breth awae - noe matuur that hf had seen it evuuree dae sints hf had been a baebee

on amiokaz left a smaul roundhous kontaend th klozet with th diejestuur and kompresuur and th gas tank - fuurthuur doun th gaadun woz anuthuur roundhous in wich th faaming eqipmunt woz staud - on hf riet a long chaulk paented waul had huurbz groeing agaenst it - riezing from a bed ov uurth beneeth it - in th miduul ov th paevd aereeuur a bronz wautuur pump stood with a kopuur buket plaesd direktlee unduur itz spout - th buket beeing set on a slab ov stoen with a waun draen hoal in th miduul

amioka puuld hfr shift oevuur hfr hed and tuuk of hfr bootz and trouzuurz - hf shuuk th dust out ov hfr kloethz - then hf staated too wuurk th long handuul ov th pump up and doun until th fresh klear wautuur gushd out - hf puut hfr hed unduur th kooling floe too wosh th dust out ov hfr tanguuld haer and splashd koald wautuur aul around hfr faes and nek with hfr hand and then aul oevuur hfr sinueee bodee - maeking shuur that hf kleend wel around hfr i and o between hfr legz - just az anoina had taut hf too doo wen hf had been noe mau than a baebee - next hf stuud on eech fuut in tuurn wielst hf woshd hfr legz and feet - amioka then shuuk th dropz ov wautuur of hfr bodee liek a kassoi befau hf retuurnd too th dau ov th roundhous and reechd intoo puul a kloth of th draening baud - hf dried hfrself thuruulee and then puut hfr shift and trouzuurz and bootz bak on

bie th tiem this puurfaumunts woz oevuur anoina had finishd skining and guting and woshing and kuting up th massam - hf went oevuur too th fier and skraepd th meet of th choping baud intoo th bubling wautuur in th pot and then plaesd th lid bak on th pot it befau retuurning too th sink too rints and drie hfr handz

anoina then went bak oevuur too th fier and sat doun in hfr ruflee maed wuudun aamchaer - hf lifted th pot ov broo from th griduul and paud out a kup fuul fau amioka and anuthuur fau hfrself - hf aded a spoonfuul ov hunee too eech - then hf sipd at th hot sweet liqid wiel amioka setuuld hfrself in hfr oen chaer besied th fier - amiokaz chaer had been shautund sevuuruul tiemz too enaebuul hf sit at th taebuul at th korekt hiet az hf had groen tauluur

thaer woz lituul uthuur fuurnichuur in th roundhous - an oevuul taebuul and 2 kuurvd benchz plaesd agaenst th waul - on th opozit sied ov th room thaer woz a paer ov kuurtund bedboxz with drauz unduurneeth - a taul food chest stuud bie th sink at th bak dau with anuthuur chest bilt in unduur th sink

aul that liet it had been unseezunablee waum with a tepid breez bloeing in of th nauth see - but it woz th uurth aaftuur th shautest uurth ov th sun - soe th shaut wintuur liet woz aulredee waening - thf wuud soon need too shut th dauz and kloes th safier paented wuudun shutuurz oevuur th unglaezd windoez - but at prezunt a waum plezunt breez wofted around th room - mixing th smelz of th huurbz in th gaadun with th apetietsing aroemuurz ov thfr meal simuuring in th pot

amioka sat on hfr chaer with hfr aamz foalded akros eech uthuur az hf waeted fau anoina too speek - amiokaz faes had a sootabuulee seareeuus xpreshun that shoed that hf xpekted matuurz ov sum impautunts too bee diskusd

anoina setuuld intoo hfr seet and luukd haad at amioka - hf obveeuuslee wunduurd wot too sae too amioka - then anoina seemd too desied that hf wuud treet amioka az th adult that amioka aulmoest woz - but hf aulsoe nue that amiokaz maask ov asoomd machuuritee kuud stil slip too reveal th vulnuurabuul chield that hf kuud bee

anoina tuuk anuthuur sip ov broo and komentsd hfr stauree

wel too staat with

anoina sed unsuurtunlee

mf do not noe hou ekiose haz found out wot hf toald yf - and ov kaus ekiose had noe riet too tel yf liek that - but az mf sed befau - yf had too noe sumtiem and mf had wonted too tel yf wen yf had groen enuf too unduurstand mf riet - maebee that tiem haz nou kum

hf pauzd and fround

nou that iz od - mf woz oenlee taulking about yfr familee with iziobi laast daak at th feest ov th nue sun - mf wunduur nou if ekiose oevuurheard wf taulking - but noe matuur - yf need too noe th trooth - mf wil tel yf wot mf noe ov th rest ov yfr familee but yf must keep aul that mf tel yf too yfrself - noebodee els must noe of yfr familee histuuree - thaer is daenjuur aul around wf amioka - thoe it mae not bee obveeuus too yf - it apearz az thoe aul th peepuulz ov aul th landz aa at pees with eech uthuur nou but thaer aa sum hff seek too taek pouuur intoo thfr oen handz - wau kuud braek out agaen at enee tiem and thaer aa uthuurz hff seek just this end - doo yf unduurstand mf amioka

amioka noded - anoina tuuk a sip ov hfr hot broo and went on

ekiose woz at leest paatlee riet - mf am soree too hav too tel yf amioka - it iz troo that yf faathuur and yfr siblingz aa ded - au at leest yfr haaf siblingz - and thfr muthuur iz aulsoe ded - but mf kan ashuur yf that mf am yfr real muthuur

amioka noded agaen thoe hf miend woz grapling too kum too tuurmz with just theez fue simpuul faktz and th implikaeshunz - but anoina went on

wen mf met yfr faathuur hfr buurth naem woz mirkow upioyu - hf woz a fien kopuur io beeing taul and handsum - veree distingwishd luuking hf woz - and wel luurned - mf nue from th staat that hf must hav been mau than a just pau faamuur befau hf kaem hear too long faud but hf nevuur taulkd too mf ov wie hf choez too liv in obskuuritee hear in long faud - mf nue that thaer must bee sum impautunt reezun wie hf kuud not tel mf - soe mf nevuur aaskd hfr enee qestchunz - mf supoez that in tiem hf miet hav toald mf mau but wf oenlee had thoez fue preshuus sunz toogethuur - but yf shuud noe that mf luvd yfr faathuur dearlee and mf am suurtun that hf luvd mf

aul mf nue about hfr preeveeuus lief woz that hf had a familee befau hf kaem hear too long faud - thfr marij naem woz mirjol - thf wuur travuuling bie ship around th koest wen thfr ship woz kaut in a staum and rekd out on th eest koest just south ov th mouth ov long faud eschuuree - yfr faathuurz spous woz lost in th rek but yfr faathuur and hfr children wuur reskued bie anuthuur ship and braut hear too long faud - then fau sum reezun yfr faathuur desieded too setuul doun hear with hfr chieldz - th land woz cheep around hear then - this land had not been setuuld sints th long wauz had fienuulee ended with th pees ov faer iel - but oevuur th paast 50 sunz au soe peepuul had been enkurijd too moov hear - yfr faathuur baut sum fealdz and treez toogethuur with sum graezing rietz doun along th silvuur streem

then yfr faathuur and mf met and fel in luv - mf woz a luvlee kopuur oi chield - thoe mf sae soe mfself - and mf am riet too sae that mf woz just a chield then - fau mf woz oenlee just 23 and baerlee oald enuf too bee mareed - mf woz slim eevun then but mau shaeplee than mf am nou - with glosee kopuur skin and deep emuuruuld iez and th moest bueteefuul long silvuur haer - lishod anoina woz mf buurth naem - mf paeruntz had baut this lituul faam wen wf kaem hear from th west koest at about th saem tiem az yfr faathuur and hfr chieldz arievd hear - a lot ov displaesd kopuur peepuul setuuld along th eschuuree hear aaftuur th wauz - wf wuur not aloud too retuurn too th wind graas plaenz and bee left too liv in pees with th uthuur kopuur peepuul - menee kopuur had nevuur eevun livd on th plaenz and eneewae thf wuud probablee not hav been welkumd thaer bie th peur kopuur peepuul

anoina smield at th rekolektshun ov hfr yunguur self - then hf shuuk hfr hed

but mf woz jenduur suurtified az barun oi - wich woz fien az mf am shuur that yfr faathuur did not wont too hav enee mau chieldz but oenlee wonted sumbodee too help with th chieldz and too help tend th land and animuulz - and bee guud kumpanee - it woz a guud solooshun fau boeth ov wf - it woz a 2 marij az faa az yfr faathuur woz konsuurnd az hf had been mareed befau - but it woz liek a 1 marij az faa az mf woz konsuurnd az mf had yfr faathuur aul too mfself - ov kaus th kounsuuluur tried too enkurij yfr faathuur too maree a fuurtiel oi too maek a propuur 2 marij - az hf woz stil yung enuf too faathuur mau chieldz and woz obveeuuslee fuurtiel az hf had faathuurd 2 chieldz aulredee - th kounsuuluur woz aulsoe agaenst yfr faathuur mareeing anuthuur kopuur but wf had faulun in luv and th integraeshun lauz wuur not striktlee infausd at that tiem - xept if yf wuur sivileeunz - and besiedz - az mf woz barun it did not matuur soe much az thaer wuud not bee enee chieldz - yfr faathuur aulsoe pointed out that hf had produesd 2 chieldz and soe had fuulfild hfr soeshuul obligaeshunz too sivileeun soesieitee - soe wf got mareed and bilt a fien roundhous fau wf 2 and yfr faathuurz chieldz

mf groed too luv yfr faathuurz 2 chieldz from hfr preeveeuus marij just az thoe thf wuur mf oen chieldz - eevun thoe thf wuur oenlee a fue sunz yunguur than mf - but then too evuureebodeez suurpriez mf bekaem pregnunt with yf

yf noe th jenduur testz aa not aulwaez riet - wf aul hav i and o paatz - too a lesuur au graetuur xtent - and th jenduur testz kan wuurk out qiet wel wethuur a puursun iz io au oi but th healuurz kanot aulwaez tel wot i au o bitz aa insied yfr bodee and wethuur yf realee wil bee barun au fuurtiel

mf must admit that yf wuur graet trubuul too mf in having yf az yf wuur such a laaj baebee but mf faugaev yf wen mf sau yf wuur soe helthee - healuur tinnol sed yf had th heltheeest paer ov lungz hf had evuur heard - it tuurnd out yf wuur io - and yf luukd too bee az peur kopuur az posibuul - mf think that yfr faathuur and mf wuur peur kopuur on boeth siedz ov th familee - mf grandpaeruntz kaem from th wind graas plaenz and mf think that yfr faathuur woz baun thaer - yf noe mf kan see yfr faathuur in yfr luukz and karaktuur but mf kan aulsoe see mf in yf az wel

anoina sied

yf wuur baun duuring th sun ov 2500 - in th 3 moon - but unfautuenutlee it woz aulsoe th tiem ov th feevuur - it struk just 4 moonz aaftuur yf wuur baun - it woz th hotest sumuur that evuur mf remembuur - th feevuur broek out in long faud and spred aul around theez sitee landz and tuuk of menee peepuul - healuur tinnol insisted that noebodee kuud bee aloud too moov between roundhousz - wethuur th feevuur had taekun hoald au not - this woz too trie and stop it spreding yf see - then wen eneebodee in a roundhous died hf had thf kremaeted bie th pees keepuurz hff patroald th roedz and trakz - then wen aul th peepuul in a roundhous had died hf aulsoe had th roundhous buurnt too th ground and aul th lissaaz kild and kremaeted az wel - fau th lissaaz got th feevuur too and kuud spred it too peepuul

a fue peepuul did not get th feevuur but thf had too stae waer thf wuur and oenlee goe out too tend th fealdz and treez and lissaaz - aul kontakt between peepuul and faamz woz band and if yf disoebaed theez reguelaeshunz th pees keepuurz had auduurz too shoot yf on siet and yf wuur kremaeted waer yf had faulun

ov kaus aul this woz oenlee posibuul bekauz th roundhous faamz had welz and raenwautuur tankz and gas - and thf had th food that thf groed in th fealdz - but yf noe it woz aul much wuurs in th sitee itself - aul thoez peepuul had too xist on wot food thf had staud - toogethuur with th bit ov food distribueted bie th pees keepuurz - th maaket and aul publik roundhousz wuur kloezd - but it woz imposibuul too stop th feevuur spreding liek wieldfier throo th sitee ov long faud - thf sae that almost evuureebodee got it and that 1 in 3 died

anoina pauzd too gaej th efekt that this infaumaeshun had on amioka - but amioka sat kaamlee taeking in aul that anoina sed - hf wuud stau th infaumaeshun awae az hf aulwaez did - oenlee too tuurn it oevuur in hfr miend laetuur - but then amioka wuud kum bak and aask qestchunz wen hf had thaut it aul throo

anoina sied sadlee

yung ariolo got th feevuur and then shautlee aaftuur that yfr faathuur got it too - and then lituul eloiba - mf nuursd thf aul and wochd thf die a sloe linguuring deth - it woz soe paenfuul too see thf rakd with paen and loozing aul kontroal ov thfr bodilee funktshunz - it woz a teruurbuul wae too die - deth shoez noe respekt

az eech died th pees keepuurz maed a maekshift fuenuuruul pier at th sied ov th roundhous uezing sum kopuur pieping konekted too th gas tank - eech ov yfr familee woz kremaeted in tuurn - dresd oenlee in th kloethz thf died in - it woz such a sad siet but wen aul around wuur geting th feevuur and dieing wf aul seemd too bekum num too th paen - and wf nue it wuud soon bee wfr tuurn

thfr ashz wuur left waer just left thaer - az instrukted bie th pees keepuurz - thf did not hav th uezueuul dignified kremaeshun on th touuur ov th asemblee haul - thfr ashz plaesd in a roket and then ignieted wen it wuud shoot into th daak skie skatuuring thfr ashz too th windz az th roket xploeded hie abuv in a shouuur ov staaz - insted thfr ashz aa stil laeing thaer at the sied ov th oald roundhous - mf did not wont too distuurb thf az mf thaut that yf wuud wont too maek yfr oen araenjmuntz wen yf wuur oald enuf - mf kuud not bear too doo it - th paen woz - and iz - too kloes too mf

mf oen paeruntz then went doun with th feevuur - soe az mf wonted too luuk aaftuur thf - wf moovd intoo this roundhous with thf - wf shuud not hav ov kaus - healuur tinnol nue of it but did not infaum th pees keepuurz

th pees keepuurz buurnt th uthuur roundhous doun aaftuur wf had moovd out - sumhou this seemd th wuurst tiem ov aul - it seemd too bee th destruktshun ov wfr familee and ov mf shaut marij too yfr faathuur - mf hav nevuur been bak sints too that roundhous - then mf paeruntz died az wel and wf wuur left aul aloen - just th 2 ov wf

anoina luukd up at amioka with tearz in hf iez - but amiokaz faes woz plasid -

soe anoina went on

az eech uurth paasd mf hoepd that boeth ov wf wuud suurviev but eventuelee mf did get th feevuur and sloelee mf bekaem weekuur and weekuur - then yf kaem doun with it az wel - wf struguuld on from liet too liet but fienuulee mf lost mf wil too liv and mf kuud not baer too see yf die liek th uthuurz

then laet 1 liet mf realiezd that mf just kuud not goe on - aul liet long it had been opresivlee hot and humid with not a breth ov wind - th skie had bekum daakuur and daakuur - it woz liek th end ov th wuurld woz upon wf - then th staum broek - th saut ov staum that kumz rauring doun from th nauthuurn see in th heet ov sumuur - sudunlee mf desieded that it wuud bee best if wf died qiklee and toogethuur - just yf and mf - thaer woz noebodee els too luuk aaftuur yf - mf had it in mf miend too droun wf boeth in th eschuuree

soe mf tuuk yf doun too th shau - th raen woz stil lashing doun in toruntz - lietning flashd akros th skie and thunduur krashd aul around wf - th wind woz houling akros th eschuuree and yf staated too houl az wel - just az thoe yf nue wot mf intended too doo - mf got wf boeth stripd of and mf waeded out intoo th wautuur with yf in mf aamz until th wautuur kaem up too mf nek - then az mf stuud thaer hoalding yfr hed abuv th waevz mf miend kleard and sudunlee mf realiezd that mf kuud not doo it - th dieing wuurdz ov yfr faathuur kaem bak too mf tiem and tiem agaen - woshing oevuur mf liek th waevz aul around wf

az yfr faathuur lae dieing hf sed too mf

anoina - mf must tel yf nou that mf real buurth naem iz rikmon emioke - mf am soree that mf kuud not tel yf this befau but if mf had it wuud hav put yf in daenjuur - mf hav luvd yf dearlee anoina - from th tiem mf laed mf iez upon yf - but mf kuud not put yf in enee mau daenjuur than neseseree - nou yf must maek shuur that lituul emioke noez ov mf naem wen hf iz oald enuf too unduurstand - and eevun mau impautuntlee - tel hf that hf must taek on th qest nou - it iz hfr destinee - just az it woz mfr destinee

theez wuur th laast wuurdz yfr faathuur sed too mf - xept that laetuur hf kept mutuuring an oald kopuur naem - it woz riksmiekuul au sumthing liek that - hf seemd too think it woz impautunt that yf nue th naem but noebodee uezz thoez kopuur naemz in theez tiemz - xept fau th kopuur living out on th wind graas plaenz - then - raathuur than die - hf just seemd too goe too sleep - it woz a qieut deth - thoe hf had been in much paen befau that

it tuuk a fue moemuntz befau anoina kuud karee on

at th tiem mf woz huurt that hf had not konfieded in mf - but that daak - az mf stuud th in th wautuur with yf in mf aamz - theez wuurdz ekoed in mf miend - mf did not noe wot too doo - mf had been soe shuur that wf wuur boeth goeing too die from th feevuur - but sumhou mf kaem too bee suurtun that yf wuud liv and that mf just had too stae aliev too luuk aaftuur yf - wf wuur stuud thaer naeked in th wautuur with oenlee wfr hedz abuv wautuur and boeth krieing - but it seemd liek an aej went bie befau mf found th strength too tuurn bak too shau - it seemd soe much eezeeuur too end it aul thaer and then but mf gathuurd wot lituul strength mf stil had and sloelee maed mf wae bak too shau with yf stil in m aamz

th oenlee thing mf kuud think ov too doo woz too skrub boeth ov wf with th seeweed from th rokz - mf did not noe wethuur it wuud help but it woz aul mf kuud think ov - and yf noe that seeweed kontaenz aul sautz ov guud medisinz - but stil yf kried soe mf puut yf up too mf teet and - too mf suurpriez - yf sukld - wich yf had not dun fau 3 lietz and daakz - it seemd liek yf had sumhou aulsoe found th apetiet fau lief - yf qieutund doun az yf tuuk sustunants from mf brestz and az yf did th staum sloelee subsieded around wf az wf sat thaer on th rokz at th sied ov th eschuuree

fienuulee th daun broek and th fearz daak kloudz roald awae too th west - raez ov sunliet flashd along th eschuuree filing mf with hoep fau th fuechuur - soe mf braut yf bak hear too this lituul roundhous - mf maed mfself eet and drink sumthing and wf wuur boeth soon sound asleep

oevuur th next faez au soe - too mf suurpriez - wf sloelee rekuvuurd from th feevuur and soe mf hav luukd aaftuur yf aloen evuur sints then - mf kanot sae that it woz not haad sumtiemz but yf hav been a guud chield - at leest moest ov th tiem - and yfr kumpanee haz mau than maed up fau enee haadship - nou wf aa aul wf hav left ov wfr familee - but mf must sae that mf hav been glad ov iziobiz kumpanee oevuur th laast fue sunz - but hf iz not familee - thoe hf iz kiend and jenuuruus too wf boeth and seemz intuurested in yfr fuechuur - but mf feal that hf duz not wont too get mareed and eneewae mf wuud not wont too maree agaen

soe that is hou yf kaem too bee hear amioka - wf suurvievd wen menee died - and nou yf noe hff yf realee aa and wot realee hapund too yfr familee - but mf must stres agaen that yf must keep yfr faathuurz real naem too yfrself

anoina stuud up - hf went oevuur too th sink and pikd up a boal ov vejtabuulz - hf tuuk th boal oevuur too th kuuking pot and uezd a kloth too lift th lid - hf paud th emuuruuld and kopuur vejtabuulz in with th meet and then gaev th pot a stuur with a laaj kopuur spoon befau retuurning too hfr seet

anoina luukd pentsivlee at amioka

yf aa noe longuur a chield amioka - yf wil bee 23 sunz oald kum th next 3 moon - yf wil bee finishing skool at th end ov th next skool tuurm just 2 lietz aaftuur th aneevuursuuree ov yfr buurth - yf noe yf wil then bee ov aej and bee xpekted too maek a 1 marij with a fuurtiel oi ov yfr oen aej - mf think that yf sumtiemz stil seem too bee noe mau than a chield but m kan aulsoe see that yf aa machuuring qiklee - noe dout yfr kounsuuluur wil bee presing yf too bee mareed az soon az posibuul wen yf kum ov aej - thoe it seemz too mf that thaer iz but lituul chois ov dezierabuul oi paatnuurz around hear - but mf supoez that evuuree muthuur thinkz that

anoina pauzd too luuk at amioka disaproovinglee

mf am glad that yf stopd runing around with that wield gang ov yfrz - yf noe that yf shuud not hav been dooing wot yf wuur doing with eech uthuur - mf sau yf and soe did uthuurz - mf just hoep yf did not goe too faa - eevun if it woz befau enee ov yf wuur fuurtiel - but mf hoep yf realiezd that ekiose and epoini and th uthuurz - and eevun that straenj chield uloila that uesd too foloe yf around - shuud aul nou bee fuurtiel

amioka did not wont too think about this aspekt ov hfr yung lief and leest ov aul about uloila - hf woz eevun mau embarisd too think about wot hf had diskuvuurd about uloila on that long hot aaft liet wen thf had laen toogethuur in th long graas doun bie th silvuur streem - hf had an iedear that noebodee els nue about hou difuurunt uloila woz too uthuur oi au io and amioka woz aulsoe embarisd that uloila had trusted hf enuf too shaer hfr seekrut with hf - amioka remembuurd that uloila had toald hfr that oenlee hfr muthuur had noen about hou hf woz - but uloilaz muthuur had died wen uloila woz yung and uloila sed that hf had aulwaez kept hfrself kuvuurd up sints then - amioka suspekted that noebodee els nue about uloila - xept healuur tinnol - but nou amioka avoided eevun luuking at uloila wen thf paasd bie on th roed - but amioka had nevuur toald eneebodee about uloilaz seekrut - not eevun ekiose

anoina shuuk hfr hed

wel yf noe that saut ov thing iz not aloud at aul nou - it iz troo that in th paast - duuring th kopuur rool - thf aul uesd too plae toogethuur liek that - in th oald tiemz befau th sivileeun marij lauz wuur paasd - but oenlee befau thf bekaem fuurtiel - but nou eevun that inoesunt sex plae iz band bie sivileeun lau - thf sae that yf shuud not hav enee sexueuul xpeareeunts at aul until yf aa mareed wen yf kum ov aej at 23 sunz oald

yes thf uesd too plae sex gaemz with eech uthuur - just liek plaeing uthuur gaemz - that iz hou th chieldz got too noe about eech uthuur - then wen thf bekaem fuurtiel thf had too stop having enee sex until thf fel in luv with sumbodee and maed a publik deklaeraeshun - thf livd toogethuur until thf fel out ov luv au until a baebee arievd and then thf had too get mareed - mf think that th oald waez nevuur did thf noe haam and probablee did a lot ov guud - nou it iz aul chaenjd and not fau th betuur too mf miend

but if yf had kareed on liek yf wuur - with uloila and ekiose and th uthuurz - then soonuur au laetuur yf wuud hav been repauted too yfr kounsuuluur and yf wuud hav been denountsd at asemblee on th 10 uurth - and mf wuud aulsoe hav got fiend - and it wuud hav been rekauded on yfr lief rekaud - and if yf had got sumbodee pregnunt yf wuud hav had too hav mareed hfr wen yf boeth kaem ov aej - soe mf am glad that yf stopd wot yf wuur dooing with th uthuurz - yf must realiez that yf kanot hav enee sex until yf maree

anoina pauzd fau a fue beetz and then kareed on

yf aut too noe that yf wil bee having yfr 4 jenduur test wen yf aa 23 - th uthuur jenduur testz yf had at buurth and at 10 sunz and at 20 sunz aul konfuurmd that yf aa sexd az io and wuur xpekted too bee fuurtiel - it iz obveeuus that yf hav nou machuurd sexueuulee - wich iz wie mf woz pleezd that yf stopd goeing around with that gang - yf wuur probablee fuurtiel sumtiem soon aaftuur yfr 3 jenduur test - sum ov yfr gang aa aulsoe io liek yf soe it wuud not hav matuurd about having sex with thf but uthuurz ov thf - liek uloila - aa oi and mae aulsoe hav been fuurtiel soe yf miet hav got hf pregnunt

it apeard az thoe anoina nou thaut that hf had embarisd amioka enuf bie taulking about sex and chaenjd th subjekt

wf aulsoe need too konsiduur wot yf wil doo wen yf finish 2 skool - mf am soe pleezd that yf hav got on soe wel at th gillonz prievuut skool - with anioze and esoihu az y teechuurz - thf aa kiendlee and sivil and luurned peepuul - it haz aulsoe been veree handee fau yf with th skool beeing bilt just out along th long faud roed - mf remembuur hou suurpriezd wf aul wuur that thf wuud bild such a fien skool out hear - and bild it soe wel - ov stoen and slaetz with propuur glaas windoez - th gillonz kaem hear shautlee aaftuur yf wuur baun - and mf am shuur that th gillonz skool haz been betuur fau yf than th oald publik skool doun bie th dokz in long faud wear moest ov yfr uthuur frendz went - it iz not a helthee plaes too bee and yf wuud hav been mixing with aul sautz from th ruf aereeuurz ov long faud - but mf woz aulsoe pleezd that ekiose went with yf too th gillonz skool - yf hav been frendz sints hfr familee kaem hear too long faud

yf noe it did kost a faer amount too send yf too th gillonz skool fau th paast 13 sunz - but mf had a smaul sum ov noetz saevd and wf uurnd mau from th fealdz and treez and soald th produes in th maaket in long faud - mf supoez that wf manijd wel enuf but nou wf must think ov yfr fuechuur - mf think wf mae eevun maek a fien sivileeun ov yf yet - it seemz too mf that it iz noe guud yf staeing pau faamuurz liek wf aa nou - yf need too get an aprentiship too bee gilded too a traed and then yf kan bekum a sivileeun and soe get on in lief

mf must admit that thaer aa problemz with this plan thoe - mf noe that yf hav taulkd too iziobi about beeing a veeikuul injeenuur but thaer aa noe veeikuul maeking bizeenesz around hear - thoe iziobi is a veeikuul injeenuur hf oenlee suurvisz and restauz biekz and uthuur veeikuulz soe hf kuud not taek yf on az an aprentis veeikuul injeenuur - but wf doo not hav too desied just nou about yfr fuechuur - thoe wf aut too bee thinking about it

anoina lent oevuur and plaesd hfr hand on amiokaz leg and sqeezd it tenduurlee

th uthuur thing iz - and yf miet az wel noe nou az mf am shuur that yf aulredee must hav gesd sumthing aulredee - mf am mau il than mf inishuulee thaut - th kankuur insied mf iz eeting mf up - healuur tinnol duz not noe hou long mf hav too liv - it kuud bee a fue sunz au it kuud oenlee bee a fue moonz

amioka noded sloelee - hf had been oenlee too wel awaer that hfr muthuur woz il - and geting weekuur az th faezz went bie - hf had aulsoe noetisd that anoina had lost a lot ov waet oevuur th laast sun au soe

anoina woz deep in thaut fau a fue beetz wielst amioka qieutlee konsiduurd anoinaz wuurdz - but then it seemd that anuthuur thaut struk anoina

thaer aa uthuur thingz wf aut too get sauted out amioka - wen wf had rekuvuurd from th feevuur mf realiezd that yfr buurth had not been rejistuurd - healuur tinnol must hav been soe bizee with th feevuur that hf did not hav tiem too rejistuur yfr buurth - au mau probablee hf did not xpekt yf too suurviev

az mf hav toald yf - wen mf met yfr faathuur hf kauld hfself mirjol upioyu and hfr 1 marij nek ring had that naem on it - hfr buurth nek ring woz maakd az mirkow upioyu but hf toald mf on hfr deth bed that hfr real buurth naem woz rikmon emioke - mf nevuur did unduurstand hou hf kuud chaenj hfr naem - and th naemz ov hfr chieldz - mf thaut that th rekaudz wuur kept in faer iel and that yfr deetaelz wuur chekd kaerfuulee and oenlee th rekauduurz kuud maek up nek ringz

eneewae - mf had too get healuur tinnol too hav yfr buurth rejistuurd - mf desieded too rejistuur yf az mirhod amioka - eevun thoe yfr faathuur had choezun hfr oen 1 naem ov emioke fau yf - peepuul uez thoez naemz th saem eneewae - menee an amioka iz noen az emioke and th uthuur wae about - it must bee bekauz th naemz sound soe similuur - and yfr real familee naem shuud bee rikhod and not mirhod ov kaus - mf just thaut that az yfr 1 naem woz not too bee korekt then nau shuud yfr 2 naem bee korekt - soe mf rekauded yfr buurth naem az mirhod amioka - and that - ov kauz - iz wot iz inskriebd on yfr buurth nek ring

nou yf kuud maek an aplikaeshun too yfr kounsuuluur too chaenj yfr naem too rikhod emioke - if yf soe wish - but fau nou mf think it wuud bee saefuur too keep th fauls naem - at leest until yf fiend out wie yfr faathuur uesd a fauls naem - hf must hav had sum guud reezun too doo it and it mae bee daenjuuruus too uez yfr real naem

anoina sied and apeard too hav finishd wot hf had too sae too amioka - thf sat stil fau a wiel woching th gas flaemz liking around th botom ov th pot - in th rapidlee kooling dusk aer amioka kuud feal th heet from th hot fierstoenz on hf cheekz

amioka fienuulee broek th sielunts

hou long until 3 meal anoina

anoina luukd up and smield

it wil bee a spel au soe yet - iziobi iz kuming oevuur fau th meal too - too seluurbraet th nue sun

amioka noded and slid of hfr chaer

riet - mf wil bee bak then

amioka wonduurd out throo th bak dau and waulkd aemleslee doun th gaadun paath until hf kaem out ontoo th strip ov graasland at th end ov th gaadun - hf tuurnd left along th trak that wound throo th graas beneath th baer braanchd froot and nut treez - hf paasd th lissaaz graezing noizilee in amungst th treez - taering up bunchz ov graas in thaer teeth and munching loudlee - th lissaaz luukd up disintuurestedlee at amioka az amioka paasd bie

fienuulee amioka kaem too th silvuur streem and slid doun th steep graasee sloep ov th bank - hf tuurnd riet too foloe th kaus ov th streem dounstreem - hf klambuurd oevuur th slipuuree emuuruuld rokz and splashd along in th koald tumbling bronz wautuur

aaftuur a wiel hf stopd and luukd around - then hf kaem too a desizshun and skrambuuld up th steep bank too puush hfr wae throo th thik skrub too waer th wield treez and buushz gaev wae too oepun land agaen - amioka had an iedear ov wot hf woz luuking fau - hf nue that thaer woz a plot ov land hear that had been left too groe wield and waer amioka and hfr frendz had diskuvuurd that thaer wuur wield froot and nutz too bee had in autum - soe hf deduesd that this must hav at sum tiem been kultivaeted fealdz

hf reechd th plaes waer a roundhous had obveeuuslee stuud - oenlee th stoen flauz and stoen paathz wuur intakt - but th pielz ov buurnt wuud and th remaenz ov th mud waulz and th thachd roof wuur aul oevuurgroen with weedz and wield flouuurz

amioka suurchd diskonsolaetlee around at this seen ov destruktshun neethuur noeing wot hf wonted thaer nau noeing wot hf xpekted too fiend - but hf woz shuur that this woz waer hf had been baun oevuur 22 sunz agoe - but trie az hf miet hf kuud not remember eneething ov hfr familee - wich woz haadlee suurpriezing az hf had oenlee been a baebee wen thf had aul died - az hf thaut ov hou thf had died a deep sents ov los oevuurwelmd amioka and saultee tearz faumd in hfr iez - this woz not th oenlee tiem that liet that amioka had shed hfr tearz but this tiem thae wuur tearz springing from a vaeg but deep sents ov los - raathuur than th anguur and fizikuul huurt that hf had felt uurleeuur wen fieting with ekiose

at th sied of th rooind roundhous amioka found anuthuur buurnt pach - hf dug around in th ashz with a length ov chaad wuud that hf pikd up and found traesz ov kloth and boen in amungst the ashz - hf realiezd then that theez wuur th remaenz ov hfr familee - buurnt too ashz on th maekshift fuenuuruul pier

with hfr tearz runing doun hfr cheekz amioka wunduurd wie hfr faathuur had not uezd hfr real naem and wie hf had thaut that it woz impautunt fau amioka too noe ov it - amioka aulsoe wunduurd wot th qest woz and wot hf oen paat in this qest woz too bee

amioka luukd up and sau awae beloe hfr in th eschuuree a ship maeking wae on th reseeding tied and heding out too see - it had a faer wind from th west and woz unduur fuul sael with th 4 trieangueluur saelz fild with th wind and pouuuring th ship along with a kreeming waev at th frunt - th polishd bronz hul gleemd with th reflekted liet from sun dapuuld wautuur - but oenlee a faent traes ov steem traeld from th funuul az th steem moetuur woz not needed in this uesfuul wind

amioka nue that aaftuur th ship had kleard th mouth ov long faud eschuuree th gieduur wuud leev th ship too retuurn in hfr oen ship too long faud and th see ship wuud hed eethuur too th nauth au too th south too delivuur itz loed ov guudz and peepuul too sum distunt paut in anuthuur paat ov th landz - nou hf wishd that hf wuur on that ship and that it woz an xpedishun ship goeing of too xplaur th remoet paatz ov th wuurld - such az thoez xpedishunz hf had red about in buukz - shipz fuul ov braev peepuul that had gon of too diskuvuur wunduurfuul fears kreechuurz and amaezing trezshuurz and had been involvd in spien tingling adventuerz

th siet ov th ship aulsoe gaev amioka a kauz fau thaut about hfr fuechuur - hf sed too hfrself

soe mf am rikhod emioke and not mirhod amioka - mf think that mf shal stil kaul mfself mirhod amioka - az that iz wot mf muthuur haz naemd mf - it seemz that it mae bee saefuur too keep that naem eneewae - but wen mf kum ov aej mf wil taek mf real naem - then mf wil bekum a fien sivileeun puursun and bee faemuus in aul th landz - rich and pouuurfuul - not pau and duurtee az mf am nou

but hf pauzd too refaum hfr thautz

noe - noe - that iz not wot mf meen and it iz not wot mf faathuur meent - mf am shuur ov that - hf sed that mf wil hav too taek on th qest nou - and mf muthuur saevd mf bekauz mf faathuur sed mf had a destinee - yes mf wil leed th qest az mf am destind too doo

amioka did not xaktlee noe wot woz meent bie th wuurd destinee but hf had a guud iedear of th saut ov thing it meent - hf thaut it woz too taek aktshun and too maek a difuuruntz in uthuur peepuulz lievz - fau th betuur and not fau th wuurs - uurleeuur hf had been fieting with ekiose just liek a wield kuntree chield but nou hf felt soe difuurunt az hf sau th horiezunz ov hfr lief oepun out befau hfr and felt a nue strength ov puurpuus wel up insied and fil hfr hoal beeing

hf maed a vou out loud

mf wil fuulfil mf destinee and mf wil taek on th qest az mf faathuur wishd - and mf wil nevuur evuur krie agaen

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