"Kiza, mind if I ask you something?" "I don't mind if you ask me anything," she said."Kiza, mind if I ask you something?" "I don't mind if you ask me anything," she said. "A... thousand years. I know Pendorians are long-lived, but Piot has lived there for a thousand years? I don't think I can imagine anyone staying in the same place for ten years, never mind ten centuries." "My parents are the third family to live in this house. They moved here after the family before them moved on." Kiza smiled. "What a phrase. 'Moved on.' I mean they killed themselves. They have lived here for three hundred years. I think that's something you have to learn about us, Garth. Pendorian's come in different flavors, but the two most common are those that don't live forever, and those that just don't move. Piot's the second kind. He's a kind, loving, gentle soul. He tends farm, writes poetry and paints the most beautiful things. There's a painting he did of me in the living room." "I didn't see it." "I'll show it to you when we go back inside. But even though Piot adjusts... to having children in his house, to having Dragons outside, to having me bounce around as he draws me... his essential... soul, I guess... was filled when he built that house there with his own two hands. He's never needed anything more than that." Garth nodded. "He adjusts, but he doesn't change." "Right. Essentially, he lives there." Kiza pointed out across the valley. "If he had to move, he wouldn't be the same person anymore." "And what about your parents?" "I dunno," Kiza admitted. "Maybe someday they'll want to move on, too. Maybe I will. On the other hand, maybe they'll still be here in a thousand years. Who knows? Maybe I'll be living here then instead." "You?" "Yeah, me," Kiza said, looking down the length of the long, narrow valley. "I grew up here, and maybe I'll want to settle down here. You never know." She took his hand and led him completely around the house again until they were back at the front porch. |