A moment later a tired-looking girl with tousled hair and sleepy eyes came into the front room. "Desculpe, por favor," she murmured, "o menino nao se restabeleceu desde a morte do pai--"
Then she seemed suddenly to come awake.
"O Senhor e o Falante pelos Mortos!" You're the Speaker for the Dead!
"Sou," answered Ender. I am.
"Nao aqui," she said. "Oh, no, I'm sorry, do you speak Portuguese? Of course you do, you just answered me--oh, please, not here, not now. Go away."
"Fine," said Ender. "Should I keep the boy or the knife?"
He glanced up at the ceiling; her gaze followed his. "Oh, no, I'm sorry, we looked for it all day yesterday, we knew he had it but we didn't know where."
"It was taped to his leg."
"It wasn't yesterday. We always look there. Please, let go of him."
"Are you sure? I think he's been sharpening his teeth."
"Grego," she said to the boy, "it's wrong to poke at people with the knife."
Grego growled in his throat.
"His father dying, you see."
"They were that close?"
A look of bitter amusement passed across her face. "Hardly. He's always been a thief, Grego has, ever since he was old enough to hold something and walk at the same time. But this thing for hurting people, that's new. Please let him down."
"No," said Ender.
Her eyes narrowed and she looked defiant. "Are you kidnapping him? To take him where? For what ransom?"
"Perhaps you don't understand," said Ender. "He assaulted me. You've offered me no guarantee that he won't do it again. You've made no provision for disciplining him when I set him down."
As he had hoped, fury came into her eyes. "Who do you think you are? This is his house, not yours!"
"Actually," Ender said, "I've just had a rather long walk from the praca to your house, and Olhado set a brisk pace. I'd like to sit down."
She nodded toward a chair. Grego wriggled and twisted against Ender's grip. Ender lifted him high enough that their faces weren't too far apart. "You know, Grego, if you actually break free, you will certainly fall on your head on a concrete floor. If there were carpet, I'd give you an even chance of staying conscious. But there isn't. And frankly, I wouldn't mind hearing the sound of your head smacking against cement."
"He doesn't really understand Stark that well," said the girl.
Ender knew that Grego understood just fine. He also saw motion at the edges of the room. Olhado had come back and stood in the doorway leading to the kitchen. Quara was beside him. Ender smiled cheerfully at them, then stepped to the chair the girl had indicated. In the process, he swung Grego up into the air, letting go of his hands and feet in such a way that he spun madly for a moment, shooting out his arms and legs in panic, squealing in fear at the pain that would certainly come when he hit the floor. Ender smoothly slid onto the chair and caught the boy on his lap, instantly pinioning his arms. Grego managed to smack his heels into Ender's shins, but since the boy wasn't wearing shoes, it was an ineffective maneuver. In a moment Ender had him completely helpless again.
"It feels very good to be sitting down," Ender said. "Thank you for your hospitality. My name is Andrew Wiggin. I've met Olhado and Quara, and obviously Grego and I are good friends."
The older girl wiped her hand on her apron as if she planned to offer it to him to shake, but she did not offer it. "My name is Ela Ribeira. Ela is short for Elanora."
"A pleasure to meet you. I see you're busy preparing supper."
"Yes, very busy. I think you should come back tomorrow."
"Oh, go right ahead. I don't mind waiting."
Another boy, older than Olhado but younger than Ela, shoved his way into the room. "Didn't you hear my sister? You aren't wanted here!"
"You show me too much kindness," Ender said. "But I came to see your mother, and I'll wait here until she comes home from work."