True Son Read Online Free PDF

Kanjai Outpost.”
    It took a few seconds for Gevri to realize what his father was saying. “You mean —?”
    “Yes.” The general smiled, which was a rare sight. “It’s time to prepare for the attack on Deliverance.”

“What? What do you want me to see?” Taemon asked.
    “I can’t tell you. You just have to see it.” Amma led him through the streets to a neighborhood close to where he had grown up.
    Taemon had to dodge through the crowd to keep up with Amma. Why were so many people on the streets at this hour? It was nearly sunset on a workday, and usually the streets in this neighborhood were fairly quiet.
    The crowd grew denser. Amma grabbed his hand and pulled him past the people who were standing around. When they came to the fountain, he knew what the fuss was about.
    Water.
    Running water.
    For the first time since The Fall, water ran through the city pipes in Deliverance.
    Amma stood next to him, watching his reaction.
    “I wish you could have seen this fountain before The Fall,” Taemon said. “It was a sight to behold. All these streams of water flowing in graceful arcs.” Taemon tried to make the motion with his hands. “When I was little, I used to think that the water was jumping and playing a game with its friends.”
    “It’s still beautiful,” Amma said. “In a different way. People are learning to do things with their hands. They’re starting to accept that psi is gone. This is a big step toward what we’ve hoped for.”
    “A very big step.” The expressions of pride and awe on the faces in the crowd told him as much.
    A long line of people waited for their turn at the spout, carrying all manner of buckets and containers. No bucket in Deliverance had ever had a handle, but now people had added makeshift handles from rope, twine, or twisted fabric. The man at the spout was filling several crystal vases with water, then carefully arranging them in a fabric-lined garbage can that he strapped around his shoulders. The next woman stepped up to the spout with a silver bowl that had a braided rope handle woven through the loopy decorative trim.
    The odd mix of old and new, elegant and crude, smooth and rough was inspiring. It represented transition. Change. Acceptance. It was beautiful, as Amma said.
    Taemon looked over the line of people waiting. They were laughing and chatting with their neighbors. One woman was explaining to another how she had made her bucket, and when she was done, the other woman explained her own technique. They were sharing ideas, working together, and celebrating success. Small children had taken their shoes off so they could splash and play in the puddles that collected on the floor of the fountain’s basin. This never would have been allowed before The Fall. It made his heart swell with hope.
    The words of the Heart of the Earth came back to him:
Your work is not finished. You will yet act on behalf of the people of Deliverance
.
    A spray of water startled Taemon out of his thoughts. Amma had bent down over one of the puddles and splashed him.
    “You look so serious! This is a happy day.” She splashed him again. “Remember the
Sea Flea
? That was fun.”
    “I remember you made me be the captain,” Taemon said. “And I fell in the water.”
    “You were a good captain,” she said. “And you had fun.”
    “And I had fun.” He stomped on a puddle and splashed Amma’s legs. She laughed and started to splash him back, but stopped suddenly. Her smile fell as she squinted at something behind Taemon.
    “Amma. Taemon. I thought that was you,” a timid voice said.
    Taemon turned to see a girl with her hair tied back with a string. “Vangie?”
    She lowered her head, fidgeting with her hair and looking away. “So many times I thought about coming to find you at the colony. You know, to apologize. I just couldn’t quite . . . I don’t know.”
    Taemon had no idea what to say to her. He remembered the awful feeling of betrayal when he learned that Vangie