Free The Kin by Peter Dickinson

head.
    â€œDo not question me, Suth,” she said. “I, Noli, ask this. It is secret.”
    Suth was hurt. He knew that people to whom the First Ones came sometimes talked among themselves about how it was, and not to anyone else. Suth remembered what his father had said at Ragala Flat, when Bal and the old man from Weaver had gone off into the darkness to talk dream stuff together. But he was still hurt.
    He turned his head away and stared at the fire. He needed Noli. Didn’t she understand? He was a boy, but he must pretend to be a man and stand up to the men as he had stood up to Dith at the warren. How else could he care for his family? Their family. If he was the father, she was the mother. Would she spend all her time talking secrets with the old woman? This was not right.
    He felt her fingers touch his arm, and her hand move down to rest on the back of his hand and hold it. Still he would not look at her.
    â€œI tell you this, Suth,” she said in a low voice. “These people keep us here. They are sick. Their blood is bad. Soon we are men and women. Then they choose us for mates. They have our good blood. They are sick no more. All this Mosu tells them. But they think this. We are all together, all six, perhaps we go secretly away. Can they watch all the time? That is difficult. Can they keep us in the cave? Then we fall sick, we die. So Mosu says, Let Noli stay with me. Suth does not go without Noli .”
    Now Suth stared at her, appalled. Without thought he began to rise to his feet, as if he meant to gather the Moonhawks and lead them away, then and there, away from these people, out of this trap. Noli tightened her grip on his hand and pulled him down.
    â€œThey watch,” she muttered. “Be clever, Suth. Be secret.”

Oldtale
    DA AND DATTA
    The sons of An and Ammu strove among themselves to see who was best. They wrestled, and raced, and threw rocks at a mark, and such things .
    And one was strongest, and one was swiftest, and one was keenest of sight, each according to the nature of the First One who had reared him. But Da was none of these things .
    â€œI am still the best of you,” said Da .
    The others mocked him and said, “How are you best? First Ones cared for us. They made us stronger and swifter and keener of sight than you.”
    Da said, “I was cared for by people, and they made me best. People are above creatures.”
    They said, “How so?”
    To this Da had no answer, and they mocked him again, until he ran weeping into the desert .
    There he found Datta, and told her what had been done and said, and she wept also .
    They slept, and Monkey came to Datta in a dream .
    In the morning she said to Da, “Go to your brothers and say thus and thus.”
    Da went to his brothers and said, “Now I tell you how I am the best of you. I eat of the flesh of all creatures, as I choose, and their eggs also. But for each of you there is one creature whose flesh you do not eat, nor its eggs .
    â€œWeaver cared for So. Does So eat the eggs of weavers? Ant Mother cared for Buth. Does Buth dig the nests of ants for their grubs? Fat Pig cared for Gor. Does Gor track the sow to her lair and eat of the tender piglets? And so with the rest of you. I do all of these things .
    â€œBut people cared for me. Who eats of the flesh of people? None of you does this. It is a Thing Not Done. So people are best. I, Da, say this .
    â€œLowest are rocks and earth and water. Next above them are plants. Next above plants are creatures. Next above creatures are people. They are highest.”
    They had no answer to this, but they mocked him all the same and threw dirt at him and drove him away, and he wept .
    Monkey was angry when he saw what was done to Da. He came to Datta in a dream, and showed her where he had hidden the fire log that he had made .
    Da and Datta went to that place and found the fire log. They made fire and roasted the flesh of lizards and ate it,