![]() “The Ekumen will wait till you open it, sir. “But it doesn’t take a thousand men to open a door, my lord.” “…if there were anything these Ekumens wanted from us, they wouldn’t have sent you alone. There are, after all, other nations on Gethen.” After a while he went on, in control again, cool and polite: “It’s because of fear that I refuse to urge your cause with the king, now. And you, who come from a world that outgrew nations centuries ago, who hardly know what I’m talking about, who show us the new road-” He broke off. And its expressions are political, not poetical: hate, rivalry, aggression. “No, I don’t mean love, when I say patriotism. If by patriotism you don’t mean the love of one’s homeland, for that I do know.” “No,” I said, shaken by the force of that intense personality suddenly turning itself wholly upon me. Ai: do you know, by your own experience, what patriotism is?” I forgot what a king is, forgot that the king in his own eyes is Karhide, forgot what patriotism is and that he is, of necessity, the perfect patriot. I cannot ask for your trust any longer, either, having put you in jeopardy. ![]() “I’m afraid that Argaven also believes you.
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