CHAPTER XIII
“I was a poor learner of the redes,” Copper confessed. “And I’ll have to skip the Mysteries. I never even tried to learn them. Somehow I was sure I’d never be a preceptress.” She settled herself more comfortably on the tawny grass and watched him as he lay on his back beside her.
“Eh?” Kennon said, “Preceptress?”
“The guardians of our traditions. They know the redes and mysteries by heart.”
“And you have kept your religion alive that way all these years?”
“It isn’t exactly religion,” Copper said. “It’s more like history, we learn it to remember that we were once a great race—and that we may be again. Someday there will come a male, a leader to bring us out of bondage, and our race will be free of dependence on men. There will be pairings again, and freedom to live as we please.” She looked thoughtfully at Kennon. “You might even be the one—even though you are human. You’re different from the others.”
“You’re prejudiced.” Kennon smiled. “I’m no different. Well—not very different at any rate.”
“That is not my thought,” Copper said. “You are very different indeed. No man has ever resisted a Lani as long as you have.”
Kennon shook his head. “Let’s not go into that now. What are these redes?”
“I do not remember them all,” Copper apologized. “I was—”