No," she said to him without the slightest wavering. "My son and I are kin to each other in more ways than one. In fifty years of life, I've never known anyone as strong as myself, except my son. And what divides us we can always mend. But how are we to make you one of us when you use these things like wood for fire! But understand my larger point: what is it of yourself that you can give that we should want you?"
"My guidance is what you need," he answered. "You've only begun your adventure and you have no beliefs to hold you. You cannot live without some guidance..."
"Millions live without belief or guidance. It is you who cannot live without it," she said.
Pain coming from him. Suffering.
But she went on, her voice so steady and without expression it was almost a monologue:
"I have
