Page 315 - Enders_Game_Full_Book

"By the most fascinating coincidence, they are Novinha's son Miro and Novinha's daughter Ela."
"They couldn't possibly have known Pipo. Why would they call me to Speak his death?"
"Oh, no, not Pipo's death. Ela called for a Speaker only six weeks ago, to Speak the death of her father, Novinha's husband, Marcos Maria Ribeira, called Marc o. He keeled over in a bar. Not from alcohol-- he had a disease. He died of terminal rot."
"I worry about you, Jane, consumed with compassion the way you are."
"Compassion is what you're good at. I'm better at complex searches through organized data structures."
"And the boy-- what's his name?"
"Miro. He called for a Speaker four years ago. For the death of Pipo's son, Libo."
"Libo couldn't be older than forty--"
"He was helped along to an early death. He was xenologer, you see-- or Zenador, as they say in Portuguese."
"The piggies--"
"Exactly like his father's death. The organs placed exactly the same. Three piggies have been executed the same way while you were en route. But they plant trees in the middle of the piggy corpses-- no such honor for the dead humans."
Both xenologers murdered by the piggies, a generation apart. "What has the Starways Council decided?"
"It's very tricky. They keep vacillating. They haven't certified either of Libo's apprentices as xenologer. One is Libo's daughter, Ouanda. And the other is Miro."
"Do they maintain contact with the piggies?"
"Officially, no. There's some controversy about this. After Libo died, the Council forbade contact more frequently than once a month. But Libo's daughter categorically refused to obey the order."
"And they didn't remove her?"
"The majority for cutting back on contact with the piggies was paper thin. There was no majority for censuring her. At the same time, they worry that Miro and Ouanda are so young. Two years ago a party of scientists was dispatched from Calicut. They should be here to take over supervision of piggy affairs in only thirty-three more years."