The council was a group of men and women tasked with guarding the well-being of the city. There were nine of them in total, chosen by virtue of their contributions to the greater good. They asked me to explain myself and why I had come.
These were my words to them:
“My name is John. I was born by the sea in the Region of White Grass. My family was well off, with many fields. I was brought up learning a manifold of skills, and put to work at the age of 15.
I was promised the wealth of my parents at their death, and at first I assented to this and thought myself lucky. But then something terrible happened, and my life changed forever: I was struck with an insatiable desire to know. As a result my work began to sour, I felt afflicted with a longing to see the world.
My relationships became strained. I began to hear a voice that sang to me sweetly. It said “No one who loves knowledge can remain at home.”
I wrote a note to my parents and turned to go. Leaving at dawn at the beginning of my twentieth year, I followed the road that twisted past the sea and turned inland toward the country of green hills and honey bees.”
I told them of the man I met on the road. I told them of the village and of the woman I had loved. I recounted my year with the one who knew the dead, of the couple who gave me bread, and of the Garden of Painted Stones.
I was allowed to wait in the city as they debated my fate. The man who had been my interviewer came often to talk. We would walk through the city and discuss the world.
He told me that because the City of Sorrows is a lonely city--the last of its kind in all the world, everyone who lives there feels the heaviness of that, as well as the need to keep it alive, in the hope that one day, its like will rise from the ashes and spread again into the countryside, for no other way of living has produced such marvels.
I asked him if marvels were necessary for a good life. I asked this because I did not know.
He said: “Though I am surprised at your question I see you are sincere. So I will answer you with as much sincerity as I can. Without wonder life is flat, and empty. And it is a good thing for human beings to be able to create wonders out of their own effort. This is why marvels and wonders are necessary for a good life. They inspire us as they give us purpose.”
I asked him which was greater, the wonders of the natural world, or those of art, or those of science, and which of these helps most to teach people to love, for love had been an interest of mine since I was a child.
The man had a pained look, and said he did not know. But he assumed that love was the thing that brought more love.
This was the wisest thing I heard in the City of Sorrows, and I felt it important to tell him so.
His reply was this:
“I see you are an earnest man, but dangerous to our city. I will do what I can to help, but it is impossible for me to recommend that you stay.”
It was because of him I was not killed.
In a week's time I was brought before the council again, and banished to The Island. I did not tell them that banishment was far from a punishment, that I had not come to the city to remain.