Bean nodded. "Rationally, I have to agree with you. Irrationally, I expect to see her again someday."
"If I didn't know you so well, I might interpret that as a sign of your faith in the resurrection."
Bean picked up his suitcase. "Am I bigger, or is this smaller?"
"The case is the same size," said Carlotta.
"I think I'm growing."
"Of course you're growing. Look at your pants."
"I'm still wearing them," said Bean.
"More to the point, look at your ankles."
"Oh." There was more ankle showing than when he bought them.
Bean had never seen a child grow up, but it bothered him that in the weeks they had been in Araraquara, he had grown at least five centimeters. If this was puberty, where were the other changes that were supposed to go along with it?
"We'll buy you new clothes in Greensboro," said Sister Carlotta.
Greensboro. "The place where Ender grew up."
"And where he killed for the first time," said Sister Carlotta.
"You just won't let go of that, will you?" said Bean.
"When you had Achilles in your power, you didn't kill him."
Bean didn't like hearing himself compared to Ender that way. Not when it showed Ender at a disadvantage. "Sister Carlotta, we'd have a whole lot less difficulty right now if I had killed him."
"You showed mercy. You turned the other cheek. You gave him a chance to make something worthwhile out of his life."
"I made sure he'd get committed to a mental institution."
"Are you so determined to believe in your own lack of virtue?"
"Yes," said Bean. "I prefer truth to lies."
"There," said Carlotta. "Yet another virtue to add to my list."
Bean laughed in spite of himself. "I'm glad you like me," he said.
"Are you afraid to meet him?"
"Who?"
"Ender's brother."
"Not afraid," said Bean.
"How do you feel, then?"
"Skeptical," said Bean.
"He showed humility in that email," said Sister Carlotta. "He wasn't sure that he'd figured things out exactly right."
"Oh, there's a thought. The humble Hegemon."