we are Earthseed. We’re “that cult,” “those strange people in the hills,” “those crazy fools who pray to some kind of god of change.” We are also, according to some rumors I’ve heard, “those devil-worshiping hill heathens who take in children. And what do you suppose they do with them?” Never mind that the trade in abducted or orphaned children or children sold by desperate parents goes on all over the country, and everyone knows it. No matter. The hint that some cult is taking in children for “questionable purposes” is enough to make some people irrational.
