But friendship requires equality between the friends, and that’s beyond him. In fact, he’s so intrigued by it that he makes an attempt to establish such a relationship with Will. To Will’s Master the notion of such a thing as friendship is bizarre, and consequently, fascinating. They perpetuate their species through parthenogenesis, a kind of budding. In their world, for instance, there is no such thing as marriage, or children. The Masters, Will learns, lead much more separate lives than humans. Now think about Will, and his Master in the City of Gold and Lead. Indeed we are all born into isolation and need others-usually our parents, fundamentally our mothers-to teach us that skill without which every other human gift is pointless: the skill of communication. She was eighty-eight when she died, after a life largely spent working to help others who were blind and deaf. She learned to speak, to read and write, and did all three things with great skill. Blind and deaf from infancy, she was trapped in a terrifying and hopeless isolation until someone found her, cared for her, and taught her how to communicate. These are all good to have, but without something else, something much deeper and more important, they are worthless. It is not intelligence, strength, health, courage, good looks. What is the greatest gift any human being can possess?
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