Chapter Eleven and Chapter Twelve Summary

In Chapter Eleven the girls return to the village and join the celebrations. Miri is happy to see Pa and Marda and embarrassed when Peder finally dances with her. The girls tell a story for the village, each contributing a line. After the storytelling Miri uses what she has learned in Conversation to talk to Peder and he reveals that quarry work bores him sometimes—he likes to carve things in linder stone. Miri mentions to him that his dream may be possible, abandoning the rules of Conversation to tell him her discoveries of the past few months. He tells her she does not have to pound out a rhythm to quarry-speak. After sharing a memory with Peder, Miri realizes that the linder makes quarry-speech work. Peder kisses her on the cheek as a...