"Ender's Homecoming" is a story by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card is an American author, critic, public speaker, essayist, columnist, and political activist. He writes in several genres, but is primarily known for his science fiction. His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead both won Hugo and Nebula Awards, making Card the...

 set in his Ender's Game universe

Ender's Game series

The Ender's Game series is a series of science fiction books by Orson Scott Card. The series started with the novelette "Ender's Game", which was later expanded into the novel Ender's Game. It currently consists of eleven novels and ten short stories...

. It tells the story of how Ender's parents and sister conspire to keep him from returning to Earth so he will be safe. It appears in Card's Webzine InterGalactic Medicine Show

Intergalactic Medicine Show

InterGalactic Medicine Show is an American online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It was founded by multiple award-winning author Orson Scott Card. An anthology also called Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show was published by Tor in August, 2008, featuring selected stories from...

.

Plot summary

When Ender’s mother, Theresa Wiggin

Theresa Wiggin

Theresa Wiggin is a fictional character from the Ender's Game series of novels by Orson Scott Card.She is the mother of Peter, Valentine and Ender Wiggin, and the wife of John Paul Wiggin....

 first gets a letter from Colonel Hyrum Graff she is shocked to learn that he thinks that Ender might need protection. However, as she thinks about it and discusses it with her husband, John Paul Wiggin

John Paul Wiggin

John Paul Wiggin is a fictional character from Orson Scott Card's Ender's game series. He appeared in the original novel Ender's Game, and in several of its sequels: Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Ender in Exile. John Paul is a central character in two of the prequel short stories:...

 she realizes that Ender would never be safe on Earth. Since they cannot come right out and say that they want their son to stay in space they decide to get their super-genius children to help persuade people that this is the best thing to do. Theresa sends the letter from Graff to Ender’s sister Valentine

Valentine Wiggin

Valentine Wiggin is a fictional character in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series of novels. She is the older sister of Ender Wiggin.-Biography:...

 which helps her to realize that Ender won’t be safe on earth. John Paul makes a comment to Peter

Peter Wiggin

Peter Wiggin is a fictional character in the science fiction novel Ender's Game and its sequels, written by Orson Scott Card. He has appeared in the novels Ender's Game, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind and in an upcoming short story to...

 to suggest that he will always be in Ender’s shadow if he returns to earth. As a result Valentine and Peter begin a media campaign to keep Ender in space. Valentine then writes a letter to Graff asking to be sent into space to be with her brother. In the final pages Card reveals that there is no end conceived for the Ender story line.

Characters

• Colonel Hyrum Graff
• John Paul Wiggin
• Theresa Wiggin
• Valentine Wiggin
• Peter Wiggin
• Valentine’s teacher - unnamed

Publication

"Ender's Homecoming" was published in the January 2008 issue of Intergalactic Medicine Show. Most of this story also appears as Chapter 1 of Card's novel Ender in Exile. The final email from Valentine to Hyrum Graff at the end of the story is the beginning of Chapter 2.