“Sit and share with me then, Lynn,” he answered formally.

  As Lynn sat down, uncomfortably aware of a hundred Stalli eyes watching her, Chell whispered, “I thought you did know and had refused me.”

  “You must have sand in your brain!” Lynn hissed as she gave him the loaf of bread, but her eyes smiled.

  Chell broke the bread into two pieces and handed her one of them. They each took a bite.

  The cheers rose then and split the night air.

  Fourteen

  A New Life

  “Fa-a-aithful One, oh Fa-a-aithful One,” came a particularly inviting call two evenings later.

  The gray mare pulled up a mouthful of grass and chewed it, facing away from the Stalli campground.

  “Stubborn thing!” muttered Lynn.

  “What’s the matter?” Chell asked, walking around the last Stalli tent and joining her.

  “Aloof One ought to like the change of names, but she won’t even look my way,” Lynn complained. She slipped her hand in Chell’s and leaned heavily against him. ‘Tm glad we’re engaged,” she announced.

  He smiled down at her. ‘Tm sorry we have to wait.”

  “That’s all right. I want your parents to see us get married too. I only wish mine could,” she said wistfully, her mouth twisting to one side.

  Chell put his arm around her, but then a welcoming neigh from Aloof One caught their attention. The mare had lifted her head and was watching a clump of trees. Again she neighed, right before Runner stepped out from the trees and trotted over to her.

  “I’m thinking a little Aloof One might join us in a few months,” Chell remarked.

  Drawing in a quick breath, Lynn started to hop up and down with excitement. However, leaning heavily on one’s fiancé while hopping up and down doesn’t make for good balance. Chell had to grab her arm and waist to keep her upright.

  Lynn ignored her near fall. “How wonderful! Only we’d never call the foal by that awful name. Why won’t Aloof One let me change her name? She’s changed.”

  “I’m not sure she has. She’ll always stay a little aloof, I think,” Chell said thoughtfully.

  “Let me try this one,” Lynn suggested with a hopeful lilt in her voice. “It came to me last night. Mo-o-orning Mist!”

  “Ugh,” commented Chell.

  “I think it’s a pretty name for a gray mare, but it seems that she agrees with you. Okay, how about this one? O-o-obstinate, oh O-o- obstinate!”

  Lynn and Chell both laughed when Aloof One positioned her rump toward them and rudely swished her tail.

  “She told us!” they said at the same time.

  All the Stallis had eaten early that evening in anticipation of a big gathering. Lynn had finally agreed to tell the story of her trip up to Shagger’s rock. Special invitations had been sent to a number of Muntas—and even to two Paigen couples, who had arrived that morning.

  Lynn hadn’t yet seen the small golden people. Munta and Stalli wise ones had whisked them into Erchat’s tent to discuss some sort of secret business that had kept them there for hours. As she stared beyond the two horses to the desert reaches, Lynn wondered what they could have possibly talked about for so long.

  Munta Hill’s grass grew thick and full right to the edge of the desert, where the long, waving line of sapphire blue contrasted sharply with the bright red sand. When grass and sand both turned pink, Lynn smiled with pleasure. She thought back to the first time she’d seen that beautiful glow. How it had startled her! Well, panicked was the more accurate word, but Lynn would never have admitted that kind of thing back then.

  I’ve changed—a little, she decided with an inward shrug. Now she could tell Keshua whenever she felt frightened, but her mind still balked at the idea of letting other people know. Oh well, you have to start somewhere.

  When the pink glow dimmed and a few nightlights appeared, whirling in their merry dance above them, Chell led her toward the central meeting place, cleaned and widened to accommodate the extra people. Everyone else was already there, seated on their rugs.

  Friendly hands reached out to touch them on their way to Lynn’s rug at the far end. The ground sloped conveniently upward from the desert, making her high enough above the crowd to be visible even when she sat down. Torches were lighting the immediate area around her. Lynn could see the people in the torchlight clearly, but not the bulk of the crowd.

  Calls of “Fredos arisht” rose into the air from every direction, however, giving away the number of people present.

  Lynn had never minded speaking in high school classes, but she found herself clearing her throat as she waited for the greetings to subside. Lynn is not afraid of crowds, she told herself with a wry quirk on one side of her mouth that was supposed to apologize to Keshua for the old-style Lynn statement.

  She didn’t have time to rephrase her statement. The greetings had stopped, and everyone was staring expectantly in her direction.

  ‘Tm sorry I’ve taken so long to tell you my story. I haven’t had much energy recently,” she began, speaking louder than normal so people in the back could hear.

  Pausing, she thought back to the night she’d set out for Shagger’s rock—not long ago in real time, but a century ago in felt time.

  “When the Stalli raiders left our desert camp for the last time, I overheard someone,” she began again, giving a sideways wink in Chell’s direction, “mention dropping two turquoise stones over Shagger’s rock. Until then, I hadn’t known what color….”

  On she went, telling them about riding through the desert, escaping the timidogs, traveling around the Munta wall, and hearing voices from the white rock doors. She and Aloof One found the right path with the help of Boulder and Whistle, and then rested at noon.

  Lynn’s face became Munta-hair red when she talked about her decision to accept the new life Keshua offered, but she knew she needed to share it. Calls of joy from those who knew her and approval from those who didn’t encouraged her.

  With a voice that shook slightly, she described the heroism of Boulder and Whistle facing the monster bear. Once again, mallowberries washed Aloof One’s wounds. The storm and its dangerous lightning blew overhead for her audience. The fearsome hill cats made them gasp. After lightning killed every one of the cats, many shook their heads. They’d never heard of such a thing.

  Lynn paused, and Erchat handed her a cup of mallowberry juice. She took a few sips and stared at the ground in front of her as she described meeting Gefcla at Shagger’s rock. She repeated every word he had said, as he tried his best to tempt or scare her away from her task.

  When she spoke of dropping the brueggen stones over Shagger’s rock into Gefcla’s outstretched hands, everyone stiffened, even though they knew the final outcome. Then the evil man’s hands burned, and an arrow flew through the air. Gefcla died, and his body followed the two turquoise rocks down into the crevasse.

  A collective sigh went up from the crowd.

  Haltingly, with what felt like inadequate words, Lynn spoke of turning around and seeing Keshua. Her face brightened and her eyes shone at the memory. The people in front of her grew very still as they listened.

  “Learn to trust me,” they repeated the instruction Keshua had given her; and she knew they would pass those words on to generation after generation of Tarth children.

  After a general murmur had run around the assembly, she continued her story. Keshua left, and she climbed down the boulders. Aloof One stood over Chell and Runner arrived to help. Lynn took another sip of mallowberry juice. She had a sore throat from talking louder than normal for so long. Her head throbbed with what promised to be a Munta Hill-sized headache. Telling the story was causing her to relive it, and she wondered if she’d have to stay in bed the next day. She finished in a rush.

  “I pulled Chell onto Runner’s back and rode with him down the path. When we reached the mallowberry patch, we stopped to get some berries. Then the horses came, and that’s all I remember.”

  The people in front of Lynn stared at her, on the verge of bursting into thunderous cheers for this girl from another world who had come to Tarth to save them. Lynn, on the other hand, stared fixedly down at her blue Stalli rug, blinking rapidly, and muttering words that sounded like, “Crying isn’t always wrong, only not right now. Crying isn’t always wrong, only not right now. Crying... “

  Neither Erchat nor Chell liked the situation.

  “You left something out, Lynn,” Chell protested all at once in a loud voice.

  Lynn looked up at him, still blinking. She was too tired to arch her eyebrows very high; a medium arch was all she could muster.

  Chell grinned at her but continued speaking to the crowd of people. “I didn’t see this for myself, but I’ve heard it described in detail by those who did.”

  He paused, and then announced in such a booming voice a group of timidogs out on the desert heard him, “Lynn fought off yet another group of savage invaders who were threatening my unconscious body.”

  “Chell?” questioned Lynn in confusion. Her fiancé ignored her.

  “Yes, they loomed up out of the night, but she sat beside me fearlessly, a mallowberry in each hand. When the invaders approached, she let those mallowberries fly. Of course, the berries didn’t hit anybody, and the invaders were actually friends coming to rescue us, but it’s the effort that counts, don’t you think?” he finished placidly.

  Everyone had laughed as the young man acted out his story. Snatching up invisible mallowberries in either hand, Chell had sat with crossed legs and tense muscles, frowning ferociously before throwing his missiles wildly out into the night. Several people had ducked.

  Lynn, who had collapsed on the rug with his first words, covered her face with her hands and shook with laughter—but her head had stopped throbbing and her eyes didn’t blink anymore. Chell grinned again.

  “Stallis and friends,” Erchat called, his voice rising above the laughter and talking. He pushed himself to his feet and took a step forward.

  “We wish to thank Lynn for all she did. She came from another world to help us, but she is one of us now and we love her. The tireless efforts of Aloof One will never be forgotten, and we wish to thank Chell for his insight and courage. He shot the arrow that killed Gefcla.”

  Some people began to cheer, but Erchat held up one hand to stop them.

  “Boulder and Whistle faced the behemoth and triumphed. Runner, who had already run for hours to get Chell to Munta Hill, carried him down the mountain. Hill Pacer took Chell with great speed to Shagger’s rock and returned to Munta City to bring help. Our deepest gratitude though goes to Keshua himself, our Healer, the son of the Great One. He brought them to the right places at the right times and blessed their efforts. It is Keshua who saved Tarth.”

  The cheer exploded then above the tents, and one of the best things about it was that Lynn could cheer too, because the praise went to Keshua, not her.

  Only the Munta scribes honored with the job of writing down Lynn’s story did not cheer. They scribbled feverishly, trying to fill in the details they had left out. They’d meet later in one of the tents and compare notes. Probably, they would want to check with Lynn on some points, but they’d have to do that soon. In two days, the Stallis planned to go home.

  The next morning, Lynn wandered forlornly through the campground. Everyone was busy packing up to leave, and nobody would give her anything to do.

  Laughing at her, Frenne said, “You’re spoiled. You think you should get to do everything.”

  “No more secret night trips for me. I never want to see Shagger’s rock again,” Lynn disagreed.

  Her friend smiled and went on sorting through the girls’ clothes. Lynn tried hard to keep a pleasant expression on her face as she asked, “You and Winnel only got married yesterday. Are you sure that you’ve made the right decision about where to live?”

  “They’re a poor, defeated people,” Frenne responded, picking up one of Lacht’s dresses and inspecting it for holes. “They need help in straightening themselves out. We want to show them that Keshua loves them too. The Stalli and Munta wise ones have agreed to send us.”

  “But the little girls,” Lynn protested. A half-scowl puckered one side of her mouth despite all her efforts.

  “I can’t think of anyone the Great One could use more to lighten the hearts of the Root Forest people than those two. Root people have children too, you know.”

  Lynn looked shocked at the very idea.

  “They’re cute, Winnel says. All hands and feet with big eyes and knobby ears and gray curls!”

  Lynn smiled, but her eyes lost focus as they stared at the walls of the tent. A vague memory had come into her mind of two children’s heads, heads with tennis ball-sized eyes and gray curly hair. The heads had been sitting on a counter, but that didn’t make sense. She’d never seen a counter in Tarth; nor had she met any Root Forest children. How could she remember their heads if she’d never seen them? Maybe she had dreamed about them. Lynn shrugged, and the memory faded out of her mind.

  Her next question sounded exactly like Lacht and Irsht begging for more of the Munta’s maple sugar candy. “Will you ever come back to Stalli?”

  “Of course we will,” Frenne assured her.

  Lynn felt comforted but still had to fight feeling sad the next morning.

  As the Stallis said their final good-byes, Winnel and Frenne stood off to one side with a Munta couple who had also volunteered to live with the Root people. The two Paigen couples stood quietly with them, looking like golden-haired children. They would live in the forest bordering their home too. This way, representatives from all the peoples of Tarth involved in the war against Gefcla would live with and love their former enemies.

  Lynn hugged Boulder and Whistle good-bye, choking up one last time over the old dogs who wagged their tails continuously and barked quite out of control.

  The Stalli horses pranced and fidgeted. Even the older ones pranced this time. They were going home. The trip would take almost three weeks, loaded down as they were with tents and supplies, but they were going home.

  Actually they could have left an hour earlier if Muntas hadn’t kept bringing out gifts.

  Lynn received, among other things, a blue stone necklace—not brueggen stones, of course, but stones that reminded her of them. Persnip ran out at the last minute with a white quilt and ordered her to use it.

  “Not everything you own has to be blue,” the Munta healer said dryly.

  Touched and pleased, Lynn stammered her thanks, eyeing the beautiful coverlet and determining to add a blue border as soon as she learned how to sew. Touches of blue could go inside the quilted flower patterns too, but Lynn knew better than to say anything to Persnip about them.

  She mounted Aloof One quickly when the time came.

  Desert sunshine beamed down, baking the red sand. Winds blew everywhere, competing with anything else that dared to move. Lynn breathed the warm air in with exhilaration. She wanted to ride at a gallop all the way to Stalli. Nevertheless, she waved goodbye as long as she could see everyone and laughed at Lacht and Irsht, who stood protectively on either side of a leather bag stuffed to overflowing with maple sugar candy.

  As the other Stallis left, the two little girls waved their whole bodies good-bye, happy as long as they were with their mother and their new father. Winnel had told them how much fun they’d have climbing under and over the big roots in their new home. The forest sounded like a giant playground to them.

  “Frenne and Winnel are doing a loving thing,” Lynn observed to Chell, who rode Runner by her side.

  “Yes,” Chell responded watching her face.

  “A very loving thing,” Lynn said again and added, “the Great One must have directed them.”

  ‘Tm sure he did,” Chell agreed.

  Lynn looked away. Should she hum a tune? When she glanced at him through the comers of her eyes, he was still watching her.

  She gave in. “Okay, part of me wishes they wouldn’t. I’m going to miss them.”

  “I’ll miss them too, but they’ll come home eventually. By then, we’ll have children of our own to show them,” Chell pointed out.

  Lynn smiled at the thought. She knew she’d thank Keshua the rest of her life for giving her Chell.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask you what Stalli is like,” she mentioned, as they rode side by side over the bright red sand.

  “Big mountains, lots of snow in the winter, blue leaves and grass in the summer,” Chell said. He didn’t know exactly what to tell Lynn. It was all quite ordinary to him.

  “Is there anything green besides the streams?” Lynn asked with a quaver in her voice that she immediately denied with a toss of her head. “Green covered my old world in the summer. I can’t understand why I remember that when I’ve forgotten so much else, but I do. I love Tarth’s blue leaves and grass, but I still miss seeing green.”

  “Well, we have lots of green birds,” Chell said thoughtfully. “Green birds.”

  “Yes, and some of the dogs and cats are green, of course.” “Of course,” Lynn said, wishing she hadn’t asked.

  “The snow!” Chell suddenly shouted, slapping the side of Runner’s neck.

  Runner snorted and Lynn felt like doing the same. What did he mean?

  Chell explained, “You’ll have to rearrange your seasons, that’s all. Green covers Stalli in the winter, not the summer, because we live in the mountains where snow covers everything for months— and Tarth’s snow is green!”

  Lynn thought it over. Green snow on the ground, green snow on the trees, green icicles, green snowmen—she began to smile.

  “That sounds wonderful!” she told Chell, who sighed and wiped an arm across his forehead in dramatic relief.

  “Then you won’t mind the fuchsia dirt and chartreuse rocks?” he asked, arresting his arm in mid-wipe.

  “What!?’’

  “Just kidding,” Chell said and laughed.

  Lynn raised her nose and sniffed at him. She considered urging Aloof One into a gallop and racing ahead of Runner.