Part II

The Boy who Fell from the Sky

I'm a small part of the whole me. And the rest of me is still in the sky.

I

Jack was back at the monolith with Mohawk guy. But Mohawk was standing in a field of white-stalked plants with pink blossoms, wearing a funny green hat – Jack knew it was called a boonie for some weird reason – and he was jumping around in a circle, flailing his arms, yelling, "See! See! See! I knew you made it all up! You're a liar liar liar!" Jack wanted to shut him up, but something kept pulling and jerking at the back of his shirt and he couldn't get a word out. Someone kept calling his name...

..."Jack! Jack! Wake up!"

Groaning, he tried to shake off the hand tugging at his shirt, but it was persistent and finally he was awake enough to crack his eyes open and ground out a hoarse. "Go. Away."

"No, no, you have to wake up and see!"

Mikele gave his shoulder another firm shake. Instantly awake now, but unwilling to give in to the youngster's demands just yet, Jack rolled on his back and slapped both hands over his face. "Oh, for... What? Where's the fire?"

"No fire. Come on! Wake up!"

Jack sat up and blinked. There was no sunlight coming in through the curtain of ivy that served as his front door. "It's still dark."

"I know. Sun hasn't come up yet. But it's dawning."

"Mikele..."

The boy sat back on his heels and picked up the small, old kerosene lamp he'd brought with him. "Come!"

Suddenly realizing this might be an emergency, Jack seized the boy's arm. "What? Anyone hurt? You and the twins all right?"

"We're fine. We slept in one of the tunnels by the arena. Mama has a man in her bed tonight."

"Yeah? This better be good then, buddy," Jack grumbled as he followed the kid out of his bed chamber. He stood and stretched, watching the first small silver lining at the horizon of the distant ocean.

Mikele grabbed his wrist. "Come!"

A memory rose in his sleep-fogged mind. Thor had run off last night when the star had fallen.

"Didya see Thor?" Jack asked as he let the boy lead him over the grassy ground towards the arena. He hoped the mule hadn't hurt himself in his wild dash to escape the lightning.

"No, Thor is not here."

"What..."

"You must see for yourself." Mikele said impatiently.

They entered the theater through a narrow passageway and Jack could make out several small shadows in the middle of the arena.

"I told Mania and Ranja to watch him," Mikele said. Ranja was Mania's twin brother, though he hadn't inherited the red hair and freckles of his dada. He was black-haired and dark-eyed like their mother.

"Watch... whom?" Jack asked. Then they had reached the group and Mikele held his lamp so that Jack could see the small figure lying on the ground.

Mania, who had been crouched close to it, jumped up and came over to hug Jack's leg. "He'th falled fwom the thky!"

Ranja had kept his distance to the sleeping kid. He nodded solemnly. "He fell from the sky in a bright light." He was holding a small stick. Now he reached out and gently poked the child's back with it.

"Hey, hey, stop that." Jack absently swung Mania up and settled her on his hip. He pulled Ranja away with his free hand. "Where'd he come from?"

"He fell from the sky," Ranja insisted.

"Thewe wath a bwight light and he wath hewe whenth we came to look."

Jack sighed and looked at Mikele for a less fairy tale answer. But the older boy just shrugged. "That's what we saw. Mania had a nightmare and we all woke up from it. I had to pee and left the tunnel. There was this light." He pointed heavenwards. "Up there. I called the twins to come and see and the light was... well, it fell down like rain. Ranja wanted to take a look and that's where we found it... him."

"Like fiweflyth, pwetty, thoooo pwetty," Mania sighed. Then she said something strange. "You hathta look at ith belly, Jack."

Ranja nodded. "We didn't dare. Mikele says we're stupid, but we still have to make sure."

"To make sure of what?" Jack put Mania down and stepped closer to what appeared to be a small boy going by the short, wispy, fair hair.

"They think he is a reborn Sinner," Mikele said with a small snort.

"He'th falled fwom the thky! The godth might have thent him back with a thnake in hith belly!" Mania said in a stage whisper. "But he'th tho pwetty. I thought all thinnewth wewe ugly," she added after a pause.

"There's no such thing as the Army of Sinners. Tell them, Jack," Mikele muttered.

"But he fell from the sky," Ranja said in defense of his sister.

"Wight down fwom up thewe!" Mania nodded fiercely. "And he'th vewy nekkid."

Jack crouched and put a gentle hand on a curved shoulder. The little one was tightly curled up like a ball. It was a warm night and the skin didn't feel cold to the touch. There was no telling for how long the kid had been here.

"Hey," he murmured, jiggling the boy slightly. "C'mon, sleepy head. Rise and shine."

"Ith he death?" Mania whispered loudly from somewhere behind Jack. "Mabe the godth did thomething wong when they thwew him down fwom the thky? Mabe he'th huwt himthelf fwom the fall."

"No, he's just sleeping," Jack said. His finger slid around the neck and found a strong pulse. He squeezed the shoulder again and this time the small body stirred and uncurled. A tiny hand latched onto Jack's, fingers wrapping around two of his own with surprising strength.

"O-kay, what do we have here?" He used his free hand to roll the kid on his back and was presented with the evidence that he'd been right. A boy. And there was no opening in his pot belly. "No snakes," Jack assured Mania.

"Ohhh," came the relieved reply from the little girl.

"But... he fell from the sky," Ranja insisted darkly. "He has to be sent by the gods. If he's not a Sinner, what is he?"

Jack shook his head. Kids and their vivid imaginations. He wriggled his fingers until they were released from the tight grip they'd been captured in. He rose to his feet, scooping the still sleeping boy up in the process. The head came to rest against his shoulder and a thumb wandered into the kid's mouth.

And what the heck was he supposed to do now?

Whoever had dropped the poor fella out here in the middle of the night probably wanted to get rid of him. Jack had never heard of kids actually being abandoned by their parents. Even the poorest families, and even the ones who didn't necessarily overly care about their offspring one way or another, wouldn't just leave their kids out here like that. No clothes, no letter, not even a blanket.

But who knew? There was a first time for everything.

"You have no idea who he is? Maybe he came out here with an older sib and wandered off?" Older kids often dragged their small sisters and brothers along. To teach them how to beg, how to steal or how to collect shells and stones to sell at the beaches. And to keep them out of their parents' hair.

Mikele shook his head. "Never seen him before."

And Mania repeated. "He'th falled fwom the thky, Jack. I told you."

"He fell from the sky," Jack automatically corrected, then rolled his eyes. "And no, he didn't fall from the sky. Kids don't fall from the sky just like that."

"But he did. We saw," Ranja said, a stubborn frown on his face.

"You saw the lightning. The kid was probably already here before." Why he was trying to reason with a five year old Jack didn't know. He cleared his throat and eyed his small burden wearily. "All right, here's what we do. We'll look for Thor and then take our new friend here into town to see if we can find his parents or someone who knows him."

Mikele nodded. Ranja tugged at Jack's shirt sleeve. "Breakfast?"

Grimacing at the thought of having to share his food stock with four hungry mouths, Jack nodded anyway. "Sure, why not. Mikele, get the bridle from my place and see if you can find the mule. He shouldn't be too far. He likes the grass around here."

Mikele ran off, whistling on his fingers.

Mania bounced ahead, carrying the lamp and dragging Ranja with her.

Jack watched them for a moment, silently saying goodbye to the loaf of bread and the cheese he had stored away. When he looked down and jiggled sleeping beauty a bit to make sure he was securely settled, he found a pair of big, curious eyes gazing back at him.

He smiled. "Hey, there."

The child tentatively smiled back at him around his thumb.

"Do you have a name?"

He watched as the question was considered and a small frown creased the kid's brow. Then the thumb was pulled out with a low plop. "I fell from the sky."

Jack raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I heard about that."

"Isn't that funny?" The kid let out a small chuckle, like a wind chime.

"Sure. Little people falling from the sky – it's a hoot." Jack couldn't help it. He had to laugh. "Do little people who fall from skies eat?"

"I don't know. Do they?"

"You tell me."

"I'm not sure."

"What?"

"Do I eat?"

Jack sighed. He doubted he'd ever had a more strange conversation before. Not even with Mania. And she was the queen of strange conversations sometimes.

They had left the theater and strolled over to Jack's place.

"Well, maybe you just give it a go and see if you like it," Jack suggested.

The kid didn't look underweight. In the growing daylight Jack had a much better look at him. Unlike most kids he knew, this one was fair-skinned and tow-headed. There were all kind of people living in Ba'th. Blondes, brown or black-haired, red heads with all kind of skin colors from alabaster, olive to milk coffee and ebony. But this one seemed almost lily white. And there wasn't a speck of dirt on him, which was strange. All kids Jack knew around here were usually covered in layers of dust or dirt from being outdoors all the time. Hadis' wife always complained that giving them baths seemed to be wasted time because they attracted dirt like flypaper attracted flies.

When they had reached Jack's place, he put the tyke down. The twins were playing catch, but when they spotted Jack they stopped and edged closer to take a good look at the new kid of the block.

"He's awake," Ranja said as if that was a total mystery to him.

Mania elbowed him. "Of couwthe he'th awake. He can't thleep all the time."

"Are you a Sinner?" Ranja asked, ignoring his sister.

The new boy looked up at Jack with questioning eyes. Big blue eyes as Jack now noticed. "Am I?"

"No, of course not. Ranja, go inside. There's a blanket and a bundle of clothes. Bring both out here. There's also bread and cheese for breakfast. Your sister can help with that."

The twins hurried to comply and Jack crouched in front of the boy. "So, you got a name? I can't just call you star child."

"But I am a star child," he replied with great sincerity. "I come from the stars."

Yep. Vivid imagination here. "Right. What do your mama and dada call you?" An unsure shrug was the only answer Jack got. "Anyone you live with... what do they call you?"

"Danny?" It was a question more than an answer, but it was good enough. For now.

Jack held out his hand. "Hey, Danny. Nice to meet ya. I'm Jack."

Another giggle bubbled out of the kid. "I know you're Jack."

Oh? "You do?"

"Yes, of course. Who else would you be?"

"Right. Who else would I be," he echoed, trying to figure out how the kid could possibly know him. But then this was good. Maybe Danny recognized him from somewhere and that meant there was a good chance Jack would find his folks at one of the places he worked or hung out during the day.

"It's nice to meet you, too." Danny put his hand into Jack's.

The world ground to a halt as they shook hands and Jack felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as...

...the air around him shifted and, in the back of his mind, there was a swooshing sound like water pouring out of a giant...

...He felt a gentle tug when Danny pulled his hand away from his and the spell was broken. Jack blinked at the blue orbs gazing steadily back at him. He opened his mouth to say something, anything.

Mania's loud announcement that 'bweakfath ith weady' and Mikele's yell from somewhere that he'd found Thor brought Jack back to his senses. He stood and picked through the bundle of clothes Ranja had dragged out. He selected a clean, blue t-shirt and held it out to Danny.

"What do you think?"

Danny laughed. "It's BIG."

"Well, yeah. You'll grow into it eventually," Jack said with a grin. "C'mere." He pulled the shirt over the boy's head and Danny held up his arms to slip into it. Jack let it fall down and took a step back.

Mania burst out laughing. Danny looked down at himself and burst out laughing, too.

Jack pulled up his shoulders. ""What? Covers you neck to toe."

"Ith lookth like a dweth!" Mania giggled.

Danny did a couple of steps, the hem of the shirt pooling around his feet on the ground. He looked down at himself this way and that, then grabbed the shirt with both hands and held it up and out of the way. "I like it. How long will it take me to grow into it?"

"Years and years and years," Ranja said.

"How long is that?" Danny turned to look at Jack.

Jack sighed. "Too long to let you run around like this. You'll get tangled in it and hurt yourself. I'll think of something. Why don't we all sit on the blanket and have a bite to eat for now?"

Mikele tied Thor to a tree nearby and came over. He took one look at Danny in his blue gown and grinned. "Pretty. You need a belt or something."

Mania and Ranja had spread the blanket out on the grass and put the bread and cheese in the middle. The kids settled around it.

Jack went into his abode and pulled a knife from between two stones of the caved-in wall. He wiped the blade on his pants to get the fine dust off before he joined the kids and started to slice the dark wholemeal bread and the rich yellow cheese generously. Mikele and the twins dug in with gusto, but Danny just held the food Jack handed him for a moment and examined it. Finally, he raised it to his face and sniffed it like a puppy. Then he took a very tentative bite and chewed thoughtfully.

"Ohhh," he exclaimed. A small pink tongue came out to lick his lips and then he took another bite and another. Watching the bread and cheese wander into Danny with light speed, Jack quickly cut more and handed it over.

"Did you neva have bwead and cheethe?" Mania asked.

Mouth too full to talk, Danny shook his head and raised the bread to his lips. Jack placed a hand on the kid's arm. "Slow down, grasshopper. Chew and swallow or you gonna choke on it."

Danny nodded, chewed, swallowed and continued eating like he hadn't had a meal in years. Yet, while he was wolfing it down he seemed to savor every bite. He closed his eyes for a moment and made little 'mmmh' noise and Jack couldn't stop looking at him while passing out more food to the other kids as well.

And when he broke his own bread into pieces and had a chunk of cheese with it Jack thought with mild wonder how great it was. The bread was from the bakery's evening sale two days ago, but it was still good and the cheese had been stored here a couple of days. It was just ordinary food on an ordinary morning, but he was suddenly pretty sure he'd never had a better meal in his life.

Once they were done eating, the bread had shrunk to a mere heel and the cheese was mostly gone as well. Jack had given Danny's lack of clothes some thought and asked Mania if he could borrow the bright yellow shawl she wore as a headband to tame her mop of curly red hair today.

"Buuuut," she sniffled, putting both hands on top of her head to make sure Jack didn't pull the shawl off without permission. "I juth found it on the beach yethewday. It'th my pwinceth cwown."

"And you'll get it back. I just want to have it for a little while. As a belt for Danny so he won't trip over his shirt and fall on his... nose."

She eyed him for a moment. "Juth a tiny little while? And only 'cuth ith for Pwinthe Danny. He'th the thtaw pwinthe, you know?"

"Ah, of course," Jack said. "The star prince."

"Maybe if you give her a coin she'll sell it to you." Mikele was always the business man. "And remember, I caught that stubborn mule for you."

Jack snorted. "Remember I just fed you my weekly stock of bread and cheese?"

Mania pulled the shawl from her head and gave it to Jack. "Thome lady fowgotted it at the beach. It'th pwetty, innit?"

"Forgot, not forgotted," Jack said, not sure why he kept correcting her. It was a lost cause. He bowed his head. "Thank you, princess Mania of Ba'th. I'll make sure you have it back by tonight."

It shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to find the boy's folks, right? How hard could it be. If they lost him they'd be searching for him, too. And he was a pretty unique looking little fella.

And how do you 'lose' a kid out here just like that in the middle of the night? But he opted not to listen to that niggling voice right now.

Mania giggled. "You muth take goodeth cawe of it tho it won't get loth."

"Oh, I will take good care of it. And I'm sure our new friend here..." He turned around to look for Danny, but the boy had toddled off in his oversized t-shirt to examine the clover Thor was munching for breakfast.

Meaning; the tyke was sitting in the grass right beside Thor, in very close proximity of the mule's head and legs. And Thor was absently stomping his hooves to ward off flies. Danny laughed and pulled out wads of clover with both hands. He offered some to Thor who ignored him.

If the mule sidestepped just once...

Jack didn't take the time to assess the situation or panic. He moved fast, but without haste. And just as he had reached them, Danny sniffed at his handful of squashed clover leaves, shrugged and stuffed them into his mouth.

"Hey, buddy," Jack addressed him quietly. With one swift movement he bent, grabbed Danny under both arms and swooped him up and out of harm's way. Thor just continued grazing.

Danny spit his mouthful of clover out and wiped his mouth. "That's not good."

"So you probably shouldn't eat what he does, eh?" Jack felt a trickle of sweat run down his spine. No small hands or feet squashed under heavy hooves. There was that saying about gods protecting drunks and kids. Or was that fools and babies? He turned away from Thor and almost stumbled over Mania, who had followed him.

"You haveta eat the blothomth," She quickly picked one of the white blooms and held them up to Danny who took it and turned it in his hand. He gave Jack a questioning look.

"You can eat them," he confirmed absently and motioned for Mania to join her siblings.

"Sweet," Danny said.

"What?" Jack untied Thor one handed.

"The flowers are sweet. Can I have more?"

"That's clover and we really have to get going now. Hey! Stop wriggling!" He tightened his hold on the boy as he tugged at Thor's bridle to get him to move. In order to distract Danny from getting to his new favorite food and ending up under hoof, he asked. "Would you like to ride Thor?"

The wriggling stopped at once. "Thor? The Asgard?"

"The what?"

"The Asgard. Thor." Danny frowned. "That's not what you meant." Then his face lit up. "The horsie's name is Thor!"

"It's a mule, technically, but, yeah. That's him."

"He's very nice. I'd like to ride him."

"Great. I'll show you how."

"It's like riding camels, I guess. It's easy." Danny reached out and patted Thor's big nose.

"Camels, eh? There are no camels on..." Jack stopped short. Camels? He had a weird image of a big brown animal with two lumps on its back, a swaying neck and long legs. He'd never seen anything like it, yet he knew what the kid was talking about.

"There are camels in Egypt," Danny informed him. "They are big."

"Egypt," Jack muttered. Where the heck was Egypt? "Never been there." He'd probably seen a camel in a book. Or on a postcard. Or... somewhere.

When they reached Mikele and his siblings, Jack put Danny down and told him to stay away from Thor's legs. Then he grabbed the blanket and threw it over the mule's back. It was time to find the star child's folks. Jack had work to do. He had to go to the beach and earn some money. He didn't have time to babysit all day.

Jack handed Thor's reins to Mikele and picked up Mania's yellow shawl. He tied it around Danny's waist, then tugged at the upper part of the t-shirt until it hung over the makeshift belt. Now the hem came down to the kid's ankles instead of pooling around his feet. The shirt's collar kept slipping down one small shoulder, but that wasn't too much of an issue.

That done, Jack went into his shelter to get the mule bags. He had one pair at the barn, one out here. These were simple woven linen bags with ropes that went over Thor's back and several loops to tie things to. Jack used them to carry his pottery and trinkets to the beaches or move his stuff around. The bags he kept at the barn had leather straps because they had to carry the heavy clay buckets.

Once he'd attached the bags, he placed Danny on Thor's back, telling him to hold tightly onto the mane. Then he settled Mania behind him and she put both arms around Danny to keep him in place. Ranja was put behind his sister and Jack took the reins. "If anyone starts slipping, let me know. And behave up there. No fighting and no fidgeting or you're going to walk back to town."

"I ith the pwintheth. I will keep the boyth in line," Mania said gracefully. "You may take uth to town thafely, thquiwe Jack."

Ranja and Danny giggled.

"Your wish is my command, your majesty," Jack said straight-faced.

Mikele rolled his eyes and, as they crossed the plateau, mumbled, "You shouldn't play along with her games. Mama says her head is too far in the clouds already. She's always daydreaming."

"She's five," Jack said quietly. "Give her some slack."

"She believes a prince will come to marry her one day. Now she thinks this sky child is her prince," Mikele hissed.

"It's kinda cute."

"It's just making her believe in fairy tales even more."

"You like playing ball, she likes fairy tales."

"That's different. She believes they are true. She will get hurt if she keeps believing that. Mama says so, too." Mikele cast Jack an angry glare and pressed his lips together into a thin, hard line.

Jack glanced back over his shoulder to make sure the kids were still all accounted for. They were chattering among themselves, or rather Mania chattered to the boys about Thor being her royal horse. Ranja just laughed at her and Danny said Thor was really a beautiful royal horse.

To the boy walking next to him, Jack said, "Let her believe it for a while. She'll grow out of it soon enough."

"I wish she didn't have to, though," Mikele whispered after a long moment of silence.

"I know."

The main road was already busy with people on their way in and out of Ba'th. The three younger kids were delighted to have a grand view over everything from Thor's back.

Mania waved graciously at everyone they passed, still playing princess of Ba'th, and Ranja kept chuckling at his sister's antics.

When Jack checked on them again, Danny's head was almost swiveling on his neck as he was trying to look at everything at once. His eyes grew even bigger when they reached the first houses with the yard shops and all their goods on display. Apparently breakfast and sorting out the cloth issue had taken longer than Jack thought. Most of the yard shops were already set up.

"Jack, can we stop and look at those carpets? Or the shawls? Can we look at the pretty stones and bracelets?"

"Nope. We have to find your family, remember? Don't you want to be back with them?"

"I'm with you. And the others aren't here. Can we please stop? Look, look, there's a man selling fruit! I forgot how it's called..."

"They're making juice from it. Orange juice," Ranja explained.

"Thquiwe Jack, pleathe thtop and buy Pwinthe Danny thome owange juithe," Her Royal Highness ordered.

Danny giggled.

Jack squinted up at the boy. "The others? Who are the others?"

"Sam and Teal'c. They are not here."

There. He had names. Sadly, those names didn't ring a bell with him. "Are Sam and Teal'c your parents?"

"Oh, look! Jack, look! I remember those... apples! Apples and oranges! I remember having those before!"

"Before what?" Jack asked, confused.

"Before," Danny repeated, offering no further explanation.

They stopped in front of an old man sitting behind a folding table. Stacked next to him were boxes of oranges and a hand drawn sign said '1 glass ¼ taler'. By his other side on the table was a collection of clean mugs and glasses. Behind him on the ground a girl around Mania's age was washing used glasses in a wooden trough under a pump.

Jack handed the old guy one taler and ordered four glasses of juice. When he'd helped the little ones to dismount, Danny watched with interest as the oranges were squeezed so that the juice was flowing into the glasses.

The twins beamed with joy at the rare treat and Mikele licked his lips as he took his own glass carefully. Once everyone was busy drinking, Jack crouched in front of Danny. "Tell me about Sam and Teal'c. Did they take you to the ruins?"

Danny shook his head. "This juice is sooo good." He sighed. "Thank you, Jack."

"You're welcome. Now, about Sam and Teal'c?"

"They're not here. That's why you don't know them."

"Oh-kay. Where might they be? Any ideas?" A sudden thought made him add. "Danny, were you at a hotel before you got lost at the ruins?"

Danny frowned. "A hotel?"

"Yeah, big, big house by the beach. Lots of fancy stuff like electric lamps, uh, nice restaurants? Lots of rich people and big gardens?" Maybe his folks were tourists spending the summer here. Maybe the kid had recognized Jack from the beach.

But Danny shook his head. "No."

"He could be from one of the big homes where some of the men mama takes to bed come from," Mikele suggested.

"He'th falled fwom the thky," Mania threw in, pulling up her nose in a very un-princess like manner. "How can he be fwom anywhewe elthe? If he'th fwom anywhewe elthe he'th comed fwom a cathle."

"There's no castle in Ba'th," Ranja said. "Just them ole ruins up there." He nudged the little boy. "How is it in the sky? Is it pretty?"

Danny looked heavenwards and three pairs of eyes followed his. "The sky is pretty. But when you are too far up it gets kinda dark."

"Where you thcawed?" Mania asked. "I don't like dark."

"No, not scared," Danny said. "It's dark, but there are lights. Just different lights than down here."

"Could you fly?" Ranja wanted to know. "You don't have wings. How could you fly?"

"I don't know," Danny said thoughtfully. "I just could."

Jack had thought taking a break and buying the kids some juice was a good way of getting some more information about this Sam and Teal'c or about where Danny had come from. Instead they were back to the star child story.

"No one can fly without wings." Mikele stuffed his hands into the pockets of his pants and scowled.

"Can, too," Ranja said and pointed at Danny. "He did. We saw."

"You thaw it, too!" Mania wrapped one protective arm around Danny. "He'th no a liaw, he'th not!"

"We don't really know what we saw," Mikele snapped.

Jack knew how torn the boy had to be between knowing it couldn't be and wanting to believe what he thought he had seen with his own eyes. A kid that had fallen from the sky in a bright light. Mikele's still child-like mind considered the idea that part of his little sister's fairy tales might be true. Another part in him - the part that had to grow up way too fast, was denying such a thing could be possible.

Jack himself didn't have the luxury of buying such a story at all. He had stopped believing in fairy tales a long time ago. So he had to get the conversation back on topic. But he had a feeling that as long as Mania and Ranja fed Danny's imagination with their own, he'd keep insisting on the fallen-from-the-sky tale.

He told them to put their empty glasses back. Then he scooped the twins and Danny onto Thor's back and down the road they went.

"I need to go and collect souvenirs from Ahmet," Mikele said when they turned onto the market road. "He pays me half a taler per day for selling his leftover postcards and stickers at the beach until season is over. Ranja's going to help." He looked worriedly at the sun. "We should run. Mania needs to go home and help mama with chores today."

Lots of the bazaar dealers hired kids for very little money to sell souvenirs on the beach when season was coming to an end, to empty their stores. Lots of tourists waited until these lasts days before buying postcards, stickers or other knickknacks because everything was on sale then.

Jack stopped Thor and put Ranja on his feet. "I'm gonna drop princess Mania off at home."

Mikele grabbed his little brother's hand and they ran off into the bazaar alleys while Jack continued to the Lance. The chatter on the royal horse's back had stopped by the time they reached the small hut where Mania's family lived and where her mother worked as a needlewoman for the wealthy population during the day and – from time to time – as a whore at nights. Jack didn't know where the kids' father had taken off to, only that he'd left his family a long time ago.

Due to her line of work the kids' mother knew a lot of the upper class people. Maybe she had an idea where Danny might live. Jack's hunch that he wasn't from the Lance or anywhere else around here became more and more a certainty. The kid would have said something if he recognized the area, right?

Sylvia was tending to her laundry in a large tub when they arrived, her hands red from scrubbing shirts on a washboard. She was a small woman with full breasts and thick, ebony hair. The hard lines around her mouth and dark eyes gave her an austere beauty.

"Where did you find her?" She didn't stop what she was doing when Jack helped Mania to slide to the ground. Addressing the girl she said, "Have the boys gone to see Ahmet?"

"Yeth, Mama, we thlept at the wuinth an' Jack gave uth bweakfatht."

"At the ruins! No wonder it took you so long to get here! I was waiting for you. I thought you went to sleep at your aunt's! At the ruins!" She sighed. "Go, and do your chores."

Mania ran off, but before she slipped into the house she turned and blew a quick kiss to Danny, who waved at her in return.

Her mother wiped her forehead with the back of a soapy hand. "I hope the brood didn't eat all your food. They aren't supposed to wander that far off at nights. But I can't have them here when I have... customers."

"That's okay," Jack said. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something."

She eyed him warily. "What? Did the kids get into trouble?"

"No, nothing like that. See Danny here?" Jack patted the boy's leg.

"Hi." Danny smiled.

Sylvia crossed her arms over her bosom. "I see him. Where does he come from?"

"That's the problem right there; I don't know. We found him at the ruins this morning. Well, Mikele and the twins did. And we have no idea where he came from. Or who he lives with."

"I fell from the sky," Danny informed her kindly.

She raised her eyebrows. "You did?"

Jack sighed. "That's his story. He's stickin' to it."

"Jack doesn't believe it," Danny said matter-of-fact.

Mania's mother looked at the boy. "Really? Right into those old ruins you fell?"

"Yes. I can't remember why, but I did. Are you the queen of Ba'th?" He eyed her curiously. "You are very pretty. Almost as pretty as Mania."

Jack had to bite the insides of his cheeks at the flabbergasted expression on her face.

She stared at him and then actually laughed, a surprisingly melodic and amiable sound for a woman who didn't have much to laugh about. "Thank you, I think. I've been called many things, but never a queen."

Jack cleared his throat and asked, "You haven't, by any chance, seen him before? Or maybe know who his parents might be? Does he look familiar to you?"

She dried her hands at her skirt and came closer. Danny raised his hands and Jack pulled him into his arms so she could have a better look. She gazed at the boy for a moment. Then she reached out and Danny placed his small white hand in her callused, red one.

Jack noticed her eyes widening with wonder or something else, he couldn't tell. For a moment she stood perfectly still, then she visibly shook herself and blinked.

"I... I'd remember a child like him. He's like milk and honey," Mania's mother said, softly. Then she took a step back. "Ask at the hotels. Or at the harbor area or where the rich people live."

"I thought he was a tourist brat, but he doesn't remember being at a hotel. Actually he doesn't seem to remember much of anything about who he is or where he comes from," Jack said.

"He's not from the Lance. Too well fed and not dirty enough," she verbalized Jack's earlier thoughts.

"Yeah. You know what's funny? He didn't have any clothes on him when I found him. He was buck naked. Almost as if..." But that was ridiculous, of course. Kids did not fall from the sky. Period.

"Maybe he really fell from the sky." Sylvia's mouth twitched, but then she sobered again. "I'll ask around. If I have something for you I'll let Mikele know. He usually knows where to find you. But try the harbor anyway. Can't hurt to show him around a bit."

"Right. I'll do that. Thanks." He wanted to put Danny back on the mule, but the little guy tugged at his shirt.

"Can I say goodbye to Mania?"

"Yeah, but be quick." He let him down and watched him running off into the house.

Sylvia had gone back to scrubbing her laundry. Now she looked up again. "Seems he's got a crush on my Mania."

"He's her prince."

"That girl..." She shook her head, but her eyes softened as she went back to work, not paying any further attention to Jack.