Once again, no money is being made on this. I own nothing pertaining to Man From U.N.C.L.E in any form. They are only being borrowed.

Chapter ll

Vadoma stood to stretch her back and to check on her little helper. The child, Dooriya, was an inquisitive little poppet and often would get sidetracked from her chore of helping to weed the herb garden. Vadoma didn't mind that much, Dooriya was only six years of age. It was good to let her mind grow, her horizon broaden to more then worrying about weeds and such.

Right now the girl was hunkered down head bent almost to the ground, hands resting on her knees. Something had her full attention. Most likely an insect of some sort. Suddenly Vadoma's world shifted to an earlier time. Much the same scenario, but this time the child was a boy. Tow headed and blue eyed. He too had had a unfathomable inquisitive mind. He questioned her about everything around them. The plants, why did they grow better in some spots and not so well in others? What made some toxic to eat while others, looking much the same, were safe to eat and how did one tell the difference? How did one tell a star from a planet? What were clouds like and why were some benign while others foretold stormy weather? Why did animals seem to know when a storm was coming, or whom to trust or when to run away?

It was true, the boy was not Roma by blood, at least the family lay no claim to such, but their dacha* had been close by and the Kuryakins had made it clear that the Roma were welcome to camp or to use the land for planting or grazing of their live stock. Nicolai Kuryakin had been a good man, a good drug**, a friend, to the Roma and so hadn't his wife, Natalia. She provided medicines and foods that the Roma could not provide for themselves and they had allowed their children to run wild with not just the Roma, but horrors of horrors, the Cossacks as well. Vadoma had to laugh. The boy bridged more gaps then most grown men could even be bothered with. And young Illya Kuryakin had been well loved by all.

She found herself hugged around the knees and she looked down into a bright eyed, apple cheeked little girl.

"You laughing, Tetya***. What makes you laugh? I like it when you laugh."

She reached down to stroke the child's hair. A lovely chestnut that enhanced the color of her hazel eyes that ran to green.

"I am thinking about a little boy, very much like you. It's made me happy to remember him."

"What little boy?"

"No one you know, Dooriya. It was some years ago. He wouldn't be a little boy now. But you reminded me of him just now. You are full of questions and love to learn as he did too."

"Where is this little boy now, Tetya?"

Vadoma lifted her head with a wistful smile then she found herself looking towards the south and she had to wonder.

"I don't know, Dooriya, It has been many years since I have seen him. But tell me, what did you find that held your interest so intently.

"Come see. I think it is a dead bug, it is all dried up looking."

"You did not touch it, did you?"

The child shook her head so vigorously that her braids fairly whipped about her head.

"Nah uh, nyet. You told me never to touch anything that I did not know what it was or looked dead."

"Good girl. Alright, show me."

The little girl skipped away and Vadoma followed scooching down when the child dropped to her knees and pointed. Vadoma's brow furrowed into a slight frown. This was nothing the likes she had ever seen except on the elderly when plagued by a skin disease. There was a patchy bit of hair and the edges looked dry and scaly. She hunted around her until she found a sturdy stalk of dried straw and used it to flip the thing over. It was no bug, there was nothing to suggest legs of any sort or even a body. But there was no hint of blood or tissue. Indicating that how ever it was lost, it was not in a fight with another animal. She searched the ground around them, but there was no sign of a struggle. The ground was not torn or scuffed up in anyway. Surely if there had been animals fighting, the screeches and growling would have been heard so close to camp. Nyet, it looked like it might have just sloughed off. She slowly stood. This was not anything natural and it gave her a distinctly uneasy feeling.

"We will give it a proper burial."

She retrieved her gardening trowel, dug a deep hole and pushed the scrap of skin and hair into it and covered it up. Dooriya stood reverently hands clasped and together they said a blessing over the little mound.

The tugging on her blouse brought her back to the present and she had to chuckle. "What do you want now?"

"Can we go into the forest? Surely there are some wood flowers coming up now. Can we...please?"

Vadoma's eyes cut to the wood line some 2 hundred yards to the West. There was a time when she would not have not hesitated. Some of the best mushrooms grew not far into the undergrowth, but for sometime her forays into the forest had become less and less. It seemed wrong somehow like something dark had taken up residence. The feeling was oppressive and she didn't like it.

"Not today, Doori. Let us return. I am sure your mother will soon be looking for you and I don't want her to worry."

"You are silly, Tetya. Mama never worries when I am with you."

But the child was already tugging on her hand in the direction of the camp and Vadoma found herself glad of it.

Later that night after the camp had settled into sleepiness, Vadoma found herself sleepless and little Doori's innocent question looping through her mind. "Where is this little boy now, Tetya?" It was true that Vadoma had worried enough about this little boy that she had tried to keep tabs on him over the years. Just small contacting spells. Just to reach out and gently nudge. But she had not done it in awhile. But something told her that he survived and that was a great accomplishment in a time when so many children had not. Hitler had spared no one in his bid to exterminate all those he deemed inferior and unworthy of life. Khrushchev had been little better to the Roma, if at all. She drifted off to sleep in dreams of a blond blue-eyed child running free but something dark and shadowy lurked just beyond the peripheral.

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"Don't wander to close to the forest, Doori. The sun is getting on and it will soon be suppertime."

"Tetya..."

Something in the child's voice brought her to alert. Doori was backing towards her, one little arm pointing towards the woods. A figure was lumbering slowly towards them ungainly, clumsily.

"Come to me, now Doori."

The little girl spun and was in her arms in a twinkling, Vadoma spun in turn and began to hurry towards the encampment a howling scream lending wings to her feet as she rushed among the wagons. Bringing men and women to their feet.

"Bear, I think."

Several men grabbed up rifles and moved past her. Vadoma handed Doori off to her mother as others ushered their own into their vans. Windows would be shuttered and locked as would doors until the men returned. But the sun sat and still the men did not come. Women moved just beyond the vans and built up fires, not only to ward off wild animals but also to guide their men home through the dark and still they did not come. It was almost full daylight before a few made their way into the circle of vans. The women giving worried and concerned looks. The men shook their heads.

Milosh stepped forward. "We followed it back into the forest. We kept track of each other but as the sun sat we knew we had to get out as so I called the others in but Luka did not answer. So we went in search. We heard nothing, found nothing. Then Pali went missing. Then Peti. We decided to start fires in hopes that they would see it. Once it got light we tried again...but nothing. It is as if they had never been."

Vadoma knew that they would not give up. After some food and rest the search would commence. She made her way to her own van and sat. A deep desire came over her and she reached for a white candle, sandalwood, both oil and incense, a small glass of water and some salt. From an leather wallet she pulled an old photo. Slightly damaged with time but it still showed a boy child half turned away from the camera but looking back over his shoulder. Not looking into the lens but to the person behind it.

"I don't know why Illyusha, but it seems important that I do this."

She anointed the candle with the oil then lit it. Then did the same with the incense, placing the photo near by. Then she took an amount of salt, and holding her hand over the glass, she let the grains slowly spill into the water.

"Dear friend, I am in need."

Then she put the glass with the incense and candle."

"Get in touch with me, if you can."