Chapter 3 - Promise
Vala was sad that she had to leave her new friend, but she soon got over this, as there was so much to see. The animals, the buildings, the food, the clothes, and even the people were different to what she had seen before, in varying degrees. Many things were familiar, but others were the cause of incessant questioning. It was quite exciting, though her interest waned as she grew tired of walking around the city.
Eventually she'd had enough of exploring, and Jacek decided it was time for their evening meal. Fortunately he succeeded in finding an establishment which served food which she found agreeable. After they had eaten, they settled into their adjacent hotel rooms. Vala's room seemed palatial compared to her own room at home, and had some difficulty getting to sleep, despite her busy day. While Jacek would have preferred to find a place to exchange stories and gamble, he stayed in the first night, not wanting to leave his daughter alone in an unfamiliar place.
The next day was spent trading and bartering trinkets which were almost worthless on other planets for cheap curiosities which would be highly valued off-world. Vala gave many helpful recommendations of items people would likely want, and Jacek found that the shopkeepers were more apt to trust him compared to when he operated alone. Eventually he had gathered a fair load of loot and decided it was time to take it to the ship for safekeeping. Vala protested at the idea of travelling to the ship and back, but was happy to be dropped off part way.
"Daniel, I'm back again!" she announced to the boy, who was again bent over an interesting patch of dust.
"Hello Vala," he answered with a grin and a sneeze. "Did you have fun in the city?"
"Yes, lots of fun. But now you've got to teach me about digging for buried treasure," the girl declared.
"Of course. But there's a lot more to it than just digging. You need to know what it is that you found, so you know whether it's valuable."
"That's easy. If it's shiny, like gold or jewels, then it's valuable," Vala stated, after a few tries at finding the right words to state what she meant.
Daniel slowly shook his head of brown hair. "More than just gold and jewels are valuable. Artefacts are valuable because of what they mean."
"Artefacts?"
"Things we dig up."
"Oh. What do they mean?" Vala wondered, not realising how big a question she had asked.
Daniel eagerly began to tell all he knew on the subject.
-
A week later, it was finally time to leave Earth and return home. Vala had spent some time with Daniel nearly every day. Jacek had been interested in the dig site, to the point of spending one night there rather than returning to the city. However, he didn't find anything that would be of more value to his potential customers than what he could buy in the markets. Vala, on the other hand, found the site fascinating, mostly because of her new friend who loved to explain everything. By the time her visit to the planet was over, she had a much firmer grasp of the local dialects of several languages, having learned fragments which her father had brought back from previous journeys to other planets.
"It's been fun learning from you," she said to Daniel as her time on the dig site grew to an end. "Thankyou."
Daniel smiled shyly. "You've been a good student. And a helpful one," he replied, referring to the pots she'd helped him unearth. He reached into his bag of tools and pulled out a stone. "Here, this is for you. It's a… goodbye gift."
Vala took the flat stone and examined it. "What do these symbols mean?"
"They're the Egyptian hieroglyphs that represent your name," Daniel explained.
"Oh. You made this? For me?" Vala asked, touched at his generosity.
"Uh, yeah," he answered bashfully.
"Whenever I look at it, I'll remember you," she told him. "And how nice you are," she added, which was a roundabout way of thanking him. "And… I promise I'll visit you again some day."
"If you can find me," Daniel said doubtfully. "We go to a lot of different dig sites around the world."
Vala shook her head and pushed up her sleeve. Daniel looked at her curiously, but she didn't notice as she was focussed on something on her arm. Her fingers located the object and she pulled it down and off her arm. "Keep this," she said, holding out the ornate bracelet. "A goodbye gift from me. It's a magical bracelet that will stop you from getting lost. I mean, it will stop me from losing you. Something like that."
Daniel looked amused, but accepted the gift. "Wow, it's beautiful. Where did you get this?"
"My father bought it for me last year, when he was away on a trading journey. I've got lots of nice things. You can keep this one."
"It's a lot nicer than the stone I gave you," protested Daniel, thinking it was an unfair exchange.
Vala shook her head. "You made that yourself. Remember, you taught me that who made something can be more important than what it's made of."
"You learned well," Daniel replied with a grin.
Vala nodded. "My father says I'm very clever. And I had a clever teacher."
"Time to go, Vala!" called Jacek, who was waiting with a camel.
"I'd better go. My mother is waiting for us at home. I miss her."
"Have safe trip, Vala."
"Thanks, Daniel. I'll see you again some day."
"Before you go, I've been meaning to ask where you live," Daniel said suddenly.
"A long way from here," Vala answered as she ran to the waiting camel.
Daniel sighed, wondering why his talkative friend avoided talking about her home.
-
Jacek's final purchases were loaded into the cargo ship, and soon the travellers were leaving the solar system. Jacek watched as the dot on the screen which represented Earth was left behind. Strangely, a second dot moved with it. A dot which should have accompanied the ship.
The father sighed as he realised the reason. "You gave Daniel your locator bracelet, didn't you, Vala-girl?"
"I didn't want to lose him," the girl explained, having no reason to deny what she had done. "But I still don't want to get lost either," she added in a worried voice.
"Don't worry, I can get new a new one. I'm not going to lose you if I can help it."
-
Several days later, Jacek and Vala arrived on their home planet, to find neither their home nor Portia Mal Doran waiting for them.