A.N: chapter four, and possibly the last, of my Dalemark fic Statue. Maybe this is my last; it all depends on what you think. Tell me and review. I like reviews; it keeps my muses happy. Oh yes, the whole 'what if she had gone' is what I thought would be happening in the book, but did it? Nope.

Disclaimer: I don't own this. If I did, maybe Mitt would be based on someone I know, someone real. Sigh. I love Mitt, best character in the world.  But alas, Diana Wynne Jones owns it all, the whole thing, please don't sue me.

            "Navis hung back. Mitt said, 'Hello Hildy.'

            Hildy glanced over her shoulder. 'Oh. Hello, Mitt.' It was barely friendly. Maewen found she could not bear to look at Mitt's face. The hurt in it and the disillusionment were so huge and so plain that it hurt her, too, just from the one glimpse that she had of it."- Crown of Dalemark, page 217.

            Ansdale was a small village. In a valley near Gardale, it was mostly made up of mill owners. Everyone was nice, and usually happy. Hildy hated it. "This isn't where someone like me should be staying." She thought, as she and Biffa helped make the dinner.

            Just as she was thinking more thoughts, Biffa's brother came in and said, "Hildy, you've got some visitors." She wondered who was here, then asked him where they were. "'Round front, near the mill."

            Hildy walked over to the mill, hoping that whoever it was would be someone more exciting than the other people in the village. When she got over to where she needed to be, she was startled to see who was there.

            "Father, Mitt, what are you doing here?" She asked.

            "We've come to see if you'd like to help us in the Uprising." Mitt said.

            "No. I've already told you. I'm not going to sacrifice my career as a law-woman and we might all be killed. It's just too stupid. And why should we trust this Noreth woman? If you want me to come, why didn't she come and ask? Or is that too big of her?" Hildy told them.

            "Mitt is the king, Noreth went back to her- somewhere else." Navis said.

            "What did you say?" Hildy asked. She couldn't see Mitt, the fisherman and attempted murderer as King. "Mitt is the King?"

            "He was crowned a week ago and it was witnessed by the One." Navis said. Mitt didn't comment, pretended to be fixing something on his horse's saddle. "So, now that you know you know the King, will you join us?" Navis asked.

            "No. I already have told you twice, I'm not going to do it." Hildy said, determined. "Law is too important."

            "Well, if that's your answer, goodbye Hildrida." Navis said.

            "Will you wait Navis? I just need to stay for one more minute." Mitt said. Navis raised an eyebrow, but nodded, and went away with the horses. "Hildy, I know you don't want to come, but if you ever want to help us, you can. And you're right, it will be dangerous. But if the lawschool's ever in danger, I'll be the first person there to some help save you." Hildy looked up into his eyes. He was so tall. "Goodbye Hildy"

            He walked back to Navis and got on his horse, then rode off. Hildy went back in to help with Biffa. "Who was here to see you?" Biffa asked.

            "My father and Mitt. They came to see if I could come with them." Hildy told her.

            "Oh, they were nice, are they doing well?" Biffa said, cutting some mushrooms.

            "Mitt's the new king of Dalemark." Hildy said, surprised to notice that her voice had a flat dead tone to it.

            "Oh. That's good, isn't it?" They were silent for a few minutes. "Has Mitt forgiven you yet?" Biffa suddenly asked.

            "What do you mean Biffa?" Hildy said

            "Hildy, you know what you did."

            So Hildy stewed. She thought about it during the rest of preparing food, then during dinner. And just before bed, she realized. Looming into her mind was Mitt's face. It held a look that Hildy could remember having seen only once before.

            She had been very small then. It was right after Ynen was born and her mother died. Right after it had happened, Hildy saw Navis come out wearing the same expression that Mitt had. That expression of heartache had been on Navis' face and now it was on Mitt's.

            And she was the one who had caused that look on Mitt. Hildy felt horrible now. The view of Mitt before the Lawschool was in her mind.

            Hildy had two views of Mitt. There was the one that the Lawschool had created. Mitt was just a fisherman, poor, uneducated. No one that she should have anything to do with. But her other view had taken a backseat over the year.

            View #2 was of the Mitt she had known not even a year ago. He was still a fisherman, still poor, and still uneducated. But that didn't seem to matter. They had spent a long time on that boat together. Even if she had hated him before, she grew to love his way of talking and his smile. Even when she thought that he had escaped the Holy Islands and left them there, she still worried about him. Because you couldn't help but do that. It was so easy to love this boy, and then worry about him, even if he could take care of himself.

            "Well, kind of take care of himself, he did get captured." Hildy thought. She was never sure how she felt about him. Was it love, or just a friendship? She could never be sure. He didn't have to save her from Al, even if he was going to kill her. But he used one of those words, just for her.

            Hildy shivered at the memory of that man's hands on her arm. He was going to kill her, and if he didn't he would've married her. She didn't know which was scarier.

            "I broke Mitt's heart, it's my fault that he looked that way." She said out loud. "It's not my fault friendships are so fragile, I didn't know."

            Now that she knew what she had done to Mitt, she thought back to the visit to the Lawschool. She had been rude to so many people. Well, her father did deserve it; she couldn't just leave the Lawschool.

            But what if she had left the Lawschool? Well, she wouldn't be with Biffa's family. She would be with her father. And with Mitt. Maybe even her brother. She smiled. Hildy missed Ynen. He had always made her feel as though she was important, someone she had to look after.

            Maybe, if she had gone with them, she would have made things up to Mitt, changed a bit. Of course there would've been danger, but since when was that a new threat to her? Especially now with Hannart looming around her.

            But she didn't go, she had to stay here, live with her decisions. Hildy climbed into her bed. She cried or her father. She cried for her brother. She cried for the mother that she had never known. She cried for all of the cousins she had lost because of her uncle. And she cried for the heart of the boy king she had broken.

            Hildy cried for a few hours, until midnight at least. She stopped, realizing the large wet patch that her face had made on the sheet. Hildy walked toward the window, looking out at the full moon. On a far-away hill, she could see a small camp that had been setup with horses all around it and a small fire. Hildy knew that it was the camp Mitt and his friends had setup.

            Hildy had the sudden urge to go and join them. Knowing that she may not get another chance, she grabbed some clothes and changed. She also took a jacket, not knowing if it would be cold or not. "And the last touch" she muttered, as she put her hair into messy pigtails, standing in front of the small mirror. She was surprised to see she looked younger, her face free of stress.

            "This is crazy." A voice in the back of her head said. "You're acting on some strange impulse."

            "Who cares." She said to herself. She quietly left the house, leaving a note for Biffa. She grabbed a horse, and set off.

            The air was sweet with the smell of wheat mixed into it. She breathed deeply, but there was something missing, the sea. She didn't spend twelve years of her life near the water and forget it all.

            Or had she? Hildy hadn't noticed the missing sea until now. She urged the horse on faster; it should take an hour at the most to get there. Maybe quicker.

            As the horse's gait became more of a steady pattern, Hildy's mind wandered. Maybe she fell asleep, the next thing she knew, there was one hill left. "Whoa!" the horse heeded her command and slowed. She looked at the camp, someone was keeping watch. A very tall someone.

            Hildy shivered, she couldn't see Mitt again, and not after the things she had said. But if she didn't go now, she may never have a chance again.

            What would she say? "Sorry I broke your heart, let's be friends"? No, that wouldn't work. She had said that she wouldn't join them, and here she was, about to do just that.

            No, she decided, it was not her job to go; it was her job to stay. To stay and watch. She turned the horse around. It was best if she got back soon, as not to worry Biffa. The horse started its step again, back to Ansdale. And away from Mitt.

            Back at the camp, Mitt watched the rider leave. He was worried at first, because it just sat there for minutes, not moving. Then it fled toward the village. As though at a later thought, the camp had scared it off. And the rider's mind seemed to have left first, the horse and the rider's body second

            Mitt smiled. He was pretty sure he knew who was on that horse.

                        A.N: It's over, my series is over! *Sobs loudly* But it may not be over. If I get enough reviews *HINT, HINT* and an idea (Navis needs a story on him, I could always do that) I'll write again.

            But until then, can you reviewers help me? In Drowned Ammet, was Al Mitt's father or what? I am confused. Please answer in your review!

            Goodbye and until I ride (write) again,

                                    Lightning bug.