One Month Later

It took two days to reach the next Squatter camp. It was another temporary one, comprised of several tribes. These were Patryns from the farther reaches of the Labyrinth, who were slowly migrating towards the Final Gate. As they encountered others heading the same way, they banded together for the journey, forming larger camps. They were few and far between, though, and it would take a great while to search all of them. Well, that's not really a problem, thought Haplo wryly. We have to spend the rest of our lives in the Labyrinth and the Nexus anyway, fighting the serpents and the Sartan until we can learn to live together.

Haplo and Marit went first to the headmen of each tribe, asking if there was a small girl by the name of Rue in the tribe. The answer was 'no' every time; accordingly, Haplo and Marit were experiencing the all-too- familiar feeling of discouragement, of false hopes dashed, by the time they reached the last one, a woman by the name of Treasa.

Haplo stayed a step behind his wife as she asked the headman about their daughter. "Excuse me, Sister," she began, "but we're searching for our daughter---"

"A girl of seven or eight Gates, by the name of Rue?" Treasa laughed. "Word travels fast in this camp, my Sister. As a matter of fact, we do. She was taken in not so long ago, at the age of, say, five. The woman she had been traveling with had been attacked by a pack of chaodyn, and died only a day or so after we found her. Mater has raised the girl since then." She gestured to a tent near the edge of the camp.

Marit thanked the woman and fell into step alongside him. Haplo could see she was excited. He himself hardly dared to hope — he never he had wished for anything, the Labyrinth had done its best to dash those hopes.

Entering the tent, Haplo stopped in the doorway to let his eyes adjust, as did Marit. The first thing they saw was an extraordinary amount of children. "They must have a communal mother, to take in all of the strays," Haplo said quietly. Some tribes did; others simply allowed women to adopt children as their own. In cases where there was one, the woman took on all the duties of a real mother, including teaching her children how to fight and survive in the Labyrinth, since most would soon be Runners, sometimes as young as twelve or thirteen Gates.

He and Marit separated to look at each little girl, ask her name. Two, sitting in the corner, deep in conversation, caught his eye; they seemed to be good friends, and they weren't paying much attention to the others.

"Excuse me," Haplo interrupted awkwardly, "but I'm looking for a girl named Rue. Can you tell me which one of your sisters she is?"

The taller girl sat up a little straighter. "That would be me," she said in a small voice. It sounded as if she was afraid she'd done something wrong.

"Come into the light," Haplo instructed, backing up. She obeyed, and as she stood up her eyes locked on Haplo's. His own eyes looked back at him, as if he looked in a mirror. He inhaled sharply, startled. As he looked closer, he could see some of Marit's features in the girl also. Although all Patryns have brown hair tipped with white-blonde, the shades of brown were as varied as the Patryns themselves. Rue had Marit's dark, chestnut locks versus Haplo's light, smoky hair.

"Marit! Marit, come over here!" It was his turn to be excited. She hurried to his side, knelt in front of the child. Silently, Haplo withdrew to find Mater. She was teaching a group of her older children the finer points of wielding a knife, and when summoned by Haplo left the eldest among them to help the younger.

"Excuse me, Sister, but we have a few questions about one of your daughters," said Haplo, indicating Marit and Rue.

"Certainly." Her eyes jumped from Marit to Haplo, and it was obvious to her what they wanted to ask. She told Haplo about the girl as they walked over to Marit and Haplo. "You are wondering whether Rue is your daughter. She was brought to us by a woman, Aroha, who died the next day."

Marit looked up. "Aroha? She was the woman who was to raise Rue!" Her eyes and Haplo's locked on to those of their newfound daughter, who was beginning to understand. She picked up the girl and held her close. Tears smarted in her eyes.

Haplo put his arms around his new wife and gazed in wonder at the girl who was his daughter. He ran his fingers through her hair and said, "Rue? We've come to take you home."