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."
