Melanie stared in surprise. She had somehow left evening behind in cold, overcast England and now stood in the middle of a long dirt road in the bright sun of midday. The terrain stretched out for miles on either side, with little beyond the occasional farmhouse or tall crop obstructing the view. Melanie began wandering down the road.
Somehow, she could not shake the feeling that she had seen all this before, only now it was different. As she approached a barn she distinctly pictured the animals inside it, but how was that possible? Another farm she passed looked familiar, but where had she seen it before?
Everything fell into place when she saw the Wood. Yes! She had returned to Telmar! She ran into the woods, remembering: there she saw the creek, the knoll, and the tree she fell through her very first minute in Telmar. There she saw the path; it looked more worn than she remembered, but no matter. Finally, she made it to the other side of the wood, and there she beheld it!
Wait... a schoolhouse? That was unfamiliar. Melanie laughed as she realized whose school it was. Taurin finally had his school. She desired to surprise him. She ran around the side of the small, simple, one-room building and pushed on the front door. It would not open.
"Taurin!" she called, pounding on the door, but her cries received no answer.
Melanie shrugged; perhaps he wasn't teaching that day. She was confident she could find him—or at least his parents—at home.
She ran to the barn first. "Taurin! Marven! It is I, Melanie!" Her voice echoed in the darkness. The animals were the only creatures to return her calls, but their responses were those of fear and not of familiarity. Melanie thought it odd for the men to be done with the work so early in the day, but perhaps they had taken a holiday. She ran to the house.
It was locked! Melanie pounded on the door. "Britta! Marven! Taurin! Is anyone home? Can anyone hear me? It's Melanie, remember? I've come back! Hello?"
Her voice cracked from the strain of yelling. How strange that the whole family would be gone! Was it a market-day? Melanie had only one way of confirming this fact. She trudged back out to the road and began following it on foot toward town.
The afternoon sun beat down upon her back, but she did not want to rest until she discovered what had become of her Telmarine family.
Melanie had walked for at least an hour when she heard the clatter of a horse and wagon behind her. She moved to the side of the road to let it pass, but the driver only pulled up alongside her and called, "Oy! Where might you be going, fair maid?"
Melanie turned her head up to look at him, though she did not stop walking. She shielded her eyes against the evening sun. "I am going into town," she said.
The man whistled and tipped his hat back on his head. "That's a powerful long ways. Do you intend to walk the whole distance?"
Melanie smiled, "If you are offering a ride, I would not be disinclined to accept it."
"Well then!" the man burst out jovially, "Come on up, my pretty lass!" He reached out a hand to assist Melanie as she grasped the edge of the wagon. Soon she was comfortably seated and traveling at a much faster pace than walking. She glanced in the back of the wagon and saw it was full of jars, vases and other clay wares. This man, she ascertained, was a potter.
A very happy potter, judging by the way he whistled in time with the horses' hoof-beats. Presently, they came upon a signpost. The potter paused to read them, and chose the direction that indicated the marketplace. "Yes ma'am, this way to market," he said, snapping the reins and urging the horses down the correct path. It was not long before they reached the center of town, preceded by a large banner reading Welcome to the Market of Nast in large, colorful letters. The potter read this aloud as well.
Melanie grinned. "You read very well," she complimented.
The old potter blushed, "Oh, I'm a new student. The children, now, they're a mite faster than we adults are, but they say I'm among the quickest of the lot! Perhaps when the schoolmaster returns, I'll finally be able to learn how to pen my name!" His face glowed with excitement.
Melanie's quick ears caught a bit of information that interested her. "The schoolmaster is gone?"
The potter nodded. "The school's been closed for a while now; but no matter about that. Tell me lass, what brings you to the market? A shopping trip? I see you have naught to trade. Do you have coins to spend? It's what the merchants will be wanting."
Melanie shook her head. "I am only going to town to find an old friend. Do you know Taurin, the son of Marven the farmer?"
The potter stared at her with a surprised expression she did not understand. "By that you mean Sir Taurin, don't you? He was the schoolmaster until dear Lord Fausberg took ill. Nowadays he lives at the castle. He's the heir apparent to Lord Fausberg, you know."
Melanie raised her eyebrows. "Sir Taurin?" she echoed. Before she had been thinking how little had changed in five months, yet now she began to realize how much had actually changed.
The farmer halted the wagon, "Well, this is as far as I go, young passenger!" He helped Melanie disembark.
"Thank you, sir!" she cried gaily, "but before we part, I would be very much obliged to you if you could point me to the castle."
The potter pointed to the far side of the marketplace, where Melanie could just see the tall spires of the castle extending beyond the village housetops. "Just keep them spires in your sights, and you'll get there all right."
"Thank you again, and good day!" Melanie waved.
"Fare thee well, lady!"
The young girl turned her eyes toward the spires, excited with the hope of reuniting with Taurin.
At long last, Melanie climbed the stone steps to the great oaken door of the castle of Nast. Lifting the ornate iron knocker (shaped like a bull's head, with the knocker forming the ring in its nose), she swung it against the door. A small window in the door opened and the doorkeeper hollered, "Who knocks?"
"Melanie, and old friend of Sir Taurin who desires to see him again!" Melanie called in reply.
There was silence from the door for a very long time. "Lady Melanie?" The voice finally spoke in a tone of wonderment, "One moment, please."
Melanie heard the clank of a large bolt being drawn, and the great door slowly swung open. The doorkeeper was an older man, not wizened, but grey-haired, with a kindly face and gentle hands as he led Melanie through the door and bowed low.
"At last you return, Milady. Sir Taurin has long awaited and hoped for this day."
He turned and beckoned to a pageboy standing nearby. "Conduct Lady Melanie into the presence of Sir Taurin."
The boy's eyebrows shot upward. "Lady Melanie?" he breathed.
The doorkeeper gave him a small push. "Go now," he said. The boy bowed respectfully to Melanie. "Right this way, ma'am."
All this attention made Melanie wonder. And why had the doorkeeper spoken of Taurin's anticipation as if it had been five ages—or even five years—instead of only five months? She dismissed these thoughts as they approached two tall, ornately carved doors. The pageboy turned to Melanie, "He is within," he said, and left Melanie with a bow.
Melanie placed her hands on the doorknobs, took a deep breath, and flung them wide open.
"Well, Taurin, I should say you've done quite well for yourself!"
Taurin started up from his decidedly un-royal position on the couch: heels planted on the cushions, knees bent revealing the tops of his silk stockings under his trousers, and long arms flung across his face. Everything about this spoke of his frustration and discomfort. Upon hearing Melanie, however, he jumped like a frightened animal and clutched wildly at the pillows, eyes wide with amazement tinged with horror.
"Melanie!" he gasped, "Is it really you, after all this time?"
Melanie laughed and sat next to the boy so soon grown into a man, it seemed. "Oh, Taurin! How you do talk! It can't have been longer than five months at least, and look at you! All decked out in ruffles and silks, and all grown into a man! How are your parents? Is the school a success? Do tell me all!"
Taurin persisted in looking at her with wide eyes. "Five months, Melanie? Is that all? The sun must take a different route in your Eenland, for in your five months ten years have passed in Telmar."
Melanie felt her heart skip a beat at Taurin's words. "Ten years?" she gasped.
Taurin nodded. "You saved Lord Fausberg's life. Apparently, those men fully intended to kill him, but you stopped them. Lord Fausberg intended to reward you, but you had disappeared. I saw you fall into a pool, but when you didn't surface, I was afraid you drowned. His Lordship ordered men to swim down into the pool to perhaps find your body, but they did not. From this we knew you survived. Lord Fausberg issued a provincial search for you. Every Nastian searched for you, but after five years, the fervor died in most areas," Taurin smiled, "except home. Mother kept hoping even when others began to believe they would never see you again. I confess I wanted you to come back almost as much as she did, at least to help teach at my school."
Melanie's face lit up, "Oh yes! Your school! Is it a success?"
Taurin smiled as well, "Oh Melanie, the school is exactly what I've been dreaming about most of my life! It started with only the children, but as I taught them more, the parents began coming along with their children, to learn reading and writing for themselves. Then I had adults coming and wanting to learn who had no children. I've had my hands full ever since my parents died three years ago."
Melanie's face fell. "Oh, Taurin, I'm so sorry!"
Taurin bit his lip. "Mother and father never forgot you, Melanie. They both reminded me in their last moments to keep waiting for you. They said to tell you this if I ever saw you again, but if not, to speak of you to my children. They loved you, Melanie."
The two friends sat in somber silence for some time. Taurin jerked up straight as if his seat had caught fire. "Oh! But you're here now! I must take you to Lord Fausberg!"
He took her by the hand and led her back into the hallway, talking as he went.
"Lord Fausberg took ill earlier this year, and since I was the heir apparent, I had to close the school and come live here. I've been doing my best to fill his shoes since then, and I swear it's been absolutely miserable, but now that you're here . . ."
He left off mid-sentence as he led Melanie into a massive bedchamber.
There on the tall, elaborately carved bed laid the Lord of Nast, looking almost as he did the first time Melanie saw him, if paler in skin and whiter in hair. His eyes were closed until Taurin said, "Milord! It's Melanie, she has returned!"
Lord Fausberg opened his eyes and smiled weakly at the young girl. "So, this is my young champion, eh? Come here, child."
Melanie approached the huge bed. Fausberg took her hands in his. She noted a strange light in his eyes as he stared long at her. Melanie caught herself wondering if one could discern another's thoughts through their eyes.
"You will be my heir," Lord Fausberg said decidedly, "and you will rule Nast when I die."