Mara and Dann

‘Yes.’

And now Mara had to think for a long time. ‘So perhaps I know them?’

‘You probably know of them. Moray and Kluart.’

Mara shook her head. A long silence now, and then Mara said, ‘You’ll have to say.’

‘I had to run away because your family threw my family out of our palace.’

‘Did my family treat you the way Dann and I were by that bad man?’

‘That bad man is my cousin Garth, and so is the good one, Lord Gorda.’

‘Then it is all very difficult.’

‘No. There have always been changes in how the families are friends and enemies.’

‘Always,’ whispered Mara, holding back her tears.

‘Yes. You must understand that, Mara. Sometimes one family is in power, and then another. But some of my family were good friends with your family and became part of the court. And your family heard I was here, later, and sent me presents.’

‘What did they send?’

‘Money. Coins. There was nothing else of any use. I hid it. I’ll show you where; but first I want to be sure no one is coming after you, because if they catch you they’ll want to know if there is money and where it is.’

Mara was trembling, afraid, reminded of the bad man, Garth, saying he would beat her if she did not tell what she knew.

‘I know it is hard for you,’ said Daima. ‘But it is a good time to talk now, when Dann is asleep. Your grandmother was a cousin of my mother’s. She always liked me. Once she even sent a message to come home, and said your parents agreed. But they had not sent the message. And besides…’ she moved the brown stuff away from her chest and right across her old, wrinkled breast were scars where she had been beaten, ‘… I couldn’t forget this. It was your father who gave the order for me to be beaten.’

Mara was crying.

‘It’s no good crying about these things, Mara. Bad things. It’s better to try to understand them. The next thing was, there were rumours about the one you call the bad one. I knew that Garth would try to make a rebellion. I grew up with him and I know him. He was always…you are right to call him bad. I’m not blaming him for wanting to take back what is our family’s: the palace and the land.’

‘You could go back now, if Garth is your family?’

‘No. I don’t trust him. And besides, it won’t last. There’ll be another rebellion and more fighting. The worse things get with water and food, the more fighting. Besides, if he does manage to keep power then he will soon be hated, because he is so cruel. He won’t last. I’m an old woman now, Mara. I’ve lived half my life here, in this village. I know these people. They aren’t my people, but I’ve seen some grow up, and some have been kind to me. When I was ill, after I sent my children back to Rustam, one of them nursed me. She lives in the next house. Her name is Rabat. We help each other.’

‘Do the Rock People know about the beautiful clothes in the chest?’

‘Yes. Rabat took my keys off me when I was sick, and she went in and looked at everything. I lay here in that corner and watched them all go in to find out what I had. They thought I would have more. They looked for the coins but didn’t find them.’

‘They didn’t take any of the clothes?’

‘Yes, some. But they can’t wear them. We are thin and tall, and they are short and thick. The children sometimes wear a tunic until they grow out of it – but our clothes are not meant to last.’ And now there were tears in Daima’s voice. Mara thought, That’s funny – she didn’t cry when she remembered her husband’s being killed, and being beaten and running away, but she wants to cry now and she’s only talking about clothes. ‘Everything is so ugly, Mara. And it all gets worse because it’s such a bad time. And there is a funny thing: all our clothes – the People’s, I mean – and the dishes and the furniture and curtains and coverings, they are all beautiful and delicate and won’t last. But everything here will last forever, and it’s so ugly, so ugly, I can’t bear it.’

‘Didn’t the People ever want the things that last forever?’

‘They were invented long before there were People.’

‘Invented?’

‘You don’t know the word because nothing is invented now. Once, long ago, there was a civilisation – a kind of way of living – that invented all kinds of new things. They had science – that means, ways of thinking that try to find out how everything works – and they kept making new machines, and metals…’ She stopped talking for a while, seeing Mara’s face, then put out her old hand and laid it over Mara’s. ‘There was once a time, but it was a long, long time ago, when there were machines so clever they could do everything – anything you could think of, they could do it – but I’m not talking about then. No one knows why all that came to an end. They say that there were so many wars because of those machines that everyone all over the world decided to smash them. I’m talking of machines since then, simpler ones. And they invented this material that never wears out and the metal you see here that you can’t break. There were whole storehouses of these things, but so deep in big forests no one had ever found them. Then the People came, and they wanted to prevent the Rock People from having them, to keep them for ourselves. But then we said it was not interesting, always having the same clothes and the same everything, nothing wearing out or breaking, so we took the old things and gave them to the Rock People, and went back to growing plants to make cloth, and making dishes and pots out of earthenware. But you might have noticed that in the kitchen at home there were some of the big vessels of this metal, because they are useful for storage.’

Mara was silent, hoping she had taken all this in.

‘Why are the special lamps here – look, like that one? At home only we have them, not the servants or the slaves.’

‘The Rock People raided once when there was a rebellion and fighting in the palace, and took away a lot of things. But it is a long time since these lamps worked. No one knows how they work.’

‘Why didn’t you ask those people who brought Dann and me here where your children are?’

‘There wasn’t time.’

‘Who are those people? Why did they want to save us?’

‘Gorda paid them to bring you. He probably thought there wasn’t any other place that was safe.’

‘Are we safe?’

‘Not very,’ said Daima. ‘But if my children could manage, then so can you.’

‘I’m afraid,’ said Mara.

‘That’s good,’ said Daima. ‘That means you’ll be on your guard.’

‘I will try.’

‘And now, Mara, we should stop, and you can think about everything and we can talk again.’

‘And play the What Did You See game?’

‘As often as you like. I would enjoy that, after all this time. And we must play it with Dann, because there aren’t schools here and the children are taught nothing at all.’ She got up. ‘It is midday now. This afternoon everyone in the village will go over that ridge to the river, because there will still be new water there from the flood, and we will fill our containers. I’m going to take you and Dann so they can all see you. And remember, you are my grandchildren.’ And she embraced Mara, a good, hard hug, and she said, ‘I wish you were. I’m going to think of you as my granddaughter, Mara. You’re a good girl. No, don’t cry now; you can have a good cry tonight, but if we start crying now we won’t stop. And I’m going to wake Dann, or he’ll not sleep tonight. And I’ve got something new for you to eat.’

She took a big yellow root from a jar and sliced it fine. She put the slices in three bowls, poured water over them and went to fetch Dann.

Mara tasted the water the sliced root was in. It was very sweet and fresh, and Mara did not find it easy to remember her manners and sit quiet, waiting for Dann. He came to sit on Mara’s lap, and sucked his thumb until Daima told him to stop.

They ate up the root and drank the fresh water. Dann wanted more, but Daima said the roots in the jar were all she had until she could go out and hunt for more in the earth.

Daima then gave Mara a big jug and Dann a small one, and she herself lifted up four big cans that had set across their tops pieces of wood to hold them by, tied two by two with loops of rope. She pushed the door and it slid along in its groove, and the light and heat came in. Mara’s eyes hurt, and she saw Dann screw up his eyes and try to turn his face aside, so that he was squinting to see. Then Mara was outside the house, holding Dann’s hand, and her eyes stopped dazzling and she was able to see. There was a crowd of Rock People, all looking at her and at Dann. Mara made herself stand still and look back, hoping they did not see she was frightened. Now she was close to them for the first time in her life, she could see their dull greyish skin and their pale eyes, like sick eyes, and their pale frizzy hair, which stood out around their heads like grass or like bushes. And they were so big. Everything about them seemed to Mara unhealthy and unnatural, but she knew they were not sick but strong people. She had often seen them carrying heavy loads along the roads. A girl was in one of the People’s tunics. It was torn and dirty, but it had been a soft yellow colour once. She was splitting it because she was so big.

Daima was saying, ‘These are my grandchildren. They have come to live with me. This is Mara, and this is Dann.’

Everyone was staring at these two thin, bony little children, with their short black hair that should be shining and smooth but was stiff with dirt.

A man said, ‘Yes, we know about the fighting in Rustam.’ Then he said to Mara, ‘Where are your parents, then?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Mara. Her lips were trembling, and she stood biting them, while he grinned at her, showing big yellow teeth.