The Girl with No Name Ch. 33

She continued:

"Both our families are dead. We are the last survivors. But it doesn't have to stay that way."

After a pause the farmer asked:

"So...you're not upset about..."

"There is very little you did that I need to forgive you for. You saved my life. It's because of you that I got away from this town, from my father, and from the rat-plague. I've always thought about you, always admired you. You're what a man should be. You're not perfect...but that's not what I want. I've seen perfect men, and I can't stand the sight of them."

Tuko took a deep breath. He wouldn't have given Vesna a second thought ten years before, but now he understood why the Lord-Creator had made him wait so long. She had come back, changed, and ready to begin a new life. He reached out his hand, but she shook her head and pulled back.

"Not here, Farmer Orsktackt. I said there is very little you did that I need to forgive you for. There is one thing you did, that I'd like you to fix."

There are a lot of things I did to you, Tuko thought to himself.

"Very well. Whatever it is...I'll try to make it right."

"When you sent me off, you never said goodbye. I was grateful for all your help, but that one small thing hurt me."

"I didn't...because I didn't know what to say..."

"So you just said nothing? Just ran off? I'd like to think that's not typical of you."

"How can I fix it?"

"After the sun sets, I'm going east...to the place we parted. I'd like you to meet me there. Wait here, and give me an hour head-start. Find me on that hill, and bring me back."

"That's all you want me to do?"

"That's all. I know it's a strange request, but I need you to do it for me."

For the last time in her life, Vesna put on her collar and her boots. She picked up her bucket and dropped in the silver coin. She set out into the darkness.

She knew there was some risk, going out unclothed and unarmed, but she had to do it. She had to finish her journey the way she began it.

She was much more experienced moving through the nighttime forest undetected than she had been the first time she went up the hill. She walked silently and cautiously to avoid both hostile animals and hostile people.

She crested the dark summit and emerged into the clearing. The view was exactly as she remembered it: the same moonlit river, the same rolling hills, the same lights off in the distance. She stood silently, remembering and enjoying the sensation of the cool night breeze and the moonlight caressing her body. It feels good to be like this. It's one thing about my old life that I'll miss.

Her old life. Already Vesna was thinking of her years of wandering as her old life. She'd finally have a proper wedding and wear the nice dress she always wanted. She'd toil alongside her husband in the orchard and rebuild the farm. She'd have children and bring them up to learn, question, and think, not just react to the challenges of life. She wondered if she'd ever get restless and feel the urge to go out again. She hoped not, but one never knew.

Because she had moved so cautiously, even with the head start she did not have to wait very long for her former mentor and future husband. When he emerged from the woods, she was standing quietly, her bare body illuminated by the moon. At that moment she looked exactly the same to him, as though the passing of ten years had not happened.

He reached out to her, and this time she did let him take her hand.

"Danka, please come with me. It's time for us to go home."

She nodded and, for the first time in their lives, they shared a proper kiss under the moonlight. He took her hand and led her back up the hill and onto the road leading to Rika Héckt-nemát. They returned to the orchard just as the sky was starting to lighten in the east.

There was a final part of Vesna's homecoming. She took off her collar and handed it to Farmer Orsktackt. She always had felt nervous about the Guild's secret getting out. With the collar safely returned, she had once less thing to worry about.