On the afternoon of the second day following Levanto's visit, Gamba's nervous excitement rose to such a pitch that he could not eat. He dug in the graveyards with a grim, fevered ferocity that the guards wondered at, and his companions worried lest he raise their suspicions; one of them whispered to him, and he tried to calm down, but he couldn't.
He looked over to the graves that had been filled in just this morning, and was surprised that he could not cry. Esta's parents, in two of those graves. They had disappeared the same night. That left, as orphans, Esta and her three brothers, Tuka, Kamba, and Barra. Esta was a good friend of Gamba (having frequently been "The Pio" in Gamba's childhood Levanto Ring games) and Tuka and Phura were also good friends.
Gamba had become numb to it all, now, and he wondered grimly if he would be able to weep if they took Phura or Loremaster. Then he shook himself, and dismissed the thought. Please, Eru, he thought, spare me that.
Meanwhile, Phura was inconsolable over his friends' misfortune, and Loremaster had his hands full trying to find foster parents for Esta, Tuka, Kamba, and Barra. Phura was uncharacteristically furious that Loremaster would not adopt all four of them himself. Loremaster would not even entertain the possibility, and Phura took it as a personal insult, and stormed out of the cave they used as a library.
Loremaster ordered Kesha to ride herd on Roka and Asta and keep them close to the still-sullen Phura, and he went to find Elder Tura. They spoke for several hours, and Elder Tura took responsibility for the four children.
[ September 15, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]
__________________
...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.
|