Gamba straggled back up to the Locks, where Anee eyed him nervously as he served lunch. "Are you all right?" she asked him, and he shook his head, and could not speak much; but he managed to tell her, "They took Esta last night."
"I'm sorry, " she said, and she spoke some words of comfort. She pressed Gamba's hand, and said, "Can you still work?"
He know she meant, on the escape, and he nodded, numbly. "Yes." He patted the two little children on their head, and rubbed their shoulders.
But Anee had a point, and he finished his chores and then went back to Gammer Pansy's cell, and just stared at her. She was shivering, and rheumy-eyed, and she squinted, wondering why he was there; she had her water and her lunch.
He willed himself to think of her, and filled his eyes with her. She could be my mom, he thought. Mom might be like her if she had lived.
And there were the boys; Kesha, Asta, Roka, Ban, Maura. Grimly he lectured himself, to remember everything and do what he had to do.
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...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.
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