As they walked down the slope, Mari began dragging back, her steps slowing, but Alain held her arm in his and kept her moving. Looking over at her, Alain could see Mari’s eyes darting about as if trying to spot landmarks from a memory dimmed by too many years away. “I was only eight when the Mechanics took me from here,” Mari murmured as if she had never told Alain before. “I can still see my parents in my memory, though, standing in our doorway as I was taken away. I could never forget that.”
They reached a short walk ending at a vivid green door to a modest, two-story town home standing wedged between its neighbors. Mari came to a total halt, staring at the door, her arm shaking in his, her face rigid. “Mari?” Alain asked, thinking that she looked as upset as she had when he had told her she was the daughter.
Mari glanced at him with a jerky movement of her head, then breathed deeply and slowly in an obvious attempt to calm herself. Alain began walking and after an initial resistance Mari followed, her arm clamped on his now. Reaching the door, Alain let go of Mari’s arm, then gestured toward the door. “I am here, but this is your moment. I am beside you, but you must do this.” Since his Mage training led him to be impassive in the face of stress without always realizing it, Alain made sure he showed a smile to reassure her.
Mari stood there for another moment, looking as nervous as Alain had ever seen her, even counting the time a dragon had been chasing them in Dorcastle. She reached a decision, pulling off her commons coat, then diving down into her pack to haul out her Mechanics jacket and put it on. Settling the jacket on her, squaring her shoulders and brushing back her hair with both hands, Mari took one more deep breath and then rapped firmly on the emerald-green door, the sound of the knocks echoing down the quiet street.
Several moments passed before a middle-aged woman opened the door, her eyes taking in the dark Mechanics jacket and then lowering their gaze respectfully. Looking at her, Alain could see the tension in this woman, too, though hers was a barely repressed hostility. He could also see the ways in which Mari resembled her, not least in the raven-black hair which on the older woman now showed streaks of gray. “Yes, Lady Mechanic?” the woman said in a formal and cold voice which also betrayed to the Mage enormous resentment and anger.
Mari was unable to speak for a moment, visibly trembling and blinking rapidly. She swallowed, then got out one word in a whisper. “Mommy?”
Chapter Ten
Alain heard the little-girl sound in Mari’s voice, her use of the child’s term for her mother, and knew that an eight-year-old girl was finally speaking again to the mother she had lost more than a decade before.
The woman froze, then drew in a ragged breath. She looked up, hope warring with disbelief in her expression, finally gazing directly at Mari’s face. “Mari? Is it really you?”
“Mommy!” Mari gasped again. She threw her arms around the woman, who after only a moment’s hesitation gripped Mari with equal fervor, sudden tears wetting her face as Mari managed to speak a few more words. “Oh, Mommy, I’m so sorry.”
Seeing tears running down Mari’s own cheeks, Alain took a step away. His work was done and he thought this was what Mari would call a private moment. “I will keep watch outside while you—”
“You’ll do nothing of the kind!” Mari interrupted through her tears, taking one hand away from her mother long enough to drag Alain back. “You’ll come inside and share this joyous moment you caused to happen!”
Joyous? Alain wondered, seeing the amount of tears flowing from both women. But he yielded to Mari’s grasp, coming along as her mother led the way inside.
Once the door was closed, the two women stood looking at each other. Mari’s mother reached out one hand to touch her daughter’s face. “It’s been so long.”
Mari’s face twisted in misery. “They lied to me. I was too young to know what they were doing. I thought you didn’t care. I never got any letters. You never got any of my letters, did you?”
“You sent letters?” Her mother’s eyes spilled tears again. “I knew it. I knew you must have tried to send letters. For ten years I have believed that and now I know I was right.”
“How can you ever forgive me?” Mari whispered. “I didn’t know what they had done, but I should have tried to talk to you before now. I am so, so sorry, Mommy.”
“Did you think I couldn’t forgive my own daughter? Even if you had been at fault?” Mari’s mother wiped tears from her face with both hands. “And I believe you that you weren’t at fault, that you didn’t know what they had done.”
“I thought horrible things about you. I thought… I thought…” Mari shook her head, quivering with sobs. “I’m so sorry.”
“Come sit down, Mari.” A smile lit her mother’s face. “How long have I dreamed of saying that again? And here you are at last.”
Mari and her mother walked a short distance to the left into a front room with a couch and chairs. Alain followed, even though he felt at the moment as if he were using his invisibility spell, so thoroughly were the two women focused on each other.
Mari and her mother sat close to each other, their knees almost touching. Mari took a shuddering breath. “Can you really forgive me?”
“Of course I can, Mari.” Her mother sighed. “Just to be able to say your name and not feel an ache of loss is so wonderful. I see you are a Mechanic now, and I know you can’t spend much time with common folk, but—”
“No!” Mari leaned forward, her face working with emotion. “You’re my family. I was lied to and deceived into thinking the Guild was my family, but now I know how terrible a lie that all was, and I will never reject you again.” Mari wiped her nose. “I must look like a mess. I’m sorry. We had a very difficult trip here, what with fighting the Mages and their troll in Palandur and then having to jump off the train and evade Imperial patrols and police, and then my Guild captured us and we had to just about sink the ship to escape and steal a lifeboat to get to this island.”
Her mother just stared at Mari, then shook her head. “It seems we have even more catching up to do than I had expected. Wait. We.” She finally looked at Alain. “My manners. I’m Eirene, Mari’s mother. But you already know that, don’t you?”
Alain inclined his head toward her. “I am Alain. Alain of Ihris.”
Mari leaned in toward him and held Alain’s arm. “I wouldn’t be here if not for Alain. He’s the one who realized that my Guild had deceived me about you, and he gave me the strength to come here despite my fears. And… well, he’s also saved my life a few times. I mean, literally, he’s saved my life.”
Eirene turned a wondering look on Alain. “How can I ever repay you?”
Mari laughed. “That’s one of the first things I said to him, too. Oh, Mommy… Mother. I need to call you Mother. Is that all right? There’s been so much I need to tell you about.”
“The journey here seems to have had enough to talk about for days,” her mother replied. “Mages? Trolls?”
“One troll,” Alain said.
“I knew Mages hated Mechanics, but I didn’t know they still attacked them.” Eirene frowned. “But you also said your Guild captured you. Are you in trouble with your Guild?”