Page 23 of Earthbound

Mia stood, understanding the subtext in the room before anyone else. ‘I’ll show them the way.’

Farhan, who had remained asleep through it all, was awoken and gently ushered out of the room by Mia. As they walked away from the sleeping quarters Lettle could be heard saying, ‘If she didn’t want us there, she should have just come right out and said it…’

Dart looked expectantly at Mortah. ‘Shall we sit?’

The older woman looked around at the unmade blankets and bedrolls with distaste. ‘Yes, I suppose we should.’

Again the strained silence. But Alder would not break it, for Mortah would not be rushed.

‘As you know, I knew your father, Dart.’

Though it was rather obvious, both Dart and Alder dutifully nodded. The Nomad community was not large, and everyone knew everyone.

‘He was the one to find you, Alder,’ she continued.

Again, they nodded.

The story went that Osei, Dart’s father, had been hunting on the cliffs near Caperly and had come across a cave full of obeah…and Alder. He had led Alder back to the village and nursed him until he came back to himself–albeit without his memories.

‘What we didn’t tell you is that I was also there,’ Mortah said.

Hope swelled in Alder’s chest. Finally, a breakthrough.

Dart’s brows pulled together. ‘Father never said.’

Mortah’s expression went curiously blank. ‘No, he didn’t want your mother to know.’

‘Oh?’ Alder said. Then he noticed the thunderous look on Dart’s face. ‘Oh.’

‘You? And my father?’ Dart rose to his feet.

‘Sit down,’ Mortah snapped and surprisingly, Dart did. ‘Osei didn’t want your mother to know, but I told her.’

Anger ebbed from Dart’s face, and for a moment Alder thought he might weep. His mother had died five years ago and the grief seemed just as fresh.

Then Mortah said, more gently, ‘She did not go to the grave with hate in her heart. She had long forgiven your father for his transgressions.’

Alder squirmed beneath the weight of the questions he wanted to ask. But he knew he had to allow Dart a moment to acclimatise to his father’s affair.

‘How long?’ Dart asked.

‘How long did it last?’ she asked and Dart nodded. She sighed. ‘Too long.’

Dart waited.

‘Twenty-three years.’

Dart let out a strange laugh, somewhere between a hiccup and a gasp.

Mortah’s frown was back. ‘I said it was too long.’

‘Long? Five years would be long. Two decades? More? That’s a lifetime.’

Alder could see the conversation unravelling. Grief, anger, sorrow, guilt, love, all vying for purchase, all gasping for air to lend a voice.

‘We don’t have time for this,’ he cut through before Mortah could respond. ‘I’m sorry, Dart, and I’m sorry, Mortah, but I need to focus on what’s important here–the curse…and unfortunately me.’ They both looked at him and he felt a flush rise in his cheeks.

‘You’re right,’ Dart said eventually. ‘Mortah, I am sorry that you were burdened by this secret all these years.’