old man was busying himself.
"Now then, little one," Bumbarta said quietly, "you seem to be somewhat excited."
"Oh yes," Squee burst out, rushing up to the man. "You are not going to believe it. No, you are not."
"Maybe we'll see, if you tell me," Bumbarta said, smiling.
"There's four of them," Squee burst out in a jumble, "gathered together you'll never guess where."
"You're right," Bumbarta sighed. "I shall never guess, so I shall never try."
"Then I'll tell you," said Squee. Bumbarta did not hold his breath.
"The Particular Tree," Squee reported. "That's where they met. I was following the new one, the one who just came yesterday. Do you remember? I told you about her."
"The pretty one, yes," Bumbarta replied. "The one who was traveling with Ember."
"With Ember, yes, that one," Squee nearly snarled. Bumbarta pretended to yawn. He did not want to get into eight year olds' spites. Nearly all of the "children" had grievances among one another. It was quite complicated.
"They met up with two others," Squee told him. "The others were waiting, already there. Then they talked among each other. A lot of words going back and forth. They sat in a circle for a while. A whole lot of words spoken then. I only got bits, but one word a lot. ‘Remarkable’. They said it and thought it a number of times. Remarkable this, remarkable that. They yelled at each other. Or some of them did. One of them we already know. That one Barque. The Striker, you know. He was there with his snake, that Princess. Princess he kept coiled up around him. She did not seem to be enjoying herself very much. I could hear Princess breathing a lot."
Squee paused to catch his breath. Bumbarta tried his best to hide his displeasure. He had sensed the four gathering and knew who they were. What he didn't know was what they were saying. For this he had Watchers. For this he needed their vigor and spirit, but most of all their proximity. Bumbarta wasn't able to travel, not much, and certainly couldn't go following like them.
There were perhaps a dozen of these Watchers, most of them eight, a couple sixteen. They weren't the cleverest people, but they did like to have fun. He'd found the first of them resigned to playing tag in the forest forever, Blajha and Creigh, the twins. They'd stumbled upon his retreat, Blajha hiding in his hut while Creigh circled suspiciously around. They'd been a definite nuisance, returning over and over again to play hide and seek in his dwelling, each knowing perfectly well where the other one was, all the while calling for them to come out. At last, Bumbarta lost patience, and suggested a different game they could play, called Watching. He assigned them a target and made them compete with reports. Whoever could bring back the most information would get a reward. Over time there came some refinements, along with some other recruits, until he finally settled on the system of stars. By then he had filled up on gossip, and knew practically everything about every other exile around.
Also by then, Bumbarta had already resolved to utterly destroy Canopus. He hated it, and even more hated the people who'd put him in there, and silently promised revenge. This was the real meaning of fire in his life. He kept himself hot to keep up his fury. Outside he seemed calm to all comers. To the Watchers he was even a benevolent presence. They loved him, in fact, and were happy to go along with his game. It also kept them busy and amused, and the Watchers enjoyed laughter more than anything else.
"Remarkable what, exactly," Bumbarta pressed Squee behind drawn lips.
"Places, I think," Squee frowned, trying to remember exactly, "Remarkable places and things, yes, I'm sure that was it."
"What does it mean?" the older man uttered, not meaning to say it out loud.
"I don't know, master," Squee shrugged. "Should I go back for more? Follow them again? I can pick up some words, I know that I can."
"Yes, yes," Bumbarta nodded. "That would be good, "And take Soma this time. She can get closer."
"Soma?" Squee asked as if hoping Bumbarta would relent.
"Yes, Soma," Bumbarta repeated. "Go find her now and take her along. I'll need you both. Yes, together you'll earn double stars. Come here now," he added, and as Squee approached he held out his hand, in which there lay a gold star.
"This one's for you now," Bumbarta said. "There'll be more when you and Soma report with more words. And directions as well. I want to know where they go, where they are."
"Yes, master," said Squee, gingerly taking the star from his hand, and then slapping it onto his forearm, where he pressed it and rubbed till it stuck. Squee let out a yelp of delight and rushed out of the hut. He jumped into the lake to moisten the sticker and held out his arm to inspect and enjoy it. After splashing around for a bit he came out, and without waiting to dry he ran off, back into the trees, to find his companion as ordered.
Bumbarta observed all of this from his seat in his hut, then returned his gaze to the fire. Four people gathered at the Particular Tree, meeting up there as if by assignment, then going off, all together, a Striker and Savior among them. It was curious, curious indeed. Strikers and Saviors were never together, except at a moment of strikeage, and certainly never so socially. The word Squee reported didn't interest him much. Remarkable. Such a vague term. Never mind that, he said to himself, but I must find out more about this group and what they are doing. Although, he sighed sadly, it's probably nothing at all.
Twelve
Squee found Soma sleeping in her nest, smiling very peacefully. This child hadn't been an eight-year old for very long, having been only recently and easily trapped and dispatched to the forest. Her parents, it seemed, hardly noticed her lack of growth after completing the fourth grade. They moved her on to fifth, and then to sixth, by which time it was becoming quite apparent that the girl was simply not developing. Her school friends took note before anyone else, and their cruel teasing and harassment led to teachers and other authorities becoming involved. Soma was brought in for questioning by the same Captain Snig who'd interrogated Edeline. It was a more difficult case for him, as he had little experience with children, and Soma especially charmed his petrified heart just a bit. He held her in his facilities for several months to observe her lack of growth first-hand, in the meantime playing checkers and go-fish with her daily. He became quite fond of the child, who had a sweet disposition and was always friendly to everyone. Old Snig considered keeping her hidden somehow, but in the end he could not bring himself to thwart the system. At the last there was nothing else he could do but send her off to Canopus.
Soma didn't seem to mind. She took to the woods right away, and found herself a playmate in Squee after only a few hours. He quickly filled her in on the rules, all of which seemed very sensible to her. You got to eat when you wanted, sleep where you wanted, play all day long and do whatever you felt like. This was not a bad deal, as far as she was concerned. It didn't take long for her to fall into the Watcher routine, and she set about charming Bumbarta the same as she'd done with the captain. By now whenever he wanted to be sure about anything a Watcher had told him, Bumbarta called upon Soma to verify.
She opened her bright eyes and clapped her hands when Squee reporter their mission.
"More words?" she exclaimed with excitement. "We'll get every one," she promised him, and Squee could already envision another gold star - maybe two - on his arm. Together they set off through the trees, catching up to the reluctant confederacy of the Called.
They were all bickering again and hadn't gone far. After strolling through the trees for a couple of hours, Barque had declared the mission absurd and was threatening again to go his own way. He demanded a decent suggestion, from anyone.
"There's no point in wandering nowhere at all," he insisted, and the others could only glumly agree. It was true they still had no plan but had simply walked on toward the near-setting sun.
"Why even west I don't know," he muttered. "Might as well be going east."
"Would it matter?" Ember replied, then she stopped, and the others did too.
"But you're right. There's no point."
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They shuffled in place for several moments, each one looking anywhere except each other's faces. No one wanted to be the first to give up, but no one had any ideas, until Baudry suggested,
"Why don't we try the Map Makers?"
"Time Wasters, more like it," Barque snorted, as Princess open her mouth wide to stifle a yawn.
"They don't know this place any better than I do," Ember added, but Baudry went on.
"But they're making up names all the time," he said. "I don't even know what they would call this place we're in now."
"This place has a name?" Edeline asked. To her it was simply all trees, and she hadn't seen enough of Canopus yet to know about its variety.
"Of course," Baudry said. "Every place has a name."
"I was just calling it the forest," Edeline said.
"Well, the whole thing is called Canopus," Ember informed her. "I thought I already told you that."
"If you did, I don't remember," Edeline shrugged.
"But I meant this area we're going through now," Baudry said. "You see, the Map Makers have been at it for years, trying to figure it all out."
"Who are they?" Edeline asked.
"Two sisters," Baudry replied. "Raina and Pulee. You know how there's never an end to the forest, right?"
Edeline nodded. She didn't really know that but she didn't want to seem stupid.
"You keep going west, or east," he added, glancing