3.0

These are the things I have seen make Marketa weep. A trellis. A nun. A footprint filled with morning dew. A small yellow wildflower.

Therefore I believed that she might weep when she recovered and saw who had healed her.

However, she did not. She became quiet. Her hand gripped the blanket and then let go and then gripped again. The two of them looked at each other silently.

"Frida, will you please leave us," Marketa said, in a voice that sounded unlike her. I did not wish to leave. I wished to stay and document. There was a feeling in the air like before a storm. However, when I did not move, Marketa said again, "Frida, please," and so I went outside, and I did not even linger near the door.

I walked along the edge of the forest until it grew dark, and then I returned. I could still hear the low sound of their voices so I left again. At last I sat with the women of the clan, who were gathered around the fire. I asked them the question which I had wanted to ask for some time: why there were no children here. They said that their clan was not a clan for growing but a clan for leaving and returning. You cannot make a home here until you have lived elsewhere. It can only be chosen when you have grown.

We ate of potatoes and lamb then, and I sat and watched the smoke of the fire rise into the sky.

In the end, the two of them came out together. Hannah and Marketa, I mean. They did not touch, but they moved as if they understood each other.

"Thank you for your care," Marketa said to the women. "If you have found me worthy - if I have passed your test - then I would hear your direction. For we will make for the Cave tomorrow."

So we are going then. I do not know how to feel.