3.1

Oct 13

The three of us - Marketa, Hannah, and myself - have set off. The women of the clan gave us rye bread and a map, and instructed us to seek the great tree upon which is carved the key.

I wanted to know what passed between Marketa and Hannah, but they avoided my questions as we went deeper into the forest.

''So you will go into the cave, Marketa?'' ''Save your breath, Frida.'' ''You will be parted then? You will leave for another world?'' ''Enough, Frida.''

Hannah is gentler. She allowed herself to fall behind Marketa and walked with me. ''Some things cannot be undone,'' she said. ''We handled things badly before. That history is like a tapestry that cannot be unwoven.''

''So you will let her leave you. You will let her forget you,'' I said.

''Let her? She does what she likes. She would not be Marketa otherwise.''

And I saw in her face how much she loved Marketa for this.

''But you will be left alone,'' I said, and I was surprised to hear myself weeping slightly. Hannah put her arm around me.

''I have my own sins to undo,'' she said. ''If she uses the cave, then so will I. I will leave and make a world where I listen to my love for her, even after my father's death. A world where I do not part from her.''

Marketa listened to all this in silence.

I have stopped speaking so much to them now. I must prepare myself, for I know now that, should we make it to the cave, I will depart from it alone.

Oct 16

We have found the tree. The women of the clan instructed Hannah and Marketa to part here, taking two different paths through the forest. If they each follow the carved directions, they will find each other again. When they rejoin, they will know the direction in which to travel.

They told me to wait here for their return. Each studied the runes, and then went to their respective trees. They looked at one another for a long time. Then, they disappeared into the forest.