Mara and Dann

"You could go back now, if Garth is your family?"

"No. I don't trust him. And besides, it won't last. There'll be another rebellion and more fighting. The worse things get with water and food, the more fighting. Besides, if he does manage to keep power then he will soon be hated, because he is so cruel. He won't last. I'm an old woman now, Mara. I've lived half my life here, in this village. I know these people. They aren't my people, but I've seen some grow up, and some have been kind to me. When I was ill, after I sent my children back to Rustam, one of them nursed me. She lives in the next house. Her name is Rabat. We help each other."

"Do the Rock People know about the beautiful clothes in the chest?"

"Yes. Rabat took my keys off me when I was sick, and she went in and looked at everything. I lay here in that corner and watched them all go in to find out what I had. They thought I would have more. They looked for the coins but didn't find them."

"They didn't take any of the clothes?"

"Yes, some. But they can't wear them. We are thin and tall, and they are short and thick. The children sometimes wear a tunic until they grow out of it — but our clothes are not meant to last." And now there were tears in Daima's voice. Mara thought, That's fu

"Didn't the People ever want the things that last forever?"

"They were invented long before there were People."

"Invented?"

"You don't know the word because nothing is invented now. Once, long ago, there was a civilisation — a kind of way of living — that invented all kinds of new things. They had science — that means, ways of thinking that try to find out how everything works — and they kept making new machines, and metals." She stopped talking for a while, seeing Mara's face, then put out her old hand and laid it over Mara's. "There was once a time, but it was a long, long time ago, when there were machines so clever they could do everything — anything you could think of, they could do it — but I'm not talking about then. No one knows why all that came to an end. They say that there were so many wars because of those machines that everyone all over the world decided to smash them. I'm talking of machines since then, simpler ones. And they invented this material that never wears out and the metal you see here that you can't break. There were whole storehouses of these things, but so deep in big forests no one had ever found them. Then the People came, and they wanted to prevent the Rock People from having them, to keep them for ourselves. But then we said it was not interesting, always having the same clothes and the same everything, nothing wearing out or breaking, so we took the old things and gave them to the Rock People, and went back to growing plants to make cloth, and making dishes and pots out of earthenware. But you might have noticed that in the kitchen at home there were some of the big vessels of this metal, because they are useful for storage."

Mara was silent, hoping she had taken all this in.

"Why are the special lamps here — look, like that one? At home only we have them, not the servants or the slaves."

"The Rock People raided once when there was a rebellion and fighting in the palace, and took away a lot of things. But it is a long time since these lamps worked. No one knows how they work."

"Why didn't you ask those people who brought Da

"There wasn't time."

"Who are those people? Why did they want to save us?" "Gorda paid them to bring you. He probably thought there wasn't any other place that was safe."

"Are we safe?"

"Not very," said Daima. "But if my children could manage, then so can you."

"I'm afraid," said Mara.

"That's good," said Daima. "That means you'll be on your guard."

"I will try."

"And now, Mara, we should stop, and you can think about everything and we can talk again."

"And play the What Did You See game?"

"As often as you like. I would enjoy that, after all this time. And we must play it with Da

She took a big yellow root from a jar and sliced it fine. She put the slices in three bowls, poured water over them and went to fetch Da

Mara tasted the water the sliced root was in. It was very sweet and fresh, and Mara did not find it easy to remember her ma

They ate up the root and drank the fresh water. Da

Daima then gave Mara a big jug and Da

Daima was saying, "These are my grandchildren. They have come to live with me. This is Mara, and this is Da

Everyone was staring at these two thin, bony little children, with their short black hair that should be shining and smooth but was stiff with dirt.

A man said, "Yes, we know about the fighting in Rustam." Then he said to Mara, "Where are your parents, then?"

"I don't know," said Mara. Her lips were trembling, and she stood biting them, while he gri

"This is Kulik," Daima said. "He is the head man here."

"Don't you curtsy to your betters?" said Kulik.

"Curtsy?" said Mara, who had never heard the word.

"I suppose she expects us to curtsy to her," said a woman.

Then another woman came out of the crowd and said to Daima, "Come on, the water's going fast."