The Dubious Hills (36 page)

When Oonan poured the tea, it was not the pale green
or yellow of herbal tea, but the rich red-brown of black tea from
the Outer Isles. Sune and Jony said the leaves came from bushes
that grew high in the mountains. Wim said it cost a great deal.
Oonan was very stingy with his, as a rule, Mally said.

Oonan handed the cups around, having put milk and
honey into Con’s and Arry’s first. Then he said, “Tell me what
happened.”

“
Well,” said Arry, “Zia had a
plan.”

Oonan rolled his eyes and made a small groan. She
told him the story, with frequent additions from Con and a little
actual help from Beldi. Oonan looked at her with great intentness
the whole time, even when Con was speaking. When they finished, he
went on looking.

“
I couldn’t let them do it,” said
Arry. “But it had to be done.”

“
Bec and Frances didn’t come to
help you?”

“
No.”

“
Frances always liked you to do
things for yourself,” said Oonan. “Even when you could hardly walk
without staggering, she would say, ‘Don’t help her, let her find
out how to do it. ’”

“
What did I find out how to do,
Oonan?”

“
You
saved
us,” said Con,
in astonished tones. She added, “We helped a lot,
though.”

“
Did I save us, Oonan, or did I
break us?”

“
Sometimes,” said Oonan, “one
can’t know the difference.”

“
Oonan.”

“
I’m still finding out. All things
are deeply altered.”

“
Did we keep out the cruel
mothers?”

Oonan looked puzzled and irritated; then his brow
cleared. “Ah. The ones with poisoned apples; the ones who drive
their sons to kill their other sons; all the cruel ones. I think
so. I told you, I am still finding out what has happened. I think
knowledge is altered.”

“
So now you can throw a child away
like a batch of bad yoghurt?”

“
No, not so much as that. It’s not
the certain knowledge, the right knowledge, that did us harm, if
harm was being done to us. It was refusing to step outside it.” “We
should leave soon.”

“
Yes, long before dawn. And I
should go take Halver from the stream; it would frighten Sune to
find him there. Where are you going, Arry?”

“
To the Hidden Land.”

Oonan frowned. “That will do you harm,” he said. “Go
to Heathwill Library, where they understand breaking the bounds of
knowledge.”

“
We have to go through the Hidden
Land to get there. Can we look at it a bit?”

“
Travel along the borders,” said
Oonan. “I think you may meet someone there, or some
two.”

“
The cruel mother I kept out?”
said Arry bitterly.

“
If you are looking for a cruel
mother,” said Oonan, “look in the stream there below Sune’s house.
Don’t look at Frances. I think she may well have done what Halver
said he always did.”

Arry was too tired to think. “Will you take the
cats?” she said.

“
No,” said Oonan. “They need to go
with you.”

“
Oonan, who will teach the
children?”

“
I will, no doubt,” said Oonan.
“Mally thinks Elec may be a teacher. In two years, or three, she’ll
know. I can’t do much harm in that time.”

“
You’ll have to be Physici,
too.”

“
As best I may.”

“
Will you miss Halver?”

“
Don’t pick at the scab,” said
Oonan.

They crossed the river at the Waterpale ferry just
at dawn. The ferrywoman was sleepy but amiable. Arry gave her one
of Frances’s coins, which she took as if there were nothing unusual
about it.

“
You’ll want to be careful,” she
said as they got out of her boat, hoisting the sacks and pouches
and the basket with the sleeping Woollycat in it; Sheepnose jumped
out by herself. “You’ll want to have an eye of those cats. There
are wolves about.”

“
Yes, we know,” said
Arry.