Early the next morning, Mecora woke up thinking about the funeral they’d had, but put it out of her mind. She had two more people to say goodbye to, and that wasn’t going to be easy.
She went to the plaza, and did a little bit of shopping. She didn’t have much money, but she spent what she had on a pair of diary scrolls with a porcupine pencil that stowed in the roller. These in hand, she headed first to Mereo’s house. It was nicer than Mecora’s, because while being third level as hers, it was an extruded house. The views from the windows were always impressive, and the whole house had much better light levels. Inside, there was chaos as everyone tried to decide what could go and what couldn’t. What made it more difficult was the uncertainty of how long they’d be gone, and whether they’d simply be fed, or if they’d have to earn a living like they usually did.
“Hi,” said Mereo when Mecora appeared at the door. “I’m glad you came over.”
“How could I not? Although, I gotta admit, it was hard to decide whose house to come to first.”
“What’s that in your hand?”
Mecora had almost forgotten. “Oh, it’s my going away present.” She took one of the scrolls and handed it to Mereo. “It’s a diary, so that you can record everything you experience.”
Mereo took the present gladly. “Oh, Mecora, thanks! I’ll write in it every day. I just hope I have enough ink.”
“It comes with a porcupine pencil, so you can save your ink for later.”
“Mecora, you shouldn’t have! This must have cost a lot!”
Mecora shrugged. “I’ve lost a lot already. It was hardly painful to part with the money.”
Mereo nodded in understanding, and put her new scroll carefully into one of her travelling bags. “Well, I’ve packed everything I want to take. Shall we go see how Ueal’s doing?”
“Yeah.” Mecora wondered how her light-skinned friend could be taking all this so calmly, and then decided she was just doing a darn good job of hiding her feelings. Was it better that way?
Ueal’s house wasn’t too far away, at platform level but carved out of the tree. The situation there was even more hectic than it had been at Mereo’s, because the family was bigger and included some little children.
“Hi! Oh, Mereo, tell me you’re not all packed already.”
“Yeah. Having trouble?”
“Are you kidding? How are you supposed to pack for a five day walk to a place you don’t even know how long you’re staying at? Care to give some advice?”
Mereo just shrugged. “I can’t give any. I just packed a third of everything.”
“A third. That’s too much.”
Mecora couldn’t help but chuckle. Ueal, despite her median economic level, had more clothes than any other girl in town, even the relatively well-off Mereo.
“Well, here’s a bit more to take,” said Mecora. “I hope you like it.”
Ueal took the gift, and smiled broadly. Then, she hugged Mecora. “A diary! Oh, thank you! I’ll write in it every day!”
“I hope so. I know I can’t share in your journey, but I’d at least like to read about it.”
“Oh, you will, I promise.”
“Okay, Ueal,” said Mereo, crossing her arms, “Let’s see you pack it.”
“Pack it?! Hah! No problem.” She shuffled some things around in her travel bags, scowled a bit, shuffled some more, tried a spot, scowled some more, and then finally fit the scroll in, just perfectly. “See?”
The other two had no choice but to chuckle.
Just then, horns sounded somewhere. The rushed out to the railing and looked down. An army was massed down there, and some of the men were on their way up. The town erupted in action, as families realized that the time had come. What packing up hadn’t been done was now done in haste, and the activity swirled around the three girls.
“I’d better get back home,” said Mereo. “They’re probably wondering.”
“Let’s meet at the statue one last time,” Mecora suggested. “That way your families can get together, too.”
“Okay. Good idea.”
Ueal went back inside, and the other two went to Mereo’s house. Most of the family was coming out, laden with as much as they could carry. Mereo’s mother looked relieved to see her daughter return. “I was about to go look for you in this mess! Come on, help me carry something.”
“Of course, Mom.”
“I hope they have wagons to ride in.”
“You mean, they might not?!” Mereo’s confident demeanor shattered. “Elf! There’s no way I could carry all my stuff and walk that far!”
“You never know. That’s a lot of wagons.”
“True.”
Mereo’s father came out, and closed the door. “Well, I suppose we’d better find out where we’re supposed to go.”
“Can we stop at the statue?” asked Mereo. “Mecora and I agreed to meet Ueal there, so we can all travel together.”
“I think we can do that. Come on, everyone.” They picked up their luggage and headed slowly in the direction of the statue. It wasn’t easy, maneuvering their heavy loads through a crowd equally laden. Along the way, they met three soldiers. “Come on, lities, let’s get moving on down, we don’t have all day,” they were saying. When they noticed the family, they got particularly pushy. “That way’s not down, lities! Come on, move!” They noticed Mecora, as well. One put a heavy hand on her shoulder. “I hope you don’t think you’re going with them.”
“No, just to the statue. We agreed to meet with another family to say goodbye,” explained Mecora. “Now quit harassing us.”
That got laughter out of the soldiers. “Well, we ain’t gonna be too nice to stragglers, so you’d better not straggle!” Then, they simply moved on.
Mecora breathed a deep sigh of relief, then caught herself. Wouldn’t it be better for her to go along? Then she could be with her two best friends!
They made it to the statue a little before Ueal’s family. It was a little disconcerting to Mecora to have to say their goodbyes with everyone else watching. She felt kinda foolish crying so hard, and making others cry. Even some of the little children were, even though they had absolutely no clue why they should be.
In the midst of one of many long hugs, more soldiers came by. “Hey, now, don’t take too long to say your goodbyes, lities! You don’t want to find out what we do with stragglers!”
Mecora was getting fed up with the soldiers. It seemed to her as if they hated those who were lighter than they. It made no sense— there had always been peace between the two races. Had that changed somehow, for some unknown reason, in the world beyond? It made the whole moving thing make a little more sense, if such a thing was possible. Mecora looked more closely at the soldiers, and saw that there wasn’t a light skinned Vle among them.
“Listen, mister! I will not have you treating my friends with anything less than respect! Now, get on with your duties elsewhere, and we’ll come along when they’re good and ready.”
The soldiers just chuckled at her. “Who’s we? You don’t think you’re going with them, do you? Come on,” they said, physically pushing Ueal’s father and Mereo’s mother. “It’s time to go.”
“Bye!” The goodbyes began anew, more and more hurried as the families got further and further into the crowd. And then, in the midst of a tide of Vle-kind, Mecora was left absolutely, utterly alone.
Slowly, the tide receeded, leaving only the soldiers, who began peeking in every nook and cranny, as if looking for criminals. Mecora watched this through bleary, unbelieving eyes. Finally, even the soldiers were going away.
She went to the railing to watch the retinue leave. There weren’t any wagons to ride in, but neither did everyone have to carry everything. Each family had a wagon to push, which the father of the family did in most cases, while others walked. Mecora wondered at what the world had come to, and just stood there, sobbing, looking at the stream pour away into the forest. Behind them, soldiers on horses carried whips, which they had so far not used. She couldn’t bear the thought of a whip on the backs of her friends, or even of their proud, strong fathers.
A heavy step sounded behind her. “Great to see them lities go, ain’t it?”
Mecora rounded on the soldier, who appeared less than ten years older than her. “What do you mean great?!”
“Come on, you can’t tell me you actually liked having them here.”
“Mister, I’ll have you know that two of my best friends are about to wear holes in their shoes, and that another of my friends died of drunkenness because of all this!”
“Best friends?! How can lities be best friends? They’re dirty, dumb, and inherently untrustable.”
Mecora slapped him so hard his eyes literally spun. He staggered, taking a step back, and gathered his wits enough to stay his hand. Then, he just stood there, confused. A moment passed before he stood up straight, straightened his uniform, and paced away with as much dignity as he could muster.
And once his footsteps faded, there were no more footsteps to be heard.