Seventeen

Barque once again took the lead by himself, and this time Ember didn't bother trying to keep up. Instead, she stayed back with Baudry and Edeline and complained about him to them.
"He thinks I'm out to steal his secrets," she grumbled, "as if I need to, as if there's anything he can do to stop me. I know enough about him already, and anyway I don't work like that. It's not my nature."
"Maybe it's his," Baudry volunteered, "this whole act he's putting on. Maybe this is just his way of playing the game. He needs to feel pre-eminent."
Ember glanced up at him.
"You could be right." she emitted reluctantly. It was beginning to concern her that Baudry seemed to have insights she couldn't muster. Ember's way, she had to admit to herself, was not that different from Barque's, if what Baudry suggested were true. She had a sense of pre-eminence herself. A Savior had to feel invincible. She concentrated on the game in her mind as the group neared the lake. She saw they were collecting an audience vaguely surrounding them. Smackers were lining up as if they sensed a new ball was coming. Perhaps it was Edeline's attraction, she thought. That one Smacker had spread word about her and others were coming to witness first-hand. Ember hadn't failed to notice that Barque was now deliberately ignoring the new blood. He was playing hard to get now, she snorted. That wasn't going to work either, she was sure. Edeline was coming along nicely, adapting to her new situation. Looking at her now, Ember might not have guessed it was only the woman's third day. She carried herself with a sort of ease that gave the impression she'd been there a while.
Edeline herself was feeling quite cheerful. The air about the place was invigorating and the smell of the lake was drawing her in. They were descending into its valley now, and the walking was easy as the cover thinned out even more. She could see clearly above the low bushes and the water itself was sparkling and gleaming in the partly sunny sky. Beyond the lake rose a series of hills, each one darker than the other before it, enhancing a sense of vastness and eternity. Edeline breathed in deeply and smiled. Somehow the place seemed familiar, like a favorite resort she used to visit as a child. She knew that she had no such memory. She'd grown up in a city and the most she had ever experienced of the greater wild world was an occasional trip to the zoo. She'd never even been camping before.
"There," Baudry said, pointing down toward something.
"The Map Makers?" Ember asked hopefully. She hopped up on to her tiptoes to see whatever it was he was signaling.
"Gowdy," he said, and described the hut by the lake.
"We could start there," he advised, and Ember agreed. Moments later they caught up with Barque, who was waiting for them to arrive.
"I didn't see anyone," he informed them. Baudry told him their plan and Barque shrugged.
"Might as well," he muttered.
Soon they arrived and weren't surprised that Bumbarta seemed to expect them. They assumed he had heard them coming just then and he didn't let on he'd been waiting all day. He invited them in after brief introductions, and soon they were sitting inside, sipping sassafras tea from hollowed-out bowls and admiring his cozy confines.
"You've done a nice job with this place," Baudry said. The hut - it was more of a bungalow, was actually airtight if you didn't consider the doorway, which was wide open into a sort of long hall. You wound around it to enter the living space, which gave a sense of enclosure. The whole house itself was nearly completely circular, like a nautilus shell with a fire pit right in the middle. A peaked roof opened up just enough for the smoke to escape. The interior walls were made up of ferns and bamboo, and the roofing was composed of layers and layers of banana leaves.
"It's never quite finished," Bumbarta said modestly, "I just keep adding and adding."
"Impressive," Barque noted. He was especially interested in what looked like cages built into the walls.
"You have pets?"
"Sometime guests," Bumbarta explained, gesturing with palms open that whatever creatures those units might house were all welcome to come and go as they pleased. Barque might have inquired further, and possibly learned about certain birds Bumbarta had trained in the hope they might lead to an exit. He had sent the birds out and some hadn't returned. He liked to believe at least one had found a way out of the forest, and would come back someday and show him how. Barque did want to ask some more questions, but Ember took over and got down to business.
"We're looking for the Map Makers," she told him. "Have you seen them?"
"The sisters? Yes," he replied.
"Where?" she asked anxiously. "Where can we find them?"
"Ah, they've gone on," he shook his head sadly. "Just a few days a go. They were here, but discovered they weren't required. The lake is already named."
"We all call it 'the lake'", Baudry said, but Bumbarta didn't respond.
"Where did they go? Did they say?" Ember wanted to know, and Bumbarta laughed and replied,
"Oh they mentioned some names. You know how they are. They go around making up names that no one will use, so nobody knows what they're talking about. Some day, they hope, at least some of the names will stick. I hear they've made up a stick figure replica of the forest where they've scratched out their names in the dirt. It's supposed to be quite a good show so I'm told."
"So you don't know where they've gone?" Ember was disappointed.
"I'm afraid not," Bumbarta informed her, then added, "may I ask why, if it isn't too rude? I don't mean to pry," he said, but of course, he did. It was Baudry who told him.
"We've been told to find a certain place," he said. "A remarkable place, but that's all we know. We were hoping it might ring a bell with the Map Makers. Maybe they've heard of a place called just that."
"A remarkable place?" Bumbarta echoed. He was surprised. He'd thought that Squee had gotten it wrong. It didn't make sense, a remarkable place. Why, the entire forest was remarkable, when you came to think about it, not that 'remarkable' was any big deal. The word didn't mean 'good' or 'bad', only something you might make a comment about. To his mind, anyway, that's what it meant. Bumbarta had a literal brain. Words were what they were and that's all.
"It could mean anything," he blurted out loud, then gathered himself.
"You said you were told to," he wondered. "Who told you? Again, if it isn't too much. I'd just like to know. I like to know things."
"I read all your books," Baudry said to Bumbarta's surprise. "I liked them a lot."
He turned to the others to explain.
"Gowdy was famous, you know. His books sold all over the world. He had a detective, what was his name? Forthright, I think. Yes, Inspective Forthright. All very good."
"Why, thanks," Bumbarta said, blushing. "It's been quite a while. Quite a while." He looked around the room, apparently nervous.
"I don't think up stories these days," he admitted.
"They say that you still like to hear them," said Baudry. Bumbarta studied him closely, as if trying to gauge how much this man knew, and wondering who were this 'they' he was talking about. He was curious what people said about him. What did they know? What did they think?
"We met one of your Watchers just now," Barque put in. "A little one. Soma, I think, was her name."
"Ah, little Soma," Bumbarta relaxed. If she was the 'they' then he didn't need to worry. He had faith in what she would say. "Yes, it's true. I like to hear stories. The little ones bring them to me. They go into the forest and tell me whatever they see. The mind of a child, you know, is always full of surprises."
Ember cleared her throat.
"Some children are younger than others," she clarified.
"Yes, yes, of course," Bumbarta said smoothly. "But I wonder, again, if you could tell me who told you about this remarkable place?"
"The Hidden One," Edeline spoke, but wished that she hadn't when she felt Ember's glance fall hotly upon her. Was it a secret? Were they not supposed to tell? If so, why hadn't they told her.
"The Hidden One?" Bumbarta was shocked and blinked in surprise. "There is such a thing after all? And it spoke? It spoke to you all?"
Baudry took over, to Edeline's relief, and related the entire story of their journey so far despite, or perhaps in spite of, Ember's furious frowns and grimaces. Baudry left out only one fact; Ember's relationship to The Hidden One, and for this, at least, she was grateful. Bumbarta had many questions. What was The Hidden One after? What was this process it hoped would begin? What was the outcome expected? But they couldn't give him the answers. Did they not know themselves, he wondered, or were they just being coy? Were they keeping things from him? Was there some kind of reward in the end? Could it mean, could it be, could it possibly lead to the way? Bumbarta was burning to know. He felt himself growing hotter inside, but he kept himself looking calm, looking old, looking peaceful. His guests couldn't know of his seething within. He didn't want them to know, didn't want it to show. One thing was certain. He'd be following them close. He'd want to find out everything. The Hidden One was said to have been the first of them all. Maybe it knew a way out. This was his only concern, the question that burned in him, day after day – how to get out, and get his revenge.
Ember was growing restless. This old man was useless. He didn't know anything, not even where the Map Makers went. They were wasting their time, and why were they chattering away anyway? Who told Baudry and Edeline that this was all right. No wonder they had such lowly positions! Such as them could never be Saviors. You don't just give things away. Ember didn't trust this old man. She thought he had something to hide. What were those cages exactly? Why was she stuck with these idiots?
"Calm yourself," she thought. "Calm yourself down. Nothing is gained but nothing is lost. We could tell the whole world about the remarkable place and it wouldn't even make any difference."
"We should be going," is what she said, loudly.
"We thank you for your courtesy," she said to Bumbarta as she stood up and bowed. The others stood too, including their host.
"I would very much like to know how it goes," he said. "It's an interesting story."
"We'd like to know too," Baudry laughed. "Right now it seems to go nowhere."
"There must have been something The Hidden One said," Bumbarta suggested, fishing for more information. "Some sort of hint, some kind of clue."
"We've told you all that we know," Baudry shrugged. "If you picked up a clue from all that, let us know."
"I'm afraid not," Bumbarta shook his head, following his guests as they wound their way out toward the door. "Except, maybe this."
They all stopped at his words and turned towards him.
"From what you have said," he spoke slowly, "I got the impression The Hidden One thought you would know it, whatever it is, when you see it. Just keep going. It's my only suggestion."
"Maybe you're right," Ember shrugged. That was no help, is what she was thinking.