to Nicholas, although she was not sure if he heard her.
“I am bringing the baby to Mother. Then I will send the men out to bring Eloise home. You guard her till they arrive.” She set off into the murky night.
Chapter 26
Meeting Number Sixty-four
Eloise looked at Daniel. He was watching Pascale as she walked away. His shoulders shook and he put his face into his hands, shaking his head gently from side to side. Eloise moved over to him and put her arm around his shoulders.
“Our baby, gone.” His tone was bleak. Eloise squeezed him to her.
“Yes. But Pascale is a good girl. She will make her a good mother.”
“Not as good as you. She needs her own mother. And her father, such as he was. A useless idiot who got bamboozled by wealth and lost everything as result.” Daniel turned to Jotin. “What will we do, Jotin? What can we do now?”
“We can leave here and go Home. Time passes differently there, everything will seem easier. Come.” Jotin and Trynor wrapped themselves around Eloise and Daniel and lifted them off the ground. There was a sensation of pulling, then of floating, the light grew brighter though still soft, then they landed without a bump on a beautiful lawn. The sky was like an upturned bowl, stretching pale above them. Eloise lay down on the grass on her stomach and watched the daisies that were blooming just in front of her. They were beautiful, perfect. She looked at Daniel. He too was beautiful, without any trace of the fire that had taken his life. The two guides were sitting nearby, watching. Time passed. Eloise did not know how long, but she did not care, it was enough simply to be here in this lovely space. Time enough later to explore, or meet old friends. She turned over onto her back and watched the sky. Small clouds drifted across it and like on earth they resembled animals. There was a rabbit, yes, its ears were growing, and there it had a tail, and look, its nose is twitching! Eloise laughed and sat up.
“Trynor, am I making the cloud into a rabbit?”
“Yes, of course. It can be whatever you like. It is for you to play with.”
Eloise lay back and made a cloud horse in the sky. Another one appeared beside it and she and Daniel raced their horses around and around as they shouted with laughter and happiness. They sat up and hugged.
“We made another mess of it, didn’t we?” Daniel’s tone was calmer this time. “Earth is a hard place, no matter how much practice you get.”
“What happened to Marie-Claire?” Eloise asked Trynor, “Did she grow up happily?”
“She was happy for as long as she lived. She can tell you herself now, look!”
Marie-Claire walked across the lawn. She glowed a soft yellow and had taken the shape of a young woman. Eloise ran to meet her.
“Oh, my child, you grew up to be so lovely.”
“No, Maman. I am this size now because it is awkward to be small. I lived to be just three.”
“Oh, Marie-Claire! I am so sorry. I should have protected you better. What happened?”
“I should have protected both of you,” said Daniel, as he joined them.
“Pascale was my Maman after you left. She was a good mother, milked the goat for me, mashed up her food for me, played with me. Loved me. Even after her own baby was born.”
“Little Pascale had a baby? Tell!”
“She married Nicholas. He said your sister would have to do, that he would take second best.”
“Poor Pascale! She married him, when he said that?”
“Yes, and it is working well. He has fallen in love with her. Actually, I think it will be better for them both now that I am not there. No reminders of you, or, worse in his eyes, of the wicked landowner who stole his girl. Their son is just a year old now, a sturdy little fellow. He did not get sick.”
“But you did? What was it?”
“Mohmi tells me it is called diphtheria. All I know is that I could not get my breath. It was terrifying. Such a relief when I came out of my body and didn’t need to breathe any more. But I watched Pascale cry and that hurt. She feels you are truly dead, now.”
Eloise sighed. She remembered the horror of losing her little brother, the fear, no, the knowledge that she would never see him again, then the awful length of the time