Chapter 493: An emptying town

Victoria helped pack everything as compactly as she could. The tent was entirely empty now, a hollow shell of what it had been.

She recalled the first day. Everything was clean and crisp and prepared to be a makeshift hospital for an ailing town. It had been hopeful then.

So many had died. She hadn't the heart to look at the final count they had kept. She wasn't sure that everyone had been accounted for, at that. Maybe, in the end, after the fog, someone had gone around door to door to find any last stragglers.

With a deep breath, she closed the last crate and gestured to the soldiers to put it with the rest, on the military wagon.

They were trying to be subtle about their evacuation, but still move as quickly as possible. She walked out of the tent, her eyes drifting to the mountain trail that the people of Klain had walked what seemed like ages ago.

In reality, it had been only a matter of weeks.

She hadn't bothered to look in a mirror in so long, but perhaps she should before embarking on yet another leg on what was becoming an endless string of journeys.

Behind her, the soldiers began to make quick work of tearing down and packing the massive tent. It was only a matter of minutes before it was rolled up and put in its designated place. There was a brief hiccup when the soldiers were waiting for one corner to come down, when they realized the man who had always done so had died in the plague.

Wordlessly, another stepped into the place, but the mood was somber.

The townspeople were already gathered with their wagons and small herds of animals. Everything from the town that could be quickly salvaged and easily brought along was there, making for a much less robust but no less chaotic caravan than the one Victoria had watched pass by when Klain was evacuated.

Seeing Naomi corralling a small horde of children, she smiled and went over to help. Though still a recruit in rank, no one really ordered Victoria around. She wasn't sure if it was because she was a woman, or because she was a nurse, or because she was more of a hindrance than a help in many of the physical-labor-related tasks, but she wasn't going to complain about it.

"Need some help?" She asked as she approached.

"Yes, please," Naomi smiled apologetically. "Could you hold Owen for me while I try to get the others settled?"

Victoria eagerly held out her arms for the toddler, who frowned at her with an almost comical expression of grumpiness.

"Hello, Owen, and how are you today?" She asked the little boy.

"No." He said defiantly, causing her to laugh.

"No, you're not today?" Victoria giggled at him.

"Want Mama." He said, and her smile vanished.

"Oh, sweet boy," She tried to cuddle him close, but he squirmed.

"MAMA!" He yelled, and Victoria looked towards Naomi. Had the boy taken to calling her that, and wanted Naomi to hold him, or was he screaming for his dead parent? Her heart ached.

"Why don't you play with me for a moment?" She coaxed, but he remained steadfast.

"MAMA MAMA!" He cried, thrashing in her arms until she couldn't hold him anymore. She set him on his feet and his little two year old legs took off running.

"Oh, Naomi!" Victoria cried, "Sorry! I'll get him!"

She ran after the child, who was far faster and more agile than a child his age had the right to be.

"MAMA!" He cried again, throwing himself on the legs of a woman in the crowd.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. Victoria tried to pry the tyke away, and Naomi came up behind her, helping to dislodge the little boy.

"Owen, don't run from us, please," She chastised, "We can't make sure you are safe if you go away."

"MAMA!" Owen cried defiantly.

"She's gone, sweetheart," Naomi reminded the boy. "I know it is hard to remember that."

"MAMA DRESS!" He pointed at the stranger. "MAMA HAT!"

Victoria blinked in confusion, and looked at the woman he had clung to in the crowd. She wore a greenish dress with brown pockets, and her head was wrapped in a scarf that covered most of her face as well.

Naomi paused, trying to calm the child.

"I'm so sorry," She apologized. "He lost his mother in the plague."

"No apology needed," The woman's green eyes darted away. She must have been uncomfortable with the child's mistake of identity.

"What's this, what's this?" An older woman leaned over from her wagon seat. "I say, that is very similar to Havah's favorite dress. No wonder the child mistook you… I thought she made her own clothes though. Those pockets of a different color were unique."

"I also make my own clothes," The stranger said quickly. "I learned from my grandmother… perhaps this Havah and I shared an ancestor that came up with the idea before my family moved to an outlying village."

"You think you're a relative of the boy?" The old woman looked down her nose. "And no children of your own? You ought to take the little orphan. It's kin's job, and this poor foreigner has plenty already."

"Oh!" Naomi cried, taken aback by the suggestion, "I… if it's what will be best, of course he should be raised by family, but it's no burden to me at all to keep all the children!"

Victoria saw Naomi's eyes welling up and decided to intervene. "We don't have to decide right now, of course. Umm…" She paused to address the stranger.

"Angela," The woman seemed reluctant to give her name.

"Angela," Victoria repeated with a firm nod, "Perhaps you would like to spend some time with little Owen while we travel, and see if he might be a good fit in your family… if you're thinking you might want to take him in, that is? It is a big decision that shouldn't be rushed, of course."

"I will speak with my husband and think on it. I must go now," Angela turned and rushed away while Owen squirmed. Hearing the wrong voice must have discouraged him from his insistence that the woman was his mother.

"How strange," Naomi remarked at Angela's retreating form. "She wore her scarf in the Rhone style, covering the face. I wonder why a woman local to this area would adopt such a habit."

"Many townspeople thought covering their noses would keep the plague from infecting them," Victoria offered. "Maybe that was the purpose behind having her face under the scarf."

"Perhaps, but something is strange." Naomi frowned. "I hope… that is, I shouldn't say such things. Selfishly, I want to keep Owen for myself. My emotions are making me see danger and strangeness where there is none. Should Angela and her husband decide they want to take in Owen as their own, of course they have that right."

"You don't even know if they're really kin," Victoria pointed out. "It wouldn't hurt to look into things a little more."

"I suppose that's true," Naomi nodded. "I just don't want my feelings to get in the way of the best future for each of the children. I love them all so much already. My heart feels it might burst from it all."

Victoria smiled kindly at the older woman. "I'm sorry for the circumstances leading up to all of this, but I'm very thankful that the children have someone as loving as you to look after them now."

"That means so much, Victoria, thank you." Naomi smiled.

"Of course. I want every happiness for you, and your very unusually large family," Victoria teased.

"If Caspian would let me, I would take in hundreds and love them all," Naomi admitted sheepishly. "But fortunately, he is practical enough to limit me to the number we can feed and take care of."

"Very wise," Victoria nodded with a grin.

"Who is?" Gabriel approached the pair from where the caravan was lining up, ready and waiting to leave.

"Caspian, for limiting the number of children I take in to less than a few hundred," Naomi smiled.

"Only that many?" Gabriel frowned. "I'm surprised. Should I have a talk with him about it?"

The ladies laughed good naturedly, and Naomi took Owen back to the wagon where the orphans, now her children, would ride on for the journey up into the mountains. Victoria hoped there would be enough clothes to keep them warm for the trip.

"It's strange to laugh, after the sorrow that's been here," Victoria cast her eyes over the nearly-abandoned town.

"Yes," Gabriel agreed. "It is. And there may be more sorrow, but there will also be more laughter, as long as we face it all together."

Victoria nodded absently, not really sure if the 'we' he was referring to meant the two of them, or humans as a whole.

She wasn't brave enough to ask.