Choking Buds

6- Guarded by Paws

Marwa descended the stairs, pushing her mind to be optimistic. She had overslept again. Her feet tappered against the steps in the silence. The manor was really empty—there wasn't a sound, except for the faint trickling from the leaky roof. She stood at the base of the stairs for some time, gripping the cold metal handle.

Making her way to the lobby, she heard distant chatter—it was certainly the sound of children. Opening the main door, she blinked against the sun and took in the sight of twenty-something excited children in the front-yard. They were gathered around Amma, who was pouring milk into a dish. Two big puppies were huddled together before the dish with curious eyes and wagging tails. What were they doing here?

She looked at Elowen, who was holding back a few girls who insisted on touching the puppies.

"We're going to raise them," she said at Marwa's questioning look, "guard dogs."

Amma couldn't get the giddy girls to go inside, so she let them sit on the grass and watch–warning them that if they played with the puppies, they wouldn't get breakfast without a bath first. The water would be cold at this time.

Marwa followed her inside and asked if there was any clue about where Deepu could be. Amma pursed her lips, and Marwa could tell she was deciding how much to tell her. Her stomach sank. Was there something that bad?

"The shepherd woke up from his dog barking and saw men clambering past his house." She sighed. "There are a few rumours, but no one knows who they are."

"That's all we know?"

"Well, dear—two men have set out to search, following the hooveprints. But we won't know anything until they are back."

Marwa frowned. "What are the rumours saying?"

Amma gave her a stern look. She wasn't going to tell everything, Marwa thought. "I don't want you to worry about things we have little reason to believe. Pray for Deepu and the missing girls, and be careful. I'm saying it again, don't ever keep the windows unlocked at night—ever." She patted Marwa's shoulder and went to help Susan in the kitchen.

Marwa and Elowen talked about it over breakfast. Marwa wanted to find out what the "rumours". Elowen was wary of it—if Amma found out, she would be angry, of course.

"Eh," Marwa said "We'll be discreet. Let's find an excuse to go about in the village."

"Mar, she knows us well enough to guess what we're up to. Besides, you really think she'll let us outside so soon?"

Marwa conceded to that. There was nothing to do except wait.

They went to the shed and set to work. Though her hands were busy, her mind wandered aimlessly. If she wasn't thinking about Deepu, she was thinking about her brother.

"Ella! I didn't tell Amma about the letter."

"I did." She moved a lock of hair that kept invading her face. "She was shocked too, and that maybe..."

Marwa tilted her head. "Maybe?"

Elowen hesitated. "Maybe your family is alive and there was never an accident, that's what she said..."

Marwa sucked in a breath. She understood what Amma was thinking—that maybe her case was like most of the girls in the orphanage. They were abandoned by their families just for being born female. Because girls were unwanted—unlike boys who made wealth and brought "good luck". It was what the people thought; the birth of a girl was never celebrated.

Was she unwanted, too?

No. There really had been a carriage crash, it was a known truth in the village she was born in. Those who had travelled there had heard it and affirmed that a family had passed away in such a tragedy, around the same time Marwa was brought here.

"But there was a real carriage crash." Marwa pressed.

"Amma thinks that maybe you aren't the child who survived it. Maybe you're from a different family, and the lady who brought you was your mother but she couldn't tell the truth-"

"Stop." Marwa took a deep breath. One on hand, she wanted her parents to be alive—and on the other, she didn't want to be an unwelcome child.

Was that why the letter had come from her brother, with no mention of their parents?

She didn't want to be unloved, unwanted and looked down upon.

Nor was it what the other girls deserved. It was out of ignorance and false belief that society treated girls like that.

"Do you think she remembers how the lady looked?"

"Amma wasn't the caretaker then, remember? It was a nun."

"Oh, right." She bit her cheek. "What do you think?"

"Me?" Elowen gestured with her hands. "After Deepu was taken, I'm suspicious."

They set the rakes aside and made to wash their hands, when Elowen stopped and looked at her. "Amma had said we'll send a reply the next day, but you know—all this happened."

Marwa hummed in response. What would she write in the reply though?

"I am alive." Was all she that her quill inked. She stared at the parchment. What else was there to say? Her heart held so much, but she didn't want to risk it—in case it was something else, someone else pretending to be her lost family.

She couldn't fathom why anyone would do that, though.

But again, Deepu. Why would anyone take her, in a world where girls were unwelcome? The strangest part—she realised—is that they had done it with stealth. If they had wanted to adopt her, they could have done it openly.

There were few who cherished daughters, like the Imam—who only had sons, ironically. Among these few men of knowledge and understanding, were the ones who started the orphanage.

If not, many of the girls here would be under the soil.