Papillion's Riddle

Tombstones

That night we slept below the stars, as no one was willing to offer me a bed to sleep in. Faith and Mrs. Monza got plenty of opitunities, but they turned them all down. I'd urged her to accept a place, at least for Faith. "We'll stick together, Poppy. Besides, Jack offered us a place to stay, for all of us and for as long as we need to." Jack's home turned out to be a small camp on the edge of the village.

At least Faith seemed happy. "We get to camp out?"

"Yes, darling." Mrs. Monza laughed at Faith's enthusiasm. "It's a real treat for her, you know." Seeing Faith so happy and well lifted some weight from my heart.

"Poppy! It's so good to see you again," Jack greeted me warmly, after embracing his sister-in-law. Then he handed all three of us a bowl of steaming brown liquid. "Eat it all. It will fill you up."

I took a small spoonful and poured some of the strange substance into my mouth. Embarrassingly, I wretched and coughed it up. It had scorched my toungue and lips with it's heat and heavy flavour. I was abashed to see Faith was devouring hers. "Sorry..."

Jack just laughed. "No worries. It's an aquired taste."

I inspected the contents, looking suspiciously at the strips of stringy meat and clumps of mushy vegetable. "What's in it?" I asked uncertainly.

"Some kind of salted bird meat and pickled gorde. It's delicious." Knowing what was in it did not make it any more apealing.

"That was good. Was the bird pidgeon?" Faith said when she finished licking out the bowl. I tried again, this time taking a smaller spoonful. I managed to keep it down this time, though the flavour hadn't improved. Jack was right - it was filling. By the end of the bowl I was stuffed, but at least the exotic flavours jad stopped turning my stomach to mush.

I went to sleep that night content, though tired. Even Faith seemed happy enough, despite the fact she was now homeless. Jack pointed out some of the constelations in the sky. The skull of a boar sat in the centre of the sky, his snout pointing west. There was a lady, her skirt flying in the wind. Another six stars formed the blade of a star warrior, who's story would appear in my dreams.

***

The embers of the fire still remained on the stone floor of the inn the next day. Jack came into town with us, to help clear the remenants away. "Usually when there's a fire the whole town comes to help out," Mrs. Monza complained. A few neighbours turned up, but mostly offered moral support rather than physical labour.

"I don't know, Catherine. Maybe they'll come later," Jack reassured her, though no one came. Despite the fact they all knew I was innocent, I felt like a had to work harder than the rest of them put together. Even if I hadn't done anything, it was still my fault Arlen burnt down the inn. I took no breaks, carried large loads and kept up a quick pace.

Jack left at midday, explaining that he had a job to do, and would be back as soon as he could. He returned just over an hour later, with a grim look on his face. "I just went to check how much it would take to rebuild."

"Oh yes?" Mrs. Monza said with all the enthusiam she could muster. "How much would it cost?"

"More than we have, sister."

"How much?"

"2000 birdies."

Mrs. Monza collapsed, falling down onto a half burnt beam. She buried her head in her hands and tears ran out between her fingers. I'd never seen her fall apart like this. I'd learnt that one birdy is more than most people are willing to pay out for anything. "Oh Jack..." she sobbed. "Oh sweet brother. What are we going to do? We don't have that kind of money, and we can't get a new place..."