The Silver Falcon

Part 10

I shook hands with Riza, who solemnly thanked me for my service, though I'd done nothing more than sit in a room. She told me the next train would leave at sunset, headed the opposite direction. If I didn't want to stay in the town overnight, I needed to be on it. Together we walked from the front of the train to where the doors would open and let people off at the end of the line.

"Thank you, again, Abeer. It was nice to meet you."

"It's no problem, Riza. Happy to have helped." I turned back to the doors, the anxiety already rising in me. I thought Riza would leave, but again she surprised me.

"Good-luck Abeer. I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for." It was my turn to be surprised, as I turned and saw her half-smile as she disappeared into the crowd.

"Thanks," I whispered back, though she was already gone.

Then I stood before the train doors, hands sweaty as I clenched the suitcase. I felt sick, and at the same time burning up with energy. I wanted the train to move faster, or the doors to just open now, so I could jump out and run towards the town. I smiled. Even though I was older and faster now, I knew I couldn't outrun this train.

"Are you a tourist?" A stewardess smiled kindly at me.

"No. This was my home," I said somewhat distractedly. The buildings were beginning to rise up, and I realized that the village had grown into a small city while I was away. The dirt roads were paved now. The foot traffic had grown to horses, bicycles, rickshaws and cars. I felt a sudden nervousness grow in me; what if I couldn't find my way?

Then I thought of Niam's mischievous smile. She had grown, but the memories would guide me home.

"Well, welcome home then," she said as the train smoothly pulled into the station and the doors slid open.

"Thanks," I said, and took off.

I pushed my way to the front of the crowd, and then took off down the main road.

"WATCH OUT!"

I jumped sideways, heart racing, as a car sped by me, honking angrily as it did. A few passersby gave me strange looks, and this time I let myself be swept into the flow of people. My heart beat hard in my chest, my fingers trembled. Breathe, just breathe. I tried to bury the rising panic and force myself to think rationally. Niam hadn't told me when she was getting married, only that she was. She might not even be getting married soon. Who knows how long it had taken her letter to reach me? But the thought wasn't reassuring. Even though I had left immediately, even though I had dropped everything, what if it wasn't enough? What if I was too late— again?

I strode down the street, weaving between crowds that refused to respond to my haste. The small huts I'd been raised in were gone, replaced by shops and buildings. The scents of sweat and petrol and animals and spicy food rose up all around. I continued to push forward.

Though I might have fared better on one of the side roads, I didn't want to leave the main road, even though it was packed full of people and activity. It was still early evening, the heat of day finally gone, and all around people talked and ate and shopped. The further I went, the less I recognized, and the more I let the flow of traffic and people carry me forward like a tide sweeping out a single piece of timber.

Everything had changed.

The dusty village I remembered was now a thriving city.

I finally realized how stupid it was to think I might just stumble across Niam.

I began to search for anything I could use as a compass, or a point of reference to ground myself. Buildings had grown where once there was only grass. Yet, I pushed onward, until I found what I thought was the dirt road to where Niam's family had once lived. I ran, the hope rising in me, then turned the corner-

A brick building stood in the spot.

No.

I pivoted, and then spun again. No, this wasn't right... was it? I forced myself to put my hands on my knees and breathe. Think Abeer, think! Then I turned and looked over the bustling city that had once been only a small village. What still remained? Then I saw it, rising up through the buildings. The old banyan tree. How many times had Niam and I climbed in its limbs?

I traced my steps back to the old tree. It felt like the center of a hurricane, the people and business parting around it, older than this town or any of the people in it. It was the keeper of a different time, the protector of secrets as old as the earth. I crouched and began to search the trunk of the tree, using my hands to measure down from the strangely shaped branch. At first I thought it was gone, that this was the wrong tree, but then, much lower than I would have guessed, I found it.

N + A . Niam and Abeer.

We had carved our names here as children. Of course she had insisted her name go first, but I had agreed, thrilled that she would put them together at all. I hadn't told anyone about it, but it was still there.

Slowly I stood. I let the scents and sounds, the lifeblood of the city, all fall away. Certainty pulsed through me.

She was here somewhere. She had to be.

And I was going to find her.