Chapter 40: Lost and Found

“I’m not going to the nursery! I’m not a baby!”

“Of course you are not—and it is because I know how grown up you are that I have decided you have earned the right to help take care of the little children.”

With that ruse, Herrwn managed to coax Caelym, who was still jumping and skipping like a skittish colt, to come along with him to the nursery, only to find the room was dim, the hearth dead, and the little girls’ nurse nowhere to be seen.

Gwenydd was lining up a family of dolls—each one dressed in layers of clothes as if it were the dead of winter. The twins sat on a small bench, holding hands and talking together in something that sounded like a foreign language. Arianna was looking out the window. Herrwn guessed Cyri would be in the nursery’s garden but saw no sign of her when he went to the door.

None of the children seemed to notice Herrwn or Caelym until Herrwn asked, “Where is your nurse?”

At that, Arianna swirled around, her arms crossed and her chin stuck out, and, stamping her foot, she declared, “I told her to go away! She’s stupid! She didn’t bring our breakfast, and she wouldn’t stop crying about Rhedwyn! And he’s not her father, he’s my father, and I told her so, and I told her to shut up, and I hate her, and I never want her to come back ever again!”

There was enough fierce determination and authority in Arianna’s shrill voice that it was quite believable that the five-year-old could command their servant to be gone—in fact, it took Herrwn some willpower of his own to keep from backing up as he said, “I see. And where is Cyri?”

“I don’t care! She’s stupid too! I told her I wanted her to play with me, but she just wanted her stupid mother!”

With that, Arianna stamped again, swirled back around, folded her arms on the window ledge, put her head down, and began to cry.

Caelym looked from Arianna to Herrwn and back again. Then, in an unexpected yet deeply touching move, he went to the sobbing girl and stroked her hair, saying, “It’s all right. I’ll play with you.”

Turning to the other children, Herrwn asked again, “Where is Cyri?”

The twins spoke up first, their identical voices blending in unison as they said, earnestly and unintelligibly, something that sounded to Herrwn like, “Ulgo, meger’n ergabel náerwa spreg togû!”

At that, Gwenydd looked up from her play and said in the patient, soothing tone she’d been using to talk to her dolls, “Cyri went to find her mother.”

The twins both nodded vigorously and added, “Éy spreg togû, nego hwp!”

Betraying none of his inner dismay, Herrwn murmured, “Well then, Caelym, will you please stay here and play with Arianna while I find the nurse—”

The door behind him swung open.

“I told you to go away and never come back!” shrieked Arianna, now stamping both feet and hitting herself in the face with her fists.

The tearful nurse, encumbered with a loaded tray, stepped back and cowered behind Rhonnon, who surveyed the room before asking, “Where is Cyri?”

Pandemonium ensued. The twins jumped up from their bench, yelling, “Éy spreg togû, nego hwp-hwp! Éy spreg togû, nego hwp-hwp!” The nurse sobbed, “She was here when I left! They all were!” Arianna shifted from shrieking at the nurse to shouting at Caelym that he had to play with her, while Gwenydd put her finger to her lips and told her dolls to talk quietly.

As Herrwn was trying to make himself heard above the uproar to explain to Rhonnon what Gwenydd had said about Cyri going to find her mother, he felt Caelym tugging at his arm.

“I will attend to you in a moment, but first you must allow me to speak with Rho—”

Dropping Herrwn’s sleeve, Caelym pointed in the direction of the hall, shouted, “Éy spreg togû, nego hwp!” and dashed out the door, nearly knocking Rhonnon off her feet.

“Caelym, stop!”

Herrwn managed a brief, apologetic bow to the nonplussed midwife before calling “Stop!” again and running after Caelym.

Caelym waved Belodden a cheerful salute, calling, “Éy spreg togû, nego hwp-hwp!” as he ran past her, and was halfway across the courtyard before Herrwn could shout for her to stop him. Sprinting past Belodden himself, he was just in time to see Caelym take the turn to the shrine’s side gate.

“Stop! Where are you going?” he called, only to have Caelym look back and yell, “Éy spreg togû!” without slowing his pace.

Herrwn raced after him, through the gate and along the trail, until he reached the fork where it split in three directions, sending one branch off toward the lakeshore, one up the hillside into the high meadows, and one on to the gate at the crest of the north ridge.

The reasonable thing to do was to turn back and get help, but that would mean facing Olyrrwd and telling him Caelym was lost again. So Herrwn stood still, closed his eyes, and quieted his mind. If he were Caelym, which way would he go?

The answer to that came as a question—“Not where did he go, why did he go?”

To find Cyri!

Herrwn opened his eyes and chose the middle path that led to the meadow where he’d watched Annwr singing and dancing with Cyri and the other little girls, somehow certain that he’d find Caelym and Cyri there.

The meadow was empty.

“Caelym! Cyri!” He called their names as loudly as he could and listened for some reply.

At first, he could hear nothing but the wind in the trees overhead, the chattering birds, and the babble of water from some nearby stream. Then came a rustle in the bushes and a child’s piping voice, asking, “Can I keep it?”

It was Cyri’s voice, and Caelym’s answered, “You have to take good care of it and give it sheep’s milk to drink until it’s old enough to eat grass.”

The two children popped out of the brush behind Herrwn as if they just appeared out of a hole in the ground. Caelym, who had his arm around Cyri’s shoulders, continued, “—you can call it Hwppiddan if it’s a boy and Hwppiddena if it’s a girl.” Cyri, who was cradling a fuzzy ball of brown fur, lifted her face to ask, “How can I tell?”

As Caelym was giving a detailed anatomical explanation, Herrwn gave silent thanks to whatever spirits had seen to the children’s safe return. Once the little creature was turned right side up again, he herded the two children back to the shrine, past the glowering Belodden and down the hall to the nursery where Rhonnon had restored order. The hearth was relit, the nurse was at her post, and the breakfast was set, including a place for Caelym. There was a minor skirmish between Arianna and Cyri over possession of the baby hare, but that was resolved when Caelym, showing diplomatic skills beyond anything Herrwn had seen in him before, promised first Arianna and then the rest of the girls that he’d get bunnies for them too.