I hung the doll around the infants neck and everyone clapped.
“For Norda Bantercross’s son, Manal, I have made a doll from most precious wood. He will be strong, like Mount Crownantler, tall and full of weather. His soul will run with the wild game, he will drink from cold rivers and be free. A compass is carved upon the doll, for all things will be measured by him.”
I hung the doll around the infants neck and everyone clapped. Norda held her child up high for all to see. There was gentle laughter.
I gestured and Mabe Willowknot and Vilsa Rainsayer came forward with their babies. Vilsa’s face was radiant with joy. In her eyes was so much trust and humility before my power that for a moment my heart smote me. I remembered then that she had been an obedient and respectful girl all her life. I remembered that she had come to my bed of mourning to oil and rub my feet, and that her tears had fallen on my ankles. Her own husband was gone, and though she refused to believe that he was dead, she knew how gray was my world. I remembered that she always agreed with me at meeting in the House of Women. Though the babies would choose the promise doll they wanted, I knew which one would get which. Knowing what would be leftover for Vilsa’s child Annakey, I had felt a secret gladness. Now, I felt sorry. I realized what a cruel thing it was, and I was sorry.
Even the children in the crowd were silent now. I held up the promise dolls for all to see, just within reach of the babes’ little hands and bright eyes. There was a gasp, as I thought there would be.
One of the promise dolls had a smile and hung true. The other promise doll hung crookedy, and on its small face was a frown.
Both mothers hesitated when they saw the frowning promise doll. Even Mabe, who hardly heard her child’s cries in her indifference, seemed unwilling to give her baby the fate such a promise doll would suggest.
I dangled the dolls before the babies. They smiled, cooed, and both reached out for the promise dolls. Both reached out for the frowning promise doll.
I was aghast. Both baby girls had grasped the frowning promise doll and were tugging at it. Renoa, being the lustier, snatched it away from Annakey and put the cord in her mouth. Annakey began to wail.
“She wants it,” the people around her said.
“Give her the other promise doll to comfort her.”
Unwillingly, I placed the smiling promise doll in Annakey’s hand. She threw it away and wailed even more loudly.
The crowd became noisy. Vilsa was silent and pale. I picked up the smiling promise doll and put it in Renoa’s hand. Greedily she grabbed onto it, and dropped the frowning doll. I put the frowning doll in Annakey’s hand, and instantly she was silent.
The outcry died down at the same time that Annakey’s cries were stilled.
“Well,” I said. I did not look atVilsa. God had decided. I placed the soggy, smiling promise doll around Renoa’s neck. “Renoa has a promise doll with the eyes of a Dollmage. She will see behind things and under things. Like Mount Lair, she will be wild and beautiful. Though Mount Lair is pathless, she will make paths.”
Everyone clapped and cheered. They gathered around Mabe and her child, almost forgetting that there was another child to be done. Small children began stealing eggs from the table. I held up my hand and the crowd settled a little. I placed the frowning promise doll around Annakey’s neck.
“This child’s doll, too, has the eyes of a Dollmage — slightly askant, so that she might see netherworlds and things meant to be. But this child will be like the valley that is not yet found.”
Vilsa looked at me with great eyes, her face open and vulnerable, willing still to trust me. But in my face she saw that I thought it was a bad omen, and she dropped her eyes. I saw her look into the sweet sleeping face of her baby.
No one clapped. A few murmured.There was a wind in the beeches, and a single black swan rose from the river thicket.
“What does the frown mean, Dollmage?” Vilsa asked low.
Now, I had obeyed God, but the truth was I did not know the meaning of the frown. Unwilling to appear ignorant before my people, I said, “She will be sad because she cannot be Dollmage.”
Vilsa was silent and still. Everyone stared at her, sorry for her but glad it had not happened to them. There were a few murmurs of sympathy, and a few people whispering all the reasons they thought Vilsa may have deserved what had happened. It is important to make people deserve what happens to them. If bad things can happen for no apparent reason, then bad things might happen to innocent us.
Vilsa then turned toward her fellow villagers, head held high, and did an unthinkable thing. Grasping her promise doll, she made a promise.
“I promise,” she said clearly, “that my child will be happy.”
The crowd fell utterly silent.
I was not sorry anymore. How dare she challenge my art! If I put a frown on her daughter’s doll, then frown she would.
“Fool!” I said to Vilsa before the whole village. “You make a promise for another’s life, and so it must come out of your own doll. If your daughter is happy, it will be because you are not.”
Vilsa bent her head and walked away.
My mother once told me that every tear I cause another to cry would be gathered by God, that one day he would boil the tears to their hottest point and drip them upon me one by one. When I was very young, I was cautious. As a youth, however, I knew that what she said was a lie, and I caused many tears to fall. In my old age, I know it is true. The single tear Vilsa shed as she walked proudly back to her house drips hot down my heart even now.
Chapter 3
Inscription on the Lore dolclass="underline"
The mother of our people was not in
the mountains two months, but ten.
And not with maids only; but men.
Now, we are a people born into many promises. We promise to keep our promises, and we promise not to lie. That is enough for one life. But there are other promises! We promise to be the best friend of one other person in the world, and to be on his or her side whenever there is a side to be on. That is why, my people, if you will not free Annakey’s hands, I command you as Dollmage to let Manal give water to his Annakey, his best friend. Put down your rock, Manal. No one will hurt her until I have done speaking. It is the law. No? You will not? To look at Areth, I see that once again you are wise. Furthermore, the villagers do not soften their gaze, even to remember Annakey as an infant. How can they forget their hate when all around them is the consequence of her broken promise? Since the beginning we have been warned: One broken promise can a people break. Now we see it is true. Though I tell the story with great wit and talent, it may be required of you both to die this day
But you, Dantu, and you, Tawm, I see you have thrown your rocks away. Do you have the courage to loosen the ropes at Annakey’s wrists? There. There. A little longer and she would have lost her hands. Why this comforts me, I do not know. What matters hands if she is dead?
Now, where was I? Oh, yes, our other promises. We promise to feed our child and care for it until it becomes independent enough to be ungrateful. We promise to be inoffensive to others, which means we keep our bodies washed, our yards kept, our children quiet, and our outhouses downhill. These alone are enough promises to fill a whole day, every day. But there is more. We promise to bring peace and safety to our people by living wisely, working hard, and helping our neighbors. We promise to care for our old folk and to be faithful to our mates.