AS ANOTHER WEEK of lessons began Vetta's mind became full of thoughts of the purloined statuette. Was it still there, in the woods? She wanted to retrieve it and replace it where it belonged but to do so also meant she had to stray from the path.
There was a symbolism in this thought. Straying from the path meant all sorts of things. The way the woods were laid out seemed a challenge to an uncertain soul in search of guidance. Taking the wrong path had consequences. Neglecting to do the right thing served to confuse matters further. To add to this a great tragedy had occurred.
The Blue Hair Clan were gone.
Those boys had said it. Moved on by a stern and disapproving authority.
Why were they here? Why did that girl come into the school that night and steal a figurine only to leave it lying unclaimed in the woods, and then to disappear herself?
It created a blankness of comprehension in her mind that left her sat quietly in the first year form room in a corner by herself while other girls chattered and wandered about.
'You seem a little busy with your own thoughts,' Esper said, noting the blank stare and slight drool coming from the girl's mouth as she sat there clutching her bag as if waiting for a tram. The purple-eyed girl from the very strange land of Granite where rumours said dragons roamed amid the misty heights sat by her dorm mate to keep her company.
'Oh,' Vetta said, realising someone had spoken to her. 'I am sorry. My thoughts were nothing really,' she admitted in confusion.
'Well, the mind needs its rest periods as much as food for thought and stimulation. It is why we sleep and dream,' Esper said. 'Especially Dolly. She seems to need a lot of mind rest.' The girl from Nordeyer had soon become notorious for being physically hyperactive when awake which appeared to require a lot of heavy sleep at night to make up for it.
'My mind is always busy trying to understand this difficult place for I lack knowledge of all these new things I think,' Vetta responded and peered down at the contents of her clutch bag as if in search of intellectual stimulation.
Her mind was indeed busy and that evening as a golden twilight settled upon the beautiful hills around Mount Syzywyg, the Poldorama girl had resolved on pursuing matters further. After stowing away her ceramic puzzle from Widow Mint so she might consider that particular problem at greater leisure she still found she had had no opportunity for several days to investigate the purloined statuette. She began to fear the Clan must have taken it away by now, perhaps along with other things, including children, though there were no reports of missing youngsters on any news streams. Nor were there much on the travellers either, as if Frangea society was tired of their existence. Or, Vetta thought hopefully, it was all rumour and gossip. After all, it was visitors who spoke thus in such a prejudicial way. Perhaps the girl she had seen was simply mischievous. She seemed very young, as young as Vetta herself, and that sense of wanting to befriend her strengthened as it always did when she met someone new. Thus a desire to prove the blue-haired girl had only borrowed the figurine in fun urged Vetta to check if it still lay there, abandoned among the pine needles, waiting to be found and recovered safely.
'A walk!' she suddenly blurted out in the dormitory as the girls relaxed from their lessons and awaited the evening meal. 'Um, a solitary walk,' she clarified her intention on seeing Meresinth reach for a hat as if intending to join the pleasant Poldorama girl on her intended twilight amble. 'Need to sort something out in my very tired head,' she felt obliged to add. Vetta simply could not lie, it was not a part of her nature, so she adapted her explanations as best she could without resorting to falsehood.
With blushing cheeks she departed the main building in haste, crossed fields and gardens to the main boundary wall of the school where the usual friendly gatekeeper nodded a greeting. Security at Miss Plazenby's was minimal as there was generally few problems of the sort posed by the Blue Hair Clan or others. Following the intrusion of earlier little had changed, again reinforcing Vetta's belief the incident was of no significance beyond that of a prank.
She soon found the right path, remembering the great dark spruce near where she had seen the statuette. At this time of the evening it looked like the scariest of giant monsters towering over her but nonetheless she approached its shadowy bulk, wishing for Anthera's marvellous spectacles which no doubt enabled her to see in the dark. Perhaps the Meditia girl had already spotted the glint of metal among the pine needles and retrieved the thing some time ago for when Vetta scoured the area there was nothing to be seen. Disappointment seized her and she knelt down amid the dirt, defeated.
'You won't find it,' came a soft voice from behind a tree trunk and Vetta stood quickly.
'Who's there?'
'Someone who knows about that thing. It was my fingers that filched it and my fingers that returned it. Did you not notice it was back on its stand in that corridor, way up there in the grand building you live in?' came a chuckle. With that the speaker stepped out from behind the tree some distance from where Vetta trembled. In the misty light from the school grounds she could see long strands of blue hair tumbling over one shoulder. Otherwise the girl was near invisible in a dark costume that reflected no light.
'You came back?' Vetta said, stepping forward, wanting to see the girl better. As she approached, the other receded, making a backward progress up a slope away from the marked path. Fascinated by her presence Vetta did not notice where she was going and ran rapidly forward when she saw the girl had stopped in a clearing as if waiting for her.
Just as she reached her it was as if the world caved in and Vetta Mindal disappeared into a black pit so suddenly she seemed to vanish without trace.
'Oops,' the blue-haired girl was heard to say as she stood there, alone in the pinewood forest on the slopes of Mount Syzywyg.
