THERE ARE NO strangers.
Truancy Mundane mulled over these words. They seemed to mean something beyond the bald statement. It was on the face of it a stark challenge to all she had experienced in her life thus far. Wherever the Blue Hair Clan went they were strangers indeed to the folk among whom they found themselves. It had always been thus.
It was that girl who said it while wandering in a park. One of the elite girls from Mount Syzywyg, yet she seemed at ease with shedding such an exclusive persona in a way that astonished her. Truancy had been engaged by a Minder eager to seek out ways to influence troubled minds so that she could cure them expensively as was her calling. Miss Tree she named herself and had managed to engage the attentions of the blue-haired girl by pledging a boon to the Clan. Truancy seemed an ideal candidate to undertake her chosen task, simply wanting the mischievous girl who blended so well into the environment to seek out by secretive ways those troubled souls with peculiarly intense yearnings. Truancy quickly found such creatures too numerous to count for everyone seemed in need of something. Except this timid little character who spouted such odd things about joy this and joy that.
Thus, instead of seeking restless folk she found herself passing through a crowded and busy Orangey Park without a soul being aware she was there, following the girl and another who prided herself on being ever at odds with her. The two seemed chosen by some higher power to test each other regarding their individual perspectives of the world.
It had been rather too fascinating and Truancy lingered over long listening to the strange banter so that a mongrel attracted also by the ever-friendly girl had somehow sensed her presence and fled in alarm.
Truancy managed to recognise the girl as the same one who saw her take the figurine and who spotted it in the woods where it was expected to be found. It had been a gesture, a foolhardy game and Truancy wanted to be spotted too on that occasion, just to see what might happen. The inhabitants of the mountain would be perplexed when the stolen item of notable value was simply left for anyone to rediscover and replace. Yet the girl had seen it and left it unclaimed as if reluctant to right a wrong for fear of creating another.
Such a perplexing creature.
Suddenly Truancy Mundane was seized with a yearning of her own, to speak to this girl, ask her about why she did the things she did, for she seemed a character who appeared not to want for anything. Anything for herself that is. She simply did not yearn. Such contentedness was a delight to witness and perhaps there was significance in her frame of mind which might help the Blue Hair Clan find its own peace of mind. They were a wandering folk but tired and weary withall. She realised also with detached humour such a creature could bankrupt Minders across the land of Frangea if her temperament were once shaped into therapy.
Before attempting to speak to the girl, Truancy knew she must now return the statuette, for of course she did not steal. Then another thought occurred to her. Something else it was about the curious little creature.
She might not yearn for things to help herself but she seemed of a mind to right wrongs as she saw them. She would perhaps feel better within herself by ensuring the statuette was returned to its rightful place. It would be a gesture of friendship, a way to let her know no harm had been intended.
Thus she replaced it in the woods again, only making sure it was hidden from such sharp-eyed individuals as that bespectacled girl whose laser vision almost pierced her own anonymity at times.
Then she waited. Long and weary periods of waiting they were, for the girl did not come and the figurine remained unclaimed, even by squirrels.
During all this time Truancy could easily have returned the thing to its pedestal for after some careful observation she soon found the trick of getting into Miss Plazenby's unobserved, in spite of some close calls from the odd pupils who studied there. Thus to ease her frustration she trespassed into the hallowed realms of knowledge.