Mary's Path

The tense atmosphere in the room made everyone a little uncomfortable. But soon Zerden’s father took out a board with small red and black pebbles on it. Zerden’s mother cleared the pear pie away and Zerden turned to Mary.

“Do you want to play Kai?” he asked.

“Kai? “I’ve never played it,” Mary replied. Zerden looked at her wide-eyed.

“You have never played Kai?” he said in disbelief.

“No,” she said.

“If you and your father play, Mary can watch. She’ll get the hang of it soon,” his mother said.

The castellan was stood up and took a seat on the chair opposite Zerden. Zerden’s mother held out the chair that the castellan had just left and signed for Mary to sit there to see better.

Mary hesitated, she was still a little afraid of the castellan and she didn’t want to offend him. But it seemed that Zerden’s mother would insist, so Mary got up and sat nervously on the drawn-out chair. She kept a nervous eye on the castellan all the time, but his concentration was directed at the wooden board.

Mary relaxed a little and looked down at the board. There was a large square with small pits in it. Mary watched with interest how Zerden and his father began to play.

Zerden had the red stones and his father the black ones. After a while, Mary thought she had understood the basics. You had to move your stone one step in any direction where there was an empty pit. You could jump over your own stones if you wanted and could then move several pits at a time. By surrounding an opponent’s stone so that it could not make any more moves, you could remove it.

It seemed that the goal was to remove all the opponent’s stones. Zerden removed a lot of his father’s stones at first but soon Mary saw that the game was turning and that Zerden was starting to get in trouble.

After a while, he had only one stone left and confessed to being beaten. The stones were placed in their starting position, and the game began over.

Mary was fascinated and looked focused on as they played. She began to see patterns in how they moved their stones. By the time Zerden and his father had played four rounds, Zerden hadn’t won a single game.

Mary had discovered that the two players had completely different tactics. Zerden was more aggressive and tried to protect all his stones, the castellan was more passive and sacrificed a stone from time to time in order to place another stone in a better position.

No one was talking, nothing interfered with the concentration around the game board. Mary looked up as Zerden lost for the fifth time to see what Zerden’s mother was doing.

She had had time to wash the dishes and clean up after dinner and was now sitting in front of the fire, mending a pair of socks. She seemed to feel that Mary was looking at her because she looked up from her sock and smiled at her. Mary smiled back and then turned to the board where the stones were again in starting position.

“Mary, can you take my place? I’ve got a couple of things I need to get in order,” the castellan said. Mary looked at him wide-eyed and then nodded. He stood up from the table and Mary sat in his seat, Zerden smiled at her.

“Do you know what to do?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied, frowning as she concentrated.

The game was harder than she had thought, it was difficult to get an overview and see what happened to all the stones.

When she concentrated on part of the board and thought she was starting to circle one of Zerden’s stones, she forgot what was happening on the other side of the board and soon she had only one stone left.

Zerden seemed pleased to have finally won a game and smiled big as they placed the stones on the board again. Mary tried again and this time it went a little better. She managed to take five of Zerden’s stones before all of hers were off the board.

“Zerden put the board away, it’s getting late,” his mother said suddenly. Zerden obeyed, albeit reluctantly. Mary shared his feelings, she had really enjoyed playing Kai with him.

“You better follow Mary home, it’s not so easy to find the way in the castle,” said the castellan.

“Yes father” Zerden said, walking out into the hall. Mary went up to Zerden’s mother.

“Thank you so much for letting me come here tonight. I had a very nice evening” she said.

“The same my friend,” Zerden’s mother said, smiling at her. “I hope you come and visit us again soon.”

Mary smiled at her and walked towards the hall where Zerden was waiting. As she walked past the castellan, she curtsied just out of habit.

---

As the children closed the door behind them Anna turned towards her husband.

“What a lovely girl” she said, and he hummed in response. “But such a tragic story. Did you know her parents were dead?”

“No dear, I was there when the Lady asked the king to look after an orphaned girl, but I didn’t make the connection it was the same girl. I don’t think this was what the Lady had in mind for the girl when she left her in his majesties protection” he said with a frown.

“Of course it wasn’t” Anna said. “If she cared enough for Marry to make arrangement with the king, she wouldn’t have wanted her to work in the kitchen. Can you do something about it?”

“No, not my jurisdiction I’m afraid my dear.” he answered.

“The way that child blamed herself for her parent’s death, I just feel so bad for her.” Anna said, feeling how she teared up.

“I know, it’s horrible what the sickness is doing to our city. All the life that is effecting” the castellan said, standing to pull his wife in ta an embrace to comfort her. Anna leaned against him.

“If we can’t help her, we need to keep an eye on her. We can’t let her be al alone. She is too kindhearted for such a faith” she concluded. Her husband chuckled.

“You are the kindhearted one my dear. But if it will make you happy, I’ll keep an eye on her”

“It will” she said, placing a peck on his cheek.

---

Soon she and Zerden were out on the wall again and he confidently led her through the castle. Mary wasn’t sure, but she thought they were going a different way back than the way they got there. She realized that Zerden knew the castle as well as she knew the city. She didn’t know how, but soon they were standing in the small courtyard outside the kitchen.

“I had a lot of fun tonight,” Mary said.

“Me too,” Zerden said.

“See you on Wednesday,” Mary said, walking through the door of the kitchen. Late at night, the kitchen was quiet and deserted. Everything was in order, there were just a small glow of ambers in the big fireplaces and Mary thought it was a bit eerie and unnatural.

She hurried her steps and soon arrived at her room. Relieved, she closed the door behind her and got ready for the night. As she lay in her bed in the small room, she thought back in the evening.

She hadn’t had so much fun in a long time, she thought, not since she’d come to the kitchen. Her thoughts drifted freely, and she thought of the Lady and Kopa.

She wondered where they were now and what they were doing. Did they remember her, or had they forgotten all about her? She hoped they hadn’t forgotten her.

She thought about what Zerden’s mother had said. She had said it was not Mary’s fault that her parents had died. Mary thought about it for a moment. She wished it was true, she wished even more that she could believe it. But when sleep finally came to her, she still wasn’t convinced.