Episode 43

(Baltimore, February 18, 1999)

Once back in Daryl’s room, Sree made herself a cup of tea.

“Now let us attend to the business of finding your Rin,” she began. Daryl seemed unsure what to say, so Sree took the lead.

“What did she tell you, precisely?”

“She told me many things,” Daryl replied. Sree was about to rebuke him but realized he wasn’t being evasive — just not particularly clever.

She took a deep breath. “You’ve probably gathered from being with her that Rin has a peculiar way of doing things.”

Daryl nodded.

“You were instructed to find her.”

“Ordered to,” he clarified. “She said she would kill me if I did not.”

“Well, Rin never was one for quiet instruction. But it is understandable, if you view it from a certain perspective.”

“What perspective is that?” Daryl’s voice had an edge of irritation. Had he been looking for sympathy?

“She clearly wants to test whether you have been paying attention. She is grooming you, though I have no idea for what. It must be clear to you that this is a test.”

Daryl shook his head. “She said as much, but I don’t believe that. No, I just angered her when I suggested she was the evil queen.”

Sree gave a light laugh. “Then you understand nothing of Rin. She would not throw you away for such a reason. You cannot anger her into doing something like that. There are reasons she would throw you away, but I doubt you gave her one of those.”

“Then why?”

“I have no idea. But there probably is a purpose to her test. It may only make sense to her, so don’t try to figure it out.”

“The ways of the lord are mysterious,” Daryl muttered.

Sree’s smile vanished. “Rin never set herself up as a god. None of us with any sense have.”

The sudden change in tone took Daryl aback, and he mumbled an awkward apology.

Sree’s smile slowly returned, and she put her hand on his. “No, I’m sorry. That is my peeve, and I should not impose it on you. The world is filled with people who demand that everyone see it through the lens of their particular struggle. I will not add to that number.”

After a moment, she looked at Daryl again. “I will say this. She would have been a better god than the ones who made her. And in a way she is.”

Daryl replied with an uneasy smile, apparently unsure what to make of the strange mood which had taken his companion.

“Now, let’s focus on how to find her.” Sree withdrew her hand and adopted a pensive expression. “Try to remember precisely what she said before she left.”

Daryl thought for a few seconds. “Well, she threatened me and told me to find her. And she mentioned that you were hunting her.”

“Somebody was hunting her,” Sree corrected. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

“You are trying to find her.”

“True enough.”

“Who else could it be? I thought nobody can harm Rin.”

Sree shrugged. “The world is a big place, and I haven’t met everyone in it. Have you?”

Daryl still didn’t seem satisfied.

“Very well, let’s say it was me. I pose no threat to her, but let’s assume she was avoiding me …” — Sree closed her eyes and took a breath — ” … for some reason. What else did she say?”

“She gave me five years to find her. No, not quite that. She said that in five years, she would be at her birthplace.”

“Her birthplace?” Sree thought for a few moments. “I know roughly where that is, but things have shifted around a lot over time. Locating the home in which she was born will be … difficult. I doubt even she knows what happened to it. She was imprisoned for almost two centuries, during which the country was overrun several times. No, that doesn’t make sense. Is that exactly what she said?”

Daryl thought for a second. “She said the place where she was born.”

A glimmer of frustration crossed Sree’s face. “That’s quite different, you know.” She considered this. “Or, it could be. It could mean several things, and only Rin would know for sure.”

“What do you mean?”

“Birth could refer to an awakening to new meaning or something else. From what I’ve heard, that happened much later and nobody has any idea where. No, it would have to be something we plausibly can figure out. The only candidate I can think of would be the place she was entombed.”

“Wouldn’t that also be hard to find?”

Sree gave a noncommittal shrug. “It was a monument of sorts, though not big enough to endure or find fame. It didn’t help that Karkov largely kept it a secret from everyone, though apparently the thing did act as a seed for subsequent settlements. It’s a day’s ride east of the capital if memory serves.”

She gave Daryl an apologetic look. “I’ve only been there once, and that was much later. It was around thirty miles, I think.”

“That still sounds very imprecise.”

“Not so. We needn’t work off that alone,” Sree explained. “A later city was built on the site of the monument itself. And after that, there was a sequence of military encampments.”

“Was the place strategically situated?”

“Not particularly. But there was a great deal of stone in the original monument, and it was located near a subterranean river which allowed for easy production of mortar. There is a reason why civilizations tend to build on top of one another. Shaped stone is very valuable, and its presence a strong attraction to a site. Later cities were built on top of earlier ones largely for this reason.”

“Is there a city there today?” Daryl asked, his voice suddenly hopeful.

“Not quite. I heard the communists built an industrial facility which contaminated the underground stream. There are a few large towns in the area, but the site itself probably lies in one of their suburbs.”

“Well, that’s a start, I suppose,” Daryl muttered, obviously disappointed.

Sree gave him a sharp look. “It’s more than a start, and I would thank you to be a bit more helpful.”

Daryl sunk into his chair like a chastised schoolboy. Sree softened. “I apologize for being impatient. It is a matter of some importance to me, and I fear I have been unreasonably demanding. Nonetheless, it would be helpful if you could try your best to remember anything else.” Reaching for his hand once again, she smiled. “Whatever you can think of, we will use. Even this will be enough. You’ve already been a great help.”

“Besides,” she laughed, “this is an artificial conundrum of Rin’s making. I hardly can fault you for that.”

Daryl thought for a few more moments, but shook his head. “It’s not that I can’t remember. I’m sure that’s all she told me.”

Sree nodded agreeably, disappointed but undeterred. “Then that is what we will use. I think I can figure it out, but we will need to search a bit.”

“But how?” Daryl asked.

“Long after Rin’s escape, I was able to discover where she had been imprisoned. It seemed like a good idea to examine the site, though I can’t recall whether I did so from empathy or a fear of falling into a similar trap. I do remember being disappointed that nothing worthy of note remained.”

“Having gone to great effort to find the place, I made certain astronomical observations once there. This was done more from habit than anything else. I certainly didn’t anticipate having to retrace my steps in some distant future.”

“How did you find it at all?”

Sree considered this for a few moments before answering. “It had been described to me in vague terms by the descendants of the people who found Rin there. Predictably, the discovery of a living woman entombed deep beneath the earth spawned a myth or two. Though distorted by the intervening centuries, there were enough details for me to locate the place. At that time it was on the outskirts of a village.”

“But you can find it again?” There was a distinct note of hope in Daryl’s voice.

“We,” Sree corrected with a smile. “In addition to the astronomical observations, I also have a pretty good idea what kind of rock was used.”

In response to Daryl’s obvious confusion, she explained.

“As a youth, I was friends with a mason. He taught me all the types of stone employed at the time. Some were imported, but not from far. Each material was carved in a manner best suited to its unique properties. When I visited the site, I recognized the shape and substance of the stones. They were similar to those in the palace, though of a slightly higher grade. For some reason, Karkov felt the need to make Rin’s prison beautiful. Or maybe that just was part of how he trapped her.”

“You said that was a long time ago. Will the stones still be there?”

“Perhaps. The soil will tell us much, even if the rocks themselves have worn to dust.”

Daryl’s face sank, and Sree laughed. “I never said it would be easy. But I think it can be accomplished. Given the precise date of my original measurements, I can calculate the corresponding present-day celestial positions. That will get us within one or two miles. The mineral composition of the soil may get us closer. We’ll probably still need to search a square mile area for some clue. If Rin truly wants us to find her, she will have provided one. But to start, we must gather quite a bit of astronomical and geological data.”

“And how will we get all this information?”

Sree replied with a grin. “The internet, of course.”