The Dollmage

I was too concerned about the robber people and too enchanted by potting shed bees to be overly annoyed that the frowning doll I had made for her was not working still. I listened at my window to the music and the laughter.

The dance was a ploy. Our people are born into the promise that we will not kill, unless it is to defend our children. Since the robber people had not taken a child, we could not defend ourselves from them in that way. Still, we were not born into a promise to be afraid. Fieldmaster Sodder had declared that there would be a dance that night so that the robber people would see that we were not afraid.

Even though we were.

The common fire lighted the village and the music filled the valley as Annakey approached the dancers. The ones who had loved her as boys now loved her as men. Miller touched her arm and spoke to her, smiling. Tawm Herson twirled her gently and asked her to dance. Miller watched her with resigned eyes as she made her way over to Renoa. He knew she would never love him.

Is it not so, Miller? Is that why, in spite of your love, you have a stone in your hand? If you cannot have her, you would that no one has her. In thinking this way, you have broken every promise you were born into. Put down your stone.You, at least, will take no part in Annakey’s execution if I am unable to persuade the rest.

Annakey gave Renoa the cake she had made for her, smiling and saying something kind.

Renoa did not smile, and because she did not, neither did her friends. Renoa’s story maker was so powerful that others submitted to it and allowed themselves to be mere characters in her world. Once they were in her story, it was difficult to escape, for if they did they might disappear.

Of course Manal was there at the dance, waiting for Annakey. He saw her take the cake to Renoa and offer it to her. Annakey’s hair was disheveled from her work, but it framed her face even more beautifully. Her frock was thin from wear and a little too short, but that only allowed him to imagine more fully the narrow hips beneath.

Now, you must understand. To be loved by Manal was not a small thing. He had a self-promise of which he was deeply aware and which he honored above all other promises. Manal had promised himself that he would have a great love. This self-promise was Manal’s only flaw in an otherwise perfect man, a man of spare promises. The promise to love is the biggest and most generous and most terrifying promise of all, and we all know what trouble it can cause.

And so, when Manal fell in love with Annakey, it was like an earthquake. Though it appeared as only a quiver on his lips, a momentary rocking on his feet, it changed everything. Like an earthquake, it made waterfalls where none before had been, hills to rise and valleys to fall. Poor Manal.You see why he cannot help that he must try to stop as many of you as he can if you stone his Annakey. You see why he must die trying to defend her. That night, however, he wanted only to spend his life with her.

“I knew Dollmage would let you come,” Manal said. “She is not evil, only afraid.” He said it, not I.

Annakey shook her head and laughed. “I cannot recall ever seeing Dollmage afraid of anything.”

Manal laughed. “Nor I, but one. She is afraid of your frowning promise doll.”

“Everyone is afraid of it,” Annakey said. “Even my mother was.”

“I am not.”

“Not?”

“I understand what it means.”

“Теll me.”

Manal shook his head and smiled. “I will. For a kiss.”

Annakey said nothing for a long time. She looked thoughtful. Finally, she said, “My mother taught me that a kiss was a kind of promise, and that great care must be taken with such promises. So ... no.”

Manal laughed, and then he stopped laughing, for everything she said and did made him love her more.

“I made you a house,” Annakey said.

“I will come and see it tomorrow.”

“Do you remember this dance?” she said, taking his hand and laughing. “The Lady-Under? We learned it as children.”

“My head forgets, but perhaps my feet will remember.” They joined into the dance. Their bodies understood each other. I could see that, as they danced the jigs and reels. Star, square, circle, promenade: They moved in rhythm to the music and to each other. They danced as if they had been dancing every day of their lives.

I have told you that Manal was the best boy in the village, and so of course who should set her sights upon him other than my Renoa. She loved the way he knew the forest paths as well as she, and respected him for his understanding of the wild beasts. She flirted with Manal, and he had responded to her in the pure delight a man takes in any woman. Since he had fallen in love with Annakey, however, he had been distant with Renoa. She did not know why. She only knew it made her desire him more. Now, when Renoa saw Annakey and Manal together at the dance, she saw that while she herself was any woman, Annakey was the woman.