Chihiro's Return

Chapter 3: Yubaba

I walked slowly through Yubaba's rooms, hoping I could find my way through the maze. It was harder without her magic pulling me along, but after a bit, I found it. Yubaba's office. I knocked on the door, and the bolt slid open.

I didn't realize I had been leaning against the door until it opened, and I sprawled on the floor.

"I see you haven't gotten any less clumsy, Sen," said Yubaba from behind her desk. "That's a little disappointing after so long." I stood. She was doing some sort of magic on a pile of chipped bath tokens. "Well? What brings you back here? Are your parents turning back into pigs or something?"

"No, ma'am. They're actually very well," I said. "I came to see everyone again - to prove to myself that it wasn't a dream." I knew I couldn't hide that from her even if I wanted to. She'd see it in my face or something - honestly, the woman could probably read minds.

"I suppose you want to see Haku then?" Yubaba came around her desk. "He's not here, you know. He quit when you left."

"Yes," I replied. "Lin told me. I wanted to thank you, actually."

"Thank me?" Yubaba asked, incredulous. "As I recall, you spent a large portion of your time here whining." She sent the tokens out the door past me, I assumed to the foreman. "What could you want to thank me for?"

I smiled. "Plenty of things. For teaching me that life doesn't always go the way I want, that good things require work..." There were too many to list all at once. "For returning my parents to me." That was the most important anyway, right?

Yubaba nodded. Her huge red nails were tapping on her desk, a rhythm I didn't recognize. "You're welcome," she said hurriedly. I knew she wasn't fond of being so nice, but I had to thank her. "You should go before it gets too late. The tracks are hard to see at night." It was still freaky how she knew things I didn't tell her.

"Thank you for seeing me." I bowed. "I hope your bathhouse continues to prosper," I said. Yubaba had turned around already, going behind her desk. I walked out of her office, out of the tiled rooms, and took the elevator down to the lobby.

Lin was waiting. "Wow, took you long enough."

"Sorry," I said. "It took a while finding my way in and out of her office." Lin nodded. Apparently that wasn't an unusual problem. A few minutes later, we were outside. I had forgotten how stifled the bathhouse could be - the air out here felt so clean and invigorating.

"It'll take a minute to get the boat," Lin said. We worked together. The boat hadn't been used for a while, and it was buried beneath a pile of old oars. Why they needed so many oars, I never found out.

The trip took a long time, longer than the train. Lin and I took turns steering, but even then the two of us were worn out when we reached the right bit of land. It didn't take too long to get to Zeniba's house from there - the path was clear, even in the dark. I waved to the lamp above the road. It waved back. 'That wasn't a dream either,' I thought. 'Good.' I liked the little lamp.

Then, we were at her door. I touched the shining hairband around my ponytail again. 'It will protect you. It's made from the threads your friends wove together.'

I knocked.