Ancient Things We Hold

Chapter 28

The eviction of the Jews from Ealdæ could not have come at a worse time for Tamar. She was all but engaged to Ohannes the tailor, but without being married she had a decision to make. He asked her to come with him and his family to the Shyrelands so that they could get married along the way. Then, they would live together in the east.

However, how could she abandon her family for a new one? Being a wife and mother was all she had ever wanted and Ohannes was offering that. It was what she had been raised to do perfectly; it was what she had worked on everyday in order to succeed. She was good at housework and she was good with children. Despite the maternal kindness Hodaya possessed, she just wasn't as organised or well formed as Tamar was, meaning that she was tired and all over the place as a mother. Tamar would never be so.

As she helped Hodaya and Aldwyn pack all they owned, she thought about what was ahead for her. Either way, her future was uncertain, but it was even more so with them. What happened if they never settled down while in the western lands, meaning she could never find a husband? Even though the Shyrelands were a thousand times more dangerous, at least she would be what she always wanted.

For a few days, she was silent on this matter. She mulled it over in her head until her distress began to radiate from her eyes. Consequently, Hodaya took her hand and asked what she was wrong. With that, her decision was made. She realised that she couldn't leave her sister. Even if it meant that she be never be a wife, she would be with Hodaya, who was the only thing she had left from her childhood. She could never be parted from her.

"It is for the best, Tamar," assured Aldwyn after she spoke of her turmoil and her eventual decision. "The Shyrelands are a dangerous place for Jewish refugees. We'll at least have a little safety out west,"

Tamar nodded, yet she looked as though she was ready to burst into tears at any moment. She was having to jeopardise her only ambition because of any eviction. It seemed so unfair; for them, life was just an endless series of setbacks. There came moments where all seemed right as safety followed them and life was as blissful as it had always promised to be. How rarely they lasted.

Hodaya took her hand. "Or perhaps we could take him? Perhaps he would like to come with us with his family? Levona is a dear friend of mine now. I should so like to know that she is safe too," she suggested. She turned back round to Aldwyn and said, "Could we? Would your father let us all pass? There is Levona, her four sisters, her brother, her husband and her four children. However, three of her sisters are married so I'm sure will follow their husbands instead,"

"That's a further eight Jews Lord Daegel would be smuggling through the castle gates. We'd look a lot more conspicuous," he pointed out.

"But for you. You could say that we all go or none of us go. Please. For Tamar, so that she can have safety with some idea of happiness," she said.

Aldwyn thought it over. It would be a risk having so many of them travelling together. Tamar was not married to this man and, even though Hodaya considered his sister a friend, there were no ties bounding them together. Therefore, it would be better for them to just go alone. However, he could never do such a thing even in the name of what was best.

"Yes. We shall speak to him. Tamar, would you like to come with us?" he asked.

"No, I should be ashamed to. I'll stay here with the children and you two go. Oh, thank you so very much!" she said.

They both smiled at her with a mixture of amusement at her priorities and genuine gladness of her the joy that had been bestowed upon her.

As expected, Ohannes accepted their offer without hesitation. If there was a way to avoid leaving through the eastern border, he was not a fool enough to deny that. Furthermore, he could get married on the way there, which was what his parents were so desperate for him to do before they passed away.