The Bridge To Nihon (BOOK ONE)

Chapter 12 - The Abduction

After Pip and Tin' disappearance, a heavy veil descended over the village. People's voices quieted. Their faces hardened, closing themselves off against the sorrow and the worry. There was no trace of the boys, no indication where they had gone and what had happened.

The question nobody dared to ask was, Who took them?

Aunt Sybil kept a close eye on Sofia, and even Uncle Tomas spent less of his time in a drunken haze, although he didn't manage to abstain completely.

Meanwhile, Sofia started her studies under Aunt Sybil's strict gaze. Most of it was geography. There were thirty-two border villages, and thirty-two bridges leading over to the forbidden world of Nihon, or into their world, depending on from where one was looking. The maps depicted the villages as identical in size and shape, although Sofia couldn't imagine that being true.

"Are they really all the same size?"

"Why shouldn't they be?" was Aunt Sybil's answer.

"It seems strange. Places are just different. Their climate, vegetation, and so on."

"I'm sure they are not identical," Aunt Sybil said, not in the mood for a discussion. "But it must be helpful for the administration to create as many similarities as possible. It just makes things easier."

"I guess," Sofia replied, which was her answer to most of Aunt Sybil's unsatisfying explanations.

The maps themselves were drawn in a very simplistic manner. They cut the world in two parts, like two halves of a globe. The separation was as neat as if it had been drawn with a ruler.

When Sofia asked her aunt if that had been the case, she was scolded again.

"You're acting stupid, Sofia. The border is made up by the river. But what do you expect from maps? That they show you every tree and every bump on the ground?"

Yes, Sofia thought but didn't say it.

"It is an abstraction," Aunt Sybil added. "It is not meant to be anything else. After all, what use is there in knowing about the other villages?"

"Then why learn about them at all?"

"To teach you that you are a part of something bigger. You might look down on the notion, at your age, but it has helped me through many a lonely day to know that I am not alone in fulfilling my duty."

"Have you ever met another Guardian, except Tessina?"

"Of course not. How would that go? I am at my post, and they are at theirs."

Sofia nodded along. Truth be told, she liked her aunt's explanations even less than she liked the book, but it was so dreadfully boring that she kept jumping at every distraction that presented itself, no matter how unpromising.

In the very early mornings, she still managed to sneak out of the house to meet Orì, but she had to be careful to get back before anybody was up. Aunt Sybil had decided that she was too old to play outside anymore, and anyway, who knew what could happen.

That was the way Aunt Sybil said it. Who knows what could happen.

Sofia had still not told Orì that she was to be the next Guardian, but she had told her about Pip and Tin's disappearance. Orì had sat there quietly, not saying much about it, and not looking directly at Sofia.

"Do you think they might be in Nihon?" Sofia asked eventually.

Orì looked offended.

"In Nihon? They couldn't be."