A Short Walk Through a Wide World

Aubry staggers out of the mountains, unsure of how she ended up in a dry ravine. She takes stock, confirming that she has her pack and her spear. She thinks that she is about 40 years old and that she might be in India. She considers taking out her puzzle ball to show her where to go but then recalls that it is gone. As she starts walking, she sees three men in the distance, heading her way. They see her and are spreading out to encircle her. Instinct warns her that these men are dangerous.

When the men approach, she attacks before they can speak. She kills one man quickly, and the other two rush her. One leaps at her, and her spear pierces his chest, popping a lung. The second man attacks with a knife. He stabs Aubry and they wrestle, rolling into the river at the bottom of the ravine. Aubry holds the man underwater until he drowns. The man with the popped lung struggles to aim a pistol but misses. Aubry plunges her spear into his gut. Then, she calmly takes their supplies, including the pistol.

Before she can retreat, another group of men arrives on horseback. One man dismounts and approaches her. He tells her that she is safe, and Aubry falls unconscious.

The voice of her sickness wakes Aubry from her sleep. She steps out of a tent and sees men sleeping in a camp by the river. She starts to leave but then sees the man who spoke to her before sitting by the water. She asks him what he intends to do with her, and he says that they will take care of her. She fears that she will be arrested for killing three men, but the man says that they were clearly going to harm her. She admits that she attacked them first, before they had a chance to show ill intent or not, but the man is unconcerned. He asks if she is Aubry Tourvel from the newspapers, and she confirms it. He is the prince of this region and offers her shelter in his palace until she needs to leave.

Aubry joins the Prince and his entourage as they head home to the palace. Krishna, a man in the entourage, tends to Aubry’s wounds. The Prince asks how she made it through the mountains, but she cannot explain. One night, the Prince asks Aubry if the world overwhelms her, and she says that she tries not to bring too much weight with her, like self-pity. She adds that she did travel with something important, her puzzle ball, but it is gone now. She did not lose it, however; she threw it away. Understanding the invitation, the Prince asks her to tell the story of why she threw her puzzle ball away.

In the story she tells the Prince, Aubry wanders along the Tibetan Plateau at the foot of the Himalayas. She is unsure of how to pass the daunting mountains and takes her puzzle ball out to give her direction, but the ball does not move. After some time, an eagle swoops down and lands on the arm of a nomad named Pathik. He speaks to her in a language that she does not understand, and the two resort to miming. They study each other closely, smiling and laughing. Pathik shows Aubry his necklace, a large animal’s tooth on a piece of twine, and she shows him her necklace, a beetle caught in amber, which was given to her years before by Uzair. Laughing, they exchange necklaces. Then, Pathik gestures for Aubry to follow him.

Aubry rides with Pathik. She mimes with her spear to ask if he is hunting, and he nods. To demonstrate her usefulness, Aubry hunts small rodents and shows her catch to Pathik, which they eat that night. The next day, they follow more animal tracks. On their fifth day of travel, they hear an enormous shriek, and Pathik follows it.

They follow tracks to a cave filled with animal bones. Pathik dismounts and moves in, and Aubry follows with her spear. As they approach the cave, a creature emerges. It is taller than a man, with taloned feet, wings spread out like a cloak, and bright red feathers. Pathik attacks, and Aubry copies him. The creature injures Aubry, but Pathik leaps onto its back, holding it while Aubry stabs it with her spear. The creature dies, and then Aubry collapses.

As she sleeps, her sickness speaks, apologizing for putting her in danger and saying that it merely wanted her to see something interesting. When she wakes, Pathik is butchering the bird. Pathik offers Aubry a single, perfect, red and gold feather, and she accepts the gift. She is sorry that the fantastical bird is dead. She thinks that it should be impossible, but this feather is proof that it existed.

Aubry pauses to watch the Prince’s reaction. She explains that people often confess things to her, such as a woman who claimed that she made love to a serpent and a man who said that his boat was sunk by a ghost ship. She fears sounding “mad” like them. She asks the Prince to at least pretend like he believes her. The Prince says that he has not doubted her once.

Pathik and Aubry arrive at Pathik’s home days later, carrying their catch. An entire family of parents, grandparents, siblings, and children greet them and stare with shock at Aubry. It is clear that they have never seen a foreigner before, and they are afraid of her at first. Slowly, they accept her.

The next morning, Aubry follows the children to fill waterskins at a nearby well. As she reaches the well, she freezes in terror. It is made of smooth, gray stone, and a bearded face is carved into the side, its mouth is open in a silent scream. Aubry stares at the face, unable to breathe, until one child leads her away.

That night, Aubry walks back to the well. She throws her puzzle ball into it, believing that this is her last chance to do what she should have done when she was a child. Then, all will be forgiven. The voice of her sickness tells her that it was a foolish thing to do, but she ignores it. On her way back to the tent, she finds Pathik waiting for her in the darkness. She steps up to him, and they embrace.

She dreams that she has cured herself and that the demon inside her dies. In the morning, she feels happy and free. She helps the family with their chores and tries to learn their language. She decides that she will stay here. She follows Pathik on his chores, thinking that she is “as happy as she has ever been” (187).

Pathik and Aubry have sex. Aubry wonders how many men she has loved. Though she has been all over the world and met many people, she has only loved a handful. In the evening, Aubry sits with the family, laughing and full of hope for the future. Then, Pathik touches her lip and shows her a drop of blood. Outwardly, she remains calm and assures the family that it is nothing, but inside, she feels herself snap with rage. That night, Aubry packs her belongings while everyone sleeps. She looks at Pathik one last time, weak with heartbreak. She fears that this is what the sickness wants: “to watch her heart calcify, to cover her body with wounds so the demon can insert its claws and keep them open forever” (190). She leaves.

Aubry stops as she tastes blood mixed with the tears streaming from her eyes. The Prince leaps into action, ordering his entourage to pack and begin moving again. Before long, Aubry’s symptoms pass again. They travel several more days until they at last reach the Prince’s palace. Before long, Aubry falls asleep.

When she wakes up, the Prince is sitting beside her. She tells him that she dreamt that the man she killed visited her. He feared that he would be a ghost wandering the world, but instead, he is like a steady rock. The Prince says that he had a sister who slowly lost her five senses before dying. She said that without her senses, she was able to connect with the Earth in a different way, touching its consciousness. He suggests that this is what Aubry’s dream ghost meant.

In the middle of a storm, British soldiers arrive at the palace. The Prince is not happy to see them, but only Aubry notices. The British soldiers request shelter during the storm and explain that they found three dead British soldiers in the ravine and are now searching for a murderer. Aubry returns to her room and packs her things, preparing to run. The Prince stops her: The soldiers do not suspect her, but if she runs in the middle of the storm, she will look more suspicious.