At first, the people of Wyrdin were completely lost. Shiya's advice and help was how they got through all their problems! They talked fondly of her, remembering how she'd flit from one to the next like a butterfly, setting everything right. Without her, they just didn't know what to do. Crops went unpicked (when Shiya returns, she'll tell me when the corn is perfectly ripe!), stitching went unmended (Shiya can show me how to do a double hoop stitch!), and all manner of domestic squabbles secalated out of control. It seemed only Shiya had been keeping things together in the village!
But after a few weeks, the people learned to get along without Shiya...Before long they learned that they could live without Shiya, and their lives worked just fine that way. But they did miss her, terrilby. Finally though, it was her personality and friendship that they were missing, instead of just noticing how much she wasn't around to help them with!
After she had been gone a month, the Urbals organized a search party at last (finally discovering how to do so without Shiya's input on who should play what role, and what kind of sandwiches to bring - egg salad), determined to find out at last what had happened to Shiya...
With the charred bottom of a sandal, Shiya had scrawled a message on the surface of the boulder.
From up here, the view is amazing. I see a forest in the distance, mountains bigger than this one, rivers, rainbows, castles and maybe even a desert over there. I sat here a long time contemplating. And I knew what I had to do...The world is too big and wide, and I am too small. I need to see it all before I'm old and grey! I know I didn't do much in the village, just a little of this and that, so I hope I'm not too missed...I will be back, I promise...and with plenty of stories to tell.
I can't begin to explain how much this story meant to me. He actually got up in the middle of the night to write it because he knew how much I needed it. And the messages woven into the story tell me just how well he knows me and how much he cares. Such a little thing. Such a big deal. What a lucky girl!
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