she protested, gesturing to the vans ahead.
‘Well, we’re not.’
Hearing the firmness in the woman’s voice, Colenso knew better than to argue and climbed onto the seat beside her. Although she looked refreshed from her rest, Mara seemed thoughtful as they plodded higher up a narrow lane with bright-green boggy moorland spreading out on either side. Finally, they came to a tiny chapel and Mara pulled on the reins.
‘Stay here,’ she ordered as she clambered down.
‘But …’ Colenso began.
‘A few moments privacy, that’s all I ask,’ the woman interrupted, and there was something in her expression that forbade further argument.
Colenso watched as Mara slowly climbed down and made her way inside the granite building. It was a few minutes before she emerged, then instead of coming back to the van, she seemed to disappear behind it. Colenso was about to jump down to check she was all right when the woman popped up again. To her astonishment when she climbed back up beside her, the woman’s face and hands were soaking wet.
‘Blessed by the holy water and left a cloutie on the tree,’ she grinned, holding up her ripped scarf. ‘Probably too late, but it made me feel better. The veil is lifting.’ Although Colenso looked askance, Mara ignored her, calling instead for Ears to walk on.
They eventually rejoined the road and, after travelling a short distance, saw the tall granite tower of a church rising above the rooftops of St Just. After passing through the triangular market square they turned into the Plen an Gwarry where, to Colenso’s relief, she saw the kumpania was already camped with other vans and wagons alongside them. Mara had been strangely jubilant after her visit to the chapel, and Colenso wanted to discuss her peculiar behaviour with Sarah, who she hoped would understand these things.
But she didn’t get the opportunity, for Mara was strangely insistent that Colenso sit with her after she’d retired to bed.
‘Hold my hand,’ she whispered.
‘Are you all right, Mara?’ Colenso asked, worried she’d overdone things.
‘Never better,’ she replied. ‘Thank you for today and for your company.’ Colenso turned to her in surprise, for the woman was not given to sentiment, but Mara had already closed her eyes, a smile of contentment on her face.
Pulling the cover over her, Colenso felt a rush of tenderness for her friend and was glad she’d conceded to her wishes to visit the chapel. Knowing Mara, after a night’s rest she’d be rushing around getting things ready for her dukkering, Colenso thought, climbing into her own bed.
✳
When Colenso woke in the early hours of the morning, everything felt unusually still. She glanced over and saw Mara lying in the same position, the smile still on her lips.
It was then she realized the woman wasn’t merely sleeping.
‘Oh Mara,’ she wailed.
With tears streaming down her cheeks, Colenso watched as the orange flames licking at the wood turned into a raging inferno, devouring the beautiful little van that had become her home.
‘We should have stayed in Marazion,’ she wailed. Sarah shook her head.
‘It wouldn’t have made any difference, it was her time, love. She should have let go weeks since but she made herself hang on till Samhain. Seen the veil in her ball, see. Knew it was a sign.’ Colenso nodded, remembering that evening when Mara, upset after consulting her crystal, had fled to the water’s edge.
Colenso looked back at the fire. It was dying down now, a blackened pile of wood the only testament of a life lived.
‘But why did they have to burn her van with her body inside it?’ she cried.
‘’Tis our way, love. Come with nothing, leave with nothing. The remains of ash will be returned to the ground. Her old body ain’t no use where she’s gone, and it was her wish that she be set free under the trees. Fancied thinking of her earthly form as a bluebell swaying in the breeze.’ Sarah’s laugh came out as a sob and it was Colenso’s turn to comfort her.
She stared around, noting for the first time that it wasn’t only the kumpania that had turned out to send Mara on her way. The whole of the fair had gathered, heads bowed as they paid their respects. As the fire gave a final crackle, Titan’s wife bent and laid a nosegay beside it, and Colenso had to bite her lip from crying out loud when she saw it had been fashioned from Mara’s favourite herbs and flowers.
‘Everyone loved her,’ Sarah murmured.
‘They did,’ Solomon her husband agreed.
‘Oh look,’ Sarah grinned, pointing to a ray of sunshine breaking through the thick cloud. ‘She’s letting us know she’s arrived safely.’
At that precise moment, Ears, who’d been standing watching, gave a distressed whinny before keeling over beside the burnt remains of his mistress. ‘Even old Ears,’ she sighed, pulling Colenso back as she moved towards the pony. ‘He’s gone too, faithful to the end.’
Titan, who’d been standing with his wife, signalled to a couple of the men.
‘Better cover him over before some wise guy sells him for glue and pet food.’ He turned to Colenso. ‘She was the best,’ he muttered, his eyes bright with tears. ‘Let us know if you need anything.’
‘Thank you,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t know what I’ll do now.’
‘Well, for a start you’re coming with us for a hot drink,’ Sarah said. ‘Ain’t that right, Sol?
‘I’ll be along soon. Best help the others,’ he replied, limping over to where the men had begun digging. With a final look at the burnt remains and the loyal pony lying beside them, Colenso let herself be led away.
She sat in Sarah’s van, which was similar though slightly bigger and more cluttered than Mara’s had been, sipping her drink whilst trying to come to terms with events. Everything had happened so quickly.
‘If only I’d done more for her,’ she cried.
‘Oh love, if you only knew how much joy you brought her these past few months. Said when she first saw you, she recognized a lost soul, just as she’d been. Helping you blossom lent purpose to her life,’ Sarah said. ‘Especially once she’d seen the veil and knew her time was coming.’
‘But she looked so happy and was smiling, I …’ her voice trailed away.
‘Expect her lover came for her,’ Sarah nodded. ‘She were ready and waiting.’
‘But she was acting so strange on the way here, insisting we stop by a chapel, even though I’ve never known her visit one before.’
‘It were the blessed well she really wanted to see, to leave a cloutie and make one last wish for her heart’s desire. Not many people know where that well is these days and she wanted to respect that by letting the rest of us go on ahead. She made her peace
