A Short Walk Through a Wide World

Over the noise of the storm, Aubry hears someone calling outside. She and the Prince rush out to help. Aubry finds children and their teachers hiding in a shed. Then, she finds seven men hiding beneath an upturned boat. They hold hands to form a chain, and Aubry leads them back to the palace.

Later, the people applaud Aubry for saving them. The children give her sweets, and the British soldiers praise her as well. Aubry asks one soldier, Private Hayley, if he has ever killed someone and how he felt afterward. He remarks that the first time is the hardest and surmises that Aubry’s first time was hard as well. The conversation turns to Aubry’s sickness. Hayley says that one must “let the world come to you” (206). Then, a woman stands close to Aubry and whispers that she also once walked across the Earth.

The woman, named Qalima, says that her family fled their homes during a war. Now, she is friends with the Prince. Whenever he needs help, even if he does not know it, she appears. Qalima leads Aubry to an uninhabited part of the palace, saying that she once answered the Prince’s birthday wish with a gift.