A Short Walk Through a Wide World

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. She explains that the Prince is supposed to tax his people to pay the British for protection, but instead he pays from his own pocket.

Qalima shows Aubry a room full of colorful paintings that she has made. Aubry is enchanted by one painting of a black river running through a thick green jungle. Qalima has visions and paints what she sees. She points to a painting of three horses and explains that she painted it for the Prince. After that, the Prince had the idea to secretly breed horses and sell them to China, using the proceeds to pay the British and feed his people. Aubry asks with confusion whether the gift was the painting or the plan of breeding horses. Qalima does not respond.

Instead, she tells Aubry that “there are things on this earth that only exist because [she] beheld them” (210). Then, Qalima tells Aubry to pretend that it is her birthday and make a wish. Aubry closes her eyes and wishes. Qalima touches her forehead to Aubry’s and smiles, and then she walks away.

Aubry returns to her room to find Private Hayley going through her things. He reveals the pistol that she stole from the men she killed. Aubry says that she has had the gun for years, given to her by a Russian soldier when she was in Moscow. She then asks if the murdered men were shot or stabbed, and Hayley says that they were stabbed. Aubry concludes that she could not possibly have done it then. Hayley is unconvinced but leaves.

Aubry thinks of how much she likes the Prince and would like to stay. Then, her sickness strikes, and she falls to the floor. Filled with anger, she refuses to leave. She ties herself to her bed while the voice of the sickness insists that she still has so much more to see. Aubry says that she will kill the sickness or it will kill her, but either way, it ends tonight.

The Prince finds her tied to the bed and dying. He carries her out while she protests, saying that she does not want to leave him. The Prince orders servants to pack her belongings and other supplies and prepare his riverboat. The people bid Aubry a tearful farewell. Hayley tucks something into her pocket, saying that she will need it later. Then, the Prince takes her to his boat, and they paddle down the river. At first, she does not get better. Believing that she is about to die, she offers to tell the Prince about how she miraculously crossed the Himalayas.

Having left Pathik, Aubry climbs into the mountains, starving and lost in the ice. She finds a cave to hide in, but her sickness urges her to keep moving. She speaks to the voice in her head, accusing it of trying to kill her. The voice responds that it is trying to love her. She walks more. She thinks that she is about to die, and a door suddenly appears in the ice. She cuts through the ice until the door cracks open just enough for her to squeeze through.

Aubry wanders into a cave until she finds six identical iron doors. She opens it and enters a room filled with lanterns and endless shelves of books. There are comfortable chairs and even a table with a bowl of fresh fruit. She eats and then explores. Every book is filled with drawings and pictures, telling stories without words. Every story is strange, about people having adventures in faraway lands or finding impossible places. She realizes that this impossible library in the mountain is just like the other libraries that she has visited over the years.

Over days, she wanders from one room to the next, an endless maze filled with books and comforts. There is always new food to eat, blankets, or clean clothes. In one room, a mango grove grows amid the bookshelves. She picks the fruit and places some in a bowl, leaving a handwritten note that says, “FOR THE NEXT” (233). She hopes that the next person to find this place will be as delighted as she is.

One day, she finds another door. However, this one leads to sunlight and rocks. She staggers through, and then the door disappears. She is outside in a ravine, with no idea how she has crossed the mountains, and in the distance, she sees three men walking toward her.

The Prince says that her story is impossible. Aubry asks how else she could have survived the passage across the mountains, and he has no answer. Then, Aubry loses consciousness.

Aubry wakes up feeling sore but better. The Prince steers the riverboat. Aubry feels something in her pocket and pulls it out. Hayley has given her the pistol.

The Prince takes Aubry to a small house on an overgrown trail. He is worried, however, because it is far from his duties. Aubry knows that the Prince is torn: He wants to stay and help her, but he must return to his people. The Prince points out that her story about the mountains cannot be right because the mountains are far away, months away on foot. Aubry knows this but has no explanation.

Aubry prepares to leave, and the Prince says that he envies her. Aubry tells him about her conversation with Qalima, and the Prince suggests that the Earth “wants a witness” (242). Aubry insists that she will hunt down her sickness and defeat it. Later, the Prince and Aubry part ways. Four years from now, the Prince will be killed by the British. Aubry will read about it in the newspapers, and she will be grateful that she could bear witness to his life.

In China, a woman asks Aubry if she has ever seen Xi’an. Aubry says that she was there just days ago. The woman says that this is impossible: Xi’an is nowhere near where they are now. Aubry describes her passage down a river to a waterfall and a lake with a hole where the water drained. The woman insists that there are no waterfalls near Xi’an and no lake with a hole in it. Confused, Aubry asks the woman if she is being cruel on purpose. The woman speculates that the world that Aubry travels through is not precisely the same as the world that everyone else sees.

When Aubry is 50 years old, she stops in Alaska in a frontier town where she has made friends with the owner and employees of a local brothel. In the bar, she watches new arrivals enter, including a man who is much shorter than the others and appears to be lost.

Later that night, Aubry leaves the bar tired and tipsy. The short man stops her, and she realizes with surprise that the man is a woman. She introduces herself as Marta Arbaroa and explains that she is a journalist. She has traveled from Acapulco to find Aubry, and she hides her gender to avoid unwanted attention from men during the long and treacherous journey. Aubry leads Marta into the forest beyond the small town.

Aubry makes camp in an empty barn by the river. Marta pulls out a notebook and starts asking Aubry about her life. Aubry talks about migrating animals and how she sometimes follows them. Marta announces that she will be traveling with Aubry from now on, and Aubry laughs. Some have traveled with her before, but never for long. She thinks that Marta will give up quickly.

In the morning, Aubry breaks camp and starts hiking, and Marta follows. Marta brags about other famous people she has interviewed. Marta stops to read a map, and Aubry says that she is doing it wrong. There is beauty in wandering aimlessly.

Aubry says that people tell her their secrets because she is not real to them. She is a brief point in time, and when she is gone, so is the secret. Marta asks if Aubry has any secrets left, and Aubry says no. Marta can tell that she is lying.

Aubry dreams about Qalima painting. Aubry steps into the painting and arrives in the library. Qalima sits in the library painting. Aubry steps through the painting again and finds herself in a dense jungle like the one from Qalima’s painting in India. For some reason, the place feels like home.

Aubry wakes up and walks to the river to wash. Suddenly, a bear bursts through the trees. Aubry realizes that she left her spear in the camp, but Marta arrives with a rifle. Together, they cautiously retreat. Aubry objects to Marta putting herself in harm’s way. Marta blithely remarks that there are people worth killing and people worth dying for and that Aubry is the second kind. When they stop to make camp that night, Aubry finds a large, black binder among Marta’s belongings. It is filled with notes, newspaper clippings, and photos all about Aubry. She knows that Marta has carried this with her halfway up the world and understands that it represents a formidable commitment to her.