Chapter 4
Chapter 4: The Road to Nida
Klisto travels to Nida, a seaside village, following a clue from Mariu's letters. He searches for traces of Elina, visiting a small art gallery where an old woman recognizes Mariu's painting. She reveals that Elina moved to Vilnius years ago but might be found through a local art school. Klisto returns home with a new lead and a renewed sense of purpose.
The bus left at dawn, its engine humming a low, steady note that matched Klisto's heartbeat. He sat by the window, watching the city give way to suburbs, then to fields of wheat and rye, and finally to the pine forests that lined the road to the coast. The sky was a pale blue, streaked with clouds that moved like slow thoughts across the horizon. He had packed a small bag: the letters, the painting, the photograph from Regina, and a map of Nida that he had marked with a pencil cross.
For the first hour, he tried to read one of Mariu's letters again, but the words blurred. He put it away and let his mind drift. He remembered the first time he had seen Mariu, at an exhibition in Vilnius. She was standing in front of a painting of a stormy sea, her head tilted, her curls falling over her face. He had approached her, not knowing what to say, and she had turned and smiled. "You look like someone who understands the silence between notes," she had said. He had not understood then. Now he thought he did.
The bus stopped at a small town for a fifteen-minute break. Klisto stepped out to stretch his legs. The air smelled of pine and salt. A woman was selling amber jewelry from a small table. He bought a pendant shaped like a teardrop, thinking of Mariu, of the tears he had not shed. He tucked it into his pocket.
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