17. A Child’s Song and Lights That Touch the Earth #4
Sapphira’ eyes widen, the chair scrapping the wooden floor as she flinches hard.
“You weren’t expecting that, were you?”
She shakes her head. “Honestly, no. You’re a warrior. Isn’t it your purpose to protect others?”
“Sure. But it’s my purpose to protect my loved ones too.
More so than strangers. If not, what is the purpose of love and connection?
The purpose of all of it is protection. A mother loves her children fiercely because if she didn’t, she’d have no reason to keep them alive to adulthood.
A man loves his wife so she can be there to raise their children and teach the next generation. That is the purpose, Sapphira.”
Tears sting at Sapphira’s eyes before she realizes it. She turns away from the man’s searching gaze and wipes furiously at them.
She hears Teln?i’s footsteps and then his final words. “No, I wouldn’t give up Sekile for the world. He is my world,” and then he disappears. He takes the light with him, leaving her in darkness.
Sapphira stays in the kitchen too long, hot tears crawling down her face, and her arms wrapped around her failing middle.
Everything hurts. Her bones. Her heart. Her feet hurt to stand.
And when she finally stumbles her way back to the little room Isabel’s sleeping in, she slides back beneath the covers.
Isabel’s sleep warmth is trapped under the covers and wraps around Sapphira.
She itches to turn and mold herself to Isabel’s body, but she lies there staring at the ceiling until her eyes burn, Kaelen’s snores lulling her to sleep.
When morning comes, Sapphira is still exhausted.
Many people come to see her off, a sea of sad and disappointed faces in the crowd, and for a moment, Sapphira wonders what life might have been like if she had been raised here, among these people.
Not locked in a castle by people who wanted nothing to do with her.
Ice-Mistress Eleksai takes Sapphira’s hands in both of hers and gazes up at her fondly. “We would really love it if you’d consider staying,” she says. “There’s so much you could learn here.”
Sapphira doesn’t turn to Isabel, but she hears the sharp inhale behind her. Reaching back, she waits for Isabel to find her hand and squeezes.
Sapphira looks up at the elder, and then out at the many faces bundled under fur hoods. Her heart beats wildly in her chest like a runaway boar. This is a big decision. Maybe the biggest she’s ever made.
It was a dream to come here and meet people sharing her blood. To know that some part of her family loves her, no matter how distant. And maybe a part of Sapphira—she’s not sure how big that part is—is afraid that if she stays any longer, they might betray her too.
And she doesn’t want to be anywhere else but with Isabel—the woman she has watched break herself over and over for other people and who has never let anyone put her first. Sapphira will stay by her side and be what she needs if it’s the last thing she does.
“I’m sorry, I—”
The elder woman puts up a hand. “Wait,” she says. “Before you make your decision, let me show you something.”
Sapphira meets her ice-blue gaze for a long moment, then nods. She gives Isabel’s hand a squeeze and lets go to follow, Isabel’s sad eyes watching her as she’s led away.
They climb atop an ?kreüski, and Sapphira feels her stomach drop out of her back as she clutches the woman to her. The ice-mistress takes her to the crystal bridge, which is not what she was expecting.
Sapphira climbs off the eight-legged beast and hesitates on the foggy edge.
The elder steps onto the frosted steps and motions Sapphira forward.
Sapphira steps beside her, the bridge like ice beneath her feet, but surprisingly stable.
She looks around at the glittering structure in awe, laying her hand on one of the ivory spikes that protrude upward around her.
“It’s like bone . . .” she says in shock, the curved crystal cold under her touch. She thought so yesterday, but she wasn’t serious.
Sapphira glances up and notices that the elder has wandered farther away, and she scrambles to catch up. The woman’s eyes are distant, forlorn.
They walk and walk in silence, the fog like a separate entity settling around them and weaving around the spikes like icy fingers on a steel trap. When they finally stop walking, Sapphira squints into the distance. Nothing much can be seen here, just darkness and more fog, the bridge unending.
“Come,” the elder says. She walks toward the spiked figures, and Sapphira holds trembling fingers tight to one of them, legs shaking between the yawning gaps so close to the bottomless cavern that lies below.
“Look closely. Do you see that?” the ice-mistress says.
Pushing past her nerves to follow where she’s pointing, Sapphira peers ahead. “It looks like . . . a hand?” She startles and stumbles back, her heart racing, and she swears the bridge lurches beneath her, a sickening groan ringing out.
Els?ra turns to her. Sapphira joins her side again, staring out at the large hand, which is many times bigger than both of them. It’s frozen, encased in ice. The elder is watching Sapphira closely, her voice like a whisper in her ear, echoing the past.
“Long ago, there were two brothers. The hero Askerh?lla, who you may know, and Svikari.”
Sapphira’s brows furrow. “A liitle, yes. A woman at the light show earlier told me he was defeated by Askerh?lla.”
Els?ra shakes her head sadly. “I’m not suprised you haven’t heard of him sooner, if you live outside of Mork Kall.
The farther isles have forgotten what happened here.
This dominion is a remnant of C?rn?s and our history.
The giant, Svikari, was a king of giants, and he wanted to keep all of the wisdom and the gifts of immortality from humans.
He didn’t think they deserved that knowledge, and he wanted to hoard it all for himself.
Over the centuries, he grew hungry with power and wanted to rule the Elden Kingdoms. His brother, Askerh?lla, stopped him right here.
Slew him.” She looks down at that twisted hand.
His body made this bridge, which links C?rn?s to upper realms. But in his death, he set a curse to keep anyone from returning. ”
She looks sadly out into the fog. “We were cut off from our homelands, from our magic and our gods. It was said that there will come a day when an Heir of Ymir, child of the giant gods of old, will be the one to bring us home to C?rn?s.”
Sapphira’s eyes widen, her breath stuttering. “What does that even mean? The Heir of Ymir. Who is Ymir?”
“The originator,” she says. “The one who gave us all of our gifts. The head of the jotnar.”
“And you think I’m the Heir of Ymir?” Sapphira questions, unbelieving. “I’m not even from here. I’m from . . . some far off place outside Sule?hare?n.”
“But you are, child. Someone in your line was from Sule?hare?n. I don’t know how they came to be outside so far away, but they were from our tribe. You are one of us, Sapphira. Our hope to return home.”
Sapphira shakes her head, backing away. “I’m sorry,” she stutters.
“I can’t be. I—” Well, even if I was the Heir of Ymir, I can’t be their savior.
I’m not a hero like Askerh?lla was. She thinks of her aunt and cousins, who used her just like Cornelius and Circe did.
Like everyone did. Until Isabel. She thinks of Isabel’s sad face when she walked away.
“I’m sorry, Ice-Mistress. I can’t be who you want me to be.”
Els?ra purses her lips and nods, like she was expecting this.
Then she smiles an all-knowing smile. Sapphira didn’t notice when they started moving again, but they’re back on solid ground now, and she climbs atop the ?kreüski, ready to return home and back to Isabel’s cottage.
They ride back in silence, Sapphira’s eyes trained to her hands which clench around the reins, her mind playing the Ice Mistress’ words in a loop.
She notices Isabel in the distance, and the chimera lights up when she sees her. Sapphira scrambles to her feet and hurries to her side. The Ice Mistress is helped down from the beast and approaches.
“It was wonderful being here and meeting all of you,” Sapphira tells the ice-mistress. “Truly, a dream. But . . .” she takes Isabel’s hand again. “I’ve already found where I belong.”
The ice-mistress smiles at Kaelen before her gaze settles on Isabel. She leans forward and cups Isabel’s jaw. “Yes, I can see you’ve already found your home. Well, if there’s nothing I can do to convince you, I will just say we’ll welcome you back anytime. Lifeu saell. Koma aftur einn dag.”
She hands Sapphira a gift wrapped in a square of fur. Sapphira unwraps it and stares at it in awe.
“It’s a whale tooth,” the ice-mistress says. “It’ll bring you luck.”
“Thank you,” Sapphira whispers, bowing as she rewraps the gift and clutches it to her chest.
“Thank you for your gracious welcome,” Isabel says, squeezing the ice-mistress’s hand and bowing. She waves to Sekile and Teln?i behind her. “May the stars guide your days and nights.”
Kaelen gives an awkward bow to the elder, too, and then turns his nose up at Teln?i, whose cheeks turn red. Sekile elbows him again. A few children Kaelen played with yesterday race toward him and wrap their tiny arms around his legs.
“Don’t go!” they cry.
“Sorry, ninos y ninas, but this draek?n has got to fly,” Kaelen says.
Their parents come and pry them off Kaelen, who tries to appear like he doesn’t care. Sapphira has learned to see through him though. He acts like he doesn’t like many things, but he’s truly a soft guy. He reminds her a lot of Dorian.
“Thank you, all, for welcoming me,” Sapphira says. “If I’m ever nearby or visiting Mork Kall, I will come.”
Kaelen transforms. Then Isabel and Sapphira climb the takops’s back and fly off.