Epilogue #4
Of course, their guests also included Olarr and Aulis and their children, much to Svein’s delight, as well as Gwyn and Joarr, and Stella and Silfast, and their children, too.
And these days, Raye found herself feeling genuinely grateful for Silfast, who had shifted in her mind from an alarming authoritarian to a fierce, faithful defender of the clan, who worshipped his plump, gentle Stella with steadfast devotion.
Multiple guests from the other clans had come to join in the fun as well, and Raye greeted Rosa and Daisy with genuine pleasure, squeezing them both tight.
And to her astonishment, it turned out that Daisy had brought them a gift — a large, beautifully drawn portrait of Raye, Kalfr, Gaelfr, and Svein, all standing and smiling together before their byrgi.
Raye startled at the sight, staring down at the portrait in its simple wood frame.
It was drawn in the same style as that old original portrait of Kalfr and Sybil, except that now it was Raye on Kalfr’s arm, and he was tall and hale and smiling, the warmth shining in his eyes.
His hands were on a similarly grinning Svein’s shoulders, and Gaelfr was grinning too, his arm slung around Kalfr and Raye both.
And Raye herself looked impossibly lovely, plump and rosy-cheeked and glowing, her hair a halo of curls around her head.
“Oh, goddess, Daisy,” Raye choked, blinking back the tears stinging behind her eyes. “This is so beautiful. Thank you.”
Daisy bashfully smiled and waved it away, leaning into her tall, cloaked, tattooed mate beside her. “Well, I’m still not sure I got your faces quite right,” she replied, “but I felt awful about distressing you all so much with the last one, and wanted to give you a new one instead.”
Raye gratefully smiled back, and traced a careful finger against where her hand was curled around Kalfr’s waist, with no weapons to be seen. “It truly is so generous of you, Daisy,” she said thickly. “And no hidden knives this time, either.”
Daisy blinked, looking increasingly perplexed, while her mate gave her a fond, sharp-toothed smile, and guided her forward into the party.
And behind them was a decidedly smug-looking Kesst, along with his brother Rathgarr, and their mates and children.
“I may have originally suggested the idea to her,” Kesst told them, with a meaningful nod toward the new portrait in Raye’s hands.
“Aren’t you glad we Ash-Kai decided to get involved, and fix your unholy mess? ”
Raye could feel Gaelfr stiffening beside her — he still nursed a lasting dislike toward Kesst — but she put her hand to his arm, and gave Kesst a warm smile.
“Yes, we’re so grateful to you all,” she said firmly.
“And we’ve been talking about our plans for next year, and thinking we’ll enroll Svein at the school, for at least a few days each week? ”
Thankfully, this led to an animated discussion about school curriculum and scheduling, and soon Rosa popped back over, too, inviting Raye to join her next session of Aelakesh classes for humans at the mountain.
To which Raye readily agreed, since despite Julian adding several weekly tutoring sessions in Aelakesh for her and Svein, the band’s common-tongue lessons still took the majority of his time and attention, and Rurik had refused to allow him to take on any more.
“Oh, gods, Rurik,” Kesst cut in, with an aggravated roll of his eyes, once Raye had mentioned that particular detail.
“Do you know what that devious bastard has been doing, with the exorbitant fees he’s been charging everyone for his services?
He’s been sending it all north, to this supposedly brilliant Ash-Kai healer who he’s been trying to recruit — and seduce into his bed! ”
Raye winced, darting a look across the garden to where Rurik and Julian were tucked behind some shrubbery, Rurik with his arm around Julian’s shoulder, murmuring something in his ear.
And though Julian was smiling, and leaning back against him, Raye could also see some distinct tightness around his eyes and mouth, just like Kalfr had worn in that old portrait.
And during these past months, she’d caught hints of that tension when working with Julian, too, or just chatting with him as they went about their days.
The wistful way he talked about Rurik, the desperate way he tried to please him, the way he’d told Raye, once, that he wished they could stay at the byrgi forever, and never go back north again.
“You really think Rurik is trying to seduce this new Ash-Kai?” Raye asked Kesst, under her breath, and though it was perhaps gossiping, she’d also heard a few hints of this, and as her band’s watcher, she had a right to know these things.
“You’re sure it’s not just a — collegial collaboration of healers, or something? ”
Kesst scoffed, and reached behind him to grip at the arm of his mate Efterar, who also happened to be a brilliant healer, and served as the head of Orc Mountain’s sickroom.
“Oh, spare me,” Kesst replied, his voice scathing.
“If Eft took all our coin and then ran off and locked himself alone in a room with another healer for a week, and then told me it was a collegial collaboration, I would claw out his tongue and stomp on it, wouldn’t I, Eft? ”
Efterar returned this alarming threat with an affectionate smile, and a kiss to Kesst’s glossy hair. “Ach, Sweet-Fang,” he murmured. “And I would deserve it, being fool enough to betray a prize like you.”
Kesst preened beneath the praise, and shot Efterar a smug smile before glaring off toward Rurik again.
“I also heard something about some woman he’s been hunting in the north, too,” he snapped.
“That bastard is going to hurt Julian, and then we’re going to need to slog all the way up there, and make him suffer.
As if we don’t have enough work to do already! ”
Efterar made a shushing noise toward Kesst, stroking at his shoulder, and though Kesst still huffed with irritation, he allowed Efterar to lead him off into the party.
Leaving Raye to exchange a silent speaking look with Kalfr, who she knew had been worrying about Julian, too — but Julian was still a capable adult, and apart from all this, Rurik still treated him with undeniable kindness and care, and a concern for his wellbeing that was almost as obsessive as Gaelfr’s.
Either way, it was a problem for another day, and Raye returned her attention back to the party — welcoming and chatting with their guests, making sure the snacks and drinks were well stocked, and running off to the byrgi to fetch various items for Grum.
Who was still working on his elaborate slow-roast, now with the help of two silver-haired cooks from Orc Mountain — a genial Ash-Kai named Gegnir and his chipper human mate Olga, who kept teasing Grum and poking him with her wooden spoon until his cheeks had flushed a bright pink.
On one of Raye’s trips back into the byrgi, she found Daisy and Rosa and several others clustered around the fireplace, admiring what hung above it. And Raye stilled at the sight, her fingers nervously lacing together, because it was — her tapestry. The first one she’d made, when she’d come here.
And though she’d made several more since then, this one was still special.
It had taken her almost two months to finish, row by painstaking row, but now that it was complete, it was perhaps her favourite piece she’d ever woven.
At its centre was a silvery round moon, and surrounding it was a riot of colourful plants, all twining together.
The white trillium, the crocuses, the roses, the mushrooms, the Mirkandian rose mallow, and multiple sprays of pine, still with a few pinecones attached.
All reminders of her journey here, of everything they’d done together, of the messy beauty they’d made, in spite of all their scars.
Daisy glanced back toward where Raye was still hovering near the door, and smiled as she waved her closer. “This is incredible, sister,” she said. “I’ve never seen any weaving like it. What a blessing for you, and your clan. For all of us.”
A blessing. Raye fought back the sudden, overpowering urge to weep, and she replied with a bow of her head, a touch of her fist to her heart.
Yes. It had been such a blessing to return to her weaving, to carry forward her mother’s great gift, her family’s trade.
To raise it to its rightful place of honour in her life, and in her new family’s life, too.
“Aught amiss, saeta?” came Gaelfr’s voice from behind her, and Raye leaned back into his solid embrace, the familiar inhale of his head into her neck.
He’d surely sensed her emotion around this, and had come to check on her, as he so often did — but she could already sense him settling again, eyeing the group of admirers around Raye’s tapestry.
“Ach, I follow,” he said, with distinct approval. “Praising your skill and good work, as they ought. But now come, for Grum is carving the meat, and you must eat.”
Raye gratefully obliged, linking her arm with his as they headed back into the garden, to where Kalfr and Svein were already waiting for them.
Grum had begun cutting the meat to great fanfare, and Raye joined in the round of hearty clapping and stomping.
And once Gaelfr had handed her an overfull plate of roasted vegetables and meat, she gasped at the meat’s sweet, succulent flavour, the way it almost fell off the bones, melting in her mouth.