I was laying on the ground outside. The air smelled like summer, dust, and cats. Overhead the sky was clear and vibrant blue. It had been raining when I’d gotten back to my apartment. How had it changed so fast?

I could hear voices and…

Hands closed on my shoulders.

“Don’t crowd her!” Someone snapped and the hands lifted me up halfway into sitting. I blinked hard, trying to force my eyes to focus on the bleary shapes around me. They were speaking Arlese in sharp, alarmed tones. Was I –was I home?

Had the Guide sent me home?

I was surrounded by a group of guards wearing my clan crest emblazoned over their left shoulder guard. They were mostly elves, women I recognized from my year group even, but two of them were Marshlanders standing as close as their spikes and bulk would allow as they hissed out their distress. Past them I could see the red-streaked granite that characterized the walls of the Clan Seat at Red Harbor.

Stars, I was home.

“Aster?” I blinked owlishly at the person holding me up; a tall, powerfully built elf woman with tawny brown skin, a smooth cap of warm black hair tied back in a blue headband, and eyes like pale citrine. She looked like Aster, but she had a Captain’s stripe down the right side of her face. The stain looked fresh. Why was it fresh? Promotions in the Guard didn’t happen until the year end. “How’d I get here?”

“She’s talking.” Someone out of sight said. Going by their hissed sibilants, it must have been a Marshlander. I was too addled to recognize who beyond that. “Speech is good. Make her move her eyes and limbs.”

“I can hear you just fine.” I tried to obey, but my body was sluggish. Moving my arms was all right, but my legs didn’t respond the right way. “There was a Guide…” I squeezed my eyes shut as a headache stabbed me in the temples. “Oh, I hurt.”

That put the fox among the hens as the guards erupted into noise, all talking over each other.

“A Guide?” “She’s got the crossing sickness.” “She can’t possibly. Humans don’t get it.”

Aster didn’t engage. She bounced me in her lap once to get a proper grip on me and, to my dismay, lifted me up.

It wasn’t the first time Aster had picked me up and carried me around. She’d been in the one of year groups ahead of me and part of her communal service period to the clan as a girl had been minding the semi-feral packs of children that ran around the Keep and town. The children my age had three great fears in life; the Duke, the Shaman, and Aster.

This time at least I wasn’t thrown over her shoulder or tucked under one arm like an unhappy football.

“I can walk.” I complained.

“Poppet.” Aster’s voice was strained as she charged through the fairy-lit halls of the Keep. “You’re bleeding from your eyes and ears and you aren’t wearing any shoes.”

Alarmed, I touched my cheek to feel little rivulets of cool tacky fluid streaked down my face. I pulled my fingers away and stared at the drying blood clinging to the tips.

Oh.

I hadn’t been crying.

Aster hauled me up a flight of stairs and into the magi’s tower. A study session must have just let out because the first level was crowded with apprentices. I stayed quiet as wide-eyed young elves in novitiate vests threw themselves out of Aster’s way.

The room Aster brought me to was a smallish, sunlit study where a single mage – a willowy and elegant lady I didn’t recognize who wore her pale gray hair in a floor-length plait tucked over her shoulder- sat by the window puzzling through a thick old book. Her gaze snapped up as Aster clomped in and she sprang up out of her seat when she saw me.

“Larkspur, we need you.” Aster wheezed. “There was a Guide.”

“I see that.” Larkspur pointed at her worktable. “Lay her there.”

“I feel fine.” I protested, but Aster never had taken direction from me. I don’t know why I thought she’d start now.

“You might be fine.” Larkspur laid her cold hands against my face. “You’re not bleeding anymore. It’s very possible that the Guide healed you. They don’t often hurt people for no reason.”

“It was angry with me.” Her hands felt very good and I realized I was overheated. “Then it looked in my head and… wasn’t? I don’t remember it all.”

“No, you wouldn’t be sane if you did. They can’t talk like we do. They’re too big and too much.” Larkspur agreed. She let me go and sighed in relief. “It’s all right. You look worse than you are. Do you remember what it wanted?”

I blinked hard, trying to reassemble my fragmented memories. “It’s the Guide at the Gate where the Jorgumandr expedition crossed over.” It was hard to tell my memories of the exchange from the emotions that the Guide had left behind. “They’re going to die and it –it thought I had something to do with it?” I looked up at Larkspur.

Aster made an angry noise, but it died at a look from Larkspur.

She pursed her lips. “Maybe. You said it was angry at first and then it wasn’t?”

“It didn’t really speak using words. I just… felt what it felt.”

“Hmm. Guides read the minds of everyone they transport. You don’t remember it because it takes those memories away before leaving. As you’ve learned, psychic contact with a Guide is distressing at best. They’re not omniscient though. All it would have known before it touched your mind was what the other humans knew about you since you’ve likely never travelled by Guide before. That must have been what happened.” Larkspur tapped her fingers gently against the curve of my jaw. It felt nice. “…and it brought you here?”

“It dropped her right into my arms.” Aster interjected.

“It wouldn’t do that for no reason.” Larkspur released me. “If it had absolved her of guilt then it would have left her where she was with no memory of the encounter. It still wants something. They have agendas sometimes. There’s something it wants from the humans otherwise it wouldn’t be so furious about the possibility of them dying. It must have to do with the dwarves.” She turned to the open door and I realized my mom was standing there. “Lady Catherine?”

My mother was a slight woman, but you almost never realized it unless you were watching her sleep. Her presence could fill a room. To begin with, she was completely white –not Caucasian white although she had been once, but the white of alabaster; her hair, skin, irises were all paper white save for the pinprick blacks of her pupils. If you cut her, she bled clear.

Aster and Larkspur fell back as she came to my side. It wasn’t fear, exactly, but cautious respect and some discomfort. It was almost impossible to relax in my mother’s presence unless you loved her as well as my father or I did.

“Are you all right?” She asked me, low and urgent.

“Yes.” I was feeling more myself already.

Mom turned a look on Larkspur. “Did I overhear you correctly? A Guide did this?”

“And undid it.” Larkspur folded her hands and kept her gaze glued to the floor. As a mage, my mother’s presence was triply uncomfortable for her. “If I may speculate? It wants something. There may yet be a chance of saving the humans and if a Guide is concerned with them then it may be in our best interests to help it. There are old stories of Guides closing their gates to those who have defied them.”

Silence reigned for an impossibly long heartbeat before Aster turned and bolted out the door. Mom snorted and tucked her hands into her sleeves, but not fast enough for anyone to miss the way they were shaking.

Elves didn’t need help to access Earth, but the Gates did more than move between different material planes. You could also travel between Gates on the same plane, which was something we had not shared with the humans yet. It required different rituals and the residents near a Gate wouldn’t share theirs easily. Still, trade in Anwyn was heavily reliant on the Gates. Our merchants didn’t have cars or planes or trains. They travelled in caravans pulled by horses or oxen and overland travel was dangerous. Unlike Earth, when our maps said ‘here be dragons’ it wasn’t an exaggeration. Losing access to a Gate could cripple the entire area.

I’d never heard of Guide refusing to transport someone, but I’d never heard of one asking for anything before either.

“Mom…” My voice died as I tried and failed to put together a plea. I didn’t even know what it was I was trying to ask for.

“Markham can mummify in the mountains for all I care.” Mom snapped, but her eyes softened. “You said there was junior staff?”

“Shelby and Emil.” I confirmed. Using their names was manipulative, but I was willing to use any tool at hand to sway her.

Neither of them were friends of mine, but they’d never been cruel to me. Shelby had been patient while I was being trained and Emil would always stop to help carry boxes even though he would never have gotten anything out of it. Neither of them deserved to die because the space cadet they worked for was a dick to my mom once. “They were in the intern cadre last year.”

“Just kids.” Mom shook herself and looked at Larkspur, who bowed deeper. “Find Coryfae and explain the situation. Tell her to find us an excuse to enter the dwarrowlands.”

“It will be done.” Larkspur rose, graceful as a lily. Her green eyes faded into blank whiteness. Space folded in on her and then she was gone.

Mom pointed at me. “You.” Her voice brooked no argument. “Stay here. Help is coming.”

“What?” I started to ask, but then I realized that the hem of my mother’s skirt ended a foot from the ground. I’d been talking to a sending the entire time and hadn’t realized. I closed my eyes and cursed at myself. I was in worse shape than I’d thought. Of course, my mother wouldn’t have been able to physically reach me within minutes of my arrival. Her offices were on the other side of the keep. That was a twenty minute run away.

“Yes mother.” I agreed. I was feeling a lot more obedient now that I knew that there’d be nobody around to catch me if I fell trying to get off the desk. My legs still felt disconnected from my body and I wasn’t all that sure of my balance.

Help arrived a handful of minutes later in the red-cheeked and winded form of a beautifully gowned young girl with a red apprentice band pinned to her sleeve. I didn’t know her. She had the soft chestnut colored hair and green eyes typical of the south –possibly one of the coastal families? Her skin was a deeper shade of gold than the northern elves so maybe.

She drew herself and curtsied as well as one could when you only had a second to spare for it.

“Please don’t try to get down by yourself.” She gasped as I started to swing my legs over the edge of the desk.

“It’s all right.” I promised her. “It’s better than it looks.”

“It would almost have to. Let me get under your arm before you try to put your feet down.”

Between the two of us I got down without much incident. I was weaker than I thought and was forced to lean heavily on my rescuer as she guided me into the hall.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I know your name.”

“It’s Kayt, my lady. I came from Telluri to Red Harbor for my interview with the shamans.” She seemed to know where we were going, so I let her guide us. “I was offered a place here to do my clan service and apprenticeship under the guidance of Ornatrix Efa.”

“Efa has her mastery?” I couldn’t help my smile. I don’t know why I was surprised. Efa was part of my year group and had always been an overachiever. I’d been in her care for three years during my own term of public service and I’d never been better dressed.

Aster was a guard captain and Efa had an apprentice already. I wondered what my other year mates had achieved while I’d been gone.

“Yes, but only recently.” Kayt admitted. “I’m her first apprentice.”

Kayt took us out of the Magi’s tower and into utter chaos. The courtyard was alive with rushing bodies. I could hear Aster’s raised voice somewhere out of sight, but Kayt drew me closer to the wall and out of the way.

“This way, my lady. Let’s get you cleaned up first.”

I was in no shape to linger, but I tried to take in as much of the chaos in the courtyard as I could. Someone had gotten out three of the big cat sleighs and I could hear the unhappy grizzling of a queen cat who’d been forced out of her cool den and into the summer sun.

The winter bath hall was deserted during this time of the year and while the water was kept clean no one bothered with the boiler unless it had been raining. During the cold months there were never less than twenty of my kinsfolk in there soaking out the chill, but today I bathed in solitary and lukewarm splendor. It was as close to private as we could get. The summer baths were open air and if any of my aunties or uncles saw blood on me then we’d lose hours. If Larkspur was right then we didn’t have even seconds to spare.

Kayt stripped me down to my shirt before she attacked with a damp towel. I was a sullen patient until I saw the amount of dried blood coming away from my face then I was as helpful as I could make myself. I couldn’t face my father looking like that. It was bad enough that mom had seen.

It turned out that the blood had gotten everywhere including my hair and that was the cruellest blow. My hair was in sengalese twists and while I loved the style, they went frizzy on me if I so much as looked at water. Frizzy hair was better than the alternative though, so we rinsed them out and hoped for the best. We didn’t have time for anything else.

I was scrubbing at my arms and Kayt was disposing of the now rust-colored cloths we’d already gone through when dad found me.

If Aster towered over me by a head then Duke Harou, my father, had both head and shoulders on me. He’d seemed like a giant when I was a child, albeit a friendly one who let me ride on his shoulders and liked to fuss.

I expected him to start shouting. He didn’t. His silence was excruciating as he reached forward to cup my face. “Roll your eyes for me, sweetheart.” He put me through the same tests Aster had. Then he made me move a dagger from one hand to another behind my back without cutting myself, walk a straight line with my eyes closed, and then recite a verse from memory before the tension eased from his shoulders.

“I’m all right, dad.” I promised him. Behind his back, Kayt slunk in from the open door, grabbed my bloodstained jacket, hid it behind her skirts, and crept out walking backwards.

“For the moment.” He scowled. “Are you well enough for a jump?”

“I’ll have to be.”

He nodded and I could tell that my concerned father had taken a backseat to my political leader. “Then we have decisions to make.” He put his arm around me and space crumpled around us. When I opened my eyes I was in my mother’s solar.

The room was abandoned, but only recently. I could see discarded ledgers, instruments, and handiwork littering the floor near a ring of cushions and rugs. Mom had been hosting the aunties when I’d called. Had she been on the line when the Guide struck?

I hoped not.

Mom’s solar sat outside the Family apartment; i.e. the rooms my parents shared with all the aunties and uncles who made up their household. I hadn’t lived there since I was twelve. Children belonged to the Clan as a whole and were moved to the children’s dormitories when they were old enough to start career training in preparation of one day grouping up into their own households, but some part of me always thought of it as ‘home’ whenever I had a reason to visit.

Straight away, we almost tripped over a trunk left just inside the sitting room door. There were others stacked on their side of it. By the look of it, someone had dragged my mother’s old winter wardrobe out of storage.

Kayt had beaten us to the apartment and was deep in conversation with a very familiar figure. Efa looked up as we entered and pointed at me then at a cushion by the wall, out of the way. She’d grown out her hair since I’d seen her last and her figure had filled out. Like Kayt, she was elegantly and simply dressed. “Sit. Kayt will bring you something to eat. Try and choke it down. Food’s the only thing that helps crossing sickness.”

Efa had trained me well when we were girls. I was on the cushion before it occurred to me that I didn’t have to let her boss me around anymore, but by then it was too late.

“You’ll be in good care here, I see.” Dad snorted and kissed my forehead. “I need to be in the Courtyard. You’ll be leaving within the hour. Efa and her apprentice will act as your ladies of the chamber. Be good for them.”

Kayt gave me crackers dressed in coarse salt and a thin sugary glaze. My stomach did not want food, so I took my time with them. No one consulted me as Efa raided my mother’s chests, but I hadn’t been home for more than a few holidays since I’d left for college. My own wardrobe wouldn’t be good enough for a state visit and I didn’t know the current styles anymore.

“This one for the journey.” Efa announced to the room in general as she flicked the creases out of a long, plush indigo robe lined in white rabbit fur. She looked at Kayt. “Layer it over the light blue over-gown with two of the silk wraps below. It only needs to look good on the top layer. The rest must be warm and comfortable.”

Kayt looked at me and then asked Efa, “Hair?”

“We don’t have time for hair.” Efa gestured and a broad brimmed blue hat trimmed in white feathers and a pale blue merino scarf sailed out of the closet to land on the stack of clothing Efa had amassed in the center of the room. “Use these. Remember, she won’t be able…”

“...to regulate her own temperature.” Kayt knelt by my side and gave me more crackers. “We’ll make sure you’re comfortable, my lady.”

I waited until Kayt had her back turned to give Efa a thumbs up, which she accepted with a proud nod. She had a good apprentice.

Clan children all interviewed with the elders and shamans when they were old enough to leave their parents’ household in order to determine their future careers and what training they would need.

I was no exception and Shaman Noe apologized to me when she chose me as a future Clan Speaker; a deeply unpopular job among Elves since it meant constant travel far away from home. Speakers had to establish their own mobile households and as a result tended to live lonely, unsettled lives.

I’d chosen to look at it as an opportunity. After all, where else would I be speaking for the Clan other than our nearest border and my original homeworld?

Efa had been given control of my wardrobe and toilette shortly afterwards as part of her own career training, not because I particularly needed to be presentable. Trainee diplomats only wore black while working and kept their hair back in a plain tail, but my father decided earlier was better when it came to unlearning my bad habits --like choosing my own wardrobe.

She was kind enough about incorporating my own preferences into her plans. I’m not the easiest person to style even for other humans. Like many mixed girls my hair has multiple, contrary textures. I do best in a protective style, but elves don’t have curly hair beyond a slight wave so she’d faced an uphill battle on that front with only my mother -a blonde, white lady from an equally white and very rural farming community- for help.

Kayt didn’t shy away from the task at hand. She layered the wrap-dresses over the remains of my once-nice pant suit. It was close enough to traditional elven foundation garments to make no difference in the way the outer gowns lay. Then she coiled my sad and damp braids into something like a gibson tuck fixed with long gold pins and covered it all with a warm shawl so I wouldn’t freeze.

I was hot already, but I knew I’d appreciate the heavier clothes as soon as we left.

If there was no time for hair then there was no time for cosmetics, but that didn’t stop Kayt from attacking what little of my smeared mascara that had survived the bathhouse with an oiled cloth. I didn’t want to face my former coworkers with any evidence that I’d been crying on my face so I submitted without complaint.

Guards appeared regularly to take away packed cases as Efa filled them. A lady of the chamber had complete control of a household’s wardrobe and public appearance so I was reassured that those trunks were not just mine otherwise that was a lot of luggage for what should be a very short trip.

I still needed Kayt’s support when it was time to go back to the courtyard. Aster had assembled a team of four guards including herself -all Elves, the Marshlanders would suffer in Jorgumandr without careful planning that we didn’t have time for- and three big cat sleighs. The cats themselves were unhappy in the summer heat, but too well-controlled by the queen cat to do more than moan about it a little.

To my surprise Larkspur was also among my assembled staff, but it made sense when I thought about it. Magi were almost all gray. Magic bleached the melanin out of their hair and the stronger they were the faster it went. Larkspur was Aster’s age and already nearly white-haired. It stood to reason that she was very strong.

It wasn’t just cold on Jorgumandr. It was also dangerous. We’d make a small party and had to move quickly. We needed a strong mage with us.

My father had been inspecting the sleighs and turned as Efa and Kayt escorted me out into the sun. He walked over and scooped me into a hug.

“Coryfae got a message out through the relay towers.” He squeezed my shoulders. “The dwarves acknowledged. The gates will be open when you arrive. Let the cats take the lead when you reach Jorgumandr. They’re trained for rescue. You know the Seek command. They’ll handle the rest. This…” there he handed me a sealed document case, “...is our excuse for getting you into Ravnvaldr. Review it once you’re underway. You’ll be meeting with Ylem shortly after you arrive. We’ve packed a few weeks of supplies to help get you all through dwarf food. Try and leave as soon as our business is settled. Ylem can get his guests home on his own, but…” He looked pained as he often did when his instincts as a parent were at odds with his needs as a political leader. “... if you spot any good opportunities then write home. Larkspur will be able to send messages for you. We’ll decide what to do from there.”

“Might as well make the trip worthwhile.” I tried to smile.

“I’m more curious to find out why the dwarves and Guides are suddenly interested in humans. They couldn’t be bothered before now.” He took a breath, still frowning. “I don’t like sending you out like this.”

“I know, dad. I’ll be careful.” I returned his hug and didn’t ask where mom was. The sleigh cats were already on edge being out in the hot. If she put in an appearance then they’d lose it and take the sleighs with them. We didn’t have time to chase them down.

“Your mother sends her love.” Dad whispered into my ear. “Be good for Efa and Aster. Be swift, be vigilant, and come home soon.”

He handed me up into the front sleigh accompanied by Aster and Larkspur. It had been ages since I’d driven cats, but my hands remembered better than I did. One might have wondered why I was driving, considering I had to be supported into the courtyard, but this was mostly symbolic so that the onlookers wouldn’t realize anything was wrong and snitch on us to my aunties and uncles. They already knew I’d been offended by Markham’s people. If they knew that I’d gotten hurt over it then at least one of them would chase us down and while they’d see reason eventually, the key word there was eventually.

The queen cat was hitched in the lead with four cats in traces behind her. She was one of the older cats in the stable and knew very well that if we were going anywhere then it was East towards the nearest Gate. She ran on the ground for a bit and then with only the slightest urging from me leapt up into the sky pulling the sleigh behind her.

We sailed over the green treetops and Red Harbor became smaller and smaller until I could no longer look back enough to see it behind us.

I’d never come home only to leave so soon.

“I’m ready to skip us, my lady.” Larkspur spoke up behind me.

“All right.” I called out a warning to the cats and white light eclipsed my vision. When it cleared we were somewhere else. The trees were still green and I recognized the terrain. Larkspur had skipped us about twenty miles east. We travelled a few minutes before I felt confident the cats were ready to skip again.

Larkspur skipped the sleighs ahead every few minutes. I kept expecting her to stop for a rest, but she showed no signs of slowing down unless the cats complained. She sat back in the bench next to me looking ahead with half-lidded eyes as she calculated the next skip. She’d done fourteen jumps and near as I could tell she hadn’t even started to sweat.

I wondered where she’d come from. I couldn’t imagine any Clan letting such a talented caster just leave. She also knew more about Guides than anyone I’d ever met. Then again, if she’d wanted to leave then who would have been able to stop her?

“We’re approaching the Gate, my lady.” Larkspur said. “I can feel the presence of a Guide.”

I nodded. I could see the presence of a guide. Larkspur had skipped us the entire way in less than twenty hops, which I hadn’t known was possible.

I was going to have to make it a point to stay on her good side.

The Gate we were aiming for occupied a perfectly round clearing not too far ahead of us nestled in the surrounding old growth forest. A Guide was coiled up inside the clearing like a winged snake the size of a fortress, glowing bright enough to be seen for miles. Usually they wouldn’t appear until someone had completed the ritual to summon them.

“Looks like you were right. It is waiting for us. Slowing down.” I called out the command for descent. The queen cat grumbled in annoyance, but started to angle herself in a gentle downwards trajectory. The trees rose up until we were skimming just above the highest tops. I guided the cats towards the Gate clearing.

The guide lifted its diamond shaped head to watch us land. I brought us down just behind it and directed the cats to circle around so that we came to a stop at its base. It lowered its head down to meet me, but did not try to touch my mind again.

I breathed out my relief. “Thank you. We’ll go now.” I replied and closed my eyes as it looped around us.

When I opened them we were on the border of a snowy forest. I could see the tracks of five unseasoned travelers heading toward the tree line. I’d sort of hoped they’d be waiting at the Gate, but I realized right away it was too exposed there. After dropping someone off, the Guides wouldn’t always respond to that same group for a while. The Adirondack Guide, for some reason, must have wanted them to make it to Ravnvaldr very badly to leave them there despite its distress. Once they’d realized they couldn’t just turn around and go home the expedition would have immediately left to seek shelter. Our sleds were insulated a bit with magic, but the wind still felt like razors on my exposed skin.

The lead cat hardly needed prompting and took us in the direction of our quarry. Dad had said she had rescue training and it showed.

“No distance skipping for the time being, please.” I told Larkspur, who nodded. “Save yourself for when we need to make least time to Ravnvaldr.”

“By your command, my lady.” Larkspur receded into the protective cocoon of her furs.

The lead cat was a better tracker than I could hope to be. The snow thinned once we got under the trees. The trees in Jorgumandr had evolved to keep their broad shield-sized leaves year round and prevented the forest floor from being smothered under compacted snow. I lost the trail twice over bare earth and she picked it back up at once. Even so, we almost went past the crude bivouac that the expedition team had erected by stretching several coats across the gap between two tall boulders. The trees overhead had dumped some snow on them, so it was easy to mistake their shelter for one more snowy lump in a grotto full of them.

Angie must have heard the cat bells because she came bursting out of the shelter. Her beautiful burgundy suit dress was so damp it looked black. The cats shied, but avoided her. Larkspur cast under her breath and the air closed in on us like thick down pillows, devouring our inertia.

“WAIT!” She shouted, waving her arms and teetering on the least suitable shoes for walking in snow possible. Markham emerged not too far behind her. He looked… bad.

I bit my lip. I’d known Elliot Markham wasn’t a young man, but he could usually pass for a vigorous if distractible forty-something. In the cold and the wet, he looked a lot closer to his real age.

We didn’t quite stop on a dime. I had to pull the cats around to keep from leaving the people we came to rescue behind us. Angie staggered up to the driver’s bench and caught himself on the edge.

“Thank you for stopping.” She wheezed. “I have five people with me. We’re going to freeze to death. Please, we’re expected at the Keep and I don’t think we’ll make it there alive on foot.”

She couldn’t see me, I realized. Between my ridiculous plumed hat, goggles, scarves, and furs the only visible part of me was my gloved hands. I tilted my hat back and pulled down my goggles to rest around my neck.

“I’m aware.” I told her and she startled backwards, recognizing my voice. I looked at Larkspur. “Alert the others.”

She nodded and stood, shedding her furs, and hopped out of the sleigh. The unrelieved red of her robes made her look like poinsettia against the snow or a splash of blood. The top crust of the snow remained solid under her feet.

“Neumann?” She blinked hard. I was surprised she knew my name. Her attention seemed split between me and watching Larkspur do a passable impression of Orlando Bloom as Legolas. “What are you…?”

One of my guards, Odele, appeared at Angie’s elbow. “This way.” Her tone brooked no opposition and Angie was led away to the middle sleigh.

Larkspur returned, escorting Markham wrapped up in a blanket with Aster and Amos following not far behind. “They’re mostly all right, my lady. They found shelter at once and shared body heat. Someone knew a little of what to do.” She reported to me. “This one seems the most affected. He should ride with us and I’ll tend to him. Captain Aster will take over from me in the front.”

I looked at Aster. All elves could skip the same way all humans could sing. That is to say; it was easier for some than others and if you weren’t trained for it then trying certain advanced techniques could cause you permanent damage. “Can you manage without overextending yourself?” In terms of cost versus benefit, it might make more sense to have Aster look after Markham if Larkspur could get us to the Keep sooner.

“Aye, my lady.” Aster smirked. “Larkspur took the troll’s share of work getting us here. I can skip us enough times to make it to Ravnvaldr in good time. She’s heated the other sleighs and the chamber ladies can get our passengers dried out enough that we can afford to take our time.”

I looked over my shoulder at Markham and my unease intensified. He looked half dead. Everyone else on the team was young and could bounce back faster. Being dropped into magical Siberia right after a crossover hadn’t done him any favors. He hadn’t even noticed me yet. It was such a stark change from the person I was used to. I still didn’t like him much nor did I have cause to, but no one deserved that.

I caught Larkspur’s eye. “Do whatever you need to.” I told her and she nodded gravely.

Amos caught sight of my face right then and stopped dead in the snow, eyes wide, and jaw slack. It was the most gratifying moment I could possibly imagine except for the fact that he’d be riding in my sleigh. I caught Aster’s eye and nodded at him. She chuffed a laugh, leaned out of the sleigh to scruff him by the back of the jacket, and lifted him in with one hand. She looked at me and leaned in.

“Let me take the reins for now. I can drive and skip at the same time. They’ll have questions and I’d prefer if you weren’t guiding the cats once they’re feeling well enough to talk.” She said.

I looked back to the other sleighs and counted heads. Someone had disassembled the shelter and everyone was inside a sleigh, more or less seated. I looked back and nodded.

Amos startled back as I stood and stepped over the divider.

“Move out!” Aster called and got responses from the other drivers. “We’ll be going overland until the cats have warmed up some.”

Borderline hypothermia and shock kept my new passengers quiet for a while, but Larkspur was a little too good at her work. Healing was its own branch of magic, but all magic-workers knew at least a little. My mage seemed to know more than most. She cast quietly, confidently, and without pause. The air in the sled took on the feel and scent of dry summer. I could feel the tingle of healing magic along the back of my neck.

“Thank you. I feel much better now.” Markham said. He peered around with sluggish interest and settled his attention on me. I could almost see him categorize me as the most decorated person in sight, therefore the one in charge. Mother would be insufferable when she found out. “I apologize for my manners, madam. My name is Elliot Markham. I’m on a mission of friendship to the Keep at Ravnvaldr, but our hosts didn’t arrive to meet us. Thank you for your timely rescue.”

I’d never actually spoken much to Markham except for some forced small talk at the office Christmas party. Like this he sounded intelligent, patient, and personable. For a moment I could see why most everyone else at the Bureau liked him.

It was so at odds with the troubles and tensions between BIR and my clan that I wondered if someone had swapped him out for a body double.

Amos made a thin noise of distress and ducked his gaze when Markham glanced at him.

“You’re welcome.” I took off my plumed hat and settled it in my lap. “Although, I wish it hadn’t been necessary.”

Markham blinked at me looking for all the world like a startled, wet owl. “Miss Neumann?” He looked back and forth between Amos and me. “What…” His expression darkened. “What is going on here? I left explicit instructions…”

Huh.

I wondered what those instructions had been. Unfortunately he did not elaborate and Amos just shook his head, still stunned himself.

“Fortunately for you and everyone working for you, I have ethical reservations about letting people die out of spite.” I replied. “You’ve probably figured it out by now, but Jorgumandr is in the southern hemisphere of Anwyn. Midsummer in North America is the dead of winter here. Snowfall in midwinter can average about three feet in an hour during a storm. When the sun sets everything freezes hard. The only thing that survives out here are the monsters. If we hadn’t come then you would have been dead before morning.”

An ominous stillness settled over Elliot Markham. I couldn’t tell if it was rage, embarrassment, or a seething combination of both. He looked like he could have been a very detailed stone statue.

“I see.” He said at length. “Then I have to thank you once more.”

I suppressed a wince. We weren’t out of the woods yet and these woods were full of hungry predators; bears, wargs, trolls, maybe even giants. “Don’t thank me until we’re in the air or, better still, once we’ve arrived.” I tucked my hands into my puff to keep them from shaking. “We won’t be safe until we’re out of the trees.”

When I looked away I noticed Larkspur watching me from under her lashes. Her look was evaluating more than approving or disapproving. I found a wan smile for her from some hidden reserve and pulled my goggles back up so I wouldn’t have to spend so much time guarding my expression.

It would be a long way to Ravnvaldr no matter how fast Aster could get us there.

“Wait…” Amos looked back and forth between Markham and I. “What do you mean, ‘in the air’?”

As if she’d been waiting that cue, Aster called out ‘HUP!’ and the queen cat made her first jump up from the ground into the sky. I could hear delighted gasps and whoops from the other sleighs. Someone, and I was pretty sure it was Angie, had her hands up in the air like she was on a rollercoaster.

Aster jumped us once to gain some altitude and the forest spread out below us like a frosty green blanket. In the distance I could see the sickle-shaped range of the Elders jutting up from the ground like exposed teeth. Our destination would be a stony ravine in the foothills there.

Now that I wasn’t driving, I had time to review my orders. I wasn’t worried about the other humans getting into my business. Dad conducted all official clan affairs in Arlese, which no one in BIR save myself was totally fluent in. Brinkerman was working on it, which was why my desk was in his office. It gave him the opportunity to practice regularly and build his vocabulary. He wasn’t conversational yet, but he was getting there. I conducted biweekly lessons for everyone else, but only Brinkerman’s direct reports had ever shown up; a decision I found less bewildering now that I’d realized the bizarre lengths Markham’s office was willing to go to in order to avoid contact with me for some reason.

Humans had a certain quality of silence when they expected someone else to start talking, but I ignored Markham and Amos while I cracked the seal on my document case and started to read the letters inside. Dad, bless him, had tacked them down to the interior of the case so I wasn’t in danger of losing them to the wind.

My orders were simple enough. It really was more of an excuse than a mission, but it had been a year since I’d had anything exciting to do that even a minor errand looked attractive.

Aster made an annoyed noise as I was sealing up the case. “There’s activity ahead, my lady. It’s a bit to the west. Be ready to hold on. I’ll be jumping us soon.”

I looked and saw an unhappy surge of black bodies bursting out of the tree cover; birds, lots of birds. A minute or so later the trees themselves surged up and broke apart on a furry back that continued to rise until an almost human head and shoulders crested above the snowy canopy.

“What… is that?” Amos croaked.

“Just a troll.” I sighed, relieved to see the beast’s bulbous nose and dense fur mantle. “It’ll lay back down. We’re too far away for it to bother with. It won’t bother wasting effort right now.”

That might not be that case in a few months, but at midwinter the trolls all still had plentiful fat reserves left from autumn. They were indiscriminate diners. Plants, animals, each other; they’d eat it all. That meant they didn’t get as desperate during the cold season and wouldn’t be a problem until closer to the spring thaw and the warmer months.

“Be glad it’s not a giant.” Aster called back over her shoulder. “They’re smart enough to lay in a supply of boulders near their dens and burn off their summer fat faster. They’ll get aggressive earlier in the season.”

The troll, meanwhile, watched us fly away with eyes like glittering black marbles. You could almost see the wheels turning in its head as it tried to decide whether we were tempting enough to be worth expending valuable calories on before it sighed and sank back down under the tree cover to go back to sleep.

The two humans stared at the rift in the canopy left by the beast’s passing until Aster skipped us away.

On the bright side, neither of them tried to make conversation or demand any answers from me until the sleighs began the final descent into the Ravnvaldr rift.