East

“You look more like a ghost each day,” her mother said, reaching forward to rub the circles under Astrid’s eyes as if they were dirt she could wipe away. Astrid batted her hand away, and shook her head. She never felt tired, not mentally at least, but her body seemed to belie her excursions. And she was either wandering or awake, but true sleep, normal sleep, seemed to elude her. “You know, I think Thane only gives you a discount because he’s keen on you, but if you keep this up that might pass.”

The comment seemed crude, but Astrid understood. They hadn’t been able to afford any medicine for Zaira until Astrid met Thane, and they had all feared the worst about how the youngest child would fare. The sick never lasted long in Oberon.

Astrid pulled the heavier of the two packs onto her shoulders, and held the door for her mother, but didn’t comment. She knew that Thane wouldn’t begrudge her for some shadows under her eyes, although the man had become increasingly peculiar with each visit. But still, Astrid enjoyed his company, for the most part.

It started to rain as they left, although lightly. Both Astrid and her mother kept their heads down, avoiding any of the larger puddles. Within an hour they had reached the market, and silently parted ways. They would meet when the bell rang twice, as they always did.

Astrid enjoyed the market in the daytime. The smell of baked goods and sweets wafted through the air, a nice relief from the usual smell of fish that hung around her village and her father. The closer to the city gates she walked, the nicer the stalls became, until she was surrounded by the merchants who imported silks and finery from other nations. The colors became riotous, between the fabrics, the stained-glass ornaments, and the nobles who meandered in their house colors, their jewels glittering in the daylight. Musicians played their ornaments hoping for a coin to be placed before them; vendors exclaimed the virtues of their drinks, having replaced the wines and ciders of summer with varieties of tea and the liquid chocolate that Zaira was so fond of. Astrid made a mental note to bring her sister to the market to enjoy a cup before the weather turned too cold.

She made her way to Thane’s shop, one of the permanent structures directly abutting the capital walls. It was a two-story structure, with his shop on the ground floor. She never asked how he acquired his merchandise, as he certainly wasn’t a merchant; he never left. She assumed he had family that did the sailing for him. He always had something new to look at, bright curiosities promising to heal ailments or make the consumer fall in love. Most of it seemed silly, a hoax, although that didn’t stop the crowd of girls that always hovered around Thane. He seemed to enjoy the attention.

“This, my dear lovelies, is the most marvelous item, I’ve just received it, just yesterday.” The girls crowded around, sighing in anticipation. Thane noticed Astrid enter the shop and winked at her. She nodded her head, as if bidding him to continue. “We all know the stories of the Ice Queen of yesteryear, the one who ruled all of Genesis, until her brothers killed her and divided the lands into the country we know today.” The girls nodded eagerly, familiar with the history of Genesis. The division of the continent among the brothers was meant to centralize operations among the regions, meant to bring greater prosperity to everyone. Instead, without the common enemy of their sister, the brothers fought amongst themselves, waging war for generations until the grandsons decided enough was enough. By that time, whatever resources remained on the continent were barely enough for the nobles to maintain their lifestyle, much less the commoners. Priority won out, and the commoners were relegated to suffer. Of course, that part was rarely discussed during the history lessons, but Astrid had heard enough stories to piece together the fuller picture. The war served no purpose other than population control, and the royals ended it with no plan in place to support the commoners, leading to their own form of population control. Leading to weakness and disease, without the proper medicine or nutrition to fight against it.

The girls had none of Astrid’s darker thoughts, a willing audience for Thane’s storytelling. “Well, people like to think that the Ice Queen only earned her name after her death, because of her crimes. But really, she embraced it. Her gowns were made of white and ice blue silk, shimmering as light glinting of ice does. She would not wear any jewelry that was not made of diamonds or white sapphire. She said that her heart was frozen and she would only ever love the people of Genesis. And she refused proposal after proposal, deeming every man unfit to wed her. Or bed her.” Thane waggled his eyebrows. The girls giggled, poking each other as they blushed. “Until she met one man. One man who seemed to stand out among the crowd, who had appeared as if sent from the gods. He was the fire to her ice, wearing suits of black and red, carrying a sword encrusted with rubies. His black hair contrasted to her blonde, his dark eyes to her blue. And she loved him. So, the people loved him too.”

“Lord Octavian,” one of the girls whispered, enthralled in the story.

“The one and only,” Thane said, nodding. “Lord Octavian seemed to enchant the queen in a way that no one else had. It was the picturesque romance, and their wedding was larger even than her coronation ceremony. The union of fire and ice was the happiest every person, noble or common, had been since the Destruction. The future seemed bright.”

“Until he discovered she really was evil. Her heart really was made of ice.”

“Was it?” Thane asked, his eyebrow raising at the young girl. She nodded frantically. She was only repeating how the history books told the story, after all. “Or, was she bewitched by Octavian, who was working with her brothers to overthrow her? What if! Were they perhaps jealous, of how beloved she was? What if! Possibly Octavian had been sent to her, knowing that after they married he could falsely testify of her evil plans and as King, he could sign the country over to her brothers after her death? What if!”

The girls were silent, eyes wide with a possibility they had never considered. “But she loved him. After all the suitors, it was him that she truly loved.”

“Ah, my dear lovelies, that is what everyone believed,” Thane said, wagging his finger at the girls. “They saw his tears at her trial, and they loved him even more for protecting the people instead of the queen. They saw her tears, too, but assumed they were tears of hatred, of anger at being discovered. But! But! They were tears of the betrayed, my sweet children. For she had been bewitched!”

The girls gasped. Astrid smiled. She always enjoyed Thane’s stories.

“At the time, few of the Old Magic Elders survived. Those that could create, change, charm. They had powers that were as varied as snowflake. The brothers had one of the Elders in their possession, and had them craft a locket. Inside the locket was a brilliant ruby, red as blood. And whoever wore this ruby had the power to make any person, no matter how shielded their heart, fall in love.” Thane pulled a box from one of his large coat pockets, and the girls were so silent Astrid swore they had quit breathing. “All that must be done is to place a piece of the beloved’s hair in the locket, next to the ruby. And the hair of their sister was easy enough for the brothers to acquire. So easy! They gave the locket to Octavian, having his word to carry out their plan.”

Thane stroked the box, as if pondering whether he should continue. But then his eyes gleamed as he recounted the last bit. “The Elders were enraged when they realized what had befallen their beloved queen. But it was too late, even those of the Old Magic could not turn back time. The brothers, drunk in the power of their success, refused to account for their crimes, no, no, no! Instead they banned the Elders from any capital, forced to live as commoners and hide their magic, for if anyone were found, they would be put to death. It became so dangerous to use magic that they let it wither away.”

“And the locket?” One of the girls, more eager than the rest, dared to ask. “What happened to it?”

“Ah! The locket, the locket. Well, the Elders took all the remnants of their magic with them, or hid them in plain sight. Only a fortunate few can recognize these tokens for what they really are,” he said, waving his arms around the shop of such ‘tokens’ that he had collected. “Until recently, the locket was lost, completely unknown except to a particular few. Until recently,” he repeated, and then opened the box with a flourish. Astrid couldn’t help but peer over the girls’ shoulders to also get a look.

She had been expecting the locket to be in the typical shape of a heart, but instead it was a sword of gold, with the clasp forming the pommel. It was well made, but simple enough; even the nobles that came into the market sometimes wore more ornate pieces. But when Thane opened the locket, she sighed along with the other girls. The inner ruby was so brilliant, so well-cut, that it was truly a shame for it to be hidden away in the locket. Any noble would pay a sizeable sum to acquire it. Astrid couldn’t help but wonder how Thane had gotten his hands on it.

When Thane snapped the box closed, all the girls, Astrid included, snapped out of their daze. “Now!” he exclaimed, jumping up from his perch, returning the box to fetch a larger one. “I have extracted the very essence of the Elders’ magic, the very essence of their love spell, and transferred it among rubies…”

Astrid turned her attention to other artefacts in the store as the girls bought their ‘magical’ necklaces and bracelets. Astrid always wondered how Thane stayed in business, surely word would spread of his antics. Perhaps it was others like Zaira, who he really helped, that continually reassured others.
As the girls left, Thane came to Astrid, kissing both of her cheeks in greeting. “My lovely, how are you?”

“All the better for your entertaining story.” She smiled at his laugh as he led her towards the corner of the store where he kept his actual medicines. Unlike the rest of the store, this area was completely uncluttered, everything neatly labelled. It was all kept behind glass doors, locked shut, with the only key dangling around Thane’s neck.

“Story, history, one and the same,” he said. He slid the box with the locket into one of the drawers and locked it. “How is young Zaira?”

“She’s breathing much better with the medicine you gave last time,” Astrid said. She pulled the empty glass jars from her pack; Thane took them and pulled out clean replacements. “Although it’s causing her to have night terrors. She talks in her sleep almost every night now, or just wakes in a panic.”

“Yes, common, common. Well, if this is working for her, then let’s just treat the sleeping and see if the combination does her well.” Thane poured his usual concoction into the larger of the two jars, a mix of ingredients that Astrid had never heard of before meeting him. For the smaller, he started to crush some leaves. Astrid noticed lavender, but the rest were unfamiliar. He poured them into the second jar and added a few liquids. “She can keep taking the first twice a day, as she has been. And just have her take a sip of this at night. A little bit should do it. Don’t try to wake her up in the morning, she needs to wake up when her body is ready or else she will be in a daze. She’ll learn the dose on her own. Just a little sip. Too much will cause her to sleep longer, but no harm should come to her if she drinks too much. Now, let’s just heat this up.”

Astrid made a mental note of Thane’s ‘should’ and followed him to the hearth, where he placed the jar on the very edge of the fire, just outside of the lick of the flame. As the liquids started to absorb the leaves, the color changed and blended, swirling in the jar, mesmerizing Astrid. Only Thane’s voice pulled her back.

“You look like you are not sleeping well either.”

“I’m sleeping just fine,” Astrid said, almost too quickly. She had to remind herself that although eccentric, Thane was just an ordinary man. He didn’t know.

Shortly after her seventeen birthday, the wandering had started. At first she thought she had died, that she was a ghost. But when she noticed her body was breathing, she reached out and touched herself. She woke up, and thought it was a strange dream. Until she fell asleep and it happened again. The second time she stayed awake the entire night, watching herself and her siblings sleep, scared to touch her body or move. When her siblings woke up and tried to wake her, she watched as her body was unresponsive. She stood right next to them, but they didn’t see her, or hear her. Only when she touched her body did she wake up. Her siblings didn’t notice a thing.

On the fourth night, she went to the kitchen and moved a cup from their shelf to the table. When she woke up, it was still on the table. The fifth night, she held the cup as she fell asleep. When she wandered from her body, she noticed the cup was still in her body’s hand on the bed, but she was holding it too. She took the cup she was holding and set it on the floor. When she woke up, it was gone. Only the cup in her hand remained. She supposed it made sense; her siblings couldn’t see her clothes floating in mid-air as she had stood by them the first morning.

It had been just over one week before she followed her urges and left the house. She wondered how much fish she could put in her father’s nets, if the fish couldn’t see her coming. She wondered if she could take an extra food ration, maybe two, not enough to cause an alarm but enough to feed her family for a few days. She – reluctantly – even wondered if she could take medicine from Thane, to help her sister without the expense.

In the end, she did none of those things. She walked down the road, feeling like she had somewhere to be going but not knowing yet where it was. And she still felt that way, every night. Finding her way down the eastern road, the one that only appeared as she wandered, was more important than anything else.

And although her mind felt sharp and well rested, better than it ever did before, her body was starting to tire. Circles were darkening under her eyes and her muscles were more prone to aching than before. It was no wonder that her mother, even Thane, could notice.

“You look like you are losing weight, as well.”

“Maybe I’m just losing my baby fat,” she replied, smirking. When she first met Thane, he had chidingly pinched one of her cheeks. She had swatted his arm away fast enough to throw him off balance, and had laughed when he fell to the floor. He had started laughing too, and they had gotten along well since.

“What a shame. How is your family?”

And so Astrid vented. Thane always seemed to absorb the worries that she carried: Zaira and her sickness making her unable to leave the house, her father having to fish farther and farther away to find good catches, her brothers choosing more and more often to go with him instead of to school. And then there was her own life. She was of marrying age now, and for her to be married would mean one less mouth for her parents to feed. If she married well, it meant that she could even help her family, maybe purchase Zaira’s medicine so that her parents didn’t have to. Maybe help her brothers find a trade outside of the fishing boat. These things were all well known, and sometimes even hinted at by her mother. Her parents would never force her to marry, but they certainly wouldn’t protest. It was her own desire for her autonomy that protested. She silently screamed every time another girl in the village was married off. At the last occasion, her mother had quietly stated that there goes yet another young man, no longer eligible. The good ones, those with promise, get taken fast, before they ever reach the age of eighteen. Astrid was well aware, even without her mother’s prompts.

Thane only nodded, as always, occasionally swirling the jar around as the colors blended into one. He rarely interjected, and had only ever offered his opinion when directly asked. But still, to just talk was a relief for Astrid. To just be heard.

It was only when she leaving that Thane pressed a stone into her hand, clasping it tight. “This will help you,” he said, his eyes looking fervently into hers. “Put this under your pillow. It is important that you really sleep, too. Tonight.”

Astrid nodded, and although she was confused, the fervor of his voice could not be questioned. She had already tried lavender, warm milk, and a dozen other supposed remedies, but nothing kept the wandering away. A little stone would not reduce the shadows under her eyes or help her quit losing weight, but she didn’t have it in her to convey that to Thane. He only relaxed when she slipped it into her pocket.

Later than night, Astrid found herself waiting until her siblings were well asleep. Zaira’s breathing was slow and deep; her dreams had already subsided with Thane’s medicine. Of Thane’s gift to her, Astrid was uncertain. She pulled the stone from her pocket to examine it more closely.
The stone was smooth and reflected the light of the moon, as if it had been polished. It fit fully in the palm of her hand, but felt light as a feather. It seemed to hold every color of the rainbow, depending on how the light hit it, but parts of it were translucent, and through those parts, the core of the stone shone bright red. The stone itself was likely nothing, but then again, unlike the noble girls who bought his trinkets, Thane had never attempted to give her anything that didn’t work. She slipped the stone under her pillow, and willed herself to sleep.