“Ha.You wish to know how I see this?I see that Hyrold has used us both.He has spied this girl and desired her to be here in this country.He has used me to see it done.He has used you.To what end?Likely we will never know.Do I wish he could have done it more gently?”The man laughed a beautiful, ringing laugh.“Of course.I have not seen my son in over six moons.I miss his face.But I am sure I will come to see that it wasskael.Perhaps my boy needed some time away from me.He is at that age…”
“I trust you will remember how comfortableyour staywas when it could have been otherwise.”
“Hyrold adores you,” Flojer said.“Do not forget that, my king.I certainly will not.”
“And you?What do you think of me?”
“I think you are lucky I am such a forgiving man.”
King Arik laughed before growing painfully sincere.“I wish it had not been how it has been these past moons.”
“I do not,” said Flojer.He nodded at me.“It still does not make sense to me, but I see the threads.”The threadsis a Norsern concept of the world beneath the world, the material from which the dream of life is made.
“You will still travel with me to Byernen?”King Arik said.
“Of course,” Flojer said.“Hyrold demands it.”
King Arik grinned.“Jorn, please attend Captain Flojer back to his ship.Pay for their docking expenses on my behalf.Read for any who are interested.”
There were polite smiles all around.I remained somewhat stilled by Flojer—the warmth of him but also the… cutting-ness of him, how he sliced through everything seemingly without trying.I was impressed by the feeling of being near him and I distinctly remember thinking I would like to be as he was, to walk into a room and create in others the feeling he stoked in me.He nodded at me just before turning to leave as if we were in on some grand secret together, as if he were saying to me,It is done.
And then he was gone with Jorn, and it was just the king and I in his hearing hall.Without work to fill it, the space suddenly felt enormous.
“You have been a great help to me today,” King Arik said.“I know you are eager to return home.I am eager to have your desires met, and it will not be too long before the sea warms enough for safe travel.So… now that you have seen my work—the mundane portion of kingship—today, I think, is a good day for you to read for me.”
In truth, I had not thought about home for at least two full days, maybe longer.I had been happy to watch and feel and simply be a person with my own schedule and interests.It almost surprised me, this mention of returning.Oh, right.The idea of averting my eyes, of shuffling from room to room with slow, weighted steps…
I thought of Fell, and the corners of my mouth dipped without my permission.It will be like it was with Rowan the blacksmith’s apprentice, I told myself.I will not think much on him after we have parted, even if he was enjoyable to look at while I was near him.I felt certain I was lying, that Fell would come into my mind unbidden.
It felt like the stones were giggling in their little pouch.
My eyes flicked up to the king’s.He was waiting patiently for me, watching me the same way he watched everything else: with interest.
Something in my expression as I took out the pouch of stones, feeling the buzz of them through the leather, must have revealed my turmoil because he raised his eyebrows.“We speak our thoughts out loud in the north.”
“I don’t want to disappoint you,” I said.
“That means you are smart.I am a good friend to have.”
“But I also… would not want you to trust my words since I am so new to this, and I am not sure I believe in it.”My heart fluttered not just from the honesty but from the notion that I was saying something the person I was speaking with might not agree with.“Anyone can make up a story using a few words or ideas.”
“Yes.I would like to hear the storyyoumake up, Gentlewoman.”
I left my chair, kneeling on the dais so I would have more space to lay out the stones.I reached into the bag, feeling the sensual pleasure of polished stone against my fingertips and the hushed glee of the stones.She is picking some of us.She is picking!These weren’t words I was hearing, but they were something I was sensing… somehow… The intentions of the stones is how I would describe it now.The spirit of them.You may be wondering why I was so adamant that the stones foretold nothing despite these experiences I keep detailing.To that, all I can say is that I grew up in a place where we must pretend things aren’t as they are: we do not dream, we do not wish to press our bodies against other bodies, we hear nothing when we walk past the vault openings.I was practiced at denial.This is a very dangerous skill.
“Now, Gentlewoman, in case you ever wish to make coin from this, you should polish your starting words.Get me excited for what you are to say.”
I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.He was always teaching, even when he wasn’t trying to be.It was perhaps even his true calling.He might have enjoyed being a teacher more than a king, but I think if anyone ever said this to him, he would reply: ‘To be kingisto be a teacher.All roles in life involve teaching.With each breath and posture, you are teaching people how to treat you, how to think of you.’
I scattered a few stones onto the dais, the smile fading from my face the moment I looked down.The song I could hear… I began using Norsern words, which were better for explaining what I saw.There are layers to the Norsern language that Islish words do not have.“Someone is to disappoint you,” I began.“Someone you did not expect to fail you… this will hurt your plans only a little, but your heart a lot.”I had softened the song I was imagining.It was a song about a broken heart.
“This is the way of being king.”He shrugged.“What else?”
“Uhh…” There were several different songs playing at the same time.“You aim high, higher than any before you.So high that most will not be able to see the target and will have to help with faith alone.Not all will be able to do this.”
“This I have also heard before.”He smiled, but I sensed he wasn’t happy.“Do they tell you what I plan to do?”
“Not with words,” I said.“But with the feeling of it.You wish to be larger than other people… than the kings who came before you, maybe?”
