“Yes.But I feel like walking.I will fetch it myself.”
I made my way toward the kitchens, and I think I was being guided by more than my hunger, for when I arrived, not only was Hrund lounging near the simmering cauldron full of bones and gentle herbs, but Jorn was there with her, drinking tea.
“Ah,” I said softly, not even noticing how much like Fell I’d become.
“You are hungry?”Hrund said, smiling pleasantly at me.
I nodded, but she hadn’t waited for my response.She was already ladling out a slightly too big portion of broth into a squared cup.“You want salt as well?”
I nodded again, feeling shy in front of Jorn, wondering if he couldn’t sleep either.If that was why he was awake in the middle of the night.There was a plate with crumbs on it next to him.
“I do not mean to interrupt your conversation,” I said.“I will just take some tea as well and then be gone…” But there were three choices already made and cooled on the cutting table.
Linden, juniper, or honey… “Oh, also oat water…” Sweet, sweet oat-infused water.Why had no one on the Isle thought to let oats settle in water before?It was the most soothing, comfortable drink.
I poured one of everything, deciding I would drink one tea and then my broth, which would have cooled enough by then, and then my other teas.My throat ached for drink as if I hadn’t had anything in days.
Hrund laughed.“Jorn, you must help her carry it all.”
Jorn scrunched up his nose.
“Please,” Hrund giggled again.“I must guard the broth with my life.”
“I can manage—” I started, but it was obvious I couldn’t.
“I will come,” Jorn said.And he was up on his feet, collecting my many cups, tucking one between his wrist and his chest, taking a cup in each hand as well.
I took my broth and my beloved oat water, and we were out of the kitchens.The hall felt cold in comparison as the kitchen hearth had been roaring.
It was silent as we walked for many paces before feelings swelled within me.“It is good fortune maybe that I have found you this evening.I was unable to sleep.I have been thinking about you.”
The quiet continued.
“I am sorry you are stillsoter,”I said.
“Me too,” Jorn said.
The weight in his words, the woe…
Jorn turned not toward my and Fell’s chamber, but toward the area where he worked.
Before I could ask where he was going, he raised his brows.“You will want honey cakes as well, no?”
I hadn’t been thinking of them, but as soon as they were mentioned?—
“Yes,” I said with far too much seriousness.
He chuckled and then grew somber quickly.“You need not feel sorry for me.Do I wish I were free to return to my home country once more before death?Yes.But I knew when I left, as a younger man, I knew I was leaving for good.I will be fine with everything in a day or two more.I am quick to release frustrations.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him.
He set all my tea cups down on his table and pulled honey cakes out of the drawer in his workroom where he always kept treats.
Our eyes met, and I think he understood the depth of my feeling.
The corners of his mouth turned upward.“You are clever and, no one will ever tell you this again probably, but you are kind.You hide it, but I see it, clear as I see the moon on a cloudless night.”
I held steady.No one had ever called me kind.
