He’s talkin about his son, my pa. I don’t hardly remember him. He died over the seas somewhere when I was a little kidlin, fightin for the king in some bloodsplash invasion.
“What about if Mal-Rakki came back?” I ask. “Would you fight for him?”
“That’s diffrunt and you know it. His fight has purpose. The day he returns, I’ll be the first to stand by his side.”
What if Mal-Rakki never comes back? I think, but I don’t say it. I draw lines in the dregs of the sweetmilk with the tip of my finger.
“Here, I got this for you.” Granpa Halvor throws somethin at me.
I catch it quick, and my gawpers open hek wide when I see what it is.
“Where’d you get this?” I ask. The plum is bright yellow, soft as a babkin’s foot, perfectly ripe.
“I pulled it out my nose hole; where d’you think I got it?”
“But I thought you had to give them all up to the king?”
“I did, but I sneaked one away, just for you.”
I smile, and for a speck I forget about the wreckmess of my face and all its hurtin. The tree behind Granpa’s shack is a scraggin old knot, but it grows the most hek ríkka plums in the whole of Norveg. I bite into the one in my hand and it’s good — so good! Its juice trickles down my arm, and I lick it up, not wantin to waste none. I take another bite, then offer the rest to Granpa.
“No, girl, it’s yours. I want you to enjoy it,” he ses.
I don’t need tellin twice. I put the rest of it in my mouth, stone and all, and chew down, lettin the sweetness burst inside my cheeks. I should slow down, take my time scrammin, but it’s too good for bein slow. Once all the flesh has gone, I keep the stone in my mouth, suckin on it for any last drips.
“I think you enjoyed that,” ses Granpa Halvor.
I nod. “Thanks, Granpa.” I spit out the stone and bury it in one of my trouser pockets. “Once I’m earnin, I’ll buy us fruit evry day.”
“What you talkin about, earnin?” His forehead creases, makin the ink rabbit what’s there crumple into a slackdead heap. Granpa’s got hek loads of ink, but the rabbit on his forehead has always been my favorite.
“Mamma says I can earn good pennies workin on one of the big farms. That’s why I got the ink done.”
“You don’t wanna be workin down there. You’d have to get up before the sun to arrive on time. Earnin isn’t evrythin, Sigrid. Specially when the king’s men come take it all from us anyways.”
“What choice have I got?”
“What do you mean what choice? There are always choices. It’s knowin which are the right ones that’s the hard part.”
I dunno about that. Far as I see it, I haven’t got no choices, sept doin what Mamma tells me. Which reminds me . . .
“I gotta go, Granpa,” I say. “Mamma’s not feelin too good. She’ll be hek skapped if I’m not back cookin somethin soon.”
Granpa scowls hard, like a beaver what’s been bit. He’s always scowlin when I mention Mamma. “Well, don’t let her talk you into no more brainrot plans,” he ses. “And keep that ink of yours clean. If it gets any redder, come straight back to see me.”
“Yes, Granpa.”
Before I go, he holds my chin between his thumb and finger and turns my head sideways to get another gawp at my ink. “My little Sigrid, growin up,” he ses. “A raven was a perfect choice. He may not have been no real tatovmaðr what done it, but I think he did a good job. I like it.”
He strokes my other cheek with his knuckles. It’s nice of him to lie.
“Again, again,” all the children are saying.
I ask Milkwort if he wants to do it again and he does. He likes it. He is going to do the fastest one ever.
“Okay,” I say to the children. “Get r-ready.”
They put their hands on the table in a line. I give Milkwort two taps on his head and put him next to the first hand. The children are smiling.
“Here he comes. . . . G-go!” I say, and I say it to Milkwort in my head as well.
As soon as he hears it, Milkwort runs up the first girl’s arm, around her neck and down her other arm. Then he moves on to the boy next to her, then the next one and then all the other children in the row. They like it because it tickles and they laugh. It is good to laugh. Some of the children are from Clann-a-Tuath which is my clan and some of them are from Clann-na-Bruthaich which is a different clan. I am their favorite and so is Milkwort.
“Again!” they say after Milkwort has gone around all of them.
“No more. Agatha has a meeting to attend,” says a person behind me who is Maistreas Eilionoir. I did not know that she was there and was watching.
“Oh, yes,” I say. “I d-do.”
I tell Milkwort it is time to go and he runs up my arm and into my pocket. It is okay that Maistreas Eilionoir saw me talking to him, even though he is a vole. Speaking to animals is not dùth but Maistreas Eilionoir says I am allowed to do it now. I say goodbye to the children and they all shout, “Goodbye, Agatha” and “Goodbye, Milkwort” very loud.
I walk with Maistreas Eilionoir to the meeting bothan. It is different here because we are in Clann-na-Bruthaich’s enclave which is not our enclave. We’re on our island Skye but it is more south and a different place. The people from Raasay are still living in our enclave and they won’t leave because they are mean. We tried to get them to go by asking them and talking to them lots but they won’t. That is why there is the meeting to decide what we should do.
The meeting bothan is big. Some people from Clann-na-Bruthaich are inside it already and are talking in groups. There are chairs in a square shape and I count them and there are eighteen.
“Take a seat,” says Maistreas Eilionoir.
I sit on the chair that is the closest one. It is hard and not comfortable. Maistreas Eilionoir goes away to speak to the Clann-na-Bruthaich people so I am on my own.
I am here because I am important. I am the hero. Maistreas Eilionoir said it and so did the other people. I was so brave to go all the way to Norveg in the ship with Jaime and I did the clever plan in the mountain room. I talked to the bats in my head and asked them to put out all the fires so the shadow things could come in and it worked and all the nasty deamhain were killed. That means our clan was free and I did it.
More people come into the meeting bothan who I don’t know. It is boring to wait for them all. Milkwort wants to go out of my pocket so I let him. I stroke him for a little bit and then he runs down my leg and goes off to do exploring. He likes looking in new places. He will come back to me soon.
The next person to come in is Jaime. He stops near the door and looks at all the people. When he sees me he does a little wave. I wave back to him and smile a big one. Jaime is my good friend. He walks to where I am.
“Hi, Aggie,” he says.
“Hello, Jaime,” I say. “You can sit by m-me if you like?”
“Thanks.” He sits on the chair next to my chair. Jaime is allowed to be in the meeting because he is the hero too.
All the other people sit down which means the meeting is going to start. A man called Kenrick is the only person who does not sit down. He is the clan chief of Clann-na-Bruthaich. All of the other elders from Clann-na-Bruthaich were killed by the deamhain so he is the only one left. I thought they should call him “Maighstir” Kenrick but they don’t use that word here. He has lots of creases on his face and dark hair which only grows on his beard and the sides of his head and not on the top.