Previous

Solstice 1007

You could probably walk across. I kept thinking about what the man had said while I walked, now on the sand of the beach. The ice did look thick here, but what if it wasn’t in the middle? I kept walking, hoping to find some kind of shelter. Erincateri lay to the northwest, I knew. It would be walled, since it was an old defense town, but perhaps I’d be able to climb over. I would be able to see it from the beach.

But nightfall came before I found Erincateri. I decided that I should keep walking. It was bitter cold, so cold that I made up my mind.

I would cross. I would be careful. I wouldn’t be able to see—thick clouds hid the moon. I tied a couple more twigs to my shoes to strengthen their grip. My shoes were made of two layers of felted wool with grasses in between, with pebbles stuck on with sap each Aeli for the next winter. I didn’t have sap, not at this time of year, so I improvised.

I took my first step out on the ocean. The ice held my weight, but I wasn’t worried about this ice. I kept walking. Despite the sticks, I was still sliding around a bit. I took small steps and listened carefully for a crack or waves.

I must have walked at least a mile, or at least I thought so, when I became aware that I was not alone on the ice. I heard the sound of footsteps ahead of me and to my right. I stopped.

“You alright?” I heard a woman’s voice murmur in a Yahvsii dialect.

“The pack is heavy, Amyra,” a girl’s voice said.

“We need to get there before dawn.” The woman sounded more urgent now.

I decided to head towards them. I would feel safer not being alone in the middle of the ocean.

The murmurings continued, which made me confident I was heading in the right direction. Suddenly, my foot slipped. I managed to keep my footing, but the voices stopped. I could see two people in front of me. They were both looking at me. I continued walking towards them.

“Who is that?” the woman said. “We’re prepared to fight.” She reached into her sash pocket.

“Just me.”

“Who are you?” the woman asked.

“Tika lya Aza.”

“From Aza? What are you doing out here?”

“I want to find a job in Buarvige. I am a runner and my village has no need for one any longer.”

“If that is all, you can come with us. You’ll be safer.”

I caught up with them.

“You run?” the girl asked me.

“I was a runner for my village. But I ran away, because my family didn’t have good standing.”

“Why?”

“My mother moved out from her mother’s house.”

The woman clicked her tongue. “Too common a story. I imagine she’s not alive?” I confirmed. “What part of Aza are you from?”

I saw no need to lie to this woman. “Tvarnaer.”

“I haven’t heard of it, but I was raised in Asila. The Cenat one, not the Nonsaii one.”

Asila was a familiar name to me; it was near the sacred rock. “Is that where you are going?” I asked.

The woman paused. “Perhaps,” she said.

I realized that I had told them everything, but they had told me nothing. “Why are you migrants? Is it because of the famine?”

“We aren’t migrants, but you could say we’re traveling because of the famine.”

“Do you live in Yahvsii?” I asked. Not being a migrant meant they must have a home.

“Yahvsii Isvar,” the girl said. “Though we’ve stayed in Erincateri for the past…bit.”

I wondered why they were so hesitant? Had they committed a crime? I might be able to fight off the girl, who was shorter and smaller than me, but not the woman.

Next