Waves of Ice

6 - Viveka

Swallows-

"Sorry, I was hoping that would be enough!"

"Wait!" Viveka held up a hand in Idun's face. "I hear something."

Idun slapped away Viveka's hand, and the moment they touched, a wave of sounds and smells flooded Viveka's mind. Instinctively, they covered their ears.

Grasshoppers. Rotten cherries. Geese.

They stumbled out of the ley line, an arm's width between them, and waited for the impressions to ebb.

Idun massaged her temples. "I think I understand. When we're close to each other, we can sense the memories of the ley line. But if we touch each other, they overflow."

Viveka was still shaken and raised her mental wall snugly around her. "What if Torbyorn will be able to do that? Garda wouldn't stand a chance." She already regretted her promise to her father. She might actually have to go through with it.

The colour drained from Idun's face.

The ley line turned out to be like a stream. It flowed through the forest, fluctuating in width and intensity, but without care to follow the low points of the landscape like water does. Sometimes it even leaped from the ground or went straight through hills.

Towards the afternoon, the forest opened to a meadow and Idun sighed dreamily.

Woodruff. Red clover.

"Do you smell the flowers?" Idun asked. "They are, or were I guess, absolutely wonderful."

"Yeah." Viveka beamed, grateful she could share Idun's inner sense of smell. "I was actually here last summer. I shot a moose by that oak. Eleven points," she boasted.

Idun chuckled. "Impressive."

Viveka's smile widened. "If you want, we could, if things go well and all that, come back here in the spring?"

Wait what? Viveka's heart raced. Why had she said that? She spun around and forced a calm expression.

Idun seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. Memories swirled around her.

Flutes and drums. The same song they had danced to when they met for the first time.

Once the shock had subsided, Idun's eyes began to sparkle like sunlight through ice. "I'd love to."

They revisited the topics they had tried to discuss the day before, but now with curiosity and enthusiasm.

The evening came, but they continued for a while in the dark before setting up camp in the middle of the ley line. It was easy to fall asleep amidst the patter of rain on foliage, blackbird song, and the smell of flowering bird cherry, even though Idun laid so close Viveka could hear her every breath. But the pleasant memories twisted and turned into dreams. They echoed and overlapped like waves on a beach, bending the border between the impressions and the senses. For each withdrawing wave, a part of her went with it. A grain of sand at a time was washed away until only open water remained.

Viveka woke up sitting and in a cold sweat. Where was she? A woman sat so close that her light, tangled hair brushed against Viveka's shoulder. She looked as confused as Viveka felt.

Idun.

Right!

Each time Viveka blinked, a memory fell into place.

Ley line. Torbyorn. Garda.

"Are you okay?" Viveka asked.

Idun hugged herself. "I don't know... I might have had the eeriest fucking dream of my life."

"Same."

Since they couldn't fall asleep again, and frankly didn't want to, they decided to have breakfast in the dark, well away from the ley line and with mental walls raised. Morning came with a clear blue sky and strong winds that seemed to blow away the persistent, empty feeling the dream had left. Remaining, was the exhaustion that had built up after two nights without good sleep.

They kept riding in the ley line but didn't get far before there was a crackling and a lingering smell of smoke.

"Wait." Idun dismounted Brunte. "Torbyorn camped here."

Viveka examined the smooth snow. "How do you know it was him?"

"Wood sorrel!" Idun beamed at Viveka. "He chews on whenever he thinks. And he always thinks."

Viveka smirked. "That can't be easy."

Idun's smile turned somber. "Mostly the thinking involves his strive to be better. He never sees how skilled he is. He notices the smallest details in everything and therefore nothing can ever be perfect." She hugged one shoulder with her hand. "But when I was little and he helped me with my mental wall, he always had patience. And when grandma announced that I had mastered my inner smell, he gave me a tattoo of a bear. And even though its snout looks a bit like a pig's from certain angles, I can't help but love it."

"Please, you have to show me!" Viveka smiled. "Siblings are lovely. Before my sister moved, she gave me Taily. Astrid has such sick humour when it comes to naming things, and in general I guess. Anyway, I tried to rename the cat, but she doesn't listen to anything else."

They continued their conversation on Brunte but later switched to singing. Idun had such a wonderful voice that Viveka sometimes forgot where they were going.

Repeatedly, they became so distracted by each other that they lost the ley line and had to turn back to find it. The third time this happened, Idun became so irritated that they managed to stay focused for a whole day in a row, even though they had to leave the ley line to walk around slopes and fallen trees.

To supplement their dried rations, Viveka shot a couple of hares and Idun dug up cattail and reed roots. It didn't yield a feast of any kind, but it surprised Viveka how quickly they learned to work together.

When they set up camp on the fifth day, without having passed one of Torbyorn's camps in two days, thoughts began to gnaw in Viveka. Was he lost? Had they passed him? Was he...

She glanced at Idun. Less than a week ago, the possibility that Torbyorn had died would've made her relieved. But now the only thing she could think of was how that grief would tear Idun to shreds.

Idun must've guessed the paths on which her thoughts walked. "Please tell me we'll find him. I can't stand the thought that we might as well turn around."

Viveka removed her mittens and took Idun's hands. "He has probably just camped further from the ley line than before. Maybe he had as weird dreams as we did? Of course we'll find him."

But if they didn't, a voice in the back of Viveka's head whispered, it would be a victory. At least for Garda. And she wouldn't have to do something she'd regret.