After Kari left nobody said anything for a few minutes, and the sound of cutlery scraping plates was loud in the silence. Finally Troy and Maria started talking again, ending up in a heated discussion about frost and fire jotun “breeding” as Troy so eloquently put it. Trent rolled his eyes at me and whispered, “this could go on for days, sometimes it does.”
“It should be smooth sailing now,” Louis cut into the conversation, his voice laced with sarcasm, “y’know, now that we have super-teen over here. What a great secret weapon.”
He looked at me when he said it, so I shot him a glare right back, “you have some kind of a problem?”
“Woah,” Troy laughed, “she’s got spunk.”
“Yeah,” Maria leaned past him and stuck her tongue out at Louis, “too bad for you, she’s not a little kid you can bully. You must be so disappointed. Maybe you can go smack some toddlers around to make up for it. You know, feel like a big man again.”
Louis grabbed his plate and shoved his chair back, stomping into the kitchen. We heard the crash as his plate landed in the sink and then stomping as he made his way up the stairs.
Maria grinned at me, “don’t’ worry about him, he’s got a permanent stick up his…”
“he’s unhappy,” Trent interjected, “because he thinks we should be doing something instead of just sitting around,” he shot a look over his shoulder, “but he said as much yesterday and Kari cut him down to size.”
“His poor widdle ego is smashed beyond all repair,” Maria cooed, and then laughed, collecting her empty glass and cutlery and stacking them on her plate, “now, I’m off to meet a new potential, you behave yourselves, you hear?”
Once she left the room I turned to Trent, “what’s a potential? Like, someone who might join the rebellion or something?”
“You got it,” he scooped up our plates and got up, and I grabbed our glasses and followed him into the kitchen. Trent set the dishes in the sink, “Maria goes to meet them, a million questions are asked, we make sure they’re not a spy, you know, all that good stuff.”
“How do you make sure they’re not a spy?”
Trent grinned, “truth spell. Maria knows a bit of magic.”
“So she’s….a witch, like that Charlotte person?”
“Hah,” Trent shook his head, “nowhere near that power. She just knows a few little things, while Charlotte could…I dunno, I’ve heard she can shape shift and stuff. They say she sometimes shifts into a white hawk and…” he stopped and rolled his eyes, “well, I think it’s probably a rumor, but Kari is always telling us to watch the skies. Like she might be spying on us all the time,” he snorted, and again glanced around, obviously checking to make sure my mother didn’t appear in the doorway and overhear us, “I think sometimes, maybe she over exaggerates things, you know, just to get us all pumped up to…rebel and stuff.” He looked slightly furtive, having said that, “don’t ever tell her I said that. She takes this totally seriously.”
“Because she started it all, right?” I watched Trent run hot water and soap over our plates.
He nodded, “yup. Here, there’s a dish towel over there, mind drying? Cool.” He continued as he scrubbed at the plates, “Kari is…a lot older than she looks. She’s part of a very old fire jotun line. If anything had happened to the prince Loki or his sister, she would have taken the throne.”
“So she’s like….related then?” My brain was starting to hurt, and I grabbed the plate that Trent held out and dried it carefully with the dish towel.
“King Surtr, who was the king of our people before Loki bunged things up, is her brother. Well, half brother really, but that’s beside the point. She still has royal blood in her. But when she realized what Loki and his father had done, united the two kingdoms, she decided that the royal line had failed. That’s when she…left your dad. She realized she needed to finish what she’d started.”
I paused, clenching the dish towel in one hand. I didn’t want to think about my dad right now. Instead I changed the subject, “what’s so bad about the two kingdoms being united…” I stumbled to a halt when Trent put one soapy finger to my lips. A little bit of warm water trickled from his hand onto my chin, and I had to suppress the urge to giggle at the dismayed look on his face.
“Sorry,” Trent took the dish towel and dabbed at my chin, now he looked embarrassed, “sorry, I didn’t mean to get you…soapy. It’s just…” now he was ringing the dish towel in both hands, “don’t say stuff like that. Kari…she’s…well, passionate about it.” Again he darted a look over his shoulder, found the doorway empty and continued, “it’s true, in a way it’s brought peace between the kingdoms.” He seemed to be struggling to find the proper words, “but, it’s sort of a false peace. We still know what the frost jotun did to us all those years ago. They can’t just apologize and put a band aid over it. It doesn’t work that way. The reign of Queen Eira was a terrible time for the fire jotun.”
“Eira?” the name rolled off my tongue, sounding foreign, “who’s that?”
“She’s dead now, luckily. Slain in battle by her own daughter,” Trent bit his lip, looking almost anxious, like he was worried he was telling the story wrong. His eyes kept darting to the doorway, “she massacred hundreds of my people. Tried to eliminate us completely.”
“But her daughter stopped her,” I tried to fill in the blanks here, “and she’s the queen now?”
“Yes, and she took our prince for her husband,” Trent said, “and as Troy was saying, fire and frost are mingling, having children together. Hybrids,” his lips curled briefly, and I stared at his disgusted expression in confusion.
“That’s bad?”
“They’re our enemies,” Trent’s voice was short, and he handed me the second plate without saying anything else. I dried it in thoughtful silence. Their philosophy seemed a bit…close minded. But then again, I was just new at this and hadn’t even seen a frost giant yet.
“What’s that Asher guy?” My curiosity got the better of me, even enough to talk into the grim silence, “he’s frost giant?”
“He’s a hybrid,” Trent said shortly, “the son of the frost queen and…and the king Loki. An abomination.”
“So he’s…a prince…” I stacked the dish I was holding on top of the other one, remembering Asher’s dark curls, the frustrated look on his face as he tried to tell me what I was, “huh…”
“Yeah, I guess so,” Trent was looking at me anxiously, “but he’s dangerous, for all we know his mission could have been to kill you. To eliminate the threat you pose to them. They know you’re dangerous to them.”
“I don’t see how,” I muttered, “I don’t even know how to use the fire properly,” glancing down at my soapy hands, I imagined being able to flick the fire on and off, like my fingers were lighters. That would be handy. As it was, I had no idea when or how it was going to happen. It just did.
“That’s what we’re going to teach you, and you’ll be invaluable with the link,” Trent touched my arm gently, sending tingles up to my shoulder, “come on, Kari’s probably waiting for us.” He hesitated, “er, remember, try to look shocked when she tells you about the link…er, I didn’t tell you anything about it.”
I smiled at him, “don’t worry, I’m a good liar.”
Trent led me to the same room I’d first met my mother in, rapping politely on the door until a muffled voice called from within, “come!”
He held the door open and nodded for me to step through. I did, and found Kari sitting in the same green arm chair by the marble fire place. My eyes were drawn to the leaping orange flames at first, and then to my mother’s face, which the fire painted in black and gold. Her eyes might as well have been twin chips of flint in her narrow face, they were so dark.
Her voice was warm, “Jess, darling. Come in. Thank you Trent, you may leave us now.”
I darted a backwards glance at Trent, who only nodded to Kari and left, shutting the door quietly behind him. My stomach churned suddenly. Why had I expected him to drop me a wink, or a reassuring smile before he left? Instead, he was blank faced and obedient suddenly. Nothing like himself. It was a little eerie.
Kari didn’t move from her chair, but nodded at the seat across from her, a wooden one that looked like it might fall apart if anyone actually sat on it, “do take a seat, Jessica. We have lots to talk about, you and I.”
Yes, I thought inwardly, about the link, and the terrible frost giants and the horrible queen. Blah, blah. I know already.
Instead of saying any of that though, I folded myself into the little wooden chair and smiled politely, nodding at her.
Kari put her hands together, almost in a prayerful position, and surveyed me over the tops of her fingers, “I want you to put your hands in the fire.”
“What?” My mouth dropped open, and I felt like scooting away from her on the chair. Was she insane?
“Put your hands in the fire,” she smiled a little, “trust me.”
I gaped at her, “I don’t…no. I’m not going to burn myself.”
“No,” she said, “you’re not. Here, I’ll show you.” She moved forward, and I braced myself, but she was only stretching out towards the hearth, placing her own hand over top of the dancing flames. I watched in astonishment as they licked at her hand, curling around her fingers. Her hand did not blacken, the flesh stayed white. She wiggled her fingers a little and smiled at me again, “you see? You can do it too.”
The fire was like a magnet now, drawing my hand toward it. Part of me believed her completely, longing to place my hand in the flames like she had. The other half though, was full of panic and denial. Shouting at me that I was crazy. She was crazy.
Pulse thundering in my ears like the hoof beats of a thousand stampeding horses; I reached with one trembling hand and laid my fingers over top of the fire, right next to my mother’s hand. The tongues of fire tickled the palm of my hand, licking up between my fingers, caressing my wrist. The sensation was of mild warmth, nothing more.
Kari was looking over at me, her red mouth stretched in a wide smile, “do you like it? Isn’t it lovely?”
“It’s amazing,” I breathed, “it feels…good.”
“Like a beloved pet licking your fingers,” she pulled her hand back, “because fire is your friend, not your enemy. I’m going to teach you that. I’m going to teach you to use it to your advantage.”
Reluctantly, I pulled my hand from the fire and placed it in my lap, “I can’t seem to control it at all. It only comes when I get really mad, or scared.”
Kari nodded, “for some, it comes often and often when it’s not needed or wanted. Others have trouble getting their power to come at all. You at least, are clearly not going to have that problem.”
“Yeah, but I don’t like the fact that I burn buildings down whenever I get a bit cross,” I muttered, “that part isn’t so great.”
Kari smiled thinly, “don’t worry, Jess. That’s what you’re going to learn to control.” She leaned forward suddenly, and there was an eager light in her black eyes, “but first, I hope you don’t mind. I have to test you for something.”
The link. I tried to keep my face blank, like I had no idea what she was talking about, “what for?”
“It may be nothing. But sometimes the royal family…my family, will inherit a trait called “linking” and I need to see if you have it or not. Please hold out your hand.”
I did, heart galloping again. Trent had done it accidently, and I still remembered how it had felt, being instantly connected to someone, so much so that I could feel every beat of his heart and every breath he took. Did I want to be so utterly connected to this woman? I still wasn’t sure if I longed for her acceptance, or I resented her totally and completely.
Kari reached out and took my hand. Her grip felt firm and cool. She shut her eyes in concentration, and suddenly I felt something, a vague tickle at the back of my mind. It was slightly irritating, making me want to jam a pipe cleaner in my ear and scratch the back of my skull. I had to resist the urge to yank my hand away from her.
At first, her thin brows were furrowed in concentration, then the creases deepened with annoyance and finally frustration. She let go of my hand abruptly and stared at me, eyes hard, “you have it.”
I blinked at her, “and that’s….bad?”
“What’s bad is that you’re blocking me,” her voice was flat, but I could tell she was irritated to no end.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to. It’s nothing I’m doing on purpose…” my shoulders hunched defensively under her accusing stare, “when you do…whatever you do…it’s like an itch in the back of my head. It doesn’t feel nice.”
Kari bit her lip, black eyes staring up at the ceiling. She stayed like that for a moment, obviously thinking hard, “A defensive mechanism,” she finally said decisively, “it’s obviously something you’ve perfected during your lifetime to keep other people out. You’re not open to me…yet.” Her face melted into a beatific smile, “don’t worry, dear. I think as soon as you learn to trust me a little more, you’ll open up just fine,” she wove her fingers together and rested her chin on her knuckles, staring at me thoughtfully, “that’s good though, it’s fantastic that you have the link.”
“Right,” I said, but I was really thinking, link be damned. I needed to control this fire thing, not learn to join brains with people, or whatever that was all about, “so, when will I learn not to burn stuff down. That’s pretty important, right?”
Her brow wrinkled with annoyance, then smoothed almost in the same instant. She smiled at me, “yes, I’ll teach you that. Of course it’s important. First, I think, we can concentrate on what makes it happen. It’s when you get angry or frightened, so until you learn more control, try to avoid these emotions.”
“Well, as long as nobody scares me, it should be okay,” I muttered.
Kari pursed her lips, “I think, now that we established the link, that will be enough for today. We’ll start out slow, I have to go into town for supplies today. Tomorrow we’ll begin lessons in earnest. Can I pick you up anything in town, dear?”
She was suddenly the doting mother, was she? I shook my head, “I’m okay, thanks.”
Kari stood up abruptly, “very well, dear. Feel free to explore the rest of the house today, get to know the others. I’ll be back in a few hours. I have to go meet Maria and this new recruit.”
She led me to the door, and I exited just in front of her, watching as she breezed past me down the hall, calling back over her shoulder, “tell the others I’ll be just a bit, dear.”
“Alright,” I mumbled, feeling a little idiotic, just standing there in the hall by myself. What was I supposed to do now? The front door clicked shut as she left, and I bit my lip, staring down the hall. Had it been my imagination, or was the lesson pretty much over once she’d established that I had the link?