Anyu remained gaping up at the sea goddess, entirely unsure of how to proceed. This was a real and true deity if she'd ever saw one. Should she bow? Recite a prayer? Her mind quickly ran through all of the various ceremonies and rites revolving around Sedna, wondering which, if any, held any truth to them.
Before she could come to a decision, Sedna chuckled lightly and swam a little closer. Her voice had a sultry, rasping quality to it that would make any man blush. Anyu could only blink up at her stupidly.
"Don't be frightened," She said. She smiled, and it appeared she was attempting to appear friendly and kind, but the effect was ruined by those large, unblinking eyes. "I only need you to do something for me."
It was difficult to find a reason not to be frightened. This was another indweller after all, most of whom- according to Kano and Tavra- obeyed Siku's commands. This was Siku's granddaughter, for crying out loud. Had she heard about the human girl in possession of her grandmother's tamga, traveling across the tundra right now to try and topple her? Surely she wouldn't take too kindly to that. And even if she didn't know, what did Siku order indwellers to do with strange humans who wandered into their realm without her permission? Kill them? Torture them, and then kill them? Only it seemed that Sedna had something for her to do before killing her. That would at least buy her some time to find a way out of this impossible situation.
Somehow, Anyu found her voice. "Do something?" She repeated. "What... What do you require of me, mistress?"
Sedna's smile only seemed to broaden at the deferential treatment. "It is a task of grave importance, one that requires both skill and precision." She turned and reached for a long, slender box behind her, one that Anyu had been too distracted to notice before. It was wrought of pure silver, with an intricate design of spiraling whorls stretching over the surface. It was beautiful. Anyu could only assume it was a sort of scabbard. She wrung her hands at the implications. What was her task? To kill some dangerous sea beast? To destroy Sedna's enemies? Anything her mind conjured was either completely impossible or incredibly time consuming. She still had her quest to think about, not to mention Kano and Tavra. They wouldn't wait for her forever. And when they moved on, she would be right back to where she started: alone, afraid, and with no way to get back home.
Slowly, gracefully, Sedna drew out the strangest comb Anyu had ever seen.
The truly bizarre thing about it was it's size. It was easily the length of Sedna's forearm and about the width of her hand. It was a pure white and shined dully, indicating that it was carved from a bone. In a distant part of her mind, Anyu wondered at the immense size of the creature the bone must have come from. Unlike it's case, the comb was completely unadorned. No swirling patterns or lifelike carvings decorated the shaft. The teeth were straight, chiseled into perfect cylinders, and uniformly spaced. Made solely with functionality in mind.
Sedna held the comb delicately, as if it was a precious treasure or a sleeping child. After a brief moment of admiring the tool fondly, she held it out towards Anyu.
"Comb my hair, girl."
Anyu stared, but recovered herself quicker this time.
"You want me to... comb your hair?" She asked. "But..."
"I know," Sedna said mournfully. "It's grown horribly unruly in the years since I last had it combed." Years? Anyu thought, but had enough sense to keep it to herself. "You are the first woman to cross my lake in a long time, and I simply had to take advantage of the opportunity. Men always botch the job."
Anyu tried to move past the complete absurdity of the situation and think logically. This was a good thing, she supposed. It meant that Sedna assumed she was a random female indweller and didn't connect her to the insurgents on their way to overthrow Siku. And all she had to do was brush the goddess' hair. Anyu swam forward and took the comb from Sedna's hands. It was surprising light.
I only need to comb her hair, She told herself, swimming towards the mass of dark tresses that floated behind Sedna. This shouldn't be too difficult.
Her hopes of having a quick and easy time of it immediately fell once she had positioned herself behind Sedna and had a clear look at the challenge.
Sedna's hair was a living breathing thing, as alive and thriving as the ocean itself. Fish swam casually through the waving strands. Other creatures, crabs and oysters and seahorses, seemed to have made it their home as well. And that wasn't even to speak of the other objects tangled in it, the sand dollars and coral that had become hopelessly ensnared over the years.
"Well?" Sedna asked, a note of impatience in her voice. "You do know how to comb hair, don't you?"
Anyu glanced at her own straight black hair, combed into two neat braids that hung just past her shoulders. It was one thing to be able to comb her own hair and quite another to go through this monstrosity. Still, it had been a command, not a question. She would have to either finish the task or find another way to escape.
Gripping the comb tightly, she began to disentangle Sedna's hair.
It was impossible. She spent what must have been more than an hour teasing a large seashell out of a mess of knots, and when she finally plucked it out, a crab latched itself onto the newly freed hair and tangled it up again. At this rate, it would take weeks to complete the task. That couldn't happen. She would have to find another way.
"So," Anyu said, trying to sound conversational. "How is it that I can breathe underwater here? Is this grove magic?"
Sedna chuckled lightly, and Anyu imagined she was rolling her eyes. "Of course not," She said. "This place is no different than the rest of the sea. You can breathe because I've allowed you to. I have the power in this domain."
Anyu paused in shooing away a school of fish to nervously grab her tamga. That meant that if Sedna so wished, Anyu would be drowning right now. The information was useful, but only made the prospect of escape more complicated. Growing more desperate by the minute, she gave the tamga one last hopeful squeeze before deciding to take a risk.
"Have you heard of the human who has entered Adlivun?" She asked. She could only hope her voice sounded unconcerned. "It's quite unusual, isn't it?"
"Ah, yes," Sedna sighed. Her tone had a strange, almost wistful quality to it. "It has been quite a long time, hasn't it? I do quite miss them."
"Miss?" Anyu prodded, yanking the comb harshly through a not of stubborn barnacles. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that I miss the humans, of course," Sedna snapped. "Siku was a fool to close us off from them." She twisted around slightly to pinpoint Anyu with her unsettling gaze. "Don't you agree?"
"I..." What was she supposed to say? Would it look suspicious to say something in favor of the humans? "I'm not quite sure. Why do you say so?"
"They worshipped us!" Sedna said, her voice rising passionately. "Of course precious few indwellers dared travel to their world even before Siku's ban, but I conversed with them constantly. I was a goddess! The source of their livelihood, the recipient of all their prayers and tributes!" She sagged forward slightly, as if the memories of those days tired her. "It's been years since I had such respect. They've most likely forgotten me by now."
You are certainly not forgotten, Anyu thought. To the Nenet, Sedna was the Great Sea Mother, the giver of all life, and no deity was held in higher regard. Anyu recalled all of her grandmother's songs and ceremonies to appeal to Sedna for guidance. She could only imagine what the shaman woman would think if she knew her granddaughter was in the very presence of the great goddess.
Speaking of granddaughters...
"Do you disagree with Siku on so much?" She questioned. A small flame of hope had flared in her chest, warming her even in the freezing temperature of the water. Here was another indweller set against Siku, one who even loved humans! Sedna would certainly be a valuable ally if she were to join them.
"The old woman can be a pain," Sedna mused. "But she has a strong will and is an even stronger leader. Despite our disagreement over humans, I defer to her law."
Anyu's heart sank. Well, there went any possibility of making a new ally. She had lost track of time, but it felt like she hadn't made any progress whatsoever on Sedna's hair. The comb must be magical, otherwise it definitely should have broken by now. In fact, the hair itself seemed to have an almost magical quality, drawing in all of the ocean life as if it had a life force of its own. Something about it...
Anyu started as the lock of hair she was holding suddenly slipped from her grasp. Sedna had flicked her tail, swimming upward and looking around with an intent expression on her face.
"There are others on the surface." Anyu froze and Sedna made a low whistling sound. Not a moment later, two qalupalik, faces bloated and alien, appeared from the deep. "Bring them to me." Sedna said. The two creatures obediently swam towards the surface, moving with exceptional grace despite the unnatural appearance of their bodies.
Anyu tried to hide the panic in her eyes as Sedna swam back to her previous position for Anyu to continue her grooming. Anyu forced herself to resume the grueling task, her heart beating loudly in her ears. She kept a strong grip around her tamga.
"Friends of yours?" Sedna asked.
It could mean that she suspected something. Or it could be casual conversation. Either way, she had to move fast, before Kano and Tavra were brought down here. Sedna may not have recognized the face of the human who had trespassed into Adlivun, but she would certainly recognize indwellers who she clearly was familiar with. And since Kano was currently meant to be in prison and Tavra in hiding in the woods... If she saw them, there would be trouble.
"No, no one I know," She said hurriedly. Her fingers slowly drifted from the tamga to the dagger fastened at her belt. She had a plan. It was a long shot, but the only option she had. "I mean, I was traveling alone..."
"Hm."
As Anyu's fingers wrapped securely around her knife, Sedna's head whipped around to glance at her. She leaned closer, narrowing her eyes in recognition.
The tamga, Anyu thought, her blood running cold.
Sedna suddenly hissed, her orange pupils widening in fury. "Is that-"
With a swift strike, Anyu cut off the wad of hair in her grasp.
Sedna let out a scream of pain as if Anyu had plunged the knife straight through her heart. Not wasting anytime, Anyu kicked upwards, straining towards the surface as fast as she possibly could. She heard a cry of rage and turned in time to see a jet of water racing towards her. She flinched and braced for an impact that never came. The hair clutched tightly in her hand vibrated softly and the stream of water dissipated.
Anyu didn't have time to revel in her victory, resuming her climb upwards. A moment later, she clutched uselessly at her throat, holding back a gasp. She couldn't breathe anymore- Sedna had released her from her power.
Slowly but surely, she swam, until she was past the edges of the black cliffs, until she could once again see light shining overhead. She kept her grip tight around the strange, tingling hair, suspecting that its power was aiding her.
At long last she reached it: the frozen ice that covered Kesuk Lake. Anyu braced her palm against the ice. She hadn't thought this far. The ice was too thick to break through and she was running out of time. Desperately, she began to chip away at it with her knife. It wasn't nearly enough. She had just started to observe bubbles rising up against the ice when she heard the eerily familiar humming sound and glanced down. There, just making their way out of the depths, were several qalupalik, their hands grasping and their teeth gnashing.
Anyu hacked harder at the ice, but to no avail. She threw the useless knife aside and began to bang against the ice, her palms flat on its smooth surface.
She had to get through. She'd made it this far, there was no way it could simply end here. What about Anik and her people? Kano and Tavra and Shesh and all those living oppressed in the eternal winter? She felt a heat gathering in her palms and thrumming through her fingers, a heat of anger and desperation. Slowly but surely, the ice gave way beneath her fingers. She could hear the humming clearly now, impossibly close. It was her mother's voice again, beckoning her, begging her to stay beneath the water. Anyu was tempted, for just a moment, to give in and let herself drift away with the rhythm of the waves. But then the ice gave way, cracking into shards, and she was dragging herself out of the water and into the blessedly dry air.
She lay on her back, gasping and staring up at the sky. White-gray clouds completely blotted out the shine of the sun and the blue of the sky, making the air into a thunderous stew above her. She remembered wishing that she could see the stars before her thoughts drifted away entirely.