Author's note: Some of the chapter breaks in the next couple of chapters are in slightly odd places. They were written as one continuous chapter, but I decided to split them up a bit, just to maintain chapter length, and hopefully keep things easier on the reader.
It had been deep night when he entered her dream; Gann opened his eyes to see only the dying embers of the fire, and the false dawn lightening the sky. Clearly Tarva hadn't wasted any time after waking; she was up and already strapping on her armour. Irritating habit, that. Kaelyn and Safiya were both talking to her softly. Much to the frustration of his curiosity, he couldn't hear a thing clearly. Never mind.
Tarva caught his slight movement. "Ready for another exciting day of tramping through the woods?" Her words were light, but there was a slight edge of uncertainty in her eyes as she looked at him. Gann could interpret that easily; she wanted to know what else he'd seen in her dream. He threw her his best enigmatic half-smile.
"Snow, trees, spirits – sounds enthralling." He'd noticed the slight hardening of her features at the word 'spirits'. She was fighting the spirit-eater at every turn, and it had been days since she'd done anything but wrestle the hunger down.
"I realise that this is not as interesting as sitting in a prison cell, but perhaps you can restrain your yawns of boredom long enough to, I don't know, cast a few spells, fire a few arrows?"
"If only to oblige one so beautiful and so cursed, I will try," he said.
"Do that," she said, and spun on her heel, away from him. "We will talk later," she tossed over her shoulder.
-0-0-0-0-0-
"Oh, gods," Tarva muttered as they approached the blue, glowing figure of a man, and a variety of telthors materialised around them.
"Steady, little one," Okku rumbled.
She nodded, and swallowed a couple of times, with a very set look on her face.
"Are you all right?" Safiya asked. "I know it's been a while since you... fed."
"I... think so," Tarva said. "Just as long as I don't have to be around them for too long." Despite the fierce cold, Gann noted, sweat was beading on her forehead as visible sign of her struggle to control the spirit-eater's urges.
"Old Father Bear and I could scare them off for you," Gann offered. Okku rumbled at him, but said nothing. It was rather fun to tease the ancient bear god, even if he wasn't sure exactly how far he could safely push it.
"You could wait by the tree," Kaelyn suggested, and glanced back over her shoulder at the tall beech, still in the full glory of its summer foliage. "I do not think there is need to put you to this test."
"Thanks for your concern... but I need to practice this, I think. The more control I can gain, the better."
"As you wish," the half-celestial said, but she exchanged a worried glance with Safiya behind the half-elf's back.
"You all know what to look for by now," Tarva said. "If you see I'm losing control, you have my full permission to spook the spirits, club me over the head and drag me away, whatever you think it will take."
"I'd rather not hit you," Gann said. "I would not like to test my strength against the thickness of your skull. I have a feeling I know which would win, and I might never recover from such deep humiliation."
"Humiliating Gann aside, we have no idea what other effects that would have," Safiya observed. "Since we're relying on your conscious willpower to keep it in check, knocking you out when it's active..."
Tarva blanched. "Good point. Let's not find out, hmmm?"
The little group moved forward cautiously. About half of the spirits they met were hostile – no doubt due to the presence of the spirit-eater –these, however, looked like the sort who were friendly, or at least neutral, and this Gann attributed to his presence. He smoothed back his hair as Tarva offered a friendly greeting to the telthor beserker.
He turned to face them, but said nothing.
"Tarva," Kaelyn whispered, having been looking past them, "that isle is full of ice giants."
"I can smell their stench from here," Okku said.
"Aye," said the spirit-beserker, slowly, as if the words had to come a long way. "It used to be a sanctuary, protected by a spirit. A barrier nothing evil could cross. Then the hungry one came and destroyed it."
"The hungry one," Tarva repeated flatly. "You know, the more I hear about this curse, and those who suffered it – or worse, revelled in it – before me, the less I like it?" The telthor didn't respond, but Okku growled his agreement. "And that let the frost giants in?" she asked after a moment.
"Aye," the beserker said. "Without a guardian spirit, the sanctuary is vulnerable to such invasion. The giants must be driven forth."
"Clear out the frost giants? That's all?" Tarva asked.
"Because an entire clan of bloodthirsty overgrown snowmen is, of course, nothing to worry about," Safiya muttered, and Gann chuckled.
"And a new spirit must be found to guard the sanctuary and re-form the barrier," the telthor said in his echoing voice.
"Would you take on that responsibility? Would you make that sacrifice?" Tarva asked, and Gann finally caught up. He wasn't sure he liked the idea at all...
... but the telthor had no hesitations. "It is my duty. And if you can grant that – hungry one – then you will have undone at least part of the damage that you inflicted on the forest the last time you came here."
Gann could see the decision in the set of her shoulders – if nothing else, the beserker's last words had made up her mind for her. She puffed out a breath, which hung like a cloud in the frigid air, and nodded sharply. "Then I'll be back."
-0-0-0-0-0-
"You still have the challenge system?" Tarva asked.
Gann laughed, and Safiya was grinning. Easy enough to figure out where Tarva was going with this, and if the five of them couldn't hold off one thick-witted ice giant, he would stand on the stage in the Veil and declare his vows of chastity.
"We still is liking to have a strong jarl, and this is the best way we know to pick him," the giant shrugged.
"And anyone can challenge? How about... me?" There was a mischievous light dancing in Tarva's eyes as she glanced over her shoulder to see Safiya and Okku grinning back. There was even a slight smile on Kaelyn's delicate face. It felt almost like a punch in the stomach to Gann.
There it was – that was how she should have looked, the way she should have been. She should have been that glowing, vital spirit, not the wounded and empty one he'd come to know. Part of it was the spirit-eater curse, no doubt, but there was deeper, older damage there. And, well – he wouldn't say that it broke his heart, because as much as he enjoyed melodrama, that would be too great an exaggeration. It was a waste, that was all.
"Haw, haw," the ice giant laughed. "Little bug wants to be jarl! I is accepting your challenge. You will have to show you can be defending the crown better than me. You stand in front of the crown, and I is trying to take it from you. If you is knocked out, I win. If I is knocked out, I doesn't win."
Tarva slung her scythe down from its resting position on her shoulder. "Got it."
"But since I is still jarl, I can make new rules. In this and all future challenges, you is going to have to protect the crown from all giants of clan, not just me. And you might have to fight some of us twice over, because we is all so excited to beat you up so many times."
Tarva looked around, like the others, assessing the strength of the clan. Coolly appraising, now that a battle was imminent, and again, Gann felt it as a loss. "We can do that."
"And one more rule," the jarl said. "No cheaters with their sparkly lights."
"I'm sorry?" Tarva asked.
"He said 'no spell-casters'," Safiya translated.
"I didn't follow that at all," Gann admitted. "How did you?"
"Spent too much time with Kaji."
"So Gann and Safiya can't fight with me?" Tarva asked the jarl.
"And the bird-woman can't too."
"He won't allow Kaelyn either," Safiya explained. The cleric sighed in something very like exasperation.
Tarva reached up to slap Okku's shoulder. "Well, Old Father Bear? Want to help me become jarl of a clan of frost giants?"
"You lead a very strange life, little one." The bear's teeth flashed, white and sharp. "But I will enjoy this."
The weapon master turned to face the three spell-casters. Gann didn't think any of them looked particularly pleased about it. "Why don't you wait near the berserker we talked to earlier?" she suggested. "Best not stay too near, I get the impression they're likely to get enthusiastic about beating up people our height."
"The giants are strong, and their numbers are many... you may need my healing," Kaelyn protested softly.
"Kaelyn... I'll be fine," Tarva said. "I thank you for your concern, nevertheless."
"As you wish," the cleric said, her wings fanning out slightly. "I shall pray for you all the same."
The Red Wizard's eyes searched Tarva's face. "You are certain about this?"
"Challenging an entire clan of frost giants with nothing but a garish bear as support, she means," Gann said lightly. "Just in case you'd forgotten already."
Okku growled a little – something about trying his patience, but Tarva talked over the low sound. "Between the two of us, I can think we can handle it, and there's enough of you to deal with anything that might come at you from that direction. If I'm wrong, just yell, and Okku will come and give you a hand – or a paw."
"Hmph. I swore to protect you, spirit-eater, not the one of Thay, the priestess, or the chattering hagspawn. But I will do this."
"Thank you," Tarva said. She sighed and squared her shoulders. "Right."