Lord Asriel, who was currently staying in his laboratory in Svalbard, takes a chair and placed it in front of his little mirror. His Daemon Stelmaria who accompanies him closely, stretches out her body besides the chair then Asriel himself takes a seat.
"My well-deserved break, Stel," he mumbles, taking a deep satisfied breath that finally tells him that he now could enjoy the silence and to have his rest from a long series of experiments.
But these experiments he carried out during the day were very exhausting, so he was sweating a little. His short blond hair was already slightly damp when he leaned back and looked at himself in the mirror.
His blue eyes sparkled in the light of the lamps just like his hair, he was handsome with his beard no question. His beard on the other hand certainly made him scarier besides his handsomeness, but today it was time to shave.
So Asriel grabbed a towel with his right hand, moistened his beard, and covered his chin with shaving cream. Then he takes his razor and carefully lets the blade slide over his face, feeling a gentle pressure as the blade did its job perfectly.
But beside him as he was still shaving the resting Stelmaria pricked up her ears, looking in the direction of the door.
Asriel for his part felt her behavior. He turned away from the mirror and gently touched the snow-white fur of his daemon. "Easy, girl," he says with a slight giggle. "I'm starting to think that you hear ghosts."
"I do not like this, Asriel," Stelmaria growled in a dark voice. "Something is wrong here!"
"Don't worry, there's still a storm raging outside … so relax, my girl"
Asriel turned back to the mirror and continued to shave but something in Stelmaria remained uneasy, she continued to look at the door in a tense manner while a few silent minutes passed.
Lord Asriel was wiping the last shaving cream off his face when he heard noises coming from outside.
"What the hell?!"
The sounds grew louder and Asriel pricked up his ears. He looked at the door, worried and excited, like Stelmaria, who had stood up and was ready to intervene as a loud click of heels sounded.
They followed at rapid intervals, as if someone were desperately trying to reach them both.
"Asriel, oh God Asriel where are you?!" A woman's voice called from the door.
She stormed into the room like a hurricane and stopped panting in front of Lord Asriel. He himself was shocked as if he was struck by lightning, he jumped up from his chair so quickly that it knocked the chair backwards.
"Asriel...!" Says the woman once more. She bursts into tears and sobs loudly. Her gaze turns to her arms, she is holding a little seven-year-old girl in her arms. "You have to help us!"
"What …. Marisa?!" Lord Asriel recognized the young woman, her curly brown hair sparkled in the light of the lamps. She was one of the most beautiful women in his life but what was her visit about? To find that out, Asriel comes a little closer, Stelmaria followed him with gentle steps.
"What the hell do you want from me?" He asked with an angry voice.
The Golden Monkey jumped from Marisa Coulter's shoulder, in his hand he held a sparkling golden compass an Alethiometer.
"Hm," Asriel briefly shook his head, his vision became much more clearer. His Ex-Lover held young Lyra, their mutual daughter, Lyra, in her arms. She seemed to be sleeping as Asriel noticed.
Not a single part of her body was moving when she was in her mother's arms, only her quiet, calm breath could be heard.
"What happened, why is Lyra with you?" asked Asriel excitedly, he raged with anger at his old love for whom he still had feelings.
"I took her in when you disappeared," she explained with a trembling voice. "We spent six weeks together in London but suddenly she ran away from home."
"Marisa, what have you done?" Asriel clenched his fists, Stelmaria hissed and the golden monkey Oz stepped a few steps back to Marisa, fearfully hiding behind the legs of Lyra's mother with the alethiometer in his hands as he kept a watchful eye on the snow leopardess.
When he felt safe moments later, Marisa speaks in tears, "Asriel … I … I tried to raise our little Lyra Louisa like a proper mother would, but I failed. I did everything wrong what you could do wrong and then she had enough of me and my life…. She runs away from home as I said. Then of course I was looking for her and concluded that she was looking for you here in Svalbard. However, her adventure went wrong, I found her half-frozen a few hours ago. She suffers violently ... Asriel our baby needs our help."
"For heaven's sake!"
Asriel nodded in agreement and excitedly called for Thorold, his faithful servant. His fear for his only child grew from second to second.
Thorold hurried over as fast as he can from the kitchen to Asriel, panting, he stopped in front of his master.
"Yes MyLord what do you wish?" Asked the old Man worried.
With a booming commanding voice Asriel thundered, "I need a hot bath for Lyra. Prepare one right away. It's urgent, old friend."
"Yes my Master," Thorold disappeared immediately in the direction of the bathroom.
Marisa Coulter had meanwhile gone with Lyra into Asriel's bedroom, where she desperately tried to warm the girl up with a thick fur blanket which she wrapped around the girl and another layer of two thick covers over the first blanked.
In conclusion she tried everything to make the sleep as comfortable as possible, even if the girl didn't notice any of it, just like Pantalaimon, Lyra's daemon, who slept together with the child, as a little ermine.
Next, Marisa realized that she had done everything possible. She takes a seat on the bed and thought silently about her past.
She had denied this girl for seven years of her life and now when she truly took care of her for the first time, feelings were released that she had suppressed for a long time.
Anger and sadness
Anger and sadness shot through her body. How could she have been such a bad and cold-hearted mother? How could she ever live with that? Abandoning her only child which was from a religious point of view truly the sin of her long life.
She had in fact now failed not only as a human but also as a mother. The damn gobblers were more important to her than her own flesh and blood.
In the meantime, lost in thought, Asriel came into the room. With his hands in his pockets, he let himself sink into the nearby armchair that stood beside the other side of the bed from where he could see his Ex-Lover, his child mother, his true love that made him realized that he had failed too.
That he was selfish, and only concentrated on his research too. He had pretended to be Lyra's uncle, he had lied to her for years, he had disappointed her all the time and he was the man who had always pushed the girl aside annoyed, although she only wanted to spend some time with him.
Lyra only wanted to travel to the north with him for once in her life, that was her greatest wish she ever had but Asriel refused to let her. How desperate he must be to deny a little girl this request.
"My Lyra," he sighed and looked at Marisa, his eyes were wet, he could no longer suppress the feelings he had for his only daughter like his lover.
"How could we do this, Asriel?" She asked depressed, putting her hands in front of her face as she cried bitter and warm tears.
"What do you mean Marisa?" Asriel asked in return.
Marisa rises her face, looking directly into Asriel's ice-cold blue eyes, "I mean that we abandoned a little baby, our baby, our daughter … I … I can't take it anymore." She turned her beautiful tear-streaked face away from him and brushed a strand of blonde hair from her daughter's face.
Asriel watched her, he leans forward. "Marisa, we did it so she would be safe!" He says in a calm, thoughtful tone. "She should grow up far away from the madness of the Magisterium and our work so she could have a normal life which she truly deserves."
She deserves to live with us," Marisa herself replied threateningly, "she had never deserved to live among a few old, arrogant, and dirty scientists at Jordan College. Locked up in a little room and just a few rags as clothes."
"What should I have done Marisa? Leave her to the fucking Magisterium so she'll become a faithful Christ?" Asriel rolled his eyes, his anger increased. He pointed to Marisa with his finger, "you throw her away like a piece of garbage, you ran away from your duty as a mother and then you betrayed me."
Marisa fired back, "Damn it, Asriel, I had no choice. If the dust of the trial had settled, my mother would have raised our Lyra."
"You think the Magisterium would have allowed that? …. Come on, honey, dream on, your little fantasy world is screwed up anyway."
"That's not important anymore Asriel, for once in your fucking life put your hate for me away. Our daughter is lying here, she is sick," Marisa's mood changed, she softened again. "Asriel, honey, our daughter is helpless and alone. She has only us and needs us both now together as her parents."
"You're right I'm sorry," Asriel calmed down. "I shouldn't have reacted that way." He rose from his armchair, thoughts shooting through his mind.
After a few silent minutes, Asriel finally spoke, "She will stay with me where she is safe for now."
"And further Asriel, what are you going to do then?" Marisa asked, smoothing Lyra's covers.
"We both do our work, I here and you in Bolvangar," Asriel replied firmly, sending Stelmaria to Oz to take care of Pan then he continued, "And you can of course sleep and live here but under no circumstances, if the Magisterium finds out that Lyra is here with us, she will be in danger. Maybe she will be taken away from us forever."
"Then, we have to be careful, especially me. We have to learn to be parents," finished Marisa Asriel's sentence. She pressed a fragrant kiss on her daughter's hot forehead.
Afterwards she rises from the bed and comes close to her lover. He takes her in his arms and caresses her back. Quietly, Lyra's mother cries once more and says, "I'm so afraid for our little Lyra. She is still a baby. Our baby"
"Shhhhhhh …. Don't worry my love," Asriel's says whispering, "Lyra will be healthy again. The three of us will get through this together."
Both looked at each other with bright blue eyes, "We will … Because I want my daughter with everything I have. I want to bring her home, to our home. That's the only wish I have."
"I want to fulfill this wish for you but you have to work with me. Together we will create a future for her," replied Asriel with a firm and hopeful voice. "She will not miss anything, she will love her parents but first we have to prepare her for that."
Marisa smiled at Asriel, she kissed him, "Lyra must be accepted in the eyes of the Church, that's what we absolutely must achieve Asriel."
"Then my reputation," Asriel returned Marisa's tender kiss. "You will become Lady Belacqua honey, no one will stop us."
He placed a lock of her hair behind her ear and looked into her face. Memories came up, he remembered old times where their love would have gone through everything. But suddenly Lyra moaned for a moment, her parents gaze's turned worried to her.
Asriel & Marisa's daughter still slept calmly. She was safe for now with her parents, but the worst was yet to come. Their eyes turned back to each other and their mouths met for a loving, passionate kiss.