Grenwin gently cradled Maia's head in her lap. The way the younger woman's skin seemed to be breaking out in burns before healing, like a constantly shifting pattern, worried her greatly.
Ellir and Ygdis hovered close by, the older woman checking Maia's breathing and listening to her heart.
All three bore confused looks on their faces. They looked to each other, and back to their friend and erstwhile leader, and silently mutually agreed to keep a watch over her. The downed girl wasn't dying, was still alive, but clearly suffering by her constant whimpers and groans.
"Do, uh," Ygdis started slowly, "I'm going to go collect firewood. Shout if something happens, please." She directed the latter to Ellir, trusting Gren to let her know without having to ask.
Ellir nodded, "I will. Grenwin, can you…" She paused, looking at the way Grenwin cradled the younger woman in her arms, "Never mind. Here, we should turn her on her side, just in case."
She reached over, wary of the protective glare in Grenwin's eyes. There was a ferocity there that told Ellir that any aggressive action would have aggressive consequences. Gently, she turned Maia over, so she wouldn't choke on her own tongue or spit if she seized.
"We're too close to their territory," Grenwin said with a frosty tone. "You led us here, and this happened. Tell me what you know." Had she not been hugging the disabled woman fiercely, her tone implied her hands would be wrapped around Ellir's neck, squeezing until she got the answers she wanted.
Ellir, having experience with this kind of thing, didn't waver under the proverbial assault. "I will. The giants I met long ago, when I was her age," She nodded to Maia, "I was taken from my home village and managed to escape, finding myself around here."
She rubbed at an old imagined pain on her right side, an ancient wound that had been with her for decades, only recently cleared away as though it had never been. "I don't remember everything. There was the feeling of walking through dry water, and yes I know how that sounds, but we all felt it a few moments ago."
Grenwin nodded at her to continue, anger still smoldering in her eyes.
The rejuvenated woman took a drink from her waterskin, drawing it slowly lest the compromised warrior think she was reaching for a knife. Savoring the water, she put it away without offering any to Grenwin, knowing she'd see the gesture as a trick or trap of some sort.
"After that feeling, I think I fell. I remember being carried by strong arms, and the impression of very bushy eyebrows. Then, I was waking in a comfortable bed far too large for me, ensconced in a cozy room that made me feel small, like a child. A man entered- and he was a man, dressed in well-fitting clothes, with eyebrows bushy enough to come down and mingle with his long beard."
Grenwin's anger had faded, replaced by curiosity and interest. She nodded a "Go on."
"He spoke our tongue, old and not really understandable, but he told me that I had been found and brought there to recover. I had been bandaged, my wound cleaned, and it took me moons to recuperate. While I was there, I got to know them, you see. They had a lot of different names for themselves, so I just called them the Giants, for even the children stood head and shoulders above me."
Grenwin nodded slowly, "I've… Encountered them, but they were nothing like what you're describing. They came at us with long-hafted axes, giants that could look me in the eye when I rode Filkyr. Have you seen a snow bear? Fully grown, their shoulders are high enough two men standing atop each other only barely, heh, reach." She idly stroked her charge's hair while she spoke, drawing some comfort, and somewhat relaxing the girls murmuring.
Ellir frowned, "I remember a few of them, their gardeners they said, carrying axes. They were wood and stone, but they were tools, not weapons."
Their conversation was interrupted by a rustling in the bushes. No, more of a rhythmic crunch-crunch through the snow, like something large moving. The two of them froze, images of direboar or great elk coming up to their little camp and shredding them-
Grenwin pulled a knife from her belt, backing up against a tree, Ellir joining her.
The crashing continued, until two massive men emerged from the lengthening shadows and dim underbrush. In the fading light, their faces were too long, eyes too dark and beady, and the axe one bore looked like it could split their Weirwood in two in a single swing.
One of the creatures rumbled something in a tongue too deep for human ears or comprehension, gently pushing a smaller figure, easily missed, forward.
"Hi!" Ygdis said faux-cheerfully, "These two very nice people found me collecting sticks. They don't understand our words, but I think they get our tone of voice." She turned to the one with the axe, patting his arm and pointing at Maia, "She's the one that's hurt. Can you help her? Please, oh large and kind giant?"
Grenwin was making out more details as the scene played out. The giants wore clothes, like Ellir had said, and while their faces were oddly human, they each had a pair of large tufted ears that made them seem far less intimidating. Gren hadn't seen those ears, and she watched one flick flat against the giant's head before popping back out, and suddenly she could see the resemblance. The ones she fought had been angry, wanting to kill. These two were… Young, she thought, beards aside. They bore themselves with the same uncertainty that Ygdis used to, back when they had first met.
The axe-wielding giant leaned his weapon up against a tree, and she saw that it wasn't the long-hafted weapon she thought- Just a hatchet, sized for them. The giant walked forward slowly, gently kneeling in the snow before the two terrified women.
He pointed at Ygdis, then at Maia. "Help," the creature spoke in a bassy voice, and Ellir nodded excitedly.
"Yes!" She said, putting a hand on Grenwin's shoulder and squeezing. "Trust me, just this once." She whispered into the warrior's ear, receiving a curt nod in return.
"Help. Come, with?" He waved between him and his companion, then at Maia, and pointed deeper into the woods- In the direction where the chill had happened and Maia started screaming.
Ellir squeezed harder, and Grenwin grunted. There wasn't any easy way out of this situation. If she trusted Ellir, then they might be safe and Maia could recover, maybe. If she didn't, she could try and run… Leaving Ygdis alone with them. Not something she was prepared to do.
"Fine, we'll go with you." She grumbled, fear being replaced by a simmering frustration. Standing, she easily hefted the small woman in her arms, and gave the giant a firm nod- Standing like this, him kneeling, they were able to make eye contact.
The giant stood, gesturing again, "Come." He waved to his companion, grabbed his axe and slung it on his shoulder, and started walking into the darkening woods.
They followed, having little choice. Soon, they stepped through the chill air, and this time Maia didn't even react. Grenwin hoped that was a good omen as they ventured deeper into the Giant's home.
They walked for what could have been hours, or minutes. Grenwin was hyperaware of any movement around them, and the more they walked, the more she heard and saw, out in the shadowy forest. Ellir walked with the axe-wielding giant, trying to engage it in conversation. The large man was willing, seemed friendly enough, but didn't speak their tongue well at all. Ygdis was much the same with the other giant, leaving Grenwin alone to stew in her thoughts and carry Maia.
They emerged into a great clearing, seeming almost another world entirely. The air had been growing warmer, snow disappearing, and now they were warm enough for Grenwin to start sweating in her furs. She didn't mind, staring at the massive trees, the giants tending their matters peacefully, the homes that seemed both excavated and grown within small hills.
Maia had told her of Hobbits, and how they lived in the Shire and Hobbiton, and how they lived in cozy homes under the earth yet still open to the air. She understood what she meant, looking at these half-tree half-hill structures.
She had the queerest moment of vertigo, and her sense of scale fled her. Before her stood not a warren of dangerous creatures, but a thriving village of people, talking and working and laughing together. They were even welcomed, led to one house-mound out of many, and the axe-giant knocked firmly on the door.
There was a deep response from the other side, the feel of something large walking towards them. The door opened, thick as her arm was wide, and a wrinkled bearded face looked out at them from above a small fat lamp. Grenwin giggled, mortified, momentarily seeing Symon's features below those long eyebrows. This man had the same air about him, something Maia had called "the bearing of a learned man" japingly once. It wasn't a jape here, though.
The old giant blinked at them, looked between them, saw Ellir and stopped. "Oh my. You, child, do you know a woman known as Ellir? She may be before your time, but you have the image of her." He squinted, "Daughter? Granddaughter?"
Grenwin was taken aback. They show up, and the first thing this old man asks is after Ellir?
The redheaded woman smiled back and gave the giant a surprising hug. His bushy brows rose, and climbed further as Ellir told him something in a low tone that didn't carry to Grenwin's ears. She stepped back, gesturing at Maia. "It's good to meet you again, Elder Hamgwyn. My friend, she's sick and needs aid."
Ygdis piped up, "That's not why we're here, though. We're from First Fork, and Maia here wanted to talk to your leaders about trade and, ah, building peaceful and mutually beneficial relations."
The giants that brought them shrugged at each other and said something in their tongue to this Elder Hamgwyn. The elder listened closely, nodding, as their report seemed to stretch on and on. Finally, he held up a hand and stopped them, telling them both something in a kindly tone, and the two left with confused expressions.
Grenwin felt a little stab of vindication at seeing someone look as confused as she felt.
"It has been a very long time since we have had guests, even longer since those guests held to the ancient oaths." He nodded to the small group, "You are armed, yet have no ill intent that I can see or sense."
"You've gotten better with this speech, Elder." Ellir told him appreciatively. The giant rumbled in response, looking embarrassed.
"We've time enough to share our lives after settling this one one." He opened the door wider, gesturing for them to enter. "Please, be welcome. It has been so long since I've hosted guests! This way, please." He led them down a short hall, and into a cozy bedroom. Scaled for a man of his stature, yet still, it had an air of homeliness to it that made Grenwin ache for the Lodge.
He quickly stripped the bed, gesturing for Grenwin to put down her precious cargo. She did so, gently, noticing that Maia's breathing had evened out and the horrific burns had stopped appearing. She seemed to be sleeping normally, even snuggling into the thick blanket that Hamgwyn brought over.
Grenwin felt a great sense of relief. She'd be okay, and things seemed to be going well enough that none of them were in true danger. She could let herself relax a bit, though she'd stay wary. Yes, that was what she ought to do.
As the warrior was having her own internal conversation, Elder Hamgwyn turned back to Ygdis and Ellir. "Would you like any tea? Please, I have a comfortable space for talking in the other room." He gestured for them to follow, the two leaving Grenwin to watch over Maia. He led them over to a wide room, set deeper into the earth, one large hearth against the far wall with sitting cushions and a low table in the center of the room. It felt positively cavernous, though the bookshelves on every wall gave it an odd feeling.
They sat, Elder Hamgwyn bustling around with various tools and implements. He delivered a steaming cup of something to the other room, before returning and repeating the process. All the while, he kept up a rumbling commentary.
"It hasn't been since the days of Elder Lorent that men have desired to treat with us openly. The Wall was young in those days, according to a few scraps of text that remain, if you were curious as to how long ago that must have been. Truly, it is a great shame to have lost even the memory of the oaths our peoples took."
He continued in that vein until finally placing a tray loaded with fine crumbling bread-things, three cups, and a pitcher of steaming liquid before them on the table. He passed each woman a small plate of "It is Valongar, a fine creation brought to us by a man from Braavos when I was still young and spry enough to care for the tallest of our great trees. It is a fried bread-bark pastry, you see, with sweetness from the rendered sap of the humble maple," as well as a cup of the hot drink. It smelled spiced and slightly fruity, and Ygdis' eyes went wide as she tasted something entirely new.
The young woman gulped down the beverage, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as her cheeks grew red from the heat. "This is amazing! What is this?"
"Ah, a wine we ferment from a berry-producing vine that grows within the canopy above us. Collecting these berries is a chore, so we tend to make the idle young gather them for us." There was a smile on his face, remembering days past. "Yes, I remember being sent up there for the first time, feeling the sway of the tree and the way the wind seemed to push at us."
He managed to stop himself, a noticeable blush forming on his face. "I apologize, I've been quite talkative this evening. I haven't many opportunities to speak this tongue, and I find it fascinating."
Ellir reached over and put a hand on one of his, "Elder, will our friend live?" She asked bluntly, causing Ygdis to choke on part of a valongar she was shoving into her mouth.
Hamgwyn's brows rose, "She merely needs rest. Beyond whatever else you have cause for concern over, I don't believe that girl has been getting enough sleep."
Ygdis put down her pastry, guilt writ large over her features. "She had said that she was fine, and… I let it go." She hung her head, "I'll not make that mistake again."
Ellir patted the younger woman on the back comfortingly, "You and Grenwin know her the best out of anyone. That you saw any signs at all and asked after them was more than I ever did."
The elder rumbled something in his own tongue that echoed through their bones, something comforting.
"She just needs rest?" Ygdis asked, looking up at the giant, who nodded. "Well, while she rests, we should talk about what we came here for." She eyed Ellir, "You know more about this than I do, right?"
Ellir shook her head. "She said she wanted to meet them. Anything else she wanted to accomplish, she either figured out later or held it closely. Our patron can be a little strange sometimes," she clarified for the giant.
Ygdis tapped her knuckles on the table, thinking. "She said, 'It would be great if we were able to… Build relations? Something about mutual partnership, future planning, even welcoming any giants who wanted to visit or live with us."
The elder sighed with more force than any human has managed, "Complicated. Everything about that is, yes, complicated. Trade is one thing, peace another. We Ogier are not welcome outside our stedding, and even those conclaves of men that seem to welcome us draw arms against us merely one or two of your generations later. How can we know, long lived as we are, that you will even remember promises made and given? I thought you had come to renew ancient oaths, yet you speak of new oaths instead."
Silence settled at the table, Ygdis looking up at the elder's eyes challengingly. "Not with Maia leading us." She gave Ellir a sidelong glance, seemingly changing what she was about to say. "She's changing things, changing us for the better. If I make an oath, I will keep it. I can't expect my sons or daughters to keep to an oath I made, though." She kept tapping her knuckles nervously, "It seems to me that a solution is to teach our children and their children why oaths matter, give them the ability to decide for themselves if they want to uphold our promises."
She held up her hands placatingly habitually, unneeded as the elder was giving her his undivided attention and seemed nowhere near interrupting. He nodded at her to continue, so she did.
"So, if you're worried about oaths being forgotten, then it's on us to remember them. Whoever you swore together with before, that isn't us. We're First Fork, not 'men' or a 'conclave,' and right now, you're dealing with us, not your remembered histories." She reached over, grabbing one of his massive hands in both of hers, "I'm alive, sitting here, talking to you in the hopes of fulfilling my sister's desire. That isn't enough to build a true partnership on, but is it enough to start trying?"
The elder was silent for a long moment, studying her, studying her hands. Finally, he blew out his long mustaches, harrumphing. "Hasty, hasty. It is enough to start something new. Yes," He pat her hands gently, "This is worth discussing. It is, however, late. You are guests in my home, and if you wish to speak of this more tonight, we may. I would prefer we share stories over valongar and spiced wine. If we are to be friends, I would know who our friends would be, yes?"
Ellir gave Ygdis a squeeze on her shoulder, pulling the younger woman's attention away. She gave the spearwife a nod, "It's alright. He's right, we can talk about it in the morning. Maia may even be awake by then, and Grenwin shouldn't be left out."
Ygdis thought, nodding. "Okay. Stories, then. I have one, back when Grenwin first came to First Fork. She was wounded, carrying two dead goats and half a spear…"
Despite the worry, the concern, the fear that the night had begun with, the atmosphere in the cozy home of an Ogier Elder, drinking wine and eating pastries, had certainly become one of welcoming and new friendships.
In the other room, one young woman sat, watching over another who slept peacefully.
In another place, where time and the coherence of reality held little sway, Maia burned. When it stopped, she couldn't say, and opening her eyes showed her only a vast dim emptiness.
"Oh good, you're finally awake." A familiar feminine voice said. It paused, "I'm sorry, I've been wanting to use that line for so long and this really isn't the time or place."
Maia sat up, looking at the source of the voice. Not far from her, sitting on the same emptiness as she, two girls sat. One was younger, staring at something in her hands- A sword, she was staring at a sheathed sword. With a start, Maia realized that that girl was her, or… Her body, her appearance. She saw the same features in the mirror every day, only, well, mirrored.
The other girl was older, maybe two or three years older than Maia. Her features, the way she talked, everything was achingly familiar, and looking at her brought up memories from the life she thought she'd lost.
"Where am I?" Maia asked, to no response from the younger girl, and a concerned look from the former.
"Well, I'm not sure." The… Spirit, maybe, responded. "This particular place is something unique to you. Us, maybe. It's complicated."
Maia's head hurt, and she slowly laid back down. "Fuck it, tell me in the morning. I'm going to sleep this off."
Unseen to her, the older girl sat next to the younger, holding her tightly. Maia could barely make out a whisper of, "I knew it was worth it. Look, Mai. You're free."
Everything faded from Maia's perception as she fell into a deeply restive slumber.