Ygdis sipped at her mug of warm broth, sitting comfortably on her floor cushion, watching her sister casually handle threads of Saidar. It was as if a whole new sight had been granted to her, revealing the subtle world that lay all around them.
She savored the taste and smell and warmth of her drink, the calm thrum of the One Power running through her as she focused on guiding it through her. Not to channel, but to learn to withstand distraction.
Grenwin sat across the low table from her, popping a small cut of roast turnip into her mouth and chewing thoughtfully.
Maia was sitting between them, drumming her fingers on her crossed legs and thinking. With a sigh, the unseen knot fell apart, threads dissipating into a vague mist before vanishing.
"I think," she eventually ventured, "We should probably talk about the weird stuff that's been happening."
Grenwin clenched her hand into a fist momentarily, brow furrowing as she looked at her injured hand.
"Yeah, we should. I think I dreamt I punched someone," she said, shaking her head.
Maia perked up, "Let's start with that! I'm pretty sure that actually happened."
Grenwin gently put her next morsel back down. "What?"
"Your dream?" Ygdis prodded.
Nodding, Maia pointed at Grenwin's busted knuckles. "She punched my past life and got that for her trouble. Thank you, Grenwin."
Slowly, the taller woman nodded. "That was real, then?" A moment passed as she thought, "Wait, you had a husband?"
Ygdis had dreams too, the same dream, every night. Her eyes felt unfocused, having a hard time sticking to any one place as her friend's words seemed to buzz in her ears.
"No," Maia said firmly, "I am not her. She's, sort of, my mother? One of them."
"Huh." Grenwin thought it over, finally nodding. "Aye, I can see that. Not sure how that works."
The old hollow feeling threatened to swallow Ygdis up. Deep within, something cracked, then crumbled away.
Mad eyes of blue flame, flickering wildly in hatred and rage, set in her brother's face. Her brother's voice echoed from her brother's mouth, a song of pain and grief joining a chorus that screamed.
Ygdis bolted to her feet, pointing at the other women. "No! Those are just dreams! He's dead! With the Gods!"
The other two women stared at Ygdis with shock, Grenwin caught with another morsel halfway to her mouth.
Maia moved over, opening a space between her and Grenwin. "Come and sit with us, Yg."
Face aflame, Ygdis sat between them, "I, ah, I don't…" In an attempt at redirection, she took one of Grenwin's turnip bits, popping it into her mouth.
For all the flavor, it tasted like ash.
"Tasty," Ygdis lied, "Lom's work?"
Grenwin exchanged a look with Maia before reaching over and enfolding Ygdis in one of her bear-hugs.
Shuddering, Ygdis felt her meager control slip away, breath coming in shaky gasps and tears staining the older woman's tunic. Every time she thought of her brother, the fate she couldn't admit fearing, another sob would force its way out of her. It wasn't real. It couldn't be.
She remembered her brother's laughter, his smiling face as he taught her how to knot a fishing net, how to hold a spear and loose arrows, and the secret songs Mom had taught him before she passed.
In her memory, he lived still, vibrant and resolute.
In her heart, she knew Ebbo was dead, endless dirge echoing around her.
Slowly, a realization came upon her. Sniffling, she pulled away, wiping her face clean with her sleeve.
"My brother is dead." Ygdis told them, "But he still sings." She tapped her head, "I can hear him. I hear him all the time." She shuddered, forcing herself to face the truth.
It felt like great scoops were being taken from her soul, leaving a cold void.
"We can help him!" Turning to Maia, "You can heal anything! We just have to find him!"
Delicate fingers stroked through Ygdis' hair. "Find your brother? How?"
"They used to play games," Grenwin murmured, "And it was their gift to be able to find each other, no matter where the other hid."
Ygdis nodded, "If I'm close enough, I might be able to…" She shuddered, imagining her brother locked away, far from warmth and life. "I can find him," She finished, voice giving lie to her fragile confidence.
"We will," Maia promised, "If we can find your brother, we'll do what we can for him."
Ygdis' had no more tears to shed, latching onto the smaller woman with a powerful grip. "Thank you," she murmured.
Grenwin chuckled on her other side, rubbing Ygdis' back with a strong hand. "We'll figure it out," she said with such certainty that Ygdis almost believed her.
Ygdis was unsure how long they stayed like that, quietly supporting her. Eventually, she released Maia, reaching for her mug and taking a sip of life-giving warmth. It settled in her belly, her inner hearth blazing with renewed fervor.
"Dreams." Ygdis said, turning to Grenwin. "What happened last night?"
The bear-wife thought it over, "Maia woke me up, but I was still dreaming. I can tell, the light is different in dreams…" She pointed at the ceiling, where leaf-hidden glimmers softly lit the room.
"In the dream, all the light seems to be everywhere at once, and shadows don't act the way they should. That's how I can tell, anyway. It doesn't feel any different than being awake." She frowned, brow furrowed. "There are two women I meet in my dreams, lately. One looks just like Maia, and I mean exactly alike."
Ygdis looked at the winged woman, cocking her head. "There are two of you?"
"No!" She said quickly, "Mai is her own person, I think."
"The other woman is taller than you, Ygdis, and has a most unsettling bearing to her. You know how it feels when," Gren paused, eyes flicking at Maia, "When someone looks at you like you could be more? With Kasey, that's her name, it's like she's looking at the dirt under her boot."
"Like how Symon used to look at us?" Ygdis questioned, remembering something like that from the man, before he'd just stopped one day.
"Yeah, exactly." Grenwin confirmed. "Maia accused her of working with someone else in the past, and Kasey changed, like she was a different person. She was cruel in word and tone, accusing us of taking Maia's gifts to war and conquest, telling us that she'd watched our dreams, judging us without even knowing what we face…" She clenched her fist again, thumping it into the palm of her hand.
"Some credit to her," Maia said, "She took your punch without whining. I think you got through to her, Gren."
"What'd she say?" Ygdis asked Maia, wanting to hear the tale told by another.
"Grenwin hit her, then sat her down and told her that there are more dreams than those of conquest, dreams of…" She trailed off, looking Ygdis in the eyes. "Dreams of the Others, dreams of being Taken."
Ygdis flinched only a little, taking a moment to feed the worry and pain into her mental candle. "Okay."
Grenwin still looked confused. "Yeah, I did. So…"
"Dreams are real enough to communicate through," Maia offered. "Let's start with that."
The three women nodded.
Slipping her tablet out of her capacious coat pocket, Ygdis brought up the notepad, labeling the empty screen with a simple Things we think we know. She added Dreams can be real, followed by, Ebbo isn't gone and I still hear him.
Setting the tablet on the table, she gestured at it. "Let's make sure we keep track."
"The weather," Grenwin said abruptly, "It's been bothering me. Why is it so bloody hot here? If it weren't for these clothes, we'd be roasting."
Ygdis nodded, "Yeah, what did you do, Maia?"
The short woman shrugged, "During the first battle, I anchored the artificial sun I'd made to the land. I think, it may have had some unexpected effects."
"Jinhe's Earthshaping," Grenwin offered, taking the tablet and typing away. "He said it didn't work outside a Stedding, but Symon and Ame both watched him bend a bench from the earth. Symon I trust to speak truly."
"The Heart Tree is different," Ygdis interjected, "It doesn't bleed sap anymore, and the eyes watch clearly again."
Grenwin typed furiously, nodding.
Maia frowned, "Ygdis, why do you say they watch? It's just a carved tree, isn't it?"
"No," Grenwin firmly stated, "The Old Gods watch and listen through heart trees. Everyone in my clan knew this, and our offerings were always gratefully accepted."
"Please explain?" Maia asked her, Ygdis nodding eagerly.
Grenwin sighed, "Alright, I'll tell you what the shamans taught us. I'm not as good as they were…" She sat back, taking a moment to put the tale in order.
"Long ago, in the time before the Bear-Clans, a time of savagery and untamed strength, the Gods warred. Those of the trees, the rivers, the skies, and even those that dwelt below the soil, they all roamed the world. Where they tread, the Old Clans were smashed and scattered to the four Winds."
"Our people," Grenwin intoned, gesturing widely, "Those who came to dwell in the heart of the cold Northern winds, we were all still one. We learned from the Singers the ways of speaking to the Gods. How to plea for mercy and aid and vengeance, how to command and bind, to bring the spirits to walk amongst us as friends and equals. When the Gods came to slumber 'neath the land, the roots of the Weirwood touch where they dwell still, and through the roots they dream of days past."
Taking a deep breath, Gren took a sip of water before continuing. "The Singers taught us to carve the flesh of the living Weirwood, to carve a stream flowing from their world to ours, and from ours to theirs. This is a Heart Tree, the heart of our homes and dwellings. To die under the boughs of the Heart Tree is to rejoin with your ancestors, where you dwell in peace evermore. To be born under the heart tree is to be blessed by the Gods, cursed to bear their gifts in life and in death."
She trailed off, face uncertain. "I'm sorry, I'm not sure I'm telling it right. Point is, the Gods sleep, but their dreams touch our world through the heart trees. They can watch us, hear us, and when we drape our offerings throughout the branches, we offer them power. From them, we gained our Bears, or so the stories tell."
Ygdis nodded excitedly, pointing to Grenwin. "That's a little like what I was taught, except for the bits about bears and winds. My Ma used to say that skinchanging was one of the gifts the Gods granted, and that they hear our pleas when we pray under the heart tree, but only then."
Maia nodded soberly, "Better note that down, then. I don't know what we should do about our heart tree. Best not to do anything until we find a clear course of action, make sure whatever is watching doesn't learn about this conversation."
Grenwin and Ygdis looked to each other, considering. This wasn't going against the Gods, exactly, and it seemed prudent enough.
"Sure," Grenwin offered.
Ygdis took the chance to have another bit of roast turnip, fully enjoying the complex flavors. "I think we need to open this up," she gestured at the other women, "I mean, Grenwin and I don't know everything. I don't think anyone can know everything, but if we get as many people who maybe know things together, we might all learn something useful."
Maia took just a moment to think on it before nodding, "Yeah, alright. Let's take this over to the Lodge and make it as public as possible. Let's keep it restricted to figuring out what's actionable and what isn't worth pursuing."
"Fair enough," Grenwin said, rising. Nodding to the door that led outside, "Does this mean we're free to go?"
Maia sighed theatrically, "Yes, Gren. It's become very clear that none of us is going to figure out Healing by just shutting ourselves away."
Ygdis rose to her feet, pulling Maia up with her. "We'll figure it out," she told the winged woman, "I don't plan on getting spiked like that again."
Maia gave her a quick hug, murmuring, "You better not."
Grenwin bounced the tablet off her palm, heading over to the door, small smile on her face. They followed her, the summer heat washing over them as they strode up the long ramp into blazing sunlight.