Page 24

Even down on all fours, the bear was tall enough that his eyes were level with hers. He ought to have been terrifying, withhis enormous shoulders and long teeth and claws. It was strange to see him here, inside, where the scale of him was more obvious. The table looked small, and the quill pen ridiculously delicate beside his great head. She had never seen another white bear, but he was quite a big larger than the largest brown bear she had seen. The skull in the general store on the wall was as long as her arm from elbow to fingertips. Alexander’s skull was half again as long, and the rest of his enormous body matched this size.

Hesitantly, she reached out a hand and put it on his neck. She ran her fingers gently through the luxuriant fur.

He turned with a growl so low that she felt it in her bones without really hearing it. She froze, her fingers still entwined in his thick fur. The servant sidled in, eyeing the bear cautiously. He put a large basket and another lamp on the nearest table and withdrew to stand just inside the door. Alexander sighed and put his head down.

“Thank you, Magni.” Gytha smiled at him and turned to the basket.

She found a great quantity of finely woven wool and more than a hundred skeins of fine silk thread in many colors, along with needles and a small pair of sharp scissors. She looked up at the servant in surprise. “Thank you! This is just what I would have asked for, but I didn’t even think to be so bold!”

Magni inclined his head with a polite smile.

“Is it all right if I turn up the lamps? Oil is expensive.”

Magni nodded again.

Gytha arranged the lamps so they would spill their golden light over her and settled down in the chair. She laid out the colors of the thread on her lap and thought about her design for some time before threading a needle.

It was strange not to have chores or work. It was strange not to have her little sisters and brothers laughing or crying or shouting, or all of them at once, in the background.

A moss campion took shape slowly, first the tiny green leaves in a mound and then the delicate pink flower.

She brushed tears from her cheek with the back of her hand. There was no use crying. Tears couldn’t make the time pass faster.

Every day she would add a flower to the work, and she could count the flowers to know how many days she had been underground. No, how many nights had passed. A year was three hundred sixty-five days, and one more was three hundred sixty-six. There was plenty of room on this cloth for that many flowers.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly and put the cloth aside. The next piece she would embroider for sale, and that would be useful for her family when she saw them again. A year from now, good thread work would still fetch a good price, and that money would help her family get through another winter.

The bear lay nearby, his eyes on her face.

She blinked the tears away and focused on her work.

Her stomach growled, and she ignored it, partly because she was engrossed in the embroidery and partly because it was a familiar sort of discomfort, not worthy of fully attending. A short time later, Magni brought her a tray covered with a silver lid. When she lifted it, she saw a bowl of rich brown broth with many fat dumplings in it. There was also a sweet roll, hot from the oven, with a little pot of berry preserves.

“Thank you!”

The servant nodded silently and withdrew to the door.

When Gytha bit into the first dumpling, she was surprised and pleased to find that they contained meat! This was another extravagance she had not expected.

“Do you want a dumpling?” she asked Alexander impulsively.

After a moment, he heaved himself to his feet, as if he were exhausted, and moved closer to her.

She held a dumpling up toward him, but he pulled away, his eyes on hers.

“What’s wrong?”

He looked toward Magni and lay down heavily with his head near her feet.

Gytha pondered that. Had she offended Alexander in some way? Or did he merely want her to eat everything? He knew a little of how badly her family had suffered, and she was still weak from their long deprivation. Perhaps he meant only to care for her.

She reached down and put a hand on his head for a moment. “I don’t mind sharing, but thank you.”

He huffed softly.

Some hours later, Magni brought her another meal of thick stew with many flavorful pieces of elk meat among the carrots and potatoes. A little bowl of fresh berries, small and tart, was another extravagance. Surely no berries could be obtained this far north! Someone must have traveled to find these.

She ate gratefully. Slowly, with food and sleep, strength would return to her limbs. She would also have to work; it would not do to sit around and embroider for an entire year!