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"You asked me about the prisoners we freed," Liv said slowly. "And they have all been settled in well since arriving in Nida. Thanks to your efforts, we were able to free everyone that had been kept in those dungeons— including Herrick. "

Sigurd nodded, his face weary as he realized Liv was trying to prepare him for something. His icy blue eyes were sharp as she spoke, but she steeled her nerves and continued.

"One of the prisoners who helped us escape was a woman who can wield earth galder ."

He tried to hide it, but Liv caught the slight widening of his eyes before he shuttered his hope away.

"She has been incredibly helpful by supplying information on Helvig that no one had access to until now," Liv said. "Without her, we would have been blind to what was happening for years in Logi…"

Liv trailed off, her fingers knotting together in front of her. How was she supposed to explain this to him in a way that wouldn't crumble his entire world?

"Out with it, Liv," Sigurd said roughly. "You're not one to beat around the bush."

Liv opened her mouth to speak when the door opened.

Wild-eyed and chest heaving, Astrid stood in the open door like she'd just run a great distance.

Though she was still thinner than she should be, Sigurd's wife had recovered remarkably well.

Her eyes were no longer sunken in, her skin had a healthier glow to it, and her hair now shone a bright golden blonde.

Sigurd, on the other hand, looked like he was seeing the dead rise.

The air left him as soon as he laid eyes on his wife, his skin paling until his silver-white hair made him look like he'd been iced over in his shock.

The two stared at each other, their frozen forms as still as the statues in the palace gardens.

"Astrid."

"Sigurd."

The whispered names drifted into the Void, the stillness of the air around them building with something other. The Norns held their breath as they watched the fate they wove.

Liv stepped back when, all at once, the two fell into each other.

Catching the other in their arms, they sunk to the floor as their shared grief and joy permeated every surface of the hall.

Hands grasped faces, breathless thanks to Odin were whispered as tears carved their way down to soak the carpet under their knees .

"Papa!"

Two young voices came from behind Astrid as the children sprinted to their father and nearly tackled him.

Each parent opened their embrace in time until both daughter and son were wrapped in their arms, their bodies shaking from years of sorrow released as laughter chimed in the hall.

His daughter flung her arms around Sigurd's neck and squeezed as his son buried his slim face into his chest.

"Runa," Sigurd choked as he rested his cheek against his daughter's silver hair and cupped the back of his son's head. "Finnr."

Vines from the open windows started to slowly creep closer to them as they knelt in the hall, the small, fragrant jasmine petals blooming brightly until they shone under the soft torchlight like hundreds of full moons.

One by one, the vines started to curve around the family until they were encased in a cocoon of forest green and night-blooming flowers.

Feeling like she was intruding, Liv slowly backed into the servant's corridor, leaving them to heal in peace.

Before she exited the hidden walkway again, she instructed some of the staff in the halls to block off the hallway where Sigurd and his family were reuniting.

She wanted them to have as much time as they needed to be together.

Something like longing settled over her as she slowed to a stop in front of a large, arched window.

The arctic temperature of the brutal northern winters was kept at bay by the same galder that heated the halls but she wanted something to clear her head.

Leaning out into the open air, Liv felt when she crossed that invisible barrier, the frosty air thinning her breath.

Through a violent separation and all the grief and hardship that tainted Sigurd and his family, there was still joy to be found in each other's arms. Years had passed Sigurd and Astrid by, their experiences shaping them into who they are now, but not once had their love for each other waivered in the face of injustice.

What was it like to be reunited with your family after years of distance?

What was it like to feel that knee-weakening relief when someone you loved was returned to your side?

She had her family now— Herrick, Maude, Hakon, Gunnar…

Bryn. But would she ever find that all-consuming love that lasted even through to the afterlife ?

Liv wondered all of these things as she breathed the cold air into her lungs, expanding them until her chest ached with the temperature.

When she finally exhaled, she felt tracks of bitter draft on her cheeks.

Shaking her head, she turned from the window and tried to refocus her mind on the many, many tasks that needed to be done before they departed Nida with the full strength of their Elven armies and sailed to meet her family in Veter.

It wasn't until she was almost back to the main hall of the palace that she realized she had been crying.

Once the refugee vitki had all settled into their new temporary lodgings, Liv headed straight for the Council Room toward the back of the palace. During the Elemental War, the room had been a war room of sorts, but since the Elven had gone into hiding, it wasn't used as often anymore.

Aeric and Gunnar stood side by side with their backs to her, huddled over a large map of the Ahland.

From the door, Liv could see the curving eastern coast belonging to the Kingdom of Rivers.

The shoreline was rocky, and from her own experience, it was not very comfortable to travel over on foot.

There were a few soft, sand beaches north of Veter where ships could be beached easily enough with a bridge that connected the land over the deep rivers that surrounded the kingdom.

That was most likely going to be the location where the Kolbecks would beach their ship before traveling the rest of the way on foot. They had to assume that Helvig had his navy surrounding Veter; it was the only battle strategy that made sense.

As she reached their side, Gunnar was telling Aeric about the rough ocean currents that surrounded Veter.

"…Though we may be able to get our longships around theirs if we curved around them by going into the open ocean," Gunnar explained. "This way, we can come at Helvig's ships from behind them and pin them to the shore where the rockier tides are."

He traced his finger in a wide arc from the tip of their kingdom's border in a path that would lead their armies to come up behind the Flame ships from the east .

"It seems that may be our only option if we are to join the fight," Aeric mused as he ran two fingers over his mouth, his lips thin as he glanced out the window. "And you are able to navigate these harsh tides?"

Gunnar nodded. "I am versed in how to sail a ship as well as any other sailor in Veter."

Her friend's pale blue eyes, which always seemed to sparkle with humor, were tight with worry now as they spoke of their home.

Veter had become Liv's home over the years she had been with the Kolbecks and Gunnar— she had a room filled with not just her belongings but tokens from their travels, artwork she had bought because it appealed to her, books with pages she had worn down because of how she loved them.

All those years ago, when she snuck past the Kingdom of Rivers borders, she had intended to conduct her usual surveillance of the kingdom. Had they grown more corrupt since she had been there fifty years ago? Had the people fared well under the leadership of the Kolbeck family?

When she had been caught by Herrick and Gunnar on patrol near the bridge she had scaled under, she had thought on her feet about how to explain her actions.

The memory of her first interaction with the men who would quickly take her in as one of their own brought a smile to her face as she tuned out Gunnar and Aeric's planning.

Sweat beaded on Liv's forehead as she reached further across the uneven stones beneath the bridge that connected Veter to the Lamenting Woods.

Her braids that had been previously secured in a tight knot behind her head now hung in a long curtain as she held her position under the bridge, the muscles in her abdomen burning from the effort it took to remain flush to the surface.

Below her, the raging waters that had worked as a natural border for the Kingdom of Rivers for centuries rushed past her.

Rocks that occasionally stuck up through the water had white froth building around them from the aggressive currents that battered against them— a vicious promise of what was to come if she lost her grip.

They were smaller than the last time she was here; the battle of wills between stone and water proved that the latter could be more destructive over time than most realized.

Bringing her focus back to the task at hand, Liv cursed as she realized the stone she should be grabbing onto next must have fallen away after years of wear and tear. Clearly, she had not been the only one to use this method of entering the capital city of the east.

"Gods damn it," she muttered as she searched for a new way forward. She was so close to the edge, a bit of her air galder should her help across…

Checking that her glamour was still in place, Liv shot forward with a burst of wind, her hands reaching out and grabbing the rough stone on the other side of the river.

Gravel sunk under her short fingernails, the gritty texture pinching her skin, but she ignored it as she started to pull herself up.

Before she could even get to her feet, someone cleared their throat.

Her hand flew to her dagger hidden at the small of her back but was too late as two strong arms clamped around her shoulders, forcing her still. Of course, she could have fought them off, but she needed to keep her identity a secret.

"I have to say," the man in front of her said, the humor in his voice clear. "I've never seen that method of entry before."

Though he was wearing a River Soldier's uniform, the man who spoke looked more polished than the other soldiers behind him. His gold-brown eyes were not angry but rather intrigued. When he lifted his lips in the corner to smirk, Liv thought he must think himself incredibly charming.

She rolled her eyes. Men.

"What about you, Gunnar?" he continued.

The man behind her chuckled once, the sound gruff but lighter somehow. "It's a difficult climb, I'm impressed."

Careful to keep her annoyance out of her voice, Liv said, "I'm not the only one; the stones underneath are worn from use, and there are signs that others have tied off ropes before cutting them loose for the river to swallow. You have a security problem. "

The soldier in front of her smiled widely, the humor glittering in his eyes. "What would you suggest?"

Liv chewed on her tongue as she thought of her next steps. This soldier could be a cruel man, or he could find her knowledge useful. Either way, she needed to make sure she survived this encounter without being imprisoned. Aeric was counting on her intelligence of Ahland.

As she contemplated what sort of person the soldier in front of her was, something sparked in her chest. Her mind went quiet as the familiar sensation settled deeper into her heart.

She had only felt this one before— the day she arrived in Nida, lost and alone after her family had been murdered.

She trusted it then, so she would have to trust it now.

"How much time do you have?" she responded slowly, her smile growing with each word as the soldier in front of her grinned.

"Liv?"

She snapped her head up as she was pulled from her memory. "Hm?"

"Did the refugees settle in okay?" Aeric asked, his dark brows knit together.

"Yes," she replied, clearing her throat as she joined the two men in front of the map. "Have you mapped out our journey, then?"

Gunnar, who was focused on scribbling a few coordinates down, nodded. "I think so. We should be able to leave in the morning and make it there in three days. Hopefully, Herrick and the others can hold off Helvig long enough for us to get there."

Worry gnawed at her gut again. The Kingdom of Rivers had a strong army; Herrick would settle for nothing less than the greatest soldiers in the area, but Helvig had the numbers.

The Kingdom of Flame had always been larger, and with the involuntary draft Helvig implemented a few years ago, Bryn said their numbers could be in the hundreds of thousands by now.

Her friend glanced up at her, the black veins of his scar shining in the low light and reminding her how close they had come to losing him. Anxiety that reflected her own shone in the lines of Gunnar's face.

Their friends were strong— they had Maude, who was a force of nature on her own, and Bryn, who held back her strength from watchful eyes but knew their enemies more profoundly than the rest of them.

But Liv could see the question in Gunnar's eyes just as it surfaced in her mind.

Would that be enough?