Chapter Seven

"Fisk," Tyr said, lifting his spear and showing it to her. The fish flicked its tail, trying one last time to break away, but Tyr had struck well. All three prongs of his spear had gone straight through and now there was nothing left for the fish to do but to die. "Fisk," he said again, smiling and shaking his spear towards her.

She took the fish, yanking it free and staring at it in her hands. "Fisk," she said.

The boy smiled, nodding his head and staring out at the stream around them. He pointed his finger, showing them in the water below and said, "Fisk."

She watched him wading, pushing the fish towards the edges and to shallow water. That smile on his face was gone then, now all there was was a look that was stern and sharp, a look of pure concentration. Suddenly he thrust his spear forward, striking another fish and holding it out in the air.

"Fish!" he grinned.

She couldn't help it, that light in his eyes was so warm, that smile on his face was too bright. She laughed, clapping and smiling at him from the bank of the river. He took the fish from his spear, tossing it into the basket with the others and then he called her over with a wave of his hand. She stopped laughing then, feeling the bite of the cold river without even stepping into it.

"Frigga," she said, bouncing the girl on her hip.

Tyr said something, his voice soft and bright, that smile still on his face. He jumped to the bank, taking Frigga from her arms and sitting her down by the basket. That was when he reached in, when he pulled out a fish and waved it in front of Frigga's face. Her eyes went big and bright, her hands reaching out to grab at the fish and clutch it to her chest. Enid wanted to take it away, wanted to show the blood and the slime that was dripping onto Frigga's clothes, but then Tyr was pulling at her arm, pointing at her boots and back to the water.

Enid sighed, casting one last glance at Frigga before kicking off her boots and gathering her skirts. For a moment she thought on it, for a moment she wondered if she should be out here like this with her skirts bound up, alone with Tyr in the forest, but then she looked at him, how he was wading through the water without turning to gawk at her, how he was only a child himself. She sighed again, this time her sigh turning into a hiss as she stepped into that ice-cold water.

"You're going to get sick," she said, but he only turned to her, smiling and pointing out into the water.

She waded to him, slow and clumsy, her feet seemingly catching on every sharp stone, but when she got there, he only smiled wider, handing her his spear and showing her how to push the fish towards the bank. Before she knew it, she was staring at one, watching it in the shallow water and waiting to thrust her spear.

Splash!

She lifted it, expecting to see a fish hanging there and flipping its tail like the one that Tyr had caught. Instead there was nothing, instead Tyr was laughing softly and wading back out into deeper water.

"Igen," he said.

Three more times he guided fish towards her, three more times she missed and she was starting to feel it, how her toes had gone numb, how her teeth were chattering and bumping together. Now she wanted to get out and go back to the firepit even if she had to make more porridge that tasted like mud.

"Again," he said.

She saw the next fish, this time aiming a strike around it rather than directly at it and this time it felt different. She lifted her spear, preparing herself for more disappointment, her mind racing to think of a way to explain to him that she was going back to the farm, but there it was, one fish hanging from her spear and flipping its tail.

"Fish!" she said, turning to him and smiling.

"Fish!" he cheered.

So happily he chatted to her. So warm those words sounded on his lips. She did not understand him, only catching the word "fish" every once in a while as she watched him gutting and cleaning their catch back in the front yard. She wanted to answer him, wanted to thank him for being kind and not snapping at her like the others did, but all she could do was sit there, smiling and nodding to him with Frigga cradled in her lap. That was when she felt it, something grab a handful of her hair and tug. She looked down, seeing that bright light in Frigga's eyes as she stared at the hair in her hand.

"That hurts," Enid said, uncurling the girl's fingers and freeing her hair.

Frigga looked up at her for a moment before she smiled, before she reached out and brushed Enid's hair with her hand and laughed. Enid could not help it, that warmth, that joy on the girl's face was too great. Soon Enid was laughing with her. Soon she was wrapping her arms around her and holding her to her chest.

"Frigga," Tyr said, lifting the fish in his hand and waving it in the air.

"Fish!" Frigga shouted. "Fish, fish, fish!" she said, bouncing on Enid's lap.

Tyr laughed, saying something to her before getting back to work. She watched them, seeing that warm bond, seeing that connection between them as the girl smiled at her brother before turning back to smooth Enid's hair again.

"Tyr," Enid said. "Where's your mother?" Tyr looked at her, the light in his eyes bright but he only smiled. Enid pointed to him and then to Frigga before curving her hand in front of her stomach as though she were with child. "Where's your mother?" she asked again.

Tyr watched her hand, nodding and saying something to her that was soft and quiet. For a moment he only stared at the fish in front of him, for a moment she thought she would get nothing else from him, but then he looked up, pointing his finger to the sky and said it again.

"Valhalla."

Enid looked at his finger, knowing that sadness in his eyes, knowing that pain that hung from his shoulders.

"Mine too," she said, and he nodded, saying nothing else before getting back to his work.

She studied him, her eyes resting on his face, a face that was warm, a face that was soft, and then she looked at the girl in her lap, how she was staring up at her and smiling so brightly. She felt it then, something that twisted her heart so tightly inside her, a pain so terrible it seemed to split her chest in two.

They were not saved. They had not received the blessing of Christ and been forgiven for their sins. Their mother was not with hers up in Heaven. So desperately she wanted to tell them, so desperately she wanted to show them a way to save their souls. They were so kind. They were so warm and good. They did not deserve to burn in Hell for eternity for not knowing the one true God.

She reached for it, her fingers digging through her skirts until they found her pocket and then she took it out. Frigga looked at it, her eyes growing big and wide as Enid hung her wooden cross, her only cross, around the girl's neck and smiled. Frigga held it in her little hands, twisting and turning it until she lifted it up and began nibbling on the corners. Enid laughed softly. Surely it was a sin, surely the Lord would not like the symbol of His son to be chewed on like that, but there was something there, something in the way the girl looked up at her, something bright and warm.

Surely that was love. Surely the Lord would want it spread throughout all of His children. She heard him coming close then, that once warm look in his eyes now gone. Now it was harsh, now it was cold and in his hand was the knife he had been using to gut the fish.