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darling. Tauno himself can t slight that man. Her thought veered. Something strange is there too. I know
not what or why. . . but Tauno is very mild with Tomislav. . . almost the way one might be with
somebody who ll soon die but doesn t know it. . . .
How is his daily life? And yours, for that matter?
Eyjan shrugged. As an acknowledged sea-wife, I m not fast-
bound the way a Croatian woman is. I can swim or range the woods, provided no man sees me. Around
mortals, however, I think it best to act the lady. There I pass most of my time learning the language, since
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Tauno keeps the amulet. Often the maidser-vants and I will sing together; Ivan s wife joins us now and
then, or his son. She grimaced. I fear young Luka is getting much too fond of me. Unwillingly would I
bring woe on their house.
Tauno?
How can I tell? Eyjan said roughly. He goes off into the
wilderness for days and nights on end. When he returns, he grunts that he s been hunting, and is barely
courteous to folk. I bespoke my idea that he hates the Faith for what it s done to his people.
Though why he shuns me
Hm. Andrei cupped chin in palm and gave her a long regard. Might he have found a sweetheart in
some distant hut? I m sure neither of you can have a lover in Skradin.
No, she clipped forth. We cannot.
And time in a single bed hangs heavy. Ah, I remember. . . .If
he s not beguiled a mortal girl, well, Faerie beings do haunt these realms- In shock, Andrei saw whither
his thought was leading him. Again he crossed himself. Jesus forbid!
Why, what harm, if he who is soulless couples with an elf?
Eyjan gibed.
I d not have my son lured beyond halidom. He might die before he s saved. Andrei s look steadied
upon her. You might, my daughter.
Eyjan was silent.
What are your plans? he inquired.
Unhappiness freighted her words: I know not, the less when
Tauno keeps apart from me. We promised our Danish friends we ll rejoin them when we re able.
Thereafter-Greenland?
No fit place for you, who have seen far better. Andrei hes-itated. Luka Subitj would be a forbearing
husband.
Eyjan grew taut. I ll never wear the bonds they lay on women here!
Aye, you d be freer in Denmark, and I like what you ve told me of that Niels Jonsen. Get christened,
wed him, be joyous.
Christened. Become. . . your sort?
Yes, age and die in a handful of years, and meanwhile live
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chaste and pious. But you will live in the blessing of God, and afterward in His very presence. Not until
you ve taken this bargain Christ offers, can you know how measurelessly generous it is.
With eyes as well as tongue, Andrei pursued: I understand. You dread the loss of your wild liberty, you
think you d liefer cease to be. I give you my oath-not by the Most High: not yet-by the love I bore for
your mother and bear for you, Eyjan Ag-netesdatter, I swear that in humanness you will win release. It
will be like coming alone out of winter night into a fire lit room where those whom you hold dearest are
feasting.
And where I see no more stars, feel no more wind, she protested.
Faerie has had its splendors, he replied. But are you not wisest to give them up while they are in some
part as you ve known them? Dh, Eyjan, child, spare yourself the anguish of , ~eeing the halfworld go
d~wn. in. wreck an~ feel.ing ~at same ruin In your o,,:~ breast. For It WIll Indeed pensh, It will. What
hap- pened to Lm was but a foretaste of what must happen to all Faene. Magic is dying out of Creation.
A sage man showed me that, and I d fain show you it, though each word scourges me too, if you ll stay
here till I must return to the fleet.
Do what is kindest, to those who care for you as well as yourself. Lea~e Faerie where you can find no
happiness, what-ever you do, wherever you range. Accept the divine love of Christ, the honest love of
Niels and of the children you bear him; and one day we will all meet again in Heaven.
His tone sank, he stared beyond h~r and every wall. Agnete also, he ended.
How much like Tauno he is, she thought
In summer, when trees gave shade against the sun, a vilja could move about by day. Nada danced
through the forest in a swirl of tossing hair. Among shrubs she dodged, overleaped logs, sprang on high
to grab a bough and swing from it for a moment before she sped onward. Her laughter chimed, Come,
come along, slug-gard! Her slenderness vanished into the green. Tauno stopped to pant and squint
around after tracks of her. Suddenly her palms clapped over his eyes from behind, she kissed him
between the shoulderblades, and was off again. Cooiethough her touch had been, it burned a long while
in his awareness. He blundered on. Unseen, she sent breezes to fan him.
At last he could go no more. At a dark-brown, moss-lined pool he halted. Trees crowded around, huge
oak, slim beech, murky juniper. They roofed off the sky, they made a verdant dusk be-speckled with
sunflecks. Butterflies winged between them. It was warm here, the air heavy with odors of ripeness. A
squirrel chat-tered and streaked aloft, then he was gone and the mighty silence of summer brooded
anew.
Hallo-o! Tauno shouted. You ve galloped the breath out of me. Leafy arches swallowed up his cry.
He wiped off the sweat that stung his eyes and salted his lips, cast himself belly down, and drank. The
pool was cold, iron-tinged.
He heard a giggle. You have a shapely bottom, Nada called. He rolled over and saw her perched on a
limb above him, kicking her legs to and fro. They would catch a beam of light, which made them blaze
gold, then return to being white in the shadows.
Come here if you dare and I ll paddle yours for that, he challenged.
Nyah. She made a face at him. You wouldn t. I know you, you big fraud. I know what you d really
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do.
What?
Why, cuddle me and pet me and kiss me-which is a better
idea anyhow. Nada floated, more nearly than jumped, to earth.
Blackberries grew beneath the tree, She stopped to gather as many
as her small hands could hold before she came to kneel by Tauno,
who was now sitting,
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