Wallia

I stood outside the front door with Uncle Hildiric, waiting for Alrik to let us in again.

I wondered what Grandma was telling him right now. I had spent a lot of time with her over the past few years, even moving in to take care of her when it became harder for her to do it alone. In all those years I had asked her several times what that day with the Wise Men had meant, and what it foretold about Alrik's future. But she had never told me anything, and I knew she had said nothing to her son either, despite him being Alrik's father.

I thought about my father's death, a memory that had never completely left me. The only thing Grandma had said was that it was not Alrik's fault that the dragon had appeared and killed my father. I was not sure whether to believe it or not. The Wise Men had said one thing, but Grandma had proved to be practically their equal, to the point of forcing them to give Hildiric his son back.

I don't know how long it was until Alrik finally opened the door to let us in. His blue eyes were red, his face flushed and his black hair was disheveled. For a moment I feared the worst and rushed inside with Hildiric, but when I went to her she was still alive.

"Mammaz…" he said with a blocked voice.

"Come here Hildy?" she asked in a weak tremor.

"I'm here" he replied, bending over her bed.

"I'm sorry… for hiding so many things about myself from you".

"Mom… please, tell me who you really are? Where are you from? I only asked you once - and I always respected your choice to not answer. Do you really want this to stay with you?"

Grandma remained silent and with her eyes closed for a long time, to the point that I thought she had fallen asleep, but then she spoke again.

"It is true, I had a life before I came here… but I am your mother, I am the grandmother of the two boys who are here and the wife of your father. This is what I chose to be, this is what… has brought me joy, and I am content to die as this. The woman I was… has long since passed away." Hildiric lowered his head and asked no more. His grandmother's answer had been clear: 

I will take this secret to the grave.

Our householder kissed his mother's wrinkled forehead, then took his son aside and led him to a corner. I went to check on the soup in the cauldron, but I kept my ear open to hear what they were saying. "Tell me… did my mother say anything to you?" he asked him.

"Grandma... Grandma is dying," the boy sniffed, unable to hold back his sobs.

"It's... it's natural. People grow old and die. Sometimes it happens suddenly, other times old people just get weak and pass away," he replied, though he couldn't hide the pain on his face.

"But I don't want her to die!"

Hildiric hugged his son, who cried on his shoulder. At that moment I felt a pang of pain, but I kept it to myself, concentrating on the pot. He probably wanted to know what she had said, but he seemed to have decided to wait until later.

When the food was ready, I poured it for everyone and we ate in solemn silence. I tried to feed Grandma, but she managed to swallow very little, as often happened in the last few days. They didn't hold back any longer, and when the food was finished they headed for the door,

"Thank you for your hospitality," my uncle said.

"Obligatory," I replied, stiff.

"Heike will be here later. I hope Berth will show up by then." There was a certain embarrassment in his voice and his eyes struggled to stay locked with mine.

"I'll keep an eye on her in the meantime."

"Well then... see you," he greeted me.

"See you," I replied.

My uncle looked at my feet hesitantly, as if he was deciding whether to say something else or simply leave. In the end he chose the latter and stepped out the door, holding Alrik's hand.

Only once he did did I take the bowls and spoons off the table and put them in a basin of water beside the pot where I began to wash them. The daily chore helped me to relax somewhat, until a while into the task  someone knocked on the door. It seemed strange to me that Heike had already arrived, especially since she was unlikely to have left the home unattended before her husband returned.

But when I opened the door, it was not my uncle's wife before me.

"Hello, Wallia," Irmingart greeted me, smiling coquettishly.

Her appearance was so sudden that my heart leapt into my throat and I couldn't respond, making her giggle at my reaction.

"W-why are you here?" I finally managed to ask.

"Aren't you happy to see me?" she asked, her tone theatrically sad. Normally that would have been enough to drain all the blood from my head, but now didn't feel like the right time to lose all of my senses.

"Listen... It's really not a good time right now."

"What is it?" she asked, stopping her teasing.

"Hildiric just came over and-" I stopped, realizing. "Did they see you?"

"No, I went through one of the lookout climbs."

I sighed in relief, then looked behind me. Grandma was still asleep, wrapped under countless blankets.

"Hildiric and Alrik came first," I said.

"And?"

"It wasn't just a courtesy call. Grandma asked me to call them and… then she spoke to Alrik alone."

"Do you know what they said?"

"No, she wanted to talk to him alone."

The girl bit her lip, trying to peek at my grandmother with her hazel eyes.

After that day, everyone had wanted to know what was in Alrik's future, with it practically becoming the most important secret of our tribe, probably of our entire people. And it was one of the things that had pushed Grandma to live on the fringes of the clan.

Aside from the fact that she was practically a witch who scared everyone in the tribe.

"What do you think they talked about?" she asked, looking slightly embarrassed at not being able to contain her curiosity.

"Are you asking me if they talked about the prophecy? Maybe. Frankly, it sounds like the kind of discussion you have when you feel like there's not much time left."

"Do you want to… take a walk? Maybe to clear your head for a moment?" she asked.

This time there was no malice in her words, and she seemed to just want to help, but I hesitated again. I went to my grandmother's bedside, where she seemed to be sleeping. It was hard to tell, sometimes she moved so little that even with her eyes wide open she seemed to be sleeping.

Before I went back I heard a murmur coming from the bed and I froze.

"Are you going out with Irmingart?" she asked, in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

Grandma was probably the only one who knew, even if she had always kept the secret, but even so I couldn't help but wonder how she knew I was there. Had she heard us, or had she used some of her mysterious powers?

Or had she just been guessing?

"Is… is it a problem?"

"Listen… never put a person you love … before the one who loves you," she said.

"What?! H-how can you say that, with all I do for you?" I asked, shocked and outraged. For the past few years, I had been practically the only one to take care of her, even washing her and feeding her during meals. How could she say that to me?

"It's okay, you can go. Just… remember that, please," she said, adding a pleading note to the last sentence that I didn't remember hearing before.

"I… I'll stay here, I think," I murmured, swallowing any further response.

I went back to Irmingart, who had seen everything from the doorway. Her gaze was particularly fixed on my grandmother, who seemed to have gone back to sleep.

"What did she say to you?" she asked, having heard my exclamation, but not her faint voice.

"She… nothing, leave it alone. Let's just try not to go too far from the cabin."

"Okay," she said, without insisting.

I closed the door and together we climbed the last few steps to the top of the hill. There the thick vegetation ended abruptly at a rock formation that jutted out of the ground and rose above the canopy of trees. The road was rough, but the rock was stable and we were still young, so we had no trouble climbing to the top.

The ridge that closed the valley split into four peaks, of which this was probably the highest, Manric's Hill. The rock there made it impossible to build anything, so the lookout posts were built on the other hills. There was no reason to do so, since the peak, already steep from the valley, dropped almost sheer on the other side, making it difficult for even a mountain goat to try to climb.

Of course, you could go down very quickly, but we preferred not to do that.

We sat on a rocky ledge that protected us from the wind. From there you could take in the entire territory of the Arho clan at a glance, even though from where we stood you could only see forest. An eagle flying nearby swooped down at that moment, emerging from the forest canopy shortly after with a rabbit still struggling in its talons. I watched it fly toward the mountains, until it was just a speck in the sky.

"You know, it's really nice what you do for her," Irmingart said after a while, snuggling into my shoulder.

"I owe her that," I replied.

"Why?"

"Hildiric tried to raise me after my father died but... I don't know. There's always been a rift between us, something that divided us. No matter how hard he tries, I remain a stain on the honor of his brother and his lineage. Grandma has always been the only one who treated me only as her nephew, even if she can be very mean when she wants to."

"When she scolded you, did she turn you into a frog?"

"She didn't need it, a long stick would have been enough," I replied, making her laugh.

We shared the moment for a while, but then the laughter slowly faded and she looked at me with a much more serious face.

"Then why did you say that before?" she asked.

"She… she said not to put someone I love before someone who loves me," I said. "I don't understand why she said that."

"Did you take that the wrong way?"

"What?"

"What?"

"What if she actually meant don't put her before … the person who loves you?" she suggested softly.

The realization hit me like a sledgehammer, making me feel like an idiot. Of course she meant it that way, and I was an idiot for not realizing it.

"Damn, I have to apologize to her right now," I said, starting to get up. But Irmengart took my hand and invited me to sit down again.

"Didn’t you hear what I said? I can't stay with you for long, you know."

"Yes, but-"

"You show her every day that you love her, as a grandson. Now please, show me that you love me, as a man."

And she kissed me.