Page 124 of A Light So Blinding
Maia stood waiting for her outside the door with two troll women who were nearly seven feet tall and ridiculously beautiful.
“Astrid!” Maia called out, grabbing the basket of bread from her arms. “This is Inkeri and Rota. They are good friends of mine. I thought they’d be helpful.”
“All hands are helpful,” Astrid replied with a laugh.
Inkeri was a lovely dark blue, and she stepped forward to grab the blankets from Bjorn. “The troll wives have been waiting for a moment to get their hands on you, Astrid. Your husband has been hiding you from us.”
“I have been hiding from everyone, not just you,” Bjorn grumbled before heading through the crowd. They parted around him as if they were terrified, but she knew he would stop as soon as he found Rabbit.
No, Torben, she reminded herself. She was supposed to call him Torben now.
Rota laughed, the sound the tinkle of bells chiming throughout the clearing. “You might have the worst husband of them all, I’m afraid. He’s good underneath, but that gruff exterior doesn’t soften him much.”
“No, it doesn’t. Though he has a good heart.” She kept her eyes on him until she saw he was with Torben and Gunnar and then turned her attention to the other women. “It sounds as though the troll wives stick together, is that correct?”
“It is. We have a gathering place that we would love to bring you to. A glen, if you will, where there is a stream and many of us practice our magic.”
A wounded part of her soul healed a bit. Astrid pressed a hand to her chest, the ache there easing at their words. “I come from a place where I was a priestess. My sisterhood got me through a significant amount of pain. I cannot tell you how gladI am that there will be a similar place for me here, if you’ll have me.”
“We’ll have to,” Rota said with another laugh. “There’s so many of you arriving every day. Whatever you said to the priestesses? They listened. We have many powerful women coming here, so many that I’m certain the king will want to do something about it.”
“The king?”
Rota was already heading off. She stole the food from Maia’s hands and then danced through the crowd, bringing it to a table someone had set up that Astrid had not yet seen. It was brimming with food, though. She was glad they wouldn’t be hungry.
But Astrid wanted her question answered. She looked at Maia and Inkeri, a frown on her face. “Why did she bring up the king?”
The other two women looked at each other, and then Inkeri cleared her throat. “I’ll go help Bjorn with all those blankets. He’s just standing there with them, and I don’t think anyone is going to ask him for one if he keeps wearing that frown on his face.”
Maia was the only one to remain and reluctantly answered her question. “The king is concerned that there are many women here who are unwed. The promise was always that if the trolls gave them a safe place to stay, the women would consider marrying a troll. That’s how it’s always been. The trolls have a plan in mind for marrying people like us.”
“Which is?”
“Similar to what you reported, the human king wanted everyone to be as close to an elf as possible. The trolls would be dark elves, and the humans apparently think they could be the light version of that.” Maia shrugged. “Anyway, King Egil has decided that if we continue to get a population of powerfulhuman women with elven bloodlines that are as strong as the priestesses, then there should be some kind of guidance for such things.”
Astrid didn’t like that. “Guidance?”
“A...” Maia clearly struggled to find the words. “It’s not a ball. He doesn’t want to host a grand party, apparently, but bridal games are certainly an option. Trolls are used to performing for their wives. They want everyone to look at them. They’re very flashy. That’s rather obvious with all the gemstones they wear. Such things used to convince their wives to marry them, and that is something they wish to continue to do. But we know nothing about that, so the king would like to create a more formal way for them to meet.”
“He’s not going to force them, is he?” Astrid asked.
“No, of course not. All he’s asking is that people try, and how are they meant to try if they don’t even know how it works?” Maia still looked uncomfortable even talking about this. “I know it’s odd. Trust me. I’ve been struggling with it myself.”
She would have continued to argue if she hadn’t seen her sister wandering toward the garden. “Excuse me,” Astrid said, then turned to point at Maia. “I’m not done talking about this.”
“Neither am I! Together, we might be able to help them avoid scaring everyone away.”
It sounded like a plan, but right now, her sister was tromping through a patch of cabbage like it wasn’t even there, and Astrid was quite certain she knew what that meant. Rose had disappeared from them again. Off on a journey where none of them could follow. What Astrid didn’t understand was what had caused it this time.
Were there too many people? She glanced around, finding only thirty trolls here. The space wasn’t large, but she’d made sure that all the seats were far apart. Yet, something had still triggered Rose.
She just didn’t know how to help her sister, or how best to make this comfortable for her.
Sighing, Astrid headed off toward the garden. It took a few minutes for her sister to stop, but at least she did. Sometimes she wandered off so far that it was impossible to catch her. Someone always had to be with her. Always. Where had Gunnar gone? Wasn’t he usually doing this?
When she looked, she found the handsome troll laughing with his friends. Something in her heart twisted. He deserved that. After all these trolls had been through, he deserved more than watching after a young woman who refused to give him any sort of attention in return. Maybe these bridal trials would be good for both of them. Some time apart, another priestess to catch his eye. Then, at least, he wouldn’t be barking up a tree that might never notice him.
She guided her sister over to a bench that Bjorn had carved so Astrid could look out at her garden. There was peace here, and it was quieter even though she could still hear the troll voices.
