The Misadventures of Annika Brisby (42 page)

“I feel like you should be angrier with me,” he told her. “I don’t understand why you even want to be near me.”

“Why wouldn’t I?” she asked innocently. “I don’t know what you’ve done that’s so horrible.” He looked away from her as he picked up another sheet and threw it over the line.

“I know myself well enough to know that I do dreadful things sometimes. I concocted a dangerous potion last night. I haven’t combined pixie dust, fairy brandy, and females in a long time. I thought Ch—Cherbi and I were only going to talk.”

“Did you do more than talk?” she asked. He pursed his lips.

“I honestly don’t remember, but like I said, I know myself well enough,” he replied, looking absolutely devastated before turning away from her. “Old habits really do die hard, don’t they? After I get to a certain point, I just start doing exactly what’s on my mind and blathering like a fool. It’s gotten me into a few unpleasant situations before, but this one is by far the worst. If only I remembered…but then, I don’t want to remember.”

“I remember everything you said last night,” Annika said. “You were very convincing.” He looked at her strangely.

“What do you mean? You were there the whole time?”

“Well, yeah. Didn’t you notice a warm body next to you at all during the night? I woke up maybe a half hour before you did.” She was hanging socks with wooden pins, and he just looked at her in disbelief.

“I thought I dreamt all of that! I thought you broke the bottles and hit me and left. You were angrier than I’d ever seen you. I thought you went to bed, and then I dreamt that we were trying to…you
know
…reconcile…but we couldn’t,” he faltered, and turned his sheepish face away from her.

“Is that all you remember of your dream?” she asked, hiding behind a sheet as she lifted it up. He made no reply as he grabbed the other end with both hands and draped it over the line. “You said you wanted to sleep with Cherbi and Chabi, but that you couldn’t do it,” she reminded him. From the other side of the sheet, he looked at her as though he were afraid. “You said you thought about it, but you couldn’t go through with it.” She could see the wheels in his head spinning quickly. She knew he remembered saying these things. The linens blew in the cold air on the lines to their right and their left. The snow underneath them and the grey sky above created a private white world around them. She looked around and smiled mischievously.

“Do you remember why you couldn’t sleep with them?” she finally asked. Sure enough as Yuri had predicted, he reached his hand to his head, tilting it to one side as he twirled a few strands above his ear.

“No. But I’m very glad it didn’t happen.”

Annika gave him a long, hard stare.

“You’re such a liar,” she said under her breath.

“What?”

“You heard me. Oh, you really are bad at it, Talvi!” His cheeks turned scarlet, even as he clutched another cold wet sheet in his bare hands.

“I don’t know why you think that,” he said, not looking at her. He took his time hanging the bedding on the line.

“Just admit it,” she taunted. “You
know
I know, so just admit it!” She walked right in front of him, still taunting him.

“Fine!” he hissed as he smoothed the sheet, trying to avoid looking in her direction. “I admit it. I remember why I didn’t sleep with them, alright? There…I said it. You caught me red-handed.”

“You didn’t tell me
why
, Talvi,” she said, shaking her finger at him playfully. He fidgeted for a moment, gathering a handful of clothes pins, and then dropped them back into their jar. He reached out and clutched her hands in his, holding them to his mouth. His warm breath chased away the cold as he stalled for time. His eyes were intense. “You said you couldn’t because—” She was cut off mid-sentence.

“Because I was going to marry a little red-haired samodiva,” he said from behind her hands.

“Bad liars aren’t the best at keeping secrets either,” she smiled. “I have a secret too.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah. I’ve realized why Danny wasn’t the right man for me after all that time together.”

“Ah…” He looked crestfallen. “Why is that?”

“Because there is no man for me. There’s only an elf, and he’s standing right in front of me.” His brows arched upwards, and his glassy eyes narrowed as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The sheets billowed on each line between them in slow motion, and time slowed down to a crawl. “And he’s a damn idiot if he doesn’t know how much I love him.” He blinked as if he didn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I read your letter, Talvi,” she sighed, “I read it for the first time just this morning.” Talvi was stunned.

“Why did you wait so long?”

“Because I’m as stubborn as you are, I suppose. But I read it and I know that I love you. Even if you don’t find some magical cure for my mortality or your lack of, I don’t care anymore.”

“I don’t understand. You used to care. What changed?”

“Your older, wiser brother gave me some good advice,” she grinned. “I knew I couldn’t turn my back on how I really felt without letting you know.” Talvi looked like he’d just had the wind knocked out of him, and that’s what must have happened, because he sank to his knees.

“You’re serious?”

“As a heart attack.” He furrowed his brow at her in confusion. “I mean, I’m dead serious,” she clarified. He held out his palm and she put her small hand inside of it.

“I don’t know what better way to prove my love to you, Annika,” he said quietly, but his voice was steady. “I can’t sit aside and be content to watch you leave, and I certainly will not walk away from what I feel for you. Your love is too precious to me. I don’t know where, or when, or how it will even work out, but I do know I want you in my life for as long as I live. Be my bride, Annika, and I swear that I will make you happy. All that matters to me is that you say yes. If you do, then it doesn’t matter where, or when, or how it happens, because I’ll always think of today as our wedding day.” She looked at his hopeful face, and nodded.

“Yes.”

Heaven. Hot apple crisp with ice cream. Riding a horse, driving a convertible. Warm flannel pajamas. The scent of a field of roses in bloom. Notes falling from a Spanish guitar, then an electric one. A beautiful sunset followed by the moon rising. Being read fairy tales in the reading room. Him taking a book out of her hand and laughing hysterically in the bookstore in Sofia.

Annika was aware of her cold nose pressed into his hot cheek, but she could barely feel her body as their happiest memories collided into one vision. She opened her eyes, and saw snow in his black hair. They were on the ground, clutching each other for dear life as they made up for all their lost time in deep, fervent kisses. She heard a faint squealing coming from somewhere, and when she looked up, she saw the Hilda and Runa grinning through the kitchen window.

One of Aghavni’s white cotton nightgowns blew off the clothesline, landing on her. She started to laugh hard.

“What’s so funny?” he asked in between kisses as he held her close. “How can you laugh at a time like this?”

“I’m just remembering something else you said last night,” she giggled as she peeked from underneath the nightgown. “You said I couldn’t wear white on our wedding day, but look at me!” She threw her head back onto her veil of snow, laughing harder.

“Oh, you find that amusing, do you?” he breathed heavily, pulling the sheet off of her, “When I get done with you, you’ll have to wear
black
!” He tugged at her pants, pushing her backside against the snowy earth.

“What are you doing?” she gasped as he unbuttoned his own. “We can’t do that
here
!” But he only smiled at her wickedly.

“Watch me.”

When Annika and Talvi came back to the house with the empty laundry basket, the nymphs tried hard to bite their tongues. But Chivanni was a fairy and he couldn’t help it.

“I hope you saved some of your energy. There is still a lot of work to be done around here!” he hooted, and the girls burst out laughing. Annika felt her face grow warm, but Talvi’s eyes only twinkled brightly as she pulled herself away from his side and helped Chivanni prepare lunch.

“Where’s Dardis?” he asked. “I need to speak with her right away.” The flame-haired fairy pointed through the window towards the hayloft, and Talvi disappeared out the door, holding it open for Nikola, Pet and Shez. They all were carrying an armload of wood which they stacked near the fireplace. Not too long after that, Justinian led the others in with buckets of water.

“It looks like someone was trying to make snow angels out by the clothes line,” he said with a laugh. “Too bad they weren’t very good at it.”

“Oh trust me, they were
great!
” Runa shrieked, and fell to her knees with laughter. Justinian looked puzzled, but chalked it up to her being a silly wood nymph. He turned to the boys and gave them a stern look.

“Now the best way to show your mother how much you love her is to fetch
all
the water and chop
all
the wood for her
all
the time. Remember what I told you?” he reminded them.

“Yes, that you did the same for your mother before she died,” Edno said. “And then you did it for your grandmother.”

“That’s right. You never know how long you have with each other, so you have to be kind to each other while you are still together.
Especially
your mother!” he boomed, and the boys all nodded obediently.

Talvi returned with Dardis, Finn, and Zaven a half hour later. Talvi and Dardis had huge smiles and wet eyelashes, as if they’d been crying. It was also apparent that they’d made amends. She flitted over to Chivanni and whispered into his ear. He looked confused, but he dropped everything that he was doing and left with her immediately.

“That’s strange of him to just leave like that. You know now much pride he takes in his cooking,” Zaven observed as he went to check on the pot that was simmering on the stove.

“Didn’t he practically chase Aghavni out of the kitchen the other night?” Yuri wondered. “He wouldn’t even let her pick up a spoon.”

“What do you suppose they’re up to?” Nikola asked with a sly grin as he hung up his cloak and helmet.

“Probably not what you think, my friend,” Talvi snickered, and walked behind Annika, encircling her waist with his hands and nuzzling her neck.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nikola looked a little irritated at him.

“Don’t you know? Chivanni fancies boys!” Runa squealed.

“What?” he cried.

“Why do you think he’s always hiding in your cloak, Nik?” Talvi teased. “He thinks you’re cute.” Nikola’s face turned bright red as the room filled with little snorts and laughs, but he made no more mention of the matter.

After lunch, Talvi collected his bow and quiver, and led Edno, Dve and Tri outside for a lesson in archery. They weren’t gone very long when they came running back to the house, shouting and yelling.

“Hilda! Come quickly! Tri is hurt!” Talvi called.

“What happened?” Hilda asked. But everyone saw soon enough. An arrow was lodged in Tri’s hand, right through the center. He was trying his best not to cry, being the future warmonger that he was.

“He stuck his hand in front of the arrow on a dare. I only turned away for a second,” Talvi said.

“What were you thinking, giving them your lethal arrows when they’ve never picked up a bow in their lives? What is wrong with you?” Nikola glared at Talvi.

“How was I to know that they would dare each other to do something so stupid?” Talvi replied. Nikola looked baffled.

“Well, for one thing, they’re children, and children do stupid things when there aren’t any responsible adults watching them,” Nikola scolded. Justinian snapped the pointed end off and pulled the arrow quickly out of Tri’s hand, giving it to Talvi.

“It’s just a flesh wound, Nik,” his brother said calmly. “Besides…” He took the boy’s hand in his, and a soft warm glow encased both of their hands. When Justinian let go of Tri’s hand, Annika and the others saw that the bleeding had stopped. The wound had completely healed before everyone’s eyes. “Talvi and Hilda could have healed him, and you know there’s nothing to worry about when I’m around.”

“How did you do that?” Hilda gasped in amazement. Justinian smiled to himself.

“It’s a gift of being a paladin. I can’t cover a forest in ice, but I can heal myself and others extremely fast.”

As the boys scattered to go play outside, Annika looked around. Talvi was nowhere to be found. She looked all around the house and eventually wandered up to the hayloft, where she found him brooding.

“What’s wrong?”

“I feel terrible about Tri.”

“But he’s better. Didn’t you see Justinian heal him? That was amazing.”

“Yes, it was.”

“So what’s there to be upset about?”

“I’m supposed to prove myself to Justinian, but what can I do? I tried to teach the boys something useful, and look what happened. Nikola was right. What was I thinking? Trolls don’t use bows and arrows, they use clubs and axes. What am I good at that no one else is working on?”