Catharsis

Ace looked back at her reflection as she pulled a heavy fur around her shoulders. While this was a re-entry into her homeland, a wilderness she knew better than any, in many ways she was a stranger to these parts now. She moved to sit by the bay, slowly pulling on and lacing boots made for the kind of snow and ice that never melted off this land. She looked out over the expanse of water between her and that desolate land. It was beautiful, but so unforgiving.

A knock sounded and Valentino warned her they were soon to cast off. She rose and reached for a set of knives and blades that she carefully cinched with belts and sheathes to the fur-lined pants. She moved back to the mirror and quickly and deftly braided back her sun bleached hair. A few marks of black paint over her eyes not only made her appear ferocious and threatening, but the black color would also absorb some of the brightness of the whiteout world she was returning to.

She sighed and looked down at the black falcata. She adjusted the strap under the fur coat so as to accommodate for the weapon before carefully picking it up. She bent it in the light of the of the candle, blinking when the light reflected directly off her eye. She then gave it a rather quick flourish before raising it to slide it into position over her back. She pulled the fur back over her shoulders and the sword. With a final stare into her own hard and determined soul, she left her cabin.

Out in the light she squinted as her sailors bustled about preparing to send off the long boats. She quickly noticed Taz who watched her from the helm where he was making orders concerning the ship while they were all gone. But she did not dwell on him at the moment. This was no time for his emotional dramatics or lovelorn looks.Katherine moved up to meet her from where she had seemed to have been waiting.

“They got horses in the village and have already loaded them up for the most part.”

Ace nodded in approval, noticing the dark clouds bearing down on them from the frozen mountains. Of course there would be snow. A few flurries were already whipping around in the sea breeze.

“Captain?” Valentino called from where he stood down by the longboats.

She nodded and with one last look around the deck of her ship, she strode off down towards the departing boats. Soon she and Valentino and Katherine and a few other of her best warriors were pulling away from the weathered hull of the ship and slicing through the icy waters towards the mainland.

The cold was bitter and the wind drove the snow into any exposed skin like a dozen pins. Still, this was her home, and her body was primed for a place like this, her blood running fiery even after many years away. When they landed in the dilapidated port town, a few curious faces peered out of houses and shops to watch the strange warriors unload the longboats only to re-load and mount a pack of huge, heavy-hoofed horses. These horses powerful horses were covered in fur so thick that the snow that fell on them remained intact on their coats, giving them a dusty mystical appearance. Ace and her company loaded up quietly and without any more engagement with the small community. Soon they had mounted and moved on, trekking out of the town and into the white wilderness.

The world was quieted by the deadening effect of heavy snow. The only sound was the occasional cracking or creaking of a tree under too heavy a load of snow and ice, the dull clink of their gear, and the heavy breathing of the horses who moved steadily though the deep drifts of snow. For all that, everyone was still on high alert, watching the treeline warily. Soon they were in the forest and while the intensity of the wind and biting snow lessened among the protected branches, a dense fog has also settled in among the woods, causing limited visibility.But Ace knew her way, even after all the years, even in the fog and pathless forest. Some roads one never forgot.

They went on like this for hours, slowly trekking though the frozen forest without speaking a word to each other and scanning the landscape for trouble, for the further they moved from the sea and civilization and moved deeper into the white jungle, the greater the danger became. And while the wild animals of this frozen wasteland were fierce, it was not the wildlife that Ace was most concerned about.

After five or six hours it began to get dark and so they stopped. Their camp would have to be small and inconspicuous. There would be no fire or hot food. They would rest in shifts, bundled in furs and sheltered by fallen trunks or large rocks. They would begin again after everyone had had a chance to rest at least a little. Ace stayed seated on her horse while the rest began setting up. Katherine sidled up next to her and watched in silence for a moment before breaking the long held peace.

“What will you do about Taz?”

Without looking over to her friend, Ace smiled, if not a bit tragically. “Is that what you have been dwelling on over these past hours?” She then did turn and face Katherine who’s cheeks were quite red, though whether from the cold or from embarrassment, Ace didn’t guess.

“Oliveen said he very intentionally asked Jun for the official transfer. I don’t guess that is the choice of a man just a little infatuated.”

“No.” Ace again seemed to smile, but sadly. There was some gravity to it all and she was not yet sure how to handle it. “I suppose I shall see what transpires after all this before deciding what his place is now. Jun and I have yet to discuss it. Speaking of, he asked of you last I was over there.”

Katherine looked away and shook her head, “I do not wish to rekindle any of that. Not for my part.”

Ace nodded and after watching Katherine closely for a moment also turned and surveyed the darkening snowy scene, “I thought as much.”

They were quiet for some time again before Ace turned to Katherine again, “And what about Taz? Would you like if he were transferred permanently?”

Kathrine looked down at the braided mane of her horse, mindlessly fiddling with the interwoven beads and metal brackets, “I don’t know.” She looked back up to the crew in front of them before looking at Ace, “I don’t know.”

Ace nodded, understanding the unspoken predicament.

“I suppose that is more important than any of it right now.” And Katherine pointed to a worn, folded letter Ace had been holding in her hand.

“Aye.”

“Do you think they’ll remember you? Or Valentino?”

Ace felt her stomach tighten, both with some nervousness, but also with some bitterness and an old anger. “I would imagine some will.”

“Acelaith af aet Axyvenne. I daresay that isn’t a name or title erased by time alone. You said your parents are dead though, who does that mean the lord chief is now? Did the note say?” Katherine had been with Ace a long time now and certainly knew some about Ace’s homeland and story, but she didn’t know it all.

“It didn’t say, but I know who it is. Valentino and Jötner had a tie back here for awhile. One that has since gone silent, a member of my father’s household. As such, I know that the man who took the title also happened to be one of my least favorite people.” Ace kicked her feet out of the stirrups and threw one fur lined leg over her horse’s neck, facing Katherine, “An old friend, an ex-flame even.”

Katherine’s eyebrow shot up under her heavy hood, “Really? I assume you cut ties when you left and have heard nothing from him in these last twelve years?”

Ace nodded and gracefully stepped down from the big horse, coming up to its muzzle and rubbing the soft black face. She was not nervous about Raf, she was angry at him. She did not have a bone to pick with him, however, not at this point. What happened was history and she’d as much left as she was rejected, so even his title was fairly enough gotten.

She lived a lifetime away from all this. She would never have come back were it not for the letter and the burden of understanding the plight of her stranger sibling. It seemed odd that they would know of her, much less ever care to contact her, much less reach out for help when she was a complete stranger to them. But here she was, the evidence and burden enough to drag her back to this haunted place.

She didn’t believe anyone in the homeland had reason to trick her into returning and Raf certainly had every reason to never want her to step foot back in this land again. As such, she hoped very much that she was coming wholly uninvited and unprepared for. She’d like the show of that. Her unknown sibling had written in a way that suggested that the whole thing was a rather serious secret and the letter had been vague, coded perhaps, in the event of it being confiscated. Raf had not been the vengeful or cruel type so she found it hard to imagine the trouble being about him, but surely if it were not about him, he would have helped her family contact her. In fact, why did her own sibling, a blood Axyvenne, have trouble at all that they could not find a single person to help them? And not just that, but a trouble so serious that they felt their only hope was in a long lost, unknown older sibling?

It might all be a ridiculous ruse, but something about it all had rung of urgency and desperation. And Ace knew that household, better than anyone. And she knew what it was to feel trapped and alone, even when you were royalty. Even so, she came prepared for every possibility, including the event that this was all an ambush and a trap for her. She had her best warriors with with her and she would enter her homeland country from the north, from across the frozen sea, where they would never look for anyone to come.

Katherine had also dismounted at this point and came around the opposite side of her horse, looking mischievous, “So will there be drama? Who broke it off? Did he break your heart? Is this the real reason you decided to come back?”

Ace smiled, but felt that old prick of bitterness, “I was not in love with him, but I did trust him to have my back. And he didn’t. My parents wanted us to be together but I didn’t much care. I think he ended up loving the idea of the power and title associated with me more than he ever actually loved me. I daresay there will not be much by way of drama. He got what he wanted and I got what I wanted. I have nothing more to do with him except to make sure that he does right by my family or whatever remains of it. I hope to leave as quietly and peacefully as I arrived.”

Katherine seemed mildly disappointed, of course, but she also seemed to decide it was not worth poking anymore into. And so they all settled in for a cold night.