The things that matter

Chapter 4

A girl in her early teens was running through the forest. That forest was familiar to me, but the summer foliage made it take a while for me to recognize it. However, the girl's clothing was unmistakable: she was Northuldra.

The girl climbed a tree and did a belly flop to be picked up, shaken, and carefully placed on the ground by the mischievous Gale. But that girl didn't seem to be the same woman that the glacier had shown us before, the features were similar, but clearly, she wasn't the same person.

Gale played with the girl a moment longer and then guided her through the forest until she found a tall, burly blond with blue eyes. His clothing was also clearly representative: he was an ice harvester.

The man tried to communicate with the girl, but they didn't seem to speak the same language; his seemed somewhat more like Swedish. However, the girl took his hand and dragged him to the camp telling him that if Gale had made her come to him, he sure was someone to be trusted.

They soon found themselves surrounded by Northuldra people who were discomforting curious while the poor man tried to explain himself by drawing with a stick on the ground something that we couldn't understand. Although Anna and I didn't understand, the Northuldra seemed satisfied with his explanation and welcomed him with open arms.

The image changed and showed a young woman who could be the one we assumed was my mother, teaching the man some words of her language as they laughed together perhaps closer to each other than one would expect.

The image changed again and returned us to the lake of terror, but nobody was drowning in it. The woman and the child waited sitting on a rock close to the shore of the lake eating carrots while the blond we saw before worked the ice.

"Hm... I wouldn't step there, that area seems..."

And, again, the glacier didn't let me finish talking. The surface broke under his feet and he plummeted to the bottom of the lake.

"Jorgen!!"

The woman screamed desperate seeing the man falling into the water.

"Mommy..."

"Do not worry, Kristoff, everything it's gonna be fine. I'm going to help him. You stay around here playing for a while."

Without almost realizing it, I squeezed Anna's hand as my guts turned upside down. There was my past, my parents, I even found out my father's name! She died trying to save him... I'm half Northuldra! And a half probably-Swedish!

"So, in the end, you're half Northuldra too, huh?"

I nodded not knowing what to do, say or feel. With joy and pain fighting each other to win the battle and dominate me. Lost and found at the same time.

"How do you feel?"

"I... don't know."

"We haven't found out your mother's name yet, how unfair, huh?"

I smiled almost piteously watching Anna try to cheer me up.

"Ahtohallan," she spoke then. "can you show us something else about Kristoff's mother? Why did they leave the enchanted forest, for example?"

It seemed like a good idea. Seeing them alive and happy once more before we left would help me deal with the feeling of unease that the previous scene had left me.

"Thank you," I whispered to her feeling the icy air from the Ahtohallan invade my lungs again.

The great wall of ice flashed once more, showing a place that looked like the outskirts of the camp on a clear white winter day. My parents were chatting on the bank of a semi-frozen stream, and they both seemed to fight back tears.

"Do you really have to go?"

"I wish it wasn't like that, Sikká, but my parents are older and they only have me. I decided to do this trip because I felt the wind was asking me to do it, I just had to follow the path that was marking me, but... I can't stay."

"And, what about me?"

"I'm sure you are the reason the wind brought me here. Come with me."

"You know I can't do it."

"She can come too. It's a beautiful forest. She will remain free and happy by your side."

"I can't do that to her. Here's her family, and the bond she has with the spirits of the forest is really special. This is her place."

"I guess then, I can only tell you I love you and wish you the best."

"So unfair, Jorgen..."

"I can't lie to you."

"Then I will settle with another I love you by my part and wishing the wind guide you well."

They both shared a chaste and sad kiss and left in different directions as the glacier wall changed the image again. So my mother was called Sikká. In the new scene that began to run in front of our eyes, the first rays of the morning illuminated my mother, who, apparently prepared for a long journey, seemed to be discussing something with the girl who helped my father to reach the camp.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Sikká, you love him. What else you can do?"

"I can stay."

"This is not your place to be."

"You are my place to be. I wanna be with you."

"Then come back. Go find him and come back for me. Then I'll go with you."

"And why not now?"

"I couldn't explain it to you. I feel like I must stay here for now. I feel like there's something I must do before I leave."

"But... will you really come with me? Will not regret it?"

"As much as I feel like I have a mission here, I feel like I will soon leave this place forever. It's a matter of time. Go making your way and please be careful."

"I'll be."

Sikká burst into tears and the two hugged each other tightly.

"I promise you that I will be back. I love you, Iduna."

"My goodness! Kristoff! That girl is my mother!!"

At that moment I could feel it, something stank. Whatever the damn glacier was about to show us, it was going to destroy my life.

"Love you too, sis."