Astrila is a normal girl in her Inuit tribe, but is left alone by her mother's death. She runs to the cliffs that overlook the sea and grieves, before she slips and falls off of the cliff into the icy sea. Something saves her, but what is it? Join h...
Astrila stirs, shivering beneath her fur blanket. Why is she so cold? She shifts to roll onto her side, clutching the blanket to her chest. Something nearby shifts in its position and Astrila's eyes snap open. Someone is staring down at her. He is young, with dark brown hair and his skin is dark like her own, but it is a couple of shades lighter. He is wearing a fur coat, white like the fur of a polar bear. But Astrila can see that the texture isn't as coarse as a polar bear's pelt would be, so it is likely a young harp seal pelt. Astrila frowns. This pelt, while similar in appearance, is far too large to be that of a harp seal pup. The coat has long sleeves and almost reaches the floor, and it looks thick and warm.
As he remains sitting on the floor beside her bed, he shifts again, and her eyes narrow in on his movements. They tell her that he has been sitting on the ground for longer than his body is comfortable with. As he shifts, something swings out of the gap between the two sides of his coat. It is a fishhook like her own, but her keen eyes can see the shadows on the hook that tell her the carvings are different. Astrila shifts herself then stops, feeling the furs of the bed rub against her bare skin. Why is she naked? Where are her winter furs?
Her eyes dart around the room and she sees them in a pile close to the bed, a few meters away. One hand slides up to her neck and touches the woven cord of her own fishhook, and she almost sighs in relief. She doesn't want to ever lose the last thing her mother gave her. The young man before her hears the sounds of her movements and his eyes finally meet hers. His eyes are dark, dark brown. They are almost black, but they look kind.
"Hello."
The boy is speaking in English, which Astrila can luckily understand, due to being raised with both English and Inuktitut, although she also knows a decent amount of Inupiatun, enough to be fairly fluent in the language.
Astrila frowns, still unsettled by her lack of clothing. "Why am I naked?"
He gives her a small, soft smile that is tinged with fading worry and growing relief. "Your clothes were wet and frozen, so the healer had them removed to prevent your hypothermia from growing worse."
"Where am I?"
He hesitates. "In our village."
She gives him a piercing look, her voice firm. "That doesn't help me at all."
He raises his hands placatingly. "It isn't my place to say, no matter how much I might like to. You'll have to wait until the leader of the settlement tells you."
Astrila sighs. "Fine. Who are you?"
He gives her another small smile. "My name is Kōri. I'm also the one who brought you back."
"You found me?"
"Yes."
"Thank you. But how did you find me? I thought I was too deep to be seen from the surface."
He gives her another small smile, but this one is mischievous. "That is a story for later."
Astrila frowns, her curiosity piqued, but she is also getting the sense that he won't be telling her how he found her in the near future. "Can I please have some clothes?"
The boy, Kōri, frowns. "Can you wait a bit longer? I'm not able to leave this room, otherwise I would go get you some clothes."
Astrila sighs, but nods. "Why can't you leave the room?"
"I was ordered to stay and watch you, and I also can't physically leave the room. I'll explain more later."
Astrila nods and they settle into a comfortable silence, waiting. For what, Astrila doesn't know. But she knows they are waiting for something. After several minutes of waiting, a squat man comes in, followed by a taller man, with black hair and grey eyes. Both are wearing coats like Kōri is. The taller man has a black coat that is as dark as the pelt Astrila has wrapped around her, and the shorter one has a grayish coat with dark spots like those of a ringed seal.The squat man sees her and rushes over, causing Astrila to clutch the pelt tighter against her chest against her sides.
"Ah, you're up! Let's get you some clothes, then you can talk with King Kayi." He motions to the taller man.
Then he runs out of the room again. Astrila stares at the taller man, Kayi. His grey eyes are piercing, just like her own are described to be. The other man comes back in, a pile of clothes clutched in his hands. He pauses in the doorway when he sees Astrila looking at Kayi, and his eyes widen slightly. He is barely like that for a moment before he shakes it off and approaches Astrila. He hands the clothing to her, and Astrila gratefully takes it with one hand, hugging the pelt to her chest with the other. The man smiles at her reassuringly.
"We'll leave you to change in peace, alright?"
Astrila's smile of gratitude grows at his attempts to comfort her. "Thank you."
He leaves the room, pulling Kōri with him. Kōri almost appears to be wincing in pain as he is pulled out the door. Kayi leaves next, giving her privacy. Astrila moves to the curve that blocks her from sight of the door before dropping the pelt to her feet. She dresses quickly, sliding into the clothes, despite the small bits of unfamiliarity that these new clothes have. The clothes are as warm as her normal ones, even though they don't contain the same fur lining as her own.
The texture tells her that water will just run off of them without reaching the inside layer. Something is missing, so Astrila goes back to her pile of wet clothing to grab her belt pouch, where all of her tools are stored. She isn't going anywhere without her ulu. Once Astrila feels completely dressed, she picks the pelt back up from the icy floor. It doesn't feel right to just leave it there. She pops her head out of the iglu door. Kōri and the other two men are standing just outside in the packed snow. Surrounding the iglu are many more with various designs etched into the icy walls. ________________________________________________________________________________ What do you think? I know some of the things I am referring to might be a bit confusing, I'm trying to stay true to the Inuit culture in this book, which means lots and lots of research. Here is another picture of Astrila for you guys!
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
