When she looks back down at the snow layer surrounding the iglu, she sees the vague shadows of the layer through the blizzard covering most of the igluit. All of the other igluit are still snowed in, some with their ventilation shafts almost buried. She curses again to herself and clambers back down to the tunnel below and Kōri.
"Some of the other igluit are about to have their ventilation shafts covered, I have to shelter them or people will suffocate."
Kōri's eyes widen. "How close is the snow to the tops of the igluit?"
Astrila frowns. "One kriyantli away from the shafts in the direst case, three kriyantli in the best case."
"What about our iglu?"
Astrila chews on her lip. "Two, I think? Maybe three now with the shelter."
Kōri curses. "This might be the worst storm of the year."
Astrila nods, her face pale. "If it goes on for much longer, we'll have maxtla."
He pushes her back towards the exit from the tunnel. "Let's go, and work as fast as you can. In this krotla, every second counts."
Astrila nods sharply and scrambles out of the tunnel, drawing her coat tighter around her body as the wind tries its best to rip it away. Her snow knife is almost ripped out of her hands, but her hand is clenched tight around the knife. As the wind tries once again to force her hands open, she tucks the knife into her pouch, leaping across the snow. Kōri stumbles along beside her, fording his way through the snow, leaving a deep path behind him. Astrila is careful not to get too far ahead of Kōri, even in her desperation to go help the people trapped in their igluit as quickly as possible.
Astrila pulls and pulls towards the igluit, her instincts driving her even through the pain-filled groans from Kōri. She tries as hard as she can to slow her body down, nut she is no longer in control. Something else is controlling her body, and she doesn't know what. She feels a tear slip down her cheeks as the sounds of Kōri's pain reaches her over the howling wind, but she can do nothing to stop it. As his cries get louder and louder, she fights harder against the force pushing her onward. She gets closer and closer to breaking through, but something speaks before she can, shocking her.
"Stop."
Her surprise proves to be detrimental, as the force pushing her forward gains the upper hand and her body surges forward. She shakes her head and starts to push back once again at the agonizing cry from Kōri.
"Stop."
She doesn't halt her struggle this time but instead, she intuitively speaks back. "Why? It hurts him. Don't make me hurt him."
"You must continue on, you don't have time to slow down."
"Who are you?"
"I'm you, your instincts, your magic."
"Don't make me hurt him, please. Please."
"If you are to save the other selkies, you must."
Astrila shakes her head, sobbing. "He's my Siqiniq. I may not know all that entails, but I know he can't be hurt by me. It hurts me to hurt him."
The force hesitates, allowing her to break through, just for a moment, allowing Kōri to get closer to her. Then the force takes over her once more, this time tossing her into the back of her mind, where she can't fight it again. Her body surges forward once more, but her speed is marginally slower. Her magic speaks again.
"I'm sorry, but you must continue. I will move your body as slowly as possible to help him, but you must move."
Astrila understands what her magic is saying, but it hurts nevertheless as Kōri's cries of pain begin anew. She sobs inside her mind, trying to look towards him and stretch out her invisible arms to relieve his pain. Finally, she reaches the first of the igluit and her body numbly, without her control, begins to assemble the kriyantli and place them over the ventilation shafts for protection. Kōri reaches the bottom of the iglu and Astrila sags from within her caged corner of her own mind, relieved that his pain is gone for a time. He calls up to her.
"Don't move so fast, Astrila! It hurts. I know we need to help as quickly as possible, but you can slow down."
Her magic doesn't respond, even though it is in control of her body at the moment. Instead, it focuses her body on the task before her, assembling the snow construct in record time. Once the construct is complete, her body slides down the iglu and moves towards the next one. Kōri curses over the wind, barely audible, and follows her, stumbling through the snow halfway up his legs, even as he stands on top of much of it. If he wasn't able to stand on top of it at all, it would be up to his belly button. Astrila moves from iglu to iglu, with Kōri thankfully able to remain closer to her than before. When they reach Tonraq's iglu, they find a ringed seal emerging from the snow, it's dark eyes narrowing in on Astrila. Its nostrils flare as it sees Kōri emerge from the swirling mass of snow behind her.
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Who's the seal? Why is Astrila's magic taking over? What does this mean for her? Tell me your thoughts!
Happy reading and I'll see you next chapter!
~Goddess of Fate, signing out.
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Gifted Pelt
FantasyAstrila 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...
