Threads 342-Frostsong 3

“I am not concerned. You will convey the truth of the Sundering Vale to your compatriots,” Dzintara said plainly.

“I will,” Ling Qi said. Her mind was already racing for the words she would use.

<It’s a sublime ancestor. Don’t poke it,> Sixiang suggested in a murmur, falling silent for a moment as Ling Qi pushed the memory of her recent conversation to them. <Seems like Pappy Sun came to that same conclusion himself, maybe?>

She gave a small nod. That was probably the core of it. She was glad that Dzintara was not showing any real anger or concern. But then again, no one would take seriously a threat to their sublime ancestor.

…Well, there was the business of the Purifying Sun. But barring the apocalyptic, that confidence was probably not wrong.

“And the two-headed, flying beasts which emerge from… her. Are they sacred?” Ling Qi asked, knowing that some had already been hunted by the Sun forces.

“The zmeya? Those with only two heads are nothing, merely the Axemother’s perpetual wrath made manifest. They exist only to gnaw the demon for a time and then cease, denying her cycle,” Dzintara replied. “Even we are not fully safe from them, though they will not approach a proper settlement.”

That was good, although…

“That implies there are those with more heads,” Sixiang commented. “Are those ones sacred?”

“A zmeya with more than two heads is not a mere beast. They are one path of many, of middling stage to ‘ascension in Fryja’s Way,” Dzintara said carefully. “They will avoid humans who do not speak with her Voice unless pursued to their lair. Unless your conquerors do something very foolish, it should not be an issue.”

“Indeed, I believe your current mantle may be advanced on that path, should you choose to make that sacrifice,” Jaromila said. “Though perhaps a warning not to pursue such sightings may be in order?”

“Of course,” Ling Qi said. She almost bowed again, but stopped herself. It was difficult to break habits like that, even if she knew that bowing too often came across as servile to the foreigners.

“Now, answer my question. What sort of-” Dzintara visibly paused, and Ling Qi sensed that the next word to come from her lips would have been an insult to the Western Territory’s sanity. “… people would live within the demon, if not her own worshippers? That creature is not dead. Do not deceive me. We would have felt such a thing.”

“As far as I can discern, the Red Jungle’s mind is still alive, yes,” Ling Qi said. “As for the Sun…”

She was glad to have Sixiang back to help her articulate what she had learned of the Western Territories and to paint the picture of them as devoted warriors and not servants of the jungle.

By the end, Dzintara had not stopped frowning, and though she had crossed her hands over her chest, she wasn’t angry or suspicious either. Ling Qi was beginning to get a read on the cranky woman.She didn’t much like what Ling Qi was saying, but it seemed that their debate had allowed the other woman to accept the sincerity with which she spoke.

“It seems a doomed project to me. You cannot kill the demon in the way they describe. Anything taken from her is tainted. That is why the lesser zmeya do not return to Fryja, but simply become rock and ice and dust when their time expires. They eat without hunger, live without growth, and die without giving nourishment. They are cold manifest. This is the path to defying the Flower Demon.”

Ling Qi frowned…hadn’t Ji Rong said something about a skull? Was that hunter going to be disappointed when his prize crumbled, or was something odd going on?

<You wanna ask?> Sixiang murmured.

She did… but what would they do if the latter was true?

“Is that what cold and winter is to you? It seems to me that winter should be a renewal. It withers and kills and freezes to make room for something new come spring.”

“That is true enough of winter. I speak only of cold. Cold is the shearing, biting blade. It is stillness and endings,” Dzintara replied.

“It is,” Ling Qi agreed, “but I feel it is more transitory than that. Even the frozen mountaintops will wear down and crumble in time, gaining warmth. I do not feel cold can truly be final like you describe.”

“Then you have never been to the depths of the south where the ocean freezes. There, the land has never known a day of spring, let alone summer. It is a place where one could dig down a league and find only more ice. It is where the sun does not see and the moon does not go. That is what Fryja brought with her. Those are the axes she wielded in severing the pass,” said Dzintara.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Ling Qi thought of Grydja and the cold that had chilled even her. In Grydja’s words, she had glimpsed the deeper darkness, the total cessation of all things.

“I suppose I do not associate that with cold completely, but rather Ending alone.”

“As you like. Your mantles are not mine,” said Dzintara.