The Tower: Part 4: Yule
Post #31: In which rejection and acceptance ...
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“In times like this, we should look to our own.”
“We don’t have enough food to share with a giantess!”
“You’d risk the community by bringing in a monster? I’ve heard giants eat children! I’d never feel safe again!”
“Isn’t there enough trouble and uncertainty without allowing a giant in?”
“This is women’s foolishness! It’s time for a man to lead this community. We need someone with a clear head to make these decisions!”
The last comment came from David, a tall, clean-shaven, middle-aged man who had been a town leader before coming to Rowan Tree with the other founders. He called himself a lawyer and frequently settled disputes at Rowan Tree. He had great respect for rules and regulations and let it be known from the beginning he thought Maria’s informal leadership inadequate.
It was noon. The entire community had squeezed into the community hall. Artemis and Maria led the discussion, briefly recounting Gwelda’s story and suggesting she be invited to stay, at least until spring.
Rose Red, who rarely addressed a meeting and happily allowed Artemis to speak for her, sat against a wall, slightly apart from the group crammed onto the benches around the long tables.
Gabriel had been right. There was resistance, and in some cases outright hostility to the idea of Gwelda joining Rowan Tree. Rose Red felt a chilling sense of dislocation. She knew every person in the room; had worked, eaten and lived alongside them, never guessing at the bitterness and resentment demonstrated now. Maybe I don’t belong here, either, she thought. Maybe if they really knew me, they’d cast me out.
Gabriel rose to stand next to Maria, pounding on the wooden floor with his stick until the room quieted.
“We’re not here to discuss community leadership,” he said. “We’re here to talk about inviting Gwelda to join us.”
“Put it to a vote, then,” said David. He stood, his tall figure commanding every eye. “Any further discussion?”
Maria, Artemis and Gabriel stood mutely, watching as David smoothly took control of the meeting.
“All in favor?” said David.
Rose Red and several others raised their hands, but she could see they were not in the majority.
“…five, six, seven, eight …” said David, smirking.
He’s enjoying this, thought Rose Red. He likes everyone looking at him and he likes humiliating Maria and Artemis. She scanned the rest of the faces, noting anger, distress, concern and fear. Chattan and Mingan both voted for accepting Gwelda. Chattan’s face was expressionless, but he too watched the group carefully. Rose Red wondered fleetingly about his impressions. Mingan, like David, smiled, though he’d cast a losing vote. He grew a thick beard of yellowish grey brown.
“All against?” said David, and once again began counting hands, this time with a triumphant note in his voice.
“The nays have it,” said David, resuming his seat amidst a clamor of stamping and raised voices. The group loosened. People turned to one another and began speaking and the meeting ended, having been taken completely out of Maria’s hands.
Rose Red joined Maria, Gabriel, Ginger and Artemis.
“Put a good face on it,” Gabriel said quietly to Maria, who looked furious. “We’ll talk about it later, but for now ignore it.”
“What are we going to say to Gwelda?” Rose Red asked Artemis.
Just then the community center door opened and two figures stepped in. Two familiar figures. Heks and Eurydice had returned.
Kunik flung his arms around Eurydice before she’d taken off her hood. He lifted her off her feet and she laughed with delight. When he set her down with a thump her hood slid off, revealing her thick black hair with its purplish sheen. Others greeted their arrival more casually, although Rose Red embraced Eurydice as well. Heks, looking sharply from face to face as she unwound her scarf, said to Maria, “What’s going on?”
“Not here,” said Artemis. “Let’s meet up at Rose Red’s house in an hour.”
***
Kunik, Eurydice, Maria, Ginger, Artemis, Rose Red, Chattan, Gabriel and Heks met behind Rose Red’s house, which stood on the brow of a shallow hill above Rowan Tree. The winter day was sunny and pleasant as they assembled out of the community’s sight, sitting on fallen trees.
After bringing Eurydice and Heks up to date, Artemis said, “You’ll clearly need to address power and leadership issues at Rowan Tree. David is forcing your hand, Maria. I have nothing to do with that, but I am in charge of what happens in the wild. Rowan Tree has no authority over the forest. That power lies with Rose Red and me. Chattan had a good idea earlier, to build Gwelda a place in the woods, nearby but not as part of the community. Given the number of fallen trees, Gwelda’s strength and willing helpers, I think we can build a home for her here, at least temporarily. Now more than ever we need everyone who fosters and nurtures the trees. If the forests die, we die. Gwelda is an important resource as well as a friend.”
“I’ve been thinking about the birch wood,” said Rose Red. “It’s not too near Rowan Tree, but it’s near enough we could visit every day. I haven’t been there since the windstorm, but if a lot of birches came down, we can use the trees for building and the bark for roofing and siding. I think Gwelda would be happy and safe there.”
“Did she bring anything with her?” Maria asked.
“She lost everything in the fire,” said Artemis. “She’s using a blanket as a cloak.”
“I tore up a sheet for a bandage,” said Rose Red ruefully.
“Never mind,” said Maria. “We’ll weave whatever she needs.”
“There’s plenty of wood to build furniture with,” added Kunik.
“She won’t need much,” said Rose Red. “She’s used to camping and likes to live simply. The most important thing is to get a roof over her head. She can feed herself as soon as her hand heals.”
“Until then, we can hunt for her,” said Artemis.
“Is she in danger?” asked Eurydice. “Who killed Jan?”
“She said he was torn apart, but not eaten,” said Artemis. “No animal I know of would do that.”
“So you think it wasn’t an animal?” asked Gabriel.
“Not a normal animal.”
“And how did the house catch fire?” asked Eurydice. “An animal didn’t do that!”
“Did she find any tracks?” Chattan asked.
“The ground was heavily disturbed where she found Jan, and she left the house while it was still burning. I don’t think she looked for tracks there,” said Rose Red.
“I’d like to look for myself,” said Artemis.
“So would I,” said Chattan unexpectedly. “I have some experience tracking.”
“Well, if you two want to go investigate, the rest of us can start building,” said Kunik.
“The first tasks are to get her fed and take care of that hand,” said Rose Red.
“Let’s go talk to her,” said Maria.
***
They found Gwelda sitting with her back against a stout oak near the rough sleeping place they’d contrived. A sinuous white weasel vanished beneath the edge of her blanket cloak as they approached. Gwelda always had creatures about her person. Seeing her in daylight, Rose Red noted lines in her face and her air of desolation. Her normal sparkle, humor and talkativeness were quenched, and she sat still and silent as though too indifferent to do anything else, cradling her bandaged left hand.
When Gwelda saw Rose Red and Artemis, her tears overflowed again and continued falling through introductions and greetings. Rose Red, torn between tenderness, pity and fury at Rowan Tree’s rejection of Gwelda, felt helpless. She longed to hold Gwelda in her arms while she wept, feed her, give her a comfortable bed and surround her with the warmth and support of friends, but each of these tasks, if not impossible, was at least far more complicated and difficult than it would have been if Gwelda had been human-sized.
Rose Red didn’t know where to start.
Unemotionally and without fuss, Maria took charge.
“Artemis, would you go hunting? I’m sure Gwelda needs a good meal.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Chattan. He’d demonstrated excellent hunting skills since he’d joined the community and Artemis made no demur. They disappeared between the trees.
“If some of you would get to work making a fire and gathering wood, maybe Heks would look at Gwelda’s hand,” Maria continued.
Kunik, Eurydice, Ginger and Gabriel found a flat spot and cleared the ground of snow, vegetation and tree debris. They dug a shallow pit, ringed it with large stones and gathered firewood. Meanwhile, Rose Red, Maria and Heks unwound the bandage.
Heks supplied herbs and a pot for heating water, and Maria produced several lengths of linen. Heks carefully inspected Gwelda’s hand, asked questions, probed gently and even sniffed the oozing blisters.
When the fire was burning, she directed Maria to heat water and steep certain herbs, and she and Rose Red thoroughly swabbed the injured hand with the resulting warm infusion. When the injury was quite clean, Heks put a thin layer of salve made from comfrey, lavender and other healing herbs over it and redressed it.
During their ministrations, Gwelda hardly spoke. Once or twice, she winced as the women worked on her hand, but she held still, docilely following Heks’s directions, and Rose Red thought she looked easier when the hand was cleanly rewrapped.
“Is it better?” she asked the giantess anxiously.
“Yes, thank you,” said Gwelda, like a well-mannered child.
“Burns are painful,” said Heks, “but it will heal. You must keep it clean.”
Artemis and Chattan returned with a deer, which Chattan expertly field dressed and quartered. Kunik took charge of the fire and cooking the meat on spits he contrived from saplings.
Rose Red began to feel better. The fire cheered and comforted. Gwelda’s hand was seen to and shortly she would have food. Her friend had come to her for help, and she was giving it. They were giving it. She looked around at the group with gratitude.
“They don’t want me, do they?” Gwelda asked conversationally.
In the flurry of exchanged looks, Maria answered composedly, “No. Several people are concerned about you joining the community. We voted.”
This straightforward talk seemed to do Gwelda good, somewhat to Rose Red’s surprise. Her tears stopped and she looked and sounded quite calm.
“I’ll leave as soon as I can. I didn’t mean to cause trouble for you.”
Gabriel spoke up. He sat on a fallen tree, surveying the activity, his stick between his hands. “The trouble is none of your making, girl. Some folks are like sheep. They spend their whole lives looking for a leader to follow, someone who’ll tell them what to think, what to fear and who’s to blame.”
“He’s right,” said Artemis. “Have you ever heard the word Yrtym, Gwelda?”
“No. What does it mean?”
Artemis explained, and then Rose Red and Eurydice recounted their conversation with the Rusalka, which the others had already heard about. Taking up the story, Heks and Eurydice shared the events of the Samhain initiation in Baba Yaga’s birch wood, including the White Stag’s death. Finally, Heks and Eurydice related their visit to Yggdrasil and the three Norns.
Rose Red saw her own consternation on every face as the travelers revealed the extent of not only the mysterious ailments of the trees, including Yggdrasil itself, but tensions and disconnection between Dwarves and humans and Rusalka and humans.
“What’s happening now is affecting all of us,” said Artemis. “It’s bigger than all of us. We’re caught up in something we don’t understand. Fear is a natural reaction to the unknown, but fear and suspicion will drive us apart. That’s happening at Rowan Tree, not because of you, Gwelda, but because of the wider picture we find ourselves in.”
“Do you think Jan was killed because of me?” Gwelda whispered.
“I don’t know,” Artemis replied. “Even if that is true, you and Jan had a remarkably beautiful and loving relationship that enriched not only the two of you, but the people you worked with and the trees you planted, including at Rowan Tree. If anyone is evil, it’s those who seek to destroy such connection, not those who build it.”
“Gwelda, you’re not the only one who’s different,” said Kunik. “My father was an ice bear and my mother a human. Eurydice is a tree nymph.”
“I took a fox as a lover,” said Rose Red, and felt enormous relief mingled with chagrin as no one appeared either surprised or revolted.
“The White Stag was my sacred consort for many years,” said Artemis steadily.
“You are one of us,” said Maria. “You will always have a home with us.”
“But--“
“We wanted to make you a proposition,” interrupted Kunik. “We wondered if you might like to live in the birch wood where the Rusalka lived, at least for the winter. We haven’t been there for some weeks, but if there are lots of downed trees, like here,” he gestured around them, “we could help you build a shelter. You wouldn’t be at Rowan Tree, exactly, but you’d be close by, and not alone.”
“Please stay,” said Rose Red, a lump in her throat. “We need you, Gwelda. I need you. Please don’t go.” She looked up into Gwelda’s face, and the giantess picked her up carefully so Rose Red could kiss her tearstained cheek and cling to her neck in a fierce hug.
Kunik announced the meat was adequately cooked, and Gwelda fell on it with appetite. She ate one handed, some color coming back into her cheeks, and even giggled once or twice as the talk turned to lighter subjects.
When her hunger was satisfied, Maria said, “Whatever you decide, we’ll support you. What would you like to do?”
“Could we go look at the birch wood?” Gwelda asked.
Ginger, Maria, Gabriel and Heks stayed with the dying fire, Heks packing her salve, herbs and dressings in her pot while Ginger and Maria dealt with the remaining meat and flung away the gnawed bones. Gabriel inspected Gwelda’s makeshift bed, adding boughs and branches over the low walls to insulate and keep off moisture, and reinforcing the sides.