“It’s important to me. I don’t see what it means to you.”
“That’s because you, I surmise, have absolutely no idea what it is. Where did you get it?” He held out a hoof, as if expecting her to hand it straight over, but she clutched it a little tighter, and shook her head. There was a rise in tension, she could feel the attention of the creatures that surrounded them shifting from companionable to alert, but she stood her ground.
“No way. I’m not giving it up just like that. If you tell me what it is... perhaps I’ll consider it.”
“You do not make demands, Outsider, not here. But very well, I suppose I can afford to be generous in this matter. Let’s see now. I am at war, Outsider. I am ringed by enemies on all sides, and the enemies of the Winter are no less powerful than the Winter is itself.”
“You mean the other Seasons, right? I mean, I know that there’s a kind of balance, and things that happen outside of the City can affect it.”
“Crude, but then, I suppose that is what we can expect when we let in but one or two scholars a century. Not that it is of any consequence whether you Outsiders understand us. You live and breath us, and we do not require your comprehension. Yes. There is a balance, and a cycle. Everything moves through the cycle, rising and falling, but it is never out of balance. There are always actions, and consequences.
“Well, what you have obtained, the shard I was willing to go to such lengths to bring into my Season, is what was left behind in the aftermath of one of ten thousand skirmishes in my war. It is the physical remains of one of my soldiers, Outsider. It is a piece of my essence, which I shaped into a fighter for my cause, and sent forth into the world. I am lessened by its separation.”
Hearthfire prodded the little piece with her hoof, watching the way the pattern of light it cast shifted on the plane of the linen cloth. The king had fallen silent, and the void of sound sucked at her, urging her to fill it.
“There was an island, a living island. Far to the north, as far north as it is possible to go. It is always cold, and the sun is almost never seen. We were almost destroyed in a vast storm, and we stumbled upon it by chance; we made landfall to find supplies.”
The king smiled, and let out a contented sigh, cocking his head to one side as if trying to see her from a fresh angle.
“Ah... I see, now. I couldn’t tell at first, because you are too wrapped up in the scent of different Seasons. Now, I know what I am looking for, and I can see it.”
“See what?”
“You still have scars, Outsider. You fought my progeny, though it was some years ago, by your reckoning. So, you were triumphant? Of course, you are here, living and breathing before me now. And you took for yourself a trophy, not realising its value.”
“The... monster I took this from, your monster, ran me down.” She chilled at the memory of it; here, in the City, it did not seem so long ago, its edges not so dulled by the passage of time. “The island saved me.”
“No, no,” the king chuckled, slapping the ground with his hoof in amusement. “I am certain it had no desire to save you, Outsider. It saw an opening and it struck. The living islands of the Summer are as much weapons of war as my own creations. It was driven far from its homelands, and weak, by the sound of it, but I can promise you that there was no pity in its heart when it protected you.”
“Not pity. Gratitude. Neither of us would have survived without the other; it would have succumbed to your predators without me.”
“Well, believe whatever you desire. But don’t you see? Here we are, talking things over. We can have a reasonable, civilized conversation. All that is required is that you be reasonable and civilized enough to return my property to me. It is mine, in a way that you cannot hope to comprehend.”
“I wouldn’t know about that. I don’t see that you have any real right to it, certainly no more than I can claim.”
“I found it, so I should be allowed to keep it? Do not make me laugh, Outsider.”
“Not just finders keepers, your majesty. You say that it’s a part of you? It’s a part of me, too.”
“A part of you? Ridiculous. Give it to me, Outsider, and we need say no more about it.”
“No, king, I’m serious. This... everything in the Box, they’re my precious memories, all of them. I’ve seen no end of strange things, been through fire and ice, I’ve made friends, and lost friends, travelled all over the world. This is a part of who I am, your majesty. And I don’t see a reason to give it up because you want it back. What would have happened to it, if I hadn’t picked it up, hmm? Tell me that, king.”
He was losing his temper, fast. If you had asked her, half an hour ago, why the contents of the Box were so important, she could have answered, for sure, but she never would have dreamed how much it would hurt, to be faced with the prospect of losing one of her mementos. When she thought of Audir, and Skirlaug, and all the rest. The ones who had journeyed with her to the edge of the world, the ones who had returned, and the ones who had not.
“I am being unnecessarily accommodating, Outsider. Just like you, I am not required to be civil, either. I could take it from you, without hesitation, if I wished.”
“I don’t think you can, king. I don’t think you really understand negotiation, it’s not in your nature; the Winter doesn’t bargain, does it? It takes what it wants, and destroys anything in its path.”
It must be the unrealness of this place, Hearthfire reasoned, on finding herself strangely calm in the middle of an increasingly hostile circle, It’s like a dream. If anything really bad happened, I’d just wake up...
“The unicorn in the buffer said, ‘There are rules.’ There are rules, aren’t there, and you’re bound to them right now. Your envoy offered to take my bags from me, earlier. Would that be enough? If I’d handed it over then, would that have been enough for you to take it from me?”
“The other Seasons don’t have the authority to banish you from the city right now. I do, Outsider, because you are in the Winter, in my Season. Do you want me to banish you?”
“Then you’ll never get hold of what you want. If I ask you to send me back to the buffer, do you have to? I suspect so. I think we’re finished here, your majesty. May I go now?”
* * *