Elsa Crane's Arc

Chapter 39 of 66

Wren and Bodhi came back at dusk with dirt on their sleeves. The reindeer walked between them. Nora lay under the blackberry arch now, a fresh mound of soil showing dark through the snow. Elsa met them at the door of the hut and saw Fern already climbing the path with news on her face. "A woman came to the grave," Fern said. "Tall. Wearing a quilt like a cloak. She asked whose hand dug it. She asked if the digger kept a book." Elsa's smile did not move. Inside her chest, something did. "Where is she now?" "Repairing a doll on the miller's step. She said her name is Dara Colm. She said she mends toys wherever she stops." Elsa knew the name from no one. That was the problem. A stranger at Nora's grave, asking after the ledger before the soil had settled. Elsa brought Bodhi inside and sat him at the vine table. Dahlia stood at the wall. Wren set the shovel down. The reindeer put its head through the door and stayed there. "A woman is asking about your book," Elsa said. "She cannot see it. She cannot hear its name from any mouth in this village. You are the keeper now. You choose what happens to her." Bodhi laid his chalk on the table. He looked at Dahlia. "What are the choices?" "Send her off with a lie," Dahlia said. "Mark her. Or watch her and wait." "Marking her is a life," Wren said. "You said each name is a real person." Bodhi's hand went to the reindeer's muzzle. The animal breathed against his palm. He closed his eyes. Elsa watched him weigh it the way she had taught him to weigh the wife-beater and the stalker, and the dog before that. He was not guessing. He was choosing. "She hasn't hurt anyone," he said. "Not that we know. I won't mark her for a question." "Then?" Elsa said. "Send her off. But not with a lie she can catch us in." He opened his eyes. "Tell her the digger was old and kept a work log. Show her a ledger of grave fees. A plain one. Let her read every page. Then thank her for her worry and give her bread for the road." Dahlia's mouth twitched. "A false book." "A true one for a false question," Bodhi said. "Wren can keep the fee book from now on. The other stays with me." Elsa felt the weight shift off her shoulders and settle onto his. It did not lift. It moved. "Do it," she said. By dark, Wren had a clean ledger of copper and bread on the table. Elsa met Dara Colm at the arch with warm hands and the fee book open. Dara read three pages, set it down, and thanked her. She walked out of Alpenglow before the moon rose. The book was safe. The boy had chosen. Elsa went home and did not sleep.