Elsa Crane's Arc

Chapter 41 of 66

The knock came before Elsa had cleared the vine table. Bodhi was already gone to the cottage with the reindeer at his heel. Elsa opened the door and found the miller's wife on the step, her long curls damp from the walk, both hands pressed to her mouth. Larissa Miller did not cry easily. She was crying now. "He grabbed her wrist," Larissa said. "Marta's wrist. In the shop. My boy saw it and told me at supper." She stepped inside without waiting. "Elsa, you have to go down there. You have to speak to him. Nobody else will." Elsa took her elbow and sat her at the table. She poured water. She let the woman drink before she answered. Larissa did not know Bodhi had already ruled. That was the trouble. If Elsa said the boy has handled it, Larissa would hear the boy has done nothing. If Elsa went to the shop herself, she would undo everything Bodhi built that morning. Either way the trust in the village would crack. "Larissa," Elsa said. "The matter is already in hand. It was brought to this table before noon." Larissa's face closed. "By who." "By Bodhi." Larissa set the cup down hard. "He's a child." "He is what comes after me," Elsa said. "You gave your voice for him at the crowning. I am asking you to give it once more, in private, where it costs something." She stood and reached for her wool robe. "Come with me. Hear him say it himself. If you leave the cottage still unhappy, I will go to the shop tonight with my own hands." Larissa's mouth pinched, but she rose. They walked the path to the strawberry cottage in silence. The crystal door glowed teal in the winter light. Fern opened it. The reindeer stood by the hearth. Bodhi was at the low table with his chalk, drawing nothing, just turning it. "The miller's wife wants to hear you," Elsa said. Bodhi stood up. He did not look at Elsa for a cue. He looked at Larissa. "I saw him do it to Marta. I sent Jasper to stand in the shop three mornings. I sent Clara to Marta with bread. If he touches another woman that way, I open the book on him. I didn't want your boy to grow up in a village where a thumb on a wrist was nothing. So I didn't let it be nothing." Larissa's shoulders dropped. She looked at him a long moment. Then she crossed the room and put her hand flat on the top of his head, the way a mother does. "Alright," she said. "Alright, boy." Elsa stepped back into the doorway. Larissa had come for the elder and left believing the child. The village trust had not cracked. It had moved. Elsa closed the teal door behind them and felt the weight in her chest shift one notch lighter.