Elsa Crane's Arc

Chapter 60 of 66

The line of mothers thinned by midday. Elsa closed the hut door and sat down heavy in her chair. Four days. Nancy came in without knocking, carrying two mugs of broth. She set one on the table by Elsa's hand and kept the other for herself. "You look like you walked here on knives," Nancy said. She sat across from Elsa and folded her hands around her mug. Her white hair caught the light from the small window. Behind her round glasses, her green eyes stayed on Elsa's face. "I came to say a thing you won't like." "Say it." "If I fall tomorrow, the elders swarm Bodhi by the day after. My seat is one chair. One chair is not a wall." Nancy sipped. "I need someone under my wing. Someone I can teach the library, the bench, the way you speak to a scared mother. Someone the village already trusts." Elsa set her mug down. She had been so busy planning her own end she had not planned Nancy's. "Who." "Charlie Morrison." Elsa looked up. "She has enemies. The sister still asks questions at the well." "The sister will tire. Charlie won't." Nancy leaned forward. "She raised Lynn alone through worse than any elder can throw. She listens before she speaks. The children already come to her. And she owes you her life, which means she'll guard yours in Bodhi." Elsa thought of Charlie's scarred wrists and the way she had stood in this hut and taken the truth about her husband without flinching. "Send for her." Nancy was already at the door. Charlie came within the hour. She stepped inside and stopped short when she saw them both waiting. Her blonde hair was pulled back. Her sleeves were pushed up past a burn mark on her forearm. She did not sit until Elsa pointed at the chair. "Am I in trouble," Charlie said. "No," Nancy said. "You're being asked." She laid it out plain. Apprentice to the librarian's seat. Learn the bench. Take it if Nancy falls. Stand between the elders and the boy. Charlie went still. She looked at Elsa. "I'm not a clever woman." "I don't need clever," Elsa said. "I need someone who won't leave the room when it gets ugly." Charlie's hand went to the burn on her arm without her seeming to notice. "Lynn." "Lynn stays with you," Nancy said. "She can sit in the library with me while we teach you." Charlie was quiet a long moment. Then she nodded once. "Then yes." Nancy exhaled. Elsa felt something loosen in her chest that had been tight since the elders' vote. "Start tomorrow," Nancy said. "Sunrise. Bring bread." Charlie stood. At the door she turned. "If they come for the boy while you two are gone, I won't run." She left. Elsa looked at Nancy. Two chairs now. Two walls. Four days.