Miri Greymantle's Arc

Chapter 6 of 8

The trees began to move before Rothe returned. Miri noticed it first as a wrongness in the air—the trunks bending away from something she couldn't see yet, creating a path through the forest. The spirit dog pressed itself against the monument's base, its blue light dimming to almost nothing. The cub woke and whimpered. Miri held it closer and watched a woman step between the leaning trees. She was made of the same blue and gold light as Rothe, but where his presence felt protective, hers commanded. The air around her head shimmered with colors that might have been a crown once. She stopped at the clearing's edge and looked directly at Miri. "You're keeping my son as a pet." Her voice was calm, which somehow made it worse. Miri's throat went dry. She'd expected Rothe's mother to demand he return, to threaten or bargain. Instead the woman walked closer, and the trees bent farther away from her. "I didn't come to take him back. I came to ask you something else entirely." She stopped a few paces from the platform. "I need you to wear this when you meet the living as my representative." The woman held out her hand, and a ring materialized in her palm—delicate and ghostly, carved with patterns Miri recognized from the realm of the dead. "The souls trapped between worlds need someone who can walk both sides. Someone who understands what it means to return." Miri stared at the ring. This wasn't about Rothe at all. His mother had come because Miri was the one who'd crossed over and come back changed. Because she could do something no one else could—not her father, not even Rothe himself. She thought of her father's careful research, his years trying to understand what she'd become. He'd been so focused on bringing her back that he'd never asked what she might do now that she was here. She reached out and took the ring. It felt solid in her palm, cold and real. "What do I have to do?" The woman's expression shifted, something like relief crossing her face. "Find the ones who are stuck. The ones who can't move forward and won't let go. Give them what they need to pass." She turned and walked back between the trees, and they straightened behind her as if she'd never been there. Rothe's glow appeared at the clearing's edge moments later, brighter than usual, almost frantic. Miri slipped the ring onto her finger and felt it settle against her skin like it belonged there. "Your mother was here," she said quietly. His light flickered with what might have been concern or confusion. "She asked me to help trapped souls cross over." She held up her hand so he could see the ring. "I said yes." Something in his light settled, grew steady. He moved closer and his presence felt different—not protective anymore, but respectful. Like he was seeing her clearly for the first time since they'd crossed back together. The spirit dog lifted its head and looked at Miri with eyes that glowed brighter than before. She sat back down with the cub and realized her hands had stopped shaking. Her father would ask what the ring meant. She'd tell him the truth—that she'd been given work only she could do. Not because she'd argued for it, but because someone who understood death had witnessed her strength and chosen her.