Minna lay down.
Suri’s hands returned to her hips. “You don’t believe in Nog? Hah! Let me tell you something, O wise one, I was there. What do you think about that?” She grinned at the wolf. “Tura said I was stolen by crimbals and taken there, but I escaped. I was just a baby at the time, must have crawled out on my hands and knees, I guess. There’s just no other explanation for Tura finding me alone in the forest the way she did.”
Minna panted, her tongue dangling.
“Okay, I see what you’re saying. If I had been stolen away to that magical realm but was lucky enough to escape, then exploring a crack that might take me there again would make me as crazy as a weasel drunk on winter wine.” She nodded. “Sensible conclusion as always.”
Suri thought a moment, tapping a finger to her lips. “Ah-hah!” She raised that same finger in protest. “But what if I wasn’t kidnapped? What if I was saved? What if my parents were cruel? They might have been beating and starving me, and the crimbals took me away to their world to protect me from the evils of this one. Nog could be a beautiful place filled with free-flowing honey and ripe strawberries!”
Suri saw the blank stare Minna was giving her and sighed. “I suppose you are wondering if that were the case, why would I have left Nog and crawled back here in the first place?”
The wolf began licking the fur on her foreleg.
“Oh,” Suri said, surprised. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to put words in your mouth. My mistake. But maybe I was just too young to realize that they were doing me a favor.”
Suri looked back at the crack, then up at the ash. Esche wasn’t as ancient or as majestic as the old oak Magda, but the way he cast a shadow from the top of the falls—like a giant draped in a luxurious green cloak—was impressive. Grand as Esche may be, and as tragic as the loss of his limb was, Fribble-Bibble couldn’t be pleased with having such a huge obstruction dividing the water of his stream. It ruined the aesthetics of the falls. Granted, Fribble-Bibble wasn’t normally one for vanity, never the kind of river spirit to get twisted in knots over appearances. The very idea of water tying itself in a knot was absurd, but the branch was interfering with the flow, and Fribble-Bibble was all about cascading.
“It won’t stay that way,” Suri told Minna. “Fribble-Bibble is going to push that branch off.” Suri was certain the wolf knew this, but it was a great excuse for saying the name Fribble-Bibble out loud; she liked the way the sound tumbled out of her mouth. “Fribble-Bibble won’t let it stay there long, so we don’t have time to argue about this further.”
Minna continued to lick her fur, something Suri couldn’t understood. The two were sisters, both of them found alone in the same forest and taken in by Tura as infants. They each enjoyed a good late-night run, sleeping in the shade, and basking in the sun. They each preferred fish when they could get it and loved howling at the dark, but licking fur was where they parted ways. Suri hated getting hair in her mouth, but Minna didn’t mind at all.
“Fine. Stay here if you want. I’m going to have some fun.”
Suri was in the mood to explore. A recent storm had attacked the forest and kept all three of them trapped in their little home beside the famous hawthorn tree that gave the glen its name. Suri, Minna, and the old mystic, Tura, had huddled around the flickering glow of the fire in the hearth, listening to the wind howl. “It’s the North Wind singing his farewell,” Tura had said.
Suri believed Tura because the mystic was as old as most trees and perhaps a few stones. She knew everything that was worth knowing about. But while the old mystic was right, the North Wind wasn’t a particularly gifted singer. His howl didn’t sound anything like the way Suri and Minna harmonized their bays, making a beautiful, mournful, and yet sweet sound. The North Wind, who went by the less formal name of Gale, just shrieked.
Not only was Gale’s goodbye refrain tone-deaf, it lasted too long. The storm had rattled and ravaged the forest for a day and a night. Suri didn’t like being trapped inside. She imagined few did, but she had more reason than most to hate being enclosed. Six years before, she’d tried to investigate a fox den and was nearly buried alive for three days. For months after that, she’d refused to go inside their little cottage, and she slept in the garden until good old Gale brought his buddy Winter to the Crescent. When the nights eventually turned bitterly cold, she was forced to go back inside, but even then, she slept right next to the door.
Tura was always telling Suri she needed to conquer that fear, and the young mystic did try. Her curiosity helped. Exploring the caves and crevices along the Bern River was a positive first step. Going inside the dark, wet caverns was scary, but in a good heart-pounding way. Doing so was made easier because Suri always had Minna with her. Being brave was easy with a sister at your side, especially when that sibling was a big and wise wolf.
“Last chance,” Suri said. When the wolf didn’t even look over, Suri tossed off her tattered wool cape and carefully untied her belt of bear teeth. She coiled it inside the wrap for safekeeping. Then she waded into the deep pool.
It was springtime, and the water was cold. Not bite-your-tongue-and-curse-your-mother cold like when ice covered the lake, but it took quite some effort for Suri not to cry out. Looking back at Minna, she forced a grin. “Water’s great.”
Suri swam fast, aiming for the separation in the curtain where the surface of the little lake wasn’t dancing from the falling water. She passed through and found a slippery ledge. Hoisting herself up, she got to her feet on a convenient stone shelf, which was a good two feet behind the falling water.
How has this escaped my notice for so long?
Under the falls, the crash of water was deafening, made louder by echoes coming from the cave behind it. Peeking in, Suri couldn’t see much except that it was tall and narrow—too narrow.
“Can’t spend yer whole life being terrorized of entrapment,” Tura had said. “Fear, for the most part, is yer friend. It keeps you alive, and stops you from doing stupid stuff like trying to fly or jumping in a fire. But when yer scared of sumptin’ you ought not to be, well then, there’s just nothing for it but to grit yer teeth, spit in its eye, and challenge your dread to an arm wrestle. That’s the best way ta get past it. Just got ta get in there and take charge of things. Let yer fear know yer not gonna stand for its silliness.”
Suri peered into the dark cleft in the stone, shaking. While she wanted to believe she shivered because of the cold pool or the chilly mist drummed up by the colliding water, she knew better. She was scared, and even more so because she was—
Minna came into view, her head bobbing across the surface of the pool. Her tall ears twitched, tossing off droplets. Claws raked the stone as the wolf joined Suri on the rock shelf beneath the falls, and she gave a massive shake, throwing water in all directions.
The fear that had clutched Suri’s heart a moment before was also shaken off.
“I knew you’d come.” Suri grinned.
Together, they entered the crack that narrowed further as it descended into the cliff.