Electra stood balanced on a three-legged stool. Her fingertips searched the highest shelf in her cottage for anything she might have missed in her packing. She touched something solid and smooth. A box of some kind. She worked the small box forward with her fingers. As it neared the outer edge of the shelf she recognized it—the box of runes Serafina the Sorceress had given her for her seventeenth birthday.
She pushed one corner of the box forward, overlapping the shelf to secure a firm grip. Just as her fingers closed around the corner of the box, someone knocked loudly at her cottage door. Her hand jerked and the box of runes flew forward, opening as it flew to spill the little wooden staves the whole length of the cottage floor.
Electra teetered on her stool, grabbing the shelf for balance as her stool skittered out from under her. She let go of the shelf and fell to the floor in a heap.
"Just a moment," she shouted to her unknown caller.
Electra pushed herself up from the floor gingerly, testing for injuries. She found only a small scrape on her right palm, just below her thumb. She opened the cottage door.
Haddad stood outside the door, an anxious expression on his face.
"Are you all right? I heard something fall. Several things, in fact."
"Of course I am fine. Are you all right?" Electra countered.
"Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"
"I am a physician. Often a knock on my door heralds a medical emergency."
"Ah. Yes. I see." Haddad stood outside her door, frowning. He seemed suddenly at a loss for words.
"Will you come in? I could make tea." Electra stood aside to allow room for him to enter. "The cottage is in disarray—I am packing to return to Helsop."
"I know," Haddad replied. "You are returning to start a school of medicine."
"Yes. Thanks to your brother, Physician Rabar, my apprenticeship is completed. I have just been notified that the building of my school of medicine in Helsop is also completed."
Haddad still stood outside and was back to frowning.
"I am told you will only be accepting women as students."
Electra nodded. "That is correct. Since most medical schools refuse to admit women, I decided mine will accept only women." Electra watched as Haddad considered this latest revelation. She began to wonder if Haddad had decided at this late date that he wished to become a physician like his brother. Surely not, she decided. Haddad was a master ship builder. Her own brother, Prince Avor, was his supposed apprentice. 'Supposed' because her brother's real job was spying on Haddad and the rest of the men from Taz.
Haddad mumbled something that Electra strained to hear. "Your daughter wants what?" she asked.
Haddad's frown turned into a scowl. "She wants to attend your school."
Electra's face broke into a smile. "I would be honored to have your daughter as a student. Laleh is her name, isn't it?" Electra could barely remember the girl she had met aboard ship some months ago. Physician Rabar had rescued the girl along with her mother and brother from the brink of starvation.
"The matter has not been decided as yet," Haddad stated with an emphatic tone.
Electra stepped further back. "Will you come in?" she repeated.
Haddad stepped into the cottage and stared at the runes strewn about the floor. "Are these what I heard falling? What are they?" He picked up a little wooden stave from the floor.
"They are runes," Electra said. "They were a birthday present, and yes, I did drop them."
"What are they for?" he asked.
"They are the letters of the Norse alphabet," Electra said, taking the rune from him. She did not add that they could also be used to seek advice on important decisions, which was the reason Serafina had given them to her.
Haddad seemed annoyed to find there were things in the world he had no knowledge of.
"You are returning to Helsop to open this school of medicine?" he asked again for no apparent reason.
"Yes. I will be sending out notices to all of Fenland soon, announcing the opening of the school."
"Then you have no students as yet." He stated this as though it was a point that needed to be made.
"No. Not as yet," Electra affirmed.
"I see." Haddad seemed back in control again. "As I said, the decision concerning Laleh has not yet been made." His face softened just a bit as he added, "But thank you for accepting her in advance if we should decide to allow it."
Electra bowed her head, taking his cue to accept the gravity of that decision.
"I will leave you to your packing then" he said, as though some understanding had been reached.
As soon as Haddad left and Electra allowed herself a small moment of celebration over enrolling her first student—after all, Haddad would not be so angry unless he had already decided to allow Laleh to enroll—she began picking up the scattered runes. Serafina gave them to her when Electra admitted that she was undecided about going ahead with her marriage to Dagon. They had now been engaged for over a year.
Electra had immersed herself in her study of medicine under Physician Rabar and put off making any decision about marriage. She and Dagon agreed that she would wait until the school of medicine was completed before setting a date for their wedding. Dagon's message had arrived the day before. It consisted of only one line.
"Your school is completed."
But Electra could read between the lines or single line in this case. She knew he would expect a decision on when and if they would be married.
Electra found the last rune hiding under the overturned stool. She packed them face up in their wooden container and then, without thinking, turned the whole box upside down on her small table. It was time to make a decision and though she did not believe in the runes' power to advise as Serafina did, she thought a reading might help to clarify her own thoughts on the matter. She spread the little wooden rectangles out, remembering what she had been taught about reading the runes.
She needed to pick three staves from the pile, now laid upside down so she could not see the characters carved into them. The first stone would reveal the overview, the second a proper course of action and the third, the outcome of her first two choices. She closed her eyes to further remove herself from the selection and made her choice.
The first stone, the overview stone, pictured a long straight line carved into the wooden stave. This stood for Isa—the ice stone. She smiled when she saw it. Helsop was her adopted home and it was a land dominated by a glacier. Her best friend in Helsop was named Isa. But Electra's smile faded when she considered the deeper meanings of the ice rune. Contraction and silence.
This was exactly the reason she feared to commit to marriage. Not only to Dagon—to any man. Would marriage not contract her world? Limit her choices? And silence—would she lose her independence? Her voice? Would her opinion matter anymore?
Electra shook her head to free it from negative thoughts and wondered if this was really helping. She closed her eyes a second time and ran her fingers over the smooth wooden runes. With some trepidation she chose the stone that would determine her course of action, then opened her eyes. The Othala stone. This one seemed worthy of consideration.
It signified one's an
cestral homeland, and the deeper meanings of the freedom and well-being that one's homeland afforded. Would marriage to Dagon bring freedom and well-being? Was Helsop a place where she would be free to grow, to thrive as the stone suggested? Perhaps Helsop would offer a sanctuary where she would bloom and be fruitful. The Othala stone seemed a good omen.
She chose her last stone quickly and opened her eyes as she turned it over. This last stone would signify the outcome of her first two choices. She held her breath as she glimpsed the character. Shaped like a lop-sided horseshoe with the tines pointing downward, she identified it as the Uruz stone. It was the rune of strength and vitality, named for the courageous red bison. Strength and vitality signaled a good outcome.
Electra went back to her packing and realized she felt at peace with her decision to marry Dagon. She would set a date for their wedding. The alliance between Fernland and Helsop would be assured. A new energy surged as she bundled up her belongings and made ready to leave King's Lake for her first stop at Fernland's castle. For better or worse, she had made her decision.