Snowblind {complete}

Wet - Match

When Freya opened the door to an imposing Imperial woman, Lanna had the privilege of watching her mother become flustered and confused.

Wrapped in widow's black, the visitor frowned up at Freya. The material of the woman's garments was not village cotton. It shimmered and hurt Lanna's eyes if she looked at it too long. The woman was a stranger – not of the village, yet it was clear she expected admittance to the humble hut, even if they couldn't understand her words of explanation. Lanna's mother remained still, blocking the doorway.

Mika stood behind the visitor, bouncing on her toes.

'Woman of the household, I...' But not even Lanna could understand the last of what the visitor said. The words rolled and trilled in an odd way she had never heard. Did they speak different dialects in other villages?

Lanna's head throbbed with another warning. Deep in the grip of alcohol sickness, Lanna hadn't even shuffled outside to perform her daily devotion. That... whatever it was she'd drunk was far stronger than it tasted. She groaned as a wave of nausea made her stomach roil and the back of her throat burn.

Lanna glanced at her mother. Freya had her hands on her hips, still obstructing the visitor. She knew that gleam in her mother's eye. Soon the skinning knife would be out of her belt and they would lose everything.

'My daughter seeing no one.' Freya's fragmented Imperial had those at the door regard her with blank expressions. They did not understand a word.

'Ma,' Lanna croaked, wishing her level-headed father were present. 'They can't understand. Let them in. Mika wouldn't bring harm to us.'

Freya hesitated, her eyes flicked to Lanna, no doubt taking in the greenish cast of her skin and the glassy look in her eyes.

'Be quick then,' she snapped and stepped back.

The woman sailed in through the door, dark hair piled on top of her head in a twisted configuration Lanna thought should be impossible. So many pins held the style in place that the woman looked like a spiny fish.

Mika almost skipped in after the woman and scuttled to a corner, her eyes fixed on Lanna.

'Lanna-hem,' the woman began. She gave a stiff incline of her head then looked around the hut. Finding nothing to sit on, she sighed and knelt on a sleeping mat. Black fabric billowed around her as if she were a startled squid. Lines in the corners of her eyes deepened as looked over Lanna and a small frown creased her brow. She turned from Lanna to look to Mika.

'Are you sure, Mika-hem?'

Mika nodded with enthusiasm. The woman huffed and turned back to Lanna.

'Lanna-hem, I am here to intercede on behalf of Mika's family.'

Lanna looked at Mika with a blank expression.

'Um... have I... done something to insult any of them?' Over twenty people in the village were related to Mika. It was possible Lanna may have snubbed one of them without knowing.

'No, not at all,' the woman sighed. 'I'm aware there may be a difficulty in your comprehension, however...'

Lanna lost the thread of the conversation. Unfamiliar phrases pushed against her ears. She wanted to vomit.

'This is intolerable!' The woman threw up her hands and turned back to Mika with a sharp gesture. Mika jumped forward, unable to contain herself.

'This is a person who makes matches.' She smiled and clasped her hands. 'This is a good thing – you will marry my brother.'

Lanna's felt her face pale. She leapt to her feet, further irritating her stomach and making her head spin.

'Excuse me,' she hissed to the squid woman and bolted from the hut. Three steps from the door her stomach emptied.