Ahtohallan's Lullaby

7.1 Awkward Feelings

"You have to be patient..., just wait until it's not identifying you as a threat anymore..."

I was seated crossed-legged on a rock overhanging the lake shore, supervising the fishing lesson. Sighing, I looked above me to see two birds happily spinning between the branches of the trees, quickly followed by Gale who was chasing them cheerfully. A few days had passed since the disappearing of the Boundary, and it already seemed to be a vague bad memory.

Since this night we spent talking to each other on the beach, I had not seen Elsa so much. She had been busy with her new spirit's duties and had spent most of her time outside the camp, between Ahtohallan and the Enchanted forest, or her meetings with Yelana. We had only met a few times in the evening, sitting on the beach to observe the stars at night and simply talk about life, or walking through the woods, in the compagny of Gale or Bruni from time to time.  I was slowly getting to know her a little better, and to tell the truth, we were becoming really close friends. I was feeling that I could tell her everything, and it seems like she was feeling just the same. It was not usual for me to talk about feelings nor myself in general, but she was understanding so well it was kind of calming to talk with her. Yelana, Ryder and I did the best we could to make her feel at home, by building a new tent and including her in the common tasks of the camp, also to give the Northuldra a chance to get to know her. And despite all what the council might say,  people did not find any problem in her powers. the Northuldra welcomed her among us, the happiness and admiration of the young ones quickly gaining over the more wary ones.

I breathed out as the birds landed on a high branch, letting Gale blow cheerfully between the foliages. Under a blue sky, all the forest seemed to be more alive than before, the sunlight somehow highlighting the colours of the autumn leaves, the berries and even the water. And all this thanks to Elsa. I let a sly smile appear on my lips. She was not an expressive girl, and it was difficult to understand any emotion on her face, but I learned bit by bit to read her a little better. Even if she was remaining quite impassive, I found out that her eyes were rather expressive, taking a deeper blue tone to a sparkling light blue according to her emotions. Once I had discovered that she had probably found me so weird, since I had tried several times to understand what her eyes were telling. It was somehow my new obsession, now that the sky was continuously above my head.

The truth was that I was in total admiration of who she was, her link to the spirits and Ahtohallan, her magic and the way she dealt with it during all her life, even when she was queen, but also of the shy and kind girl she was, with her natural beauty and aura. And her eyes. Those eyes still had the same effect on me each time our gazes met. I could not erase those thoughts from my mind, continously thinking about what I should show her about our culture or the forest. And despite the fact that she was in contact with the spirits and probably already learnt all that in Ahtohallan, she never refused to follow me through the forest.

I left the sky from the eye to look down to Lukas, the young boy who was doing the demonstration, as the other kids were quietly seated on the beach, observing carefully his gestures. I was far from being the best at fishing in the camp, but the fishermen were not really into the transmission of knowledge to the new generation. They rather liked to say that the best to learn was to go fishing with them, but the kids were not really autonomous enough to follow them on the water yet. That is why Ryder and I were sometimes kind of doing the school until they were old enough. One day it was about learning how to recognize the different plants and berries in the forest, another day was about how to pet a reindeer... We were certainly not the best at this but we were trying our best.

"Now move slowly until you're above the fish", I adviced the boy who followed my words, focused on his target that was swimming slowly around him, his both hands gripping tightly his landing net.