Fjords

The metallic taste of starvation was fresh in her mouth.

They had been climbing for too many hours.

She was so much weaker than him, but she did her best to keep up.

"He won't know you." whispered the ugly troll that trailed them.

"How can you say something like that? Of course he will know me." she replied.

"That is part of the trade, the child's life in exchange for your memory of each other. Weren't you listening?"

Their ascent up the mountain passage toward the port was so many hundreds of years ago that Loa hadn't been taught that humans and trolls were supposed to pretend not to see and hear each other.

"It will be sorrowful." he mocked.

"Kjeft!" she replied. It means shut up.

The soul she trusted most led the way and carried their treasure.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I'm okay, how is she?"

"I think she is getting hungry. We should stop for a bit."

They set themselves down on a rock that Mias cleared off. Their beautiful little Silla cheerfully picked up a small collection of stones to play with on this make do platform in front of an astounding back drop of the fjord below them. As Loa dug into her bag for what was left of the food, Mias gently put his hand on her knee, feeling every bit as much of the pain and the beauty as she was.

"We are alive. It is so much." he kissed the top of her head.

She knew it was true, but she also knew that the pain ahead of them would be impossible to survive.

"We have now." she said quietly, bravely smiling through her tears and breaking up the small bits of cheese.