So Raye drew herself straighter, and pulled her mouth into what she hoped was a genuine smile. “Yes, I’m so glad we’ve all been reunited again,” she told the new women. “It’s been… a gift from the goddess.”
There was a beat of silence, in which everyone present stared at Raye — even Svein, his eyes unnervingly narrow and intent. So she forced a swallow, and smiled again, though perhaps it wavered this time. “But I know — it should have been sooner,” she added thickly. “I’ve had… a lot of learning to do, these past years.”
Her face felt flushed and hot, her sweaty hands wiping at her shabby dress, and she was deeply grateful when the blonde woman smiled at her, with a distinct glimmer of apology in her eyes. “Honestly, haven’t we all?” she replied. “But learning is justsocrucial, and it’s wonderful that you’re here now! I’m Rosa of Clan Ka-esh, the official communications lead here in the mountain, and this is my sister Daisy, who’s our official artist. We’re so glad to have you, aren’t we, Daisy?”
This Daisy was taller than Rosa, with coppery hair, and she was dressed in trousers and a cropped sleeveless tunic, which showed off multiple illegible black tattoos across her pale skin. But her smile was soft and genuine, and she nodded, and reached out to firmly shake Raye’s hand. “It’s so lovely to finally meet you,” she said. “I’d love to see some of your work sometime. Kalfr’s spoken so highly of you and your weaving skill.”
Wait, he had? Raye blinked at this Daisy, and then at Kalfr. Had he really praised her and her work to these people? Despite everything that had happened between them?
But he wasn’t denying it, only looking past this Daisy’s shoulder, and Raye smiled and nodded back at Daisy, and managed to thank her, too. She could prove this. Shewould.
“So now,” Rosa said brightly, clapping her hands together, “let’s begin your tour! I have a pre-planned itinerary available,The Orc Mountain New Mate Experience, but since we havethisvery special guest” — she bent forward and beamed toward Svein — “perhaps he’d like to choose what to see first?”
Svein looked understandably overwhelmed by this onslaught of information, but he eased closer into Kalfr’s side, and gave a cautious smile toward Rosa’s expectant face. “I want to see the places from the Orc Mountain book,” he shyly replied. “Like the forges, and the mushrooms. And the Bautul fighting-pit.”
Rosa instantly straightened, and a look of almost feral glee flashed across her face. “Oh, you read thebook!” she crowed. “Did you know Daisy and I made it together, and printed it here? Now come, come, and see everything in person! And tell us what all your favourite pages were, too!”
Svein’s smile widened, and soon they were all following Rosa and Daisy through the mountain’s twisty lamplit corridors, listening to Rosa’s cheerful chatter, and peeking into various rooms as they passed. Orc Mountain boasted an astonishing quantity of clever rooms and passages, connected in seemingly random ways, and all with varying purposes — bedrooms, meeting rooms, latrines, common-rooms, and several brightly lit forges, with bulky smiling orcs creating everything from swords to pickaxes to fine jewelry.
“Look, Mama!” Svein exclaimed again and again, clutching at Kalfr’s hand, and pointing his claw toward whatever had caught his eye. “Look at that! It’s just like in the book!”
His delight was contagious, and Raye didn’t need to pretend to gasp and marvel along with him as they saw one room after another, each more surprising than the next. A warm, well-appointed sickroom. A large, bustling kitchen, full of fragrant scents, and multiple friendly cooks, several of them women. A huge room with several deep steaming baths cut into the smoothstone floor. And finally, the promised mushroom garden, which was more stunning than Raye had thought possible, with rare and delightful varieties sprouting from almost every surface, and some even glowing pale and greenish in the dark.
“You really helped to make this?” Raye breathlessly asked Kalfr, and she’d reflexively gripped at his arm, his skin warm and smooth beneath her fingers. “It’sspectacular.”
Kalfr shrugged and murmured something about his brother Joarr doing most of the work, but he hadn’t moved his arm away from hers, and Gaelfr came up behind them, and hooked his arm around Kalfr’s neck. “Ach, this is good work,ástin mín,” he said firmly. “We ought to build one of these out at ourbyrgi, also.”
Kalfr didn’t reply, but Raye didn’t miss the flicker of surprise in his eyes, and perhaps the glimmer of interest, too. As if he might welcome that. As if it might even be something else that would encourage him to stay. And once they’d all trooped out of the mushroom garden again, Raye found herself exchanging a satisfied glance with Gaelfr beside her. They would do this, together.
So she did her best to keep smiling, to keep showing curiosity and enthusiasm, to keep greeting any of the various orcs and women they came across. They were now encountering more new people than before, more Bautul orcs in particular — perhaps the news of their arrival was spreading? — and the orcs all seemed to know Kalfr, and many of them recognized Gaelfr, too. Several of them even shouted at the sight of him, or hauled him into their arms, while he chuckled and clapped them on the shoulders, his eyes bright.
“Ach, it is good to see you again also, brother,” Gaelfr would say. “And have you met our son? And our mate?”
The word swallowed Raye’s breath every time she heard it, and then, Kalfr would invariably make a proper round of introductions, and say it again. Openly calling Raye their mate,without waver or hesitation, before all these people. Before all his kin.
Even so, it was clear that many of these orcs already knew exactly who Raye was, and were well acquainted with her past deeds and failings — and surely several of the orcs had visited her cottage, too. But Raye was proving this, so she kept doing her best to be friendly and cheerful, to smile at Kalfr and Gaelfr both. And the more she spoke, and the more people she met, the easier it felt to just speak, and to be honest. To tell these complete strangers things she couldn’t have imagined herself saying, even a few days past.
“It’s been lovely to be reunited again,” she told a massive, heavily scarred Bautul orc named Skirvir. “Svein has loved spending time with his fathers, and they’ve both been so generous toward me. I’m so glad Gaelfr came home, and brought us back together again.”
And like every time she’d said it, she couldn’t help noticing the way Kalfr glanced at her, with something like appreciation in his eyes — and the way he was standing straighter, too, with more ease in his jaw and his shoulders. While on her other side, Gaelfr stroked her back with obvious approval, and shot her a satisfied grin.
“Ach, you have had much to learn, woman,” he said gruffly. “But if you keep learning thus, I ken you shall yet make us a good, brave, lusty mate.”
The warmth flared through Raye’s belly, and her compulsive smile back toward Gaelfr felt both affectionate and exasperated. Because he still didn’t mean any of that, did he? She still couldn’t trust him, this was still just a show, just for Kalfr and Svein…
But he only raised his brows back at her, while before them, this Skirvir harrumphed, and folded his massive arms across his scarred, hairy chest. “Has she at least learnt to please you, and honour you?” he asked flatly. “Does she well know how tokneel for you, and obey? And how to use that pretty little human mouth of hers, also?”
Raye twitched, and shot a searching look toward where Svein had been — but thank the gods, he and Kalfr were currently exclaiming over yet another impressive bath, this one with a large, splashing waterfall pouring out from the stone wall. While beside Raye, Gaelfr grinned, and gave a playful swat to her arse.
“Ach, our mate is well learning all this for us,” he told Skirvir. “She bears a clever, eager mouth, and a deep, tight throat, also.”
Skirvir shot Raye another assessing look, perhaps more appreciative this time. “This is good,” he announced. “But if she has truly pleased you thus” — his scarred nose wrinkled as his gaze flicked up and down her body — “why have you not better fattened her with your good Bautul seed? Nor granted her better garb to wear?”
Gaelfr’s grin faltered, though his eyes were still warm on Raye’s face. “We are yet working on the fattening, are we not,sæta?” he asked lightly. “As for this garb” — he winced as he glanced down at her shabby dress — “I yet owe you a new frock, do I not? I had hoped, mayhap, whilst we were here, we could…”
His voice trailed off, but Rosa — who together with Daisy had been showing Kalfr and Svein the waterfall — had apparently overheard this, and hopped back over to join them. “Did I just hear you say you wanted to go shopping?” Rosa exclaimed. “Because oh, do we have the place for you, and it’s not far from here, either! It’s the Great Grisk Showroom-Shop, the grandest room in all the realm!”
This announcement soon drew Kalfr and Svein back over too, and they all followed Rosa and Daisy through yet more twisty corridors, until they reached the shop. It was one of the biggest rooms they’d seen yet, and its bright lamplight revealed rows upon rows of fully stocked shelves, fronted by a long counter.And behind the counter, there stood a beaming, dark-haired woman, who seemed to be dressed only in furs and jewels.
