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wildly, pressing cloth against hip and bosom. Nonetheless she was virginal. Perhaps that was because of
an inner solemnity which no Faerie being could ever know.
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Since he kept silence, she drew breath and spoke: Thank you for coming. 1 wish 1 knew what else to
say.
I had to bid my sister farewell, he answered. She was dear to me.
Her lip quivered. But 1 am your sister!
He shook his head. You re a stranger. Aye, we share mem-
ories, we who shared a womb. Dagmar, though, is no mermaid; she s a veritable saint.
No, you mustn t believe that. I m sanctified this day, like any infant newly received into Christ s
flock-yet 1 too will fall by the wayside over and over-but 1 dare hope 1 may repent and win
forgiveness.
That was not Eyjan talking, he said wryly. Her head drooped. Then you refuse salvation? He stood
leaned on his spear. At least you can t stop my prayers for you, Tauno.
At that, he grimaced. I ve no wish to cause you pain.
You d gladden me if you d fare home with me.
No. I ve plighted a certain troth here. But won t you wait
until spring? Else it could be a stormy passage.
We are in God s keeping. 1 must go to my rightful man, lest he die in his sins.
Tauno nodded. You are Dagmar in truth. Well, greet them from me, and may luck swim with all of
you. He turned and strode off into the woods. When he was out of sight, he ran as if hounded.
Nada was not in the glen where she ~nd Tauno cornrnonly met, nor anywhere near. He strained his
senses and skills that were of Faerie but could find only the dimmest spoor. Often the trail broke and he
must cast widely about before he caught further traces. These showed in their far-scattering directions,
and their own character, that she had been roving about distraught. The knowl-edge drove him frantic.
It took him a pair of days and nights to track her down. He did on the evening of the equinox. By then
he was beside himself, and lurching with weariness.
Cold had deepened, gnawing inward through windless air. The sky was low and flat gray. She stood on
the shore of the lake, which reached steely from a forest gone brown and yellow, a few splashes of
blood-colored maple or somber evergreen, many boughs quite bereft. Her figure was tiny, lost, a wisp of
pallor.
Nada, oh, Nada, he called, and stumbled toward her. His voice was hoarse from crying out while he
searched.
Tauno, beloved! She sped to his arms. He folded them with vast care around her frailty. She felt
almost as frozen as the day, and shuddered against him. Their tears mingled when they kissed.
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Where have you been? he blurted. What s the matter?
I was afraid- she whispered.
He stiffened. What of?
That you might not come back-
Darling, you knew I would-
before I must go under.
Under?
I shouldn t have feared. I m sorry. I should have trusted you. But I couldn t think very well, it s been so
bleak. She huddled still closer. You re here.
Terrified, he said into th.e thistledown locks: What do you mean, what must you do?
Go under. In the lake or a stream. Didn t you know? She pressed outward, slightly but enough for him
to mark. He released her and she stepped back a pace to regard him. What blue had been in her great
eyes was nearly faded away. In winter, the sun is not too bright on the water for me, she told him; but
the bare woods give no shelter from it. In the depths I find shadow. Surely you ve heard this.
Yes- He glanced earthward. The spear he had dropped
lay between them. Yes, but-
Erenow I could stay later awake. This fall, we re bound straight into winter. A dead leaf drifted from
its twig to her feet.
When must you leave?
She hugged herself against the chill. Soon. Today. Will you
be here in spring, Tauno?
He undid his belt. Why, I ll be at your side.
She shook her head. Where he was now trembling and stam-
mering, she had gained an odd clarity (and did she look more than ever translucent, a mist-wraith?).
No, dear love. I will float among dreams. Seldom could you rouse me, never for long. And there s
naught of your sea in yonder tomb-quietness. You d go mad.
He kept at work on his garments. I can come ashore termly.
I think that would be worse for you than if you stayed up the
whole dark while.
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For a span the vilja gazed steadily at the merman s child. She had grown wise, had little Nada, in this
twilight of her year.
No, she said at last. Abide my return. That is my wish. Mter another stillness: Nor wait in the
woods. Seek out man-kind. . . for we ve no elven women in these mountains such as you ve told me of. .
. and how often I ve seen your desire that I cannot ever fulfill. My dreams down below will be happier if
I ve known you re with someone living.
I don t want any.
Horror smote her. Crouched back as if beneath a whip, she
wailed, Oh, Tauno, what have I done to you? Go while you can.
Never come back!
The last garment dropped from him. His very knife lay fallen across the spearshaft, and he wore nothing
but the spirit bone. She shrank further away and covered her eyes. Go, go, she pleaded. You are too
beautiful.
Like tall waves joining, her despair met his and he was over-whelmed. By the nets of Ran, he choked,
you re mine. I ll make you mine.
He sprang forward and seized her. She wrenched her mouth from his raking kiss. It s death for you!
she screamed.
How better to die. . . and be done-;-- ?
They struggled. Dimly he knew he was being savage to her,
but the force of it possessed him. Nada, he heard himself rave,
yield, be kind to me, this is what I want, and you ll remem-
ber-
She was out of his grasp, she had escaped him as might the wind. He lost footing and tumbled onto the
withered turf. When he raised his head, he saw her yards off. She stood white against hueless water and
sky, murkful trees, merciless cold wherein no breath showed around her. From her right hand hung the
sigil.
He groped erect and staggered her way. She drifted backward. I can easily leave you behind, she
warned. I d liefer not have to.
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