Stephen was wailing inside a cave in Greenland. "Shh!" snapped Kolano. "And stay away from that fire!" She was too busy hacking meat away from a deer hide with her long belt knife to pay much attention to the crawling infant.
It was three years later, as an outside observer would have counted time. For Kolano, it had been only a week and a short trip along another dimension. She thought that three years would throw Cherry off the scent. She'd wanted to go to her old cave in Norway, but that would be the first place Cherry might look. So she'd just gone a few hundred miles west and settled in the first home-like place. The first important thing was to preserve warmth. So she'd made a fire, then brought down a deer. Her wings were useful for that sort of thing. It hadn't been so long ago, compared to how long she had lived, that her wings had been stubby, useless appendages. Now, thanks to Cherry and Ralozeiauoy, they were large enough to fly.
When Kolano had the hide mostly clean, she cut narrow strips off for rope and tied it across the entrance of the alcove she'd chosen for living quarters. Soon, she would have to get another hide, or maybe two to string together, and tan them properly, but for now, this would mostly keep the heat in. She stuck the strips of meat on a sharp pole and set them up over the fire with a construction of more sticks and strips of deer hide. She looked the fire over again, double checking that it would neither flare nor die out, and that there was nothing near it to catch fire, then toted Stephen off to the stream.
He made his displeasure at the cold water well known. Kolano managed to wash the cloth diaper out and retied it fairly well, although still wet. Cherry's towel came useful for washing behind his ears. As she scrubbed, she said:
"I can see I'll have to unspoil you. I'm saving your life, don't you understand that? And you'll have to put up with my way of doing things, if you want to live. I didn't ask for you. You're a burden. Among my people, a child is one step closer to death. But if you'll just wait a year, I'll have it set up so you're never cold when you come inside, and never hungry. But I didn't expect you, so you'll have to put up with a little cold and hunger until I get things settled. And then we'll look into your education." Kolano frowned. "You're also going to have to put up with learning the runes I know, instead of the runes of your forbears." Suddenly she swept Stephen into a tight hug.
"Oh, you poor boy. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take you away from your family, where you didn't have to worry about warmth and food and proper education. But you have to live, you see? In order to save your life, and your sister's life. I'll do the best by you that I can. But to do that, I have to keep you away from that nasty Cherry Amano Tudor, and that means I can't take you back to the castle. This is the only other life I've ever known. So it has to be this life. And I successfully raised one child in this life, although I admit I had a little more warning for him." She laughed. "Of course, the other two died in a flood, before they became completely immortal, but you shouldn't have to worry about that. There's not likely to be another Weather War. Even if you'll probably never be immortal. Well, you might be, if I raise you right. I've never understood how humans become immortal when they usually die at every little thing, but you might. You might. Promise me you'll try? I promise I'll take the best care of you that I can. I promise, Stephen. And I won't take your name away from you, however ridiculous it sounds. It's all you'll have left from your real parents. But I'm your mother now. Can you call me that? 'Mother?'"
Stephen hadn't understood a word Kolano had said. He was as good at his native language as others his age, and better than most. Kolano had been speaking Elven rather than English. But with the brown face with sad eyes repeating the one word over and over, the way his own parents sometimes did, he responded as he did to his parents, and repeated, "Mother." Kolano beamed and hugged him again.
"Let's go get you warm and dry, then," she said, and carried him back to the cave behind a rapidly-stiffening deer-hide and soon to be cooked venison. Kolano rapidly cooled one piece by placing it outside the makeshift door on a flat rock, then gave it to Stephen to gnaw on while she made a very temporary storage for the rest out of more rocks. She sighed tiredly.
"I'll take care of you, Stephen," she whispered to the boy in her arms, rocking gently. He squirmed sleepily. Kolano tried her best to be a blanket for him, although she shivered herself, even with her wings pulled tightly around her. First thing tomorrow: more deer. Several. Maybe a bear or two. Tan the hides so they'll last. Clean Stephen again. Weave baskets. Won't be able to get many done. Next day, start drying greens. The entire summer to stock for winter, but have to make sure Stephen gets the right foods for a growing human. Did she dare let the local supernatural know the was a prophet in the vicinity who might trade visions for goods? Probably not, even if Cherry wasn't known for asking for help. Still, Kolano didn't need to keep it too secret. She'd just let them find out on their own, if there were any to find.
While she was weaving baskets, she could talk to Stephen. Get him to know the language. Help him start to forget English . . . no. He should remember the English he already had. Kolano sighed. She could never forget that he wasn't really one of her babies. Maybe she could set him to weaving baskets, too. Not that they'd be much good, yet, but he might get good at it sooner if he started practising sooner. Stephen already knew some English letters. He'd shown them to her, and she'd tried to learn them. She didn't want him to forget them, but how could she drill Stephen on runes she'd never seen before? So, it was important to concentrate on letters, first. He could draw them in the dirt and teach them to her, and once she knew them well enough not to forget, they could start on Elven runes and Human runes. Not Human runes: Norse runes. Well, Stephen would know three kinds of runes by the time she finished his education, and he had become the poet and enchanter and she could safely send him home.
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