The travel to the north is faster than they had thought it would be. Each ship has a marked that controls the water and another that controls the wind. Their sails are always full, and the tides don’t bother them, even when they travel inwards in the fjords.

They have all travelled to the north before, all but Meira, who cannot hide her amazement while looking at the mountains, taller than she has ever seen. Rugged and imposing, they grow the more they travel inwards until they can practically only see the sky that’s above their heads.

The travel lasts a few days. The ships are not very wide, but they have a great length. They all sleep together on deck under the stars, and after a few days have passed, it’s clear everyone is eager for the time they arrive and can spend some time with privacy.

They pass a few settlements those days, where children come out to wave to them, and some people leave the boats to go back to their homes. After five days of travel a big shout spreads when one of the crows comes back with good news, just a few minutes later, they finally see the end of the fjord.

At the foot of the mountains, next to the water, they can see a settlement, the biggest one they have seen since they entered the fjord.

Lífdagar and Rakan are at the front of the ship, a hand on the front stempost, each on one of its sides. Rakan is the one to break first, after all those days on the ship, with limited movement and only a few short flights to stretch.

He looks at Lífdagar with a smile before he jumps and transforms into his dragon form, pushing himself away from the ship so he doesn’t crush anything. Lífdagar shields her eyes from the wind his wings create and looks at him roar into the sky. If her other brothers didn’t expect her arrival before, now they do, so she doesn’t waste a minute before she turns into a crow and starts flying towards land.

The villagers that were inside their homes are coming out of the buildings, everyone headed towards the water curious about the roar. The ones that see the ship move faster, eager to welcome back the ones that had left. Some had only been a few days, while others, weeks.

Most people are much more preoccupied by Rakan, some torn between staring in awe or going to get their weapons. Most know that Rakan is not a danger but Lífdagar see some people holding bows in their hands, those are the ones that spend the summers away and haven’t met him on their visits in summer.

That’s how she finds two of her brothers, side by side, the sun making their eyes squint but still looking up at Rakan. They don’t notice the crow approaching them at full speed. Not until it has turned into a girl, much too close for them to do anything but fall to their backs with her on their arms. They stay in silence for a few seconds until one of the boys looks towards the other.

“The adopted is back” he says.

“I’m glad you moved out because I'm not sharing my bed ever again” the other answers. Lífdagar pays no attention to them and just hugs them harder as best as she can until they hug her back. It doesn’t take long.

It also doesn’t take long until the boys start counting down. The moment they reach zero they throw Lífdagar off them and onto the gravel and start play attacking her. Lífdagar tries to protect herself between laughs and shrieks until a voice stops them.

“Aren’t you all a bit too old for this?”

Lífdagar turns towards the voice with a start. “Uncle!” she shouts before she is up and hugging him. Her brothers also getting up behind her.

“What are you doing here at this time of the year?” her uncle asks her.

“I met my mother and Köri in Dunland. She told me that she had something to show us and somehow convinced us of spending the winter here.”

“Wait, you are staying the whole winter?” One of her brothers asks. Her uncle hits him in the back of the head.

“She can stay as long as she wants” he says.

Lífdagar looks around towards the water. The ship has already arrived. “Come with me, there is someone I want you to meet”

When they arrive to the jetty where the boat is, everyone is unloading the ship. Rakan turns to wave to them the moment Kylem hurls a bag at him and Lífdagar sees almost in slow motion how the bag flies through the air and hits him square in the face, giving him no time to react. His foot moves back to steady himself but meets an empty space. One moment he is standing at the edge of the jetty and the next he is falling in the water, his big body causing a big splash when it hits the surface that wets everyone near him. He comes out splattering with his arms and gasping for air.

“KYLEM!” he shouts. The boy is just looking at him straight faced while Meira and Gabriel laugh next to him, nearly falling to the floor with how strong their laughter is. “The water is so cold, I’m going to freeze!” Rakan continues complaining.

“You are a fire dragon, just warm yourself up.” Kylem deadpans.

That makes Rakan stop splattering with an oh before he gets close to the dock and hurls himself up. As aloof as Kylem tried to appear, he is the one that gets close to him and helps him steady himself back on the jetty while Meira continues laughing. Her laughs soon turn into shrieks when Rakan closes the distance between them and engulfs her in a hug, making her completely wet with the ice-cold water.

That’s how Lífdagar and her brothers and uncle find them. The second Rakan sees them he immediately lets go of Meira and turns to embrace the boys he hasn’t seen in two years. He is met with equally enthusiastic hugs and pats.

“Meira” Lífdagar calls. “These are my brothers, Eirikr and Halvard, and my uncle Ragnar. Boys this is Meira, the kyusei of light.” she finished introducing her in her language. Ragnar is the first to clasp Meira’s arm.

“Good to meet you” he says in heavily accented common language.

“We got the last one!” Eirikr shouts and starts patting Meira amicably in the back.

“You came at a good time! You’ll be very useful” Halvard says with a smile.

Meira looks a bit taken aback for a moment, but she lets herself be welcomed with a smile. It helps that they soon move to also welcome Kylem and Gabriel.

Meira observes how everyone exchanges embraces and words. Gabriel and her are the only ones that have never been there before, and the only ones that don’t speak the language. Sure, they have already picked up a few words while aboard the ship, but they can’t follow a conversation.

Lífdagar had already warned her that not everyone in the north speaks the common language, and not as fluently as people in other places do. The mountains make it so they are pretty much isolated, and in winter, for three months, they are completely so, the snow and ice storms making it impossible to travel to and from the fjords. Still, they are not too far north, and diplomatic relationships are essential, so there’s always someone that can speak the common language at least at a basic level.

When Meira had asked her about her family being so fluent on it Lífdagar had smiled. She had seemed lost in her thoughts for a second before she decided to explain her story.

She had been found by her brothers in the forest, when they had slipped away from their parent’s sight, with a wolf keeping her warm. The boys had not been afraid. They were only seven, five and three, but they went straight to the wolf to see what she was guarding. When they found her, the middle brother had run off to call their parents while the older and younger played with the baby. That’s how their parents found them, with the wolf taking care of the three children. The wolf didn’t even flinch when Lífdagar’s mother got close to her and picked up the baby.

Lífdagar was raised as one of the family ever since. Even then, they knew that they had to let her go at one point, so when she was five, her and her bothers all started to take classes in the common language. When her parents decided that it was better to take her with the other Kyusei, her brothers and family started to study even harder so they could go visit her without any problem, and the desire to learn extended a bit to the whole city. Her parents are the Earls of their territory after all.