The thing leapt from her hand as if some invisible servant had taken it, and began gliding through the knots and tangles, leaving Kaari's tresses clean, smooth and shining, like a golden waterfall. And when she put her hand up to it, it obligingly left her hair, and lay quietly in her hand.
“Well, there is our first wonder,” Ilmari said, with a significant look at Aleksia. “From the look of you, lady, you have a cunning plan.”
“I do, and if it works, we won't need a third wonder,” the Godmother replied, looking around the fire at her companions. “Nor do I intend to keep you in the dark on this. I want you to think out your parts as you go to sleep. And here they are.
“Kaari,” she said, turning to the girl, “yours will be the hardest. My plan is that the three of you who know and love Veikko are to try to get him to recognize you, to crack the shell of magic the Witch has cast about him and get him awakened so that he had fight from within as we fight from without. I intend to use you last of all, but that means that tomorrow, and perhaps the next day, you must stay here in camp and do nothing more than to concentrate with all your heart on Veikko. You must not come down to the gate, and you must not stop thinking about him and how he used to be until we come and tell you otherwise. You remember how Ilmari told you that love has a magic all its own. Can you do that?”
Slowly, Kaari nodded.
“Let me explain this. I will use the three people with whom Veikko has the strongest bonds to try to win him free. First, you, Annukka, his mother. If you fail, on the morrow, Lemminkal will take your place with the kantele — his bond being that not only of mentor and master, but of trusted friend.” She smiled as Lemminkal flushed with pleasure. She had not mistaken it, then. She would not further embarrass the old warrior with “father-figure,” but she was certain that Lemminkal also filled that role.
“Once again, Kaari, I will ask you to remain here and bend your mind on Veikko.” She paused and pursed her lips, thinking. “Now, listen to me carefully. Even if this appears not to work, I swear to you, you will be eroding some of those walls about his heart and mind. As a tree's root slowly cracks a stone, the result might not be visible until it shatters. Do you understand me?”
Kaari nodded.
Aleksia could feel magic, Traditional and otherwise, slowly gathering about them. Even though she did not have a tale to follow, all this had the same sure and right feeling that came when a Traditional tale was coming to an end. The trouble was, being inside it, rather than outside it, she could not tell for sure if the ending was going to be a happy one.
“Now you, Kaari, we will save for the third day.” She nodded, as the young woman's cheeks flushed. “The Witch will probably think us fools by then. She will underestimate you. She does not know the strength that lies in the heart of a woman that truly loves and is loved.”
Like the strength in Gerda’s heart, as she held to Kay through all his transformations, or the strength in Annukka’s, who has raised her son all alone for the sake of the man who made her his wife. Urho's thoughts rumbled through them all, and Annukka flushed, and her eyes grew very bright. The Bear's words rang true for all of them, even though only Aleksia knew who Kay and Gerda were.
“So, you will be our most potent weapon, Kaari. We will use you when she underestimates us most. It is a good combination.” Again she looked around the fire and was pleased to see both men nod in agreement.
“But what will we use for a wonder?” Kaari asked.
At that, Aleksia frowned. “I am not sure yet,” she admitted. “But I will think of something. The four of us are skilled workers in many crafts, and Ilmari could probably forge an enchanting brooch from an old buckle and a bit of glass. Now, do we all know our parts?”
All of them nodded.
“Very well, then,” she said. “Sleep and rest, and strengthen yourself for tomorrow.”
She went immediately to her bedroll to set a good example, although she secretly thought there was a strong likelihood that she would stare at the inside of her eyes for a very long time. To her surprise, as Urho took up his usual position to warm all of them, she felt herself drifting off.
And drifted straight into a dream.
A dream in which the Icehart came, and stood at the barricaded gate, and wept and wept and wept.
Kaari did not try to sleep. Instead, she filled her mind with every memory of Veikko she had — how as a child he had not brought her gifts as the others did, he brought her to things — taught her not to fear, by showing her that the things she feared, like climbing trees and learning to swim, were challenges, not obstacles. How he had patiently waited while the other young men made their pleas to her and were rejected, and had never failed to be kind, not only to her, but to the other young men. How she had somehow known that if she had fallen in love with one of them, he would have accepted it although his own heart would have been broken, because it was what she wanted. How even when they quarreled, it was because they both wanted what was right, and they just hadn't worked out what that right thing was. How his eyes crinkled at the corners when he laughed, which was often. How he never laughed at someone, only with the other. How his hand felt, holding hers, strong and sure. Most of all, how much more alive she and the world felt, just knowing he was in it, and how there was nothing more precious to know that she was loved by, and loved, him.
And with her mind still full to bursting with all of this, she finally fell asleep.
“Are you ready?” Aleksia asked.
Annukka nodded. The villagers had followed them, radiating mingled curiosity and hostility, as far as the short road to the gate. There, they hastily turned back and closed themselves in their houses. Aleksia sensed eyes peering at them from behind the shutters, but the villagers were not about to show themselves if there was going to be a challenge at the Witch's gate.
Annukka was dressed in Aleksia's fine white clothing, while Aleksia had donned Annukka's things. It would do no harm for the Snow Witch to think — if she even knew about Godmothers and the Ice Fairy — that it was Annukka who was the Snow Queen and was the person whose name and reputation she was ruining. That might give Annukka a measure of protection she would not otherwise have, as the Witch might hesitate to attack someone that powerful.
Lemminkal put down the piece of stump he had been carrying for Annukka to sit on.
Annukka took her seat gravely, with Lemminkal holding her hand for a long moment as she did so. Then he and the others withdrew — close enough to spring to her defense, but far enough to, hopefully, not look like a threat. Annukka took down her braids and undid them, took out the comb and touched it to her hair, and sat with her hands in her lap, waiting, the very personification of patience as the comb worked its magic. Lemminkal did not take his eyes off her, his very stillness betraying his intense anxiety.
Eventually one of the snow servants came to the Barrier. A hole formed in its head where a mouth would have been. “Who are you?” it said, in a voice like the cold echo from the back of an ice-cave. “What do you want?”
Annukka did not answer for a moment. Then, “That is for your mistress's ears alone,” she replied, with great dignity.
The thing repeated its questions twice more, but Annukka did not answer. The comb moved through her hair, gleaming, the brightest thing in that dead landscape. Annukka remained, unmoving and unmoved. Eventually the snow-servant went away.