Of Gaea by Victoria Escobar

was no way to be stealthy and cripple. Thus, by the time
Ari was sitting up properly and turned, Ghita was already watching
and waiting. Ghita’s silent stare was one of Ari’s greatest
annoyances but there wasn’t any way to change that.
    “ Where’s Sasha?” Ari asked and was puzzled by Ghita’s
instant frown. It smoothed out and was replaced with a cautious
smile in rapid timing. Had it been anyone other than Ari watching
the change in demeanor might have been missed.
    “ I sent him home. You don’t really need him here. And
besides, I want to talk to you.” Ghita gestured to the notebooks.
“I’d like for you to explain. Without others feeding you
words.”
    “ No good
morning, how’d you sleep?” Ari looked around for her wheelchair as
she spoke. It sat out of reach on the far side of the patio. At a
guess, Ghita didn’t want her rolling away. “You know I only have to
shout for him and he’ll be over here. Or Nasya for that matter.
You’re freaking me out with the semi hostage situation.”
    “ Good
afternoon.” She raised a brow. “You’re not getting out of this
conversation that easily. I’m waiting.”
    “ Last I
knew you could read.” Ari shrugged. “It’s obvious isn’t it? One is
everything we’ve already tried, and the other is everything I
haven’t yet tried but I think could work.”
    Ghita
reached out for the book with the Kirin on it and flipped it open.
She must have had the page bookmarked somehow because it opened
exactly where she wanted it to.
    “ How will this work?” Ghita lifted it enough for Ari
to see her own doodling before it was dropped back to the table.
“How will any of this,” she gestured to the books, “pagan trash
work?”
    “ Let’s
get something straight. Your God is not my God.” Ari’s tone was
mild but there was no denying the undercurrent of anger. “What you
call pagan trash may just be what I believe in. Maybe I’m not the
pagan one. Maybe you are. After all, everything I’ve written down
has existed long before your God was even a thought on the
wind.”
    Ghita
gapped and reddened. “Humor me,” she said tightly. “What makes
this,” she gestured, “viable.”
    Ari
sighed. “It’s all clearly notated but if you want me to explain,
those are what I believe to be a translation of the Elder. They’re
much, much older though so maybe I should say the Elder Futhark is
a translation of them. I found them last night. When I compared
them to the Elder Futhark these look like a starker version so I’m
assuming they are. I want to discuss it some with Nasya. She knows
practically everything.”
    “ You’ve not explained the how part, Ariadne, though
I’m sure you find the history of such primitive work
fascinating.” Her voice dripped with venom which surprised Ari.
Ghita was usually placid in all things.
    “ They’re
used for magic. Or at least the Norse used them for magic. I still
have some studying to do, but I think I can use them for healing.
It’s not exactly what I was looking for, but it feels close enough.
I can’t really explain it.” Ari casually stretched and tried to
send invisible hand signals to whoever was watching. She had no
doubt either Sasha or Nasya or Kleisthenes watched. It was more a
matter of announcing she needed help without Ghita figuring it
out.
    “ Norse… Pagan trash. I will not have that in my house !” Ghita shouted and stood so suddenly the
kotatsu table overturned. Her laptop crashed to the patio and Ari’s
notebooks scattered at her feet.
    “ It’s been around longer than anything
else. Certainly there has to be some truth in it if it’s lived so
long. Longer than your God even.” Ari spoke cautiously. Ghita never
got angry. She was as volatile now, as her twin had been last
night.
    “ I
forbid it! Do you hear me?” Ghita paced as she raged. “You’ll come
to church and do what you should have done a long time ago! This is
getting ridiculous. Sasha’s obviously filling your head