Chapter 22

Mia

I am not impressed by the map.

It shows mostly human cities, with vague symbols for trollkin-occupied areas. We sit around the fire as the sun sets, poring over it together, trying to find the best path possible for each of us.

I worry about Cragnorr traveling alone, as unusual as ogres are, even among trollkin kind. It’s not like I’ve ever traveled by sea before, either. I give him the map so he can point out his destination to whoever he asks along the way, but before I can let it go, he pulls me into his lap, ensconcing me in his arms. I feel him trembling as we talk about parting ways.

“It will be all right, I promise,” I tell him, caressing his cheek, then running my finger down his long tusk. “And then we’ll have the life we’ve always dreamed about.”

He nods in understanding, but doesn’t seem any happier about it. That night, he pushes me down to my bedroll and lavishes attention on me, kissing every part of my body, wringing the pleasure out of me, savoring me as long as he can, like he’s saving it all up for the weeks we’ll be separated.

Then we meet the fork in the path where we will each go our own way. He’ll walk, and I’ll take the horse, which I’ll sell before getting on the boat. We won’t need it where we’re going. We split the coin that Narria sent with us two ways, but before I can set foot going the other direction, Cragnorr wraps me up in his embrace.

“I know,” I whisper to him. His hand travels around my middle, and he grows tense all over. “It will be some time before the baby is here. I’ll be fine. I promise.”

After a few charged moments, he puts me back down again, and his soft eyes are red. With one last kiss, we set off on our journeys, and I hope that he makes it without me.

It’s a long, boring ride to the nearest port city, taking me over rolling hills, broad valleys, and through increasingly bigger and bigger towns. Every night as I camp with the horse, who I’ve affectionately named Apple, I think about Cragnorr and where he is now. Has he reached the trollkin port city yet? Is he eating? Has he been accosted?

But I know I can’t dwell on it. I just have to hope this hasn’t all been for nothing, and we’ll see each other again on the other side.

At last, the bright aquamarine ocean appears on the horizon, and I could almost fall over with my relief. I’m that much closer to being reunited with my ogre again.

I’m able to sell Apple, the wagon and our supplies in the port city for a good chunk of change, which should help us get started in Eyra Cove. I don’t know much about it besides the fact it’s on an island, part of an archipelago far out in the ocean. I’ve never even seen the sea before, and now I’m about to get onto a ship and travel far out into the nothingness, hoping I won’t wash away .

At last, I’m on board the great ocean liner headed for the Frattern Islands, and I retreat quickly into the cabin of the ship because the sight of unending water has made me a little sick to my stomach.

I don’t know if it’s the rocking of the boat or the baby growing inside me, but I have to hurl over the side at least four or five times a day as we make our way. A man on board tries to hit on me while I stand at the railing, my face green, so I promptly throw up on him.

No one else approaches me the rest of the voyage.

I’m awoken by a horn blowing. Grabbing my money pouch, I rush up to the deck to find out what’s going on.

When I emerge from below deck, I find great, tall cliffs ahead of us. For a moment I’m certain that the captain is about to wreck the ship, when I notice there’s a city nestled among them.

At last. I’ve made it.

I’m the first one off the ship when we arrive, and everyone recognizes me as the puking lady, so they let me go. Once I’m on solid ground again, I could simply kiss it.

The city is abuzz with life as people bustle from one place to the next. There are humans and trollkin alike here, all stopping at the same storefronts and stumbling drunkenly out of the same bars. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

I didn’t see Cragnorr at the dock, so either he’s already here and went to get lunch, or he hasn’t made it yet. I wring my hands, hoping he won’t be too long yet—and that nothing has happened to him on his way.

We agreed to wait for each other at the dock, but I’m desperate to eat real food again, so I pick my way through the crowds toward an inn. After stuffing my empty stomach full, I head back to where a dozen ship masts bob on the water to begin my wait for Cragnorr. It could be hours or days, but regardless, I’ll stand here until he arrives from sun up to sun down. We won’t have a home yet, but I can sleep at the inn.

On the way, though, a little blue trollkin boy goes racing past me, nearly sweeping my legs out from under me.

“Sorry, lady,” he says in Freysian, ducking his head remorsefully. “You okay?”

I stare at him. “I’m fine, thank you.” To get a better look, I crouch down. “How do you speak my language?”

He quirks an eyebrow like I’m an idiot.

“Well, my mom’s human,” he says. “And look around you.” I follow his finger to the wide variety of humans and trollkin alike passing by us.

That makes sense. One probably needs to speak both languages to live here.

But wait. Did I really hear him right?

“Your mom’s a human, you said?” I ask eagerly.

He squints at me, trying to suss me out. Finally he answers, “Yeah, did you not hear me the first time?”

“Can I meet her?”

It looks like the boy might run away, but after studying me a moment longer, he sighs in annoyance.

“Okay, fine. Follow me.”

The boy leads me across a gangway, over rocky cliffs toward the mercantile end of town. It isn’t long weaving through other citygoers before he stops in front of a shop, and peers over the counter.

“Mom!” he calls out. A head of bright red hair appears in the back, and a woman with pale, freckled skin emerges from behind a stack of furs. She smiles brightly.

“Izzek! You’re early.”

“Yeah,” he grumbles. “This lady wanted to meet you. ”

The woman quirks an eyebrow at me, and I rub the back of my head. Without further ado, the boy takes off running again, vanishing into the crowd.

“How can I help you?” the woman asks, curiosity gleaming in her green eyes.

“Well, um... your son is... trollkin, right?” I gesture at where he was standing moments before.

She nods, and her face echoes her son’s suspicion. “He’s a troll, yes,” she answers carefully.

I wave my hands to show I come in peace. “Well, you see, I...” Where do I even begin? “I’m pregnant.” I gesture at my belly, and the woman’s eyebrows rise. “And the father is an, um, an ogre.”

Her surprise transforms into a huge, white smile.

“You don’t say!” She claps her hands. “An ogre! I thought they were all gone.”

I shake my head. “Nope. I have one of my very own.”

“Well, where is he?” She glances around us meaningfully. “He’s safe here.”

“That’s why we came.” I hold out one hand. “My name is Mia. And I’m hoping you can help me.”

Cragnorr

It is a long and dreary trip to the town on the coast, and then across the sea, filled with wide-eyed stares. Neither trolls nor orcs are sure what to make of an ogre in their midst, but none try to stop me or accost me. I don’t know if it’s my size or my reputation, but I’m glad to be left alone.

The ocean is beautiful, but I can also tell by the vastness of it that it’s dangerous. I keep to my cabin and patiently wait, thinking only of my Mia’s soft body and warm eyes, until at last, we reach our destination.

I’m nearly out of money, given how much I need to eat, so I’ll have to find work if I don’t come across Mia immediately. If she’s not there waiting for me... I just have to hope nothing has happened to her.

All my worries are wiped away when I spot a woman standing on the dock with flowing black hair in even longer waves than I remember. She wears a lightweight shirt that does not obscure the swell of her belly, and my relief nearly overwhelms me.

“Mia,” I say, and she spins around at the sound of my voice. A huge smile sweeps across her face, and she doesn’t waste a moment charging towards me. She leaps into my arms and I swing her into the air, twirling her around me and reveling in the sound of her sweet, wild laughter.

“Cragnorr,” she murmurs, stroking my hair and nuzzling her cheek against mine. “You made it.”

All I can do is hug her closer, showing her with my body how at last, everything is how it should be, now that we’re together again.

As I expected, my Mia has been up to quite a lot while she was waiting for me.

She’s found us a home—a very odd one tucked into a back corner of the city, constructed against the cliffs. It’s rather separate from the other houses, isolated high up where no one else was brave enough to build, which will suit me, I think. It is the cave of houses.

Mia knows me well.

It is decrepit, though, and will require many repairs to be livable for my woman and our whelp. I am fully up to the task of fixing it .

My gregarious Mia has also made us some new friends: another human-trollkin couple, who already have a child of their own.

“I hear yours was much easier to make,” the woman says, winking at me. “We’ve been trying for another, but no luck yet.”

Their son, a blue troll with a wild mane of red hair, covers his ears and sings la la la . His father snorts, and I am pleased that Mia has already found community here, which I know she craves.

Then, at last, we are alone. We will sleep on the floor until I can build us a bed, and Mia has already found work so she can pay for the wood. She is using her father’s jewelry-making skills to apprentice for a silversmith, and it will be enough to support us until I can also put myself to good use.

But first, the bed, so I can at last have a comfortable place to enjoy my mate.