| |
AUTUMN
Summer passed in a blur of summoning and occasional sun. Tammy began to get irritable towards autumn, when the water spirits they summoned started talking to Freya before they talked to her.
“You’re taking over my deities,” she said after the latest water spirit had proved more interested in discussing current events than in a more personal interaction with Tammy. “Stop it, or I won’t let you come with me next time.” She took off a shoe and poured water out of it. The water spirit in question had gotten excited by Freya’s passing on reports of storms in the north causing flooding, with the result that both Freya and Tammy were decidedly damp.
“They’re not your deities, Tammy. They’re their own. And I can’t help it if they talk to me.” Freya wished she’d brought a change of clothes. She hadn’t meant to get the water spirit so excited, but they’d heard a news bulletin about the floods last night, and she’d thought it was the sort of thing that a water deity might be interested in. Unfortunately, she’d been correct. She tipped water out of her own shoes, wondering if it was possible to squeeze the water out of them, and how many blisters she’d have when she got home. She’d discovered that wet shoes did that.
“You don’t have to get them so worked up that they throw themselves all over us in some sort of flood re-enactment. I think I’ll go back to giving them what they really want. But I don’t want you around for that.” Tammy put her shoe back on, and removed the second shoe. Her mouth was a flat line.
Why is she so annoyed at me? I can’t help it if the water spirits prefer me.
“Don’t go by yourself, Tammy. You might come across another kelpie who wants to eat you.”
“If so, I’ll deal with it. I can throw salt as well as you can.” Tammy shoved her foot back into her second shoe with some force, but it got stuck halfway on. Tammy hadn’t untied the laces. She stamped around a bit until it went all the way on.
“But you said I was better at it,” Freya wailed, on the verge of tears.
“Sure, I did. I was trying to encourage you. I didn’t realise that you didn’t need encouragement. Now let’s go home, I’m soaked. And without even a massage to show for it.” Tammy turned her back on Freya and started walking away.
“Wait for me!” Freya hurriedly stuffed her own feet into her shoes, picked up her rucksack, and ran after Tammy.
After that, Tammy stopped taking Freya out. Freya was torn. With the onset of autumn, it was chilly walking in the afternoon, and it began to get dark too early for comfortable or safe walking. But she longed to try out her power again – and she worried for Tammy whenever Tammy was late returning from school. What would Tammy do if she came across another grumpy old kelpie, and she didn’t have Freya there to throw salt?
When in due course they moved again, the rental period on their cottage expired, it was to another rundown cottage in a seaside town with few streams, and less access to the hills. Freya had no desire to call any seaside deities, even if she was able to. It seemed her brief access to her demigoddess powers was at an end.
***
