The airboat stalled out after lurching to the side. Pan had turned too sharply, barely swerving in time to miss a spindly cypress tree. I clung to the seat as the boat pitched to one side, and for a frightening moment I thought it was going to flip completely over, but thankfully it righted itself and lurched to a stop.
“Oh, my gaad.” I laughed and looked back at Pan.
He stood with one hand white-knuckled on the gear stick, and a nervous grin slowly spread across his face. “So maybe driving the airboat is harder than Rikky made it seem.”
She’d had to work again that day, and the easiest solution for us getting around the swamp was to leave us the airboat. She’d given Pan a quick lesson in the morning, and he drove her to work and dropped her off. That had gone without incident, and now it was just me and Pan, speeding to the Postkontor office.
“Are you sure you can manage it?” I asked, only half teasing.
“Yeah.” He nodded as he got us moving again. “I’ll take it a little slower.” Another quick bump. “Or maybe a lot slower.”
“I don’t mind getting there late. I just wanna get there, and preferably, not get drenched in swamp water.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” he said.
It was definitely a longer—and much bumpier—ride than it was with Rikky, but we made it to the office. Pan parked the airboat right on the muddy embankment, securing it with a rope tied to a post, and we walked up the mossy stone path to the door.
“This place looks and smells like a cellar,” Pan muttered as we stopped inside, and I laughed because I couldn’t argue.
“Hello?” I said into the empty waiting area.
There was the loud crack of a chair, immediately followed by Bekk announcing, “I’m on my way.” A minute later, she rounded the cubicle barrier and smiled. “Hey, how are you doing? How was the meeting with the Queen Regent?”
It hadn’t been awful, but Bodil hadn’t been exactly forthcoming. That was to be expected of the Omte, though, and I didn’t want Bekk to feel like her effort wasn’t appreciated. So I exaggerated slightly with, “It was good. Thank you again for setting it up.”
“Great.” As she walked over to us, slowly, she glanced at Pan. “What can I do for the two of you today?”
“This is Pan Soriano. He works with the Inhemsk Project.”
She eyed him more seriously. “Inhemsk? I’ve worked with them before.”
“We’ve probably spoken on the phone once or twice,” he admitted.
She gave him an apologetic smile. “I hope I wasn’t too rude. The rules around here can be very restrictive about what information we can share.”
“No, don’t worry about it. I know how limiting bureaucracy can be.”
“It sure can,” she agreed. “What brings you here?”
“We had some things we wanted to talk to you about,” I said.
For a brief second her eyes flashed wide with surprise, but she blinked it away and smiled at us. “Sure, of course. Do you mind if we sit down and chat?” She nodded toward the seating area and rubbed her belly. “I can’t stay on my feet that long anymore.”
“Yeah, definitely.” I stepped to the side to let her by.
She sat down in a chair, and while she adjusted a thin throw pillow behind her back, Pan and I sat down across from her on the couch.
“You know that I came here because I’m trying to find my mother,” I began. “My biggest contender at the moment is Orra Fågel, and her trail dries up in Áibmoráigi nearly twenty years ago. I was hoping that Bodil would know more about her, or at least give me a better idea of where the First City or the Lost Bridge were.”
“And did she?” Bekk asked.
I shook my head. “No. She didn’t have much to say about any of that.”
“I don’t know how much help I can be,” she said, sounding rather apologetic. “I already showed you as much as I could when you were here before, and I doubt that I know more than the Queen does about any of that.”
“Well, we came here with different questions this time,” I said.
“I’ve been looking into the history of Áibmoráigi, which has led me to reading a lot about the Älvolk,” Pan said. “How much do you know about the Älvolk?”
Bekk’s eyes were downcast, her expression blank, when she answered, “Not much.” Then she added, “Less than you, now, I’m sure.”
“I don’t want to pry into your personal life,” I said gently, and I hadn’t even finished my request before she sighed, like she knew what was coming. “But I’ve heard you have had a relationship with someone who claims to be a member of the Älvolk.”
She didn’t say anything at first. But when I said, “I believe his name is Indu Mattison,” she lifted her head. Her brown eyes were dark and calm, and she rubbed her belly again.
“Yeah, I know him,” she admitted finally. “Or at least I know him as well as anyone can know someone like him. With Indu, you can never really be sure if anything he says is true, and even then I can’t say whether he’s lying or delusional.”
“So, you don’t believe he’s an Älvolk?” I asked.
“No, he might very well be an Älvolk,” she corrected me matter-of-factly. “His sole purpose in life might really be to guard the Lost Bridge and ensure the prophetic duties of the Älvolk. Every word he said might be the complete truth.”
“But?” I pressed when she didn’t elaborate.
“But…” She exhaled through her nose. “He promises a life of happiness and health, but then he leaves you entirely on your own to figure out how to achieve this magical life.” A pained smile passed over her lips. “He wasn’t around a lot—always stopping in Fulaträsk on his way to some other, unknown destination—but he seemed like he really believed in something, that he wanted a better world for all of us. We saw each other a handful of times over a few months, and then I told him I was pregnant—and that was it. Then he was gone.”
I grimaced. “I’m sorry. That sounds very difficult to go through.”
“Thanks, but I wasn’t looking for sympathy,” Bekk replied flatly. “I made my choices.”
“We’re not here to make judgments or dig through your private life,” Pan reiterated in his gentle, soothing voice. “All we wanna know is if you have any way of contacting Indu Mattison.”
“He really isn’t the kind of guy that leaves a forwarding address,” she said with an empty laugh.
“So far, the only thing we really have to go on is that he likes to hang around the Ugly Vulture,” I said. “So really, anything at all would be immensely helpful.”
Bekk stared into the corner of the room, her jaw visibly tensing under her olive skin. Her dark brown hair was pulled up in a messy bun, and she absently toyed with a loose lock of it.
“You’ll be asking around town, then.” Her voice was emotionless, making it hard to tell if it was meant to be a question or just a realization.
“That will be our next step in trying to find him,” Pan confirmed.
“There’s something else you’re going to find out.” She looked down at her belly. “My little girl isn’t the only baby that Indu has fathered around here.”
I exchanged a look with Pan and asked, “Really?”
Bekk nodded. “By my count, he’s had at least three babies born in Fulaträsk alone.”