Chapter 17 A Fathers charge

As the sun lit up in the sky Rose arrived home and slid back in the way she came. Yet when she entered she felt an ominous mood in the house. Her mother was not doing her usual singing. The house was absent of her Father’s morning pipe. Instead when she entered the main room she found her mother quaking in a corner.

“What do you mean you do not know where she is?! Did she even come home with you?!” Ivan bellowed as he shook Elena.

“Please darling I tell you I do not remember last night except that Sadko walked us home!” Elena looked over at their kitchen table fearfully

Ivan released her arms. “He spends time with my wife and daughter when I am not present!” Elena’s mouth moved like a fish making no sound at this not so wild accusation. There were true roots to this jealous rage.

Finally over Elena’s shoulder his dark eyes caught sight of Rose. She trembled not knowing what he might do. He had never struck her before. Perhaps today would be the first day.

“Father,” she squeaked, “I was not with Sadko I went out early to check my traps.”

“Ivan,” Elena grabbed his arms already weakened by feeling their iron strength beneath her hands. “Do not punish her please. I beg you. She only wishes to impress you.” Fresh tears brewed in her eyes. He was not looking at her.

Ivan looked at Rose’s face for a long while. This was a new emotion he had yet to see upon it. He had made a study of it since she was a baby. He knew the praise that caused it to light up and follow. He knew the voice that caused it to twist with guilt. He knew all the things that caused this face joy and sorrow. This study was for one thing and one thing alone, obedience. She held a look of distrust which was unfounded. The ultimate law which he was to uphold was that no physical harm was to come to her. This included himself. He spoke plainly for he knew the cleverness of her.

“You have made me do this.” He curled his mouth in such a way that made Rose want to sink through the floor. “I vowed your Mother would never be injured again once you came out and destroyed her womb leaving it empty and torn.”

“Ivan please you must not say such things to her.” Elena whispered shuttering.

“If only I had a son. He would be waiting eagerly for my morning lessons.”

“I am…” Rose let her voice die in her throat with one raise of his eyebrow.

“He would not run away to places full of danger until he grew to be the proper age of a hunter!”

Rose filled with shame after this morning even if she were allowed to hunt with her Father when she became older, there was no proof that she would ever make him proud.

Elena whispered nearly inaudible for she felt the pain of her only child.

“You told her she could play in the garden. She was in the garden.”

“Well since she took her own exercises this morning without my permission she will have no instruction from me today.” He refused to even look at their child as her head dropped and she fought back tears. “And you are no longer allowed to go to that merchant’s house, is that understood?!”

Rose’s head fell. He accepted this as a nod. He kissed his wife and daughter’s forehead. These were motions he did every morning before leaving the hata. Until today Elena had never considered that they might be reflexive.

“I'm going to speak with Sadko.” Ivan marched out.

He was across the entry Elena turned to her daughter who ran up and hugged her tightly.

“I am sorry. I am sorry.” Rose cried and briefly Elena was reminded of how old her daughter truly was.

“He loves you dew drop. He was worried when you were not in your bed.” Elena bit her lip remembering Fedor calling her that when she had cried; what a lifetime ago. “He only wishes for you to stay safe. He is angry. We must make sure he is not untoward to Sadko.”

Ivan’s ghastly approach was marked by the dark hood that he wore. Neighbors who had heard his shouting and saw his direction closed their doors. Ivan only dawned his hood when he was about to shed blood. Everyone had heard Sadko’s name except for Sadko himself. The merchant was just arising with a stretch to answer the pounding at the door.

When he opened it Grandmother stared up at him with beady eyes her toothless smile immediately making him uncomfortable. She held rather awkwardly her tawny cat.

“Grandmother, you have come to the village early today. May I assist you in some way?” He scratched his head mystified by this strange visit.

“Nula’s labor pains have begun, that is not why I am here. Merchant you have finally done it. My son wishes you away from our family.” Her many tassels fluttered just as on the first day he had seen her. Despite this ominous message he braved a smile.

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“Grandmother, you jest. We just raised cups together last night. I played a merry tune for him. He should not be angry with me if his head hurts this morning.” He opened the door wider so that she might enter when she did a broom fell. The cat hissed and she coddled it. Sadko looked to the broom sleepily, rubbing his eyes. When he looked back she had stepped back outside. Ivan was coming up the path his nostrils flaring though he did not seem short of breath.

“Merchant, what intentions have you for my daughter?!” Ivan stopped just behind his Mother color draining from his face.

“None I should say.” Sadko replied startled. “Why has she implied such a thing?”

“She need not imply. The whole village sees that she fancies you just how much that is unclear. We wish to know if you perhaps indulge her much with such ideas.” The ugly white of Grandmother’s knuckles as she gripped her cat began to match the blanching of Sadko’s face. Grandmother’s words stung. To the point where Sadko remembered that from the very beginning he had never liked this woman. It was more than the way she looked or the way she spoke. This woman seemed to inspire dark thoughts. He had never even dreamed up this nightmare. Its very implication repelled him thoroughly. It made him feel sick.

“Preposterous! I have only ever thought of her as my own child. I wish only to be the very best Godfather to her. Ivan you must know I have no such desire for Rose!”

Ivan glowered a moment. He carefully read the man before him. “If you did and it was honorable I would promise her to you when she came of age.” He turned to Grandmother who nodded and spoke, “Yes you are of good standing. You seem to keep in good health as you age. No doubt in the future you will still be ruggedly handsome. I do not suppose Rose would object to the match.” Her eyelashes actually fluttered and did she dare such a manner toward him?

“What are you saying? She is a babe barely out of her swaddles!” Sadko shouted aghast. Was this some trick to make him admit to thoughts he never had. They could not be serious.

“I am a man of means. I expect to grant her such things anyway, as a benefactor. Betroth her to a youth of similar age. In Volpi the parents would claw one another at the chance to gain a beauty like her for their sons. Let her outside into the world as she wishes!” Sadko encouraged though a much sharper retort had come to his mind first.

“Perhaps my reaction was hasty. Yet I see no fault in it. Given the circumstances should I have gone about it differently?” Ivan consulted his Mother.

“No this is what you are meant to do as a Father. It is only a strange relationship to understand. On the one hand you must be wary of it on the other it poses no real threat.” She spoke languidly as if Sadko was not even there. This made him angrier than before.

“Ours is not a strange relationship! It is a friendship!” Sadko justified a bit more loudly than he realized many were gathering below in the village and continued with a lowered voice.

“Is Rose not to have any friends? You already teach her more than the other children. It is a wonder that she even speaks to them. You segregate her so much with your foreign ways.” If it was possible and it was, Grandmother’s eyes narrowed further as she hugged her cat and Ivan retorted sharply.

“This place was no more than dirt before I came and tended to it! I, Ivan took my great tools and brought civilization to you! A lodge and bath houses built over the springs! Foreign ways! Hah! Better ways and do not forget! For Rose has grown better for them!”

Sadko tried to argue calmly. “I apologize, heritage is important. I am very angry by this accusation that you have placed on my head!”

“It is all a mistake!” Elena scrambled up the path with Rose keeping pace in a pretty blue dress matching her mothers. Normally Sadko would compliment her clothes from this day forth he would be leery even mentioning it.

“Sadko please understand, Rose was missing this morning and I woke up not remembering last night. I only knew that you had taken us home. Ivan jumped to a wrong conclusion. That is why he is here.”

Rose grabbed her Grandmother’s arm pulling the cat away to plead and grasp her hands fully.

“Babushka you must tell Father not to be angry with Sadko. Tell him to apologize. Tell him to punish me.” The cat lay limp and content in Rose’s arm as Babushka tried to pull him back Rose turned with him. “There would only be one way to keep your Father’s mind at ease. If you insist on being with Sadko alone then daily I must check to see if you are intact.” She looked Elena in the eye sharply. She would work a wedge one way or the other.

“What does that mean?” Rose asked while Elena gasped. Sadko stood stunned in his doorway.

“I acted rashly, Sadko. I am sorry. I will punish Rose by not giving her lessons today.” Ivan said sadly. The drastic change in his emotions made it impossible for Sadko to believe. For the first time since his marriage to Elena Sadko was livid with this man he had learned to call brother.

“If this injustice were mine alone I could bear it!” He burst out while giving Ivan a shove. “This humiliation you would put Rose through is unnecessary! Your child is not in the habit of lying. You have only to ask her!” Sadko looked more outraged than ever in his life. “I denounce myself as her Godfather if this is how you will treat her in my presence! If our friendship causes her pain I will allow her to suffer it no more!”

“Sadko you cannot mean it! Ivan only requests to be present when you are near Rose as is proper.” Elena wavered and Ivan reflexively steadied her with a well placed arm.

Sadko disappeared into his doorway and reappeared with arrows and a bow.

“It is the accusation that unnerves me Elena! I go into the woods to hunt when I return. I want you off of my land!” He slammed the door behind him to drive the point home. “Ivan, finish your commissions and then I want you out of my Father’s forge as well!”

Grandmother sputtered at this announcement. “Selfish creature, are you trying to break Rose’s heart?!” Rose squeezed her Grandmother’s hand. Sadko was in the process of pushing past them when he wheeled back upon her.

“You have poisoned us! An intention you have had for a while I think!”

Ivan reached back and touched the handle of his axe when Elena saw this she stayed his hand. Sadko knelt down before Rose seeing only her distress.

“Rose you must not let them continue to have this hold over you. One day you must burst free like a sparrow and fly.” With this he was on his heels and away.

“That man has finally revealed a temper. It will soon cool.” Grandmother said with assurance swinging the cat over her shoulder.

“We have injured him.” For the first time Elena looked upon her husband with shame.

“I must go to the forge. If what he says is true, I must continue to work on my commissions.” Ivan commented wryly. He let go of Elena and left them without another word on the subject. “Well I go to visit Nula.” Grandmother stared vacantly at the house and then turned. Elena sighed, “I shall help you. Rose, you are to go to Natasha’s hata until the birth is done.” Rose wiped her puffy eyes. She did not want Hilda and Nina to see her like this.