Finally, enough time passed that Solveis’s concerns had to be mitigated. She needed to communicate with the old man. She would resort to asking the father. Perhaps, if she brought it up in just the right way, then she could learn a way to get in communication with the old man.

On the day when she resolved to take this drastic step, she was thwarted. At breakfast, there had been too many others around to get the father alone and ask him. Then, the weather had been a little rough, so the parents had required all the youths to stay indoors. Fall had come in full now and it was getting cooler out. Winds came and pulled the already dying leaves off the trees. The winds that day though seemed to be part of a true storm and not just an autumn breeze. The children were stuck in their cabin. Even little Oskar joined them. Just half an hour after they went to their own cabin, the weather turned much worse. A very strong storm covered the whole island. They couldn’t have opened the door of the cabin without it being pulled partially off of its hinge and letting huge drops of sideways rain into the cabin.

The children tried to entertain themselves by playing board games and such things. Luckily, they had plenty of food in the pantry. Fortunately – from some perspective – the weather was too bad for the parents to come over from the head pike and check on them.

There was something terrifying but also thrilling about being indoors in such a terrible storm. Solveis spent much of her time looking out the windows and watching branches fly and trees bend. The cabin was surprisingly sturdy. It looked so simple from the outside, but it didn’t budge as much as it seemed like it should.

Oskar was a good addition to the party. He was cute and entertaining. He became the central figure of the day. His needing to be protected was also strong in everyone’s mind. They did everything they could to distract him from the bad sounds and scary stuff happening outside.

As soon as the storm broke, Arlendr bolted out of the cabin, not choosing to be detained by the parents. Solveis knew it was wrong of him, but she desperately wanted to do the same. She needed to check on things about the island. Solveis made sure that Livia was with Oskar, looking after him, then she too dashed off to check on her mountain. Girselle and En had no interest in following, walking through the mud and gunk.

Solveis did not manage to find her brother, but she was able to survey her lands. She started with the plateau and caves, which were slippery, wet, and a little bedraggled looking, but otherwise well enough. A storm kind of has a way of making things clean and new. She went from there to the beach, where she was careful to stay out of sight of any adults who might be about. The shore was a little stripped of its stones; they must have been driven out to sea or dispersed. There were also fallen branches and other debris all around, but overall nothing horrible. At the west hill though, things seemed off. This always seemed to be the place where things were off. The ground was trodden and muddy.

There was something else too. Solveis had to give herself a moment and allow her mind and her eyes to unfocused a little before she could see what it was. Then she noticed that the blue birds were out of sorts. They were fluttering frantically around, not really trying to keep a distance from her. She hadn’t seen them do this before. Usually they just sat in branches or flew high above her in formations.

She looked around to see what was upsetting them. They were all flying around one particular tree. She approached the tree, and was, at first, flown at by a couple unsettled birds. Then, she heard a soft, strained whistle, and the birds separated. They left open a path for her to approach. High above her head, up in high branches, she saw the tiny, pretty blue bird. It was the beautiful one that she sometimes noticed. It was just sitting still up there, and the rest were fluttering in distress around it. Feeling that she was invited to do so, Solveis climbed up and sat on the same branch as the little bird.

“Hello. What’s all this about?” Solveis wondered aloud, speaking in the voice that she used for babies.

Then a chilling thing happened. The rustling and whistling sound of leaves in the air moved in just the right way where it sounded like a word was spoken. “Child,” it sounded like.

Solveis looked around her, her eyes bugged out, trying to find the origin of the sound, to know if it was even real.

“Child,” it repeated itself.

Could it be the bird? What else could it be? “Are you calling me child?” Solveis asked in the direction of the perfectly still bird.

The bird answered by winking at her. When Solveis didn’t respond, but just looked with her mouth gaping open, the bird winked again, very intentionally.

“Uh… Yes?” Solveis replied to the bird, who was apparently communicating with her.

The bird only continued to look at Solveis, as if expecting her to say something.

“What am I supposed to say, miss? How can I help you?”

The bird breathed an exaggerated, exhausted breath and made a movement like fainting over on its side.

“You’re hurt?” Solveis inferred aloud.

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The bird winked again.

“What can I do? Could I help you somehow?”

The bird looked at her very seriously. She seemed to be trying to get Solveis’s full attention. Then, it began again. A jangling, twinkling voice was being carried on the wind, to Solveis’s ears. “Need his help, child. Tell him.”

The bird continued to look seriously into Solveis’s face.

“Oh.” Solveis uttered, meaning nothing by it. She didn’t know how to act in so foreign a moment to her experiences. She forced logic take over. What could she do? She could obey the request. “Help? His help? Who’s help?” she asked aloud. “Sir. Lou Tin’s?” Solveis answered her own question in reply.

The bird winked.

“What am I telling him? About the storm?”

The bird looked at her waiting for a better answer.

“Not the storm?”

The bird looked exasperated.

“Sorry. So, the storm, and also more, then. – Uh, that you’re hurt?”

*wink*

“So he knows you then? Duh. I guess he really does know everything, doesn't he?” Solveis thought out loud.

The bird starred in exhaustion.

“Sorry. Is there more?” Solveis questioned. Then she tried to think of what else she could need to pass on in a message. “The storm, and that you’re hurt, and… Well. I don’t know. To hurry back? Or that the birds are upset? Or that things are broken? Or the intruders?”

*wink* *wink* *wink*

“Oh, the intruders. So: the storm, and that you’re hurt, and about the intruders?” Solveis listed off. “I don’t suppose I’ll get much context from you,” Solveis thought out loud. Then an idea sparked in her mind. I’ll write it and then show it to you? Ok?”

*wink*

Solveis went away. She came back a few minutes later with paper and a pencil. She started to write:

‘Dear Sir. Lou Tin,’

The bird flapped to get her attention. She seemed to want to see what was written.

“But how will you see it? You are too far up to see me writing down here.”

The bird flapped a little pathetically to show that she wasn’t up to flying down.

“You want me to come up? But then how will you see?”

The bird made a grim expression.

“You want me to bring you down?”

The bird moved one of her own winged shoulders.

“On my shoulder. Right. That makes sense,” Solveis verbalized. She climbed up and grabbed the bird, who was a little smaller than her own small hand, and held her gently while climbing back down one handed. Once on the ground, Solveis put the bird gently on her shoulder and leaned against a tree to give the bird a back rest.

The bird looked down at her paper and made a little disgusted grunt. Her handwriting was quite bad, but what should a bird care about that? It reminded Solveis of her irdie teacher. – Duh. – This little bird was an irdie too, just a really small one. – But, no. – She didn’t speak, like speak normally, from her mouth. And she looked like a bird, not like an irdie.

The bird shuffled a little restlessly to get Solveis’s attention back on the task and out of her own mind.

“Sorry. Here I go.”

Dear Sir. Lou Tin,

I have a message from our blue bird. There’s been a very bad storm here. We’d like to hear from you, and to see you soon. Also, she, the bird, seems hurt. Also, maybe Brutoin was back?

Thank you,

Solveis Eigeroy

The bird did not seem happy about the letter, but apparently it was sufficient. Next, Solveis would have to figure out how to actually get this letter to the old man.

Solveis approached her father the next time that she found him alone. Actually, he was with little Oskar, but that was alone enough. She tried to navigate her way toward the desired conversation.

“Excuse me. You know how we learned about addressing letters recently?” Solveis began.

“I do! I feel like you had pen-pals or something too, didn’t you?”

This was veering away from the topic. It had to be mitigated. “Oh yeah. – Uh. But, how do I get a letter to the person. How do I know how to find out their address? Or just how do I get a written letter to the right person?”

Catching his daughter’s intent, the father helped her in conversation, “Do you have someone in mind? Is that a letter I see in your hand?”

“Yes. I want to get this letter to the right person.”

“To who? – And, what’s it about?” the father asked in genuine interest. “I’m glad to see you have people to write to and things worth noting.”

“Oh yes. Well, to Sir. L…” Solveis stalled. She wasn’t sure what name her father would know Lou Tin by. She continued, “...to the old man who comes here.”

“To old Tin. Yes, of course. Everyone seems to have things to say to him. And, he has been gone for some weeks. I’d like to hear from him too. – Oh right! You asked about sending the letter. I can get it to him through his family, even though I’m not exactly sure where he’s staying now. It might take a little bit to get to him, after his family gets it… sorry about that.”

Solveis thought about it. The situation just was how it was. She resigned herself. “Ok. I understand. Not too long, I hope.”

“Can I have your letter? I’ll get it sent out as soon as I can.”

Solveis realized that it wasn’t sealed in anyway. The father might be tempted to see what silly things his only daughter would have to write about. She froze for a moment. Then, upon further thought, and glancing at the contents of the letter, she realized that it sounded like childish story nonsense and was probably pretty safe anyway. “Ok.” She handed the folded paper to her father.

“Thank you for this transaction. I’ll seal it away now, and address it. – You want to watch, for practice?” her father offered her.

She did want the practice, and to see the address of Lou’s relative.

Solveis followed her father into the head pike. All the adults were in there. Immediately they noticed her and began staring and commenting.

“Wow. I don’t see you in here often. Come to gossip with the ladies?” the B father teased.

“Maybe she’ll speak to us today… Or maybe she’s practicing her stare?” the B mother told her husband, while staring at Solveis.

“We’re on a mission today,” the father spoke in her defense. “Addressing a letter.”

“How interesting. A little extracurricular learning, huh?” the B father father asked.

Solveis didn’t answer.

“Practicing her stare, I think,” the B mother told her husband. They both snickered.

Solveis’s mother drew back to herself the attention of her peers. “Have you seen all the anger in the news, I try not to follow it, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore.

Girselle’s mother replied, on what seemed to be a common and comfortable topic, “I know…”

Solveis stopped listening, and she paid attention to what her father was writing on an envelope.

Sir. Lou’s relative was Sula Tin, and they lived quite far away apparently.

“How long will it take for this to get to Sula?” Solveis asked.

“You know Sula?” the father began to ask, but then he realized that she had read the address. “Oh. Not too long. A few days, I think.”