Ilmari —
Warmth spread from his hand to hers, even through their fur gloves. And warmth from hers to his. Suddenly the loneliness receded, as snow does from a fire. It was still out there — but it could not touch her anymore.
From behind came a breath of bitter cold, the tinkle of shattering ice —
And the Icehart shouldered them all gently aside as it pushed its way through and past them, and walked with slow, deliberate footsteps toward the gate, toward the heart and toward the one holding the heart.
Aleksia smothered an exclamation. Ilmari's hand clamped on her hand with excitement. “Now she's done it!” he muttered. “Now she's let the enemy in! Now she is going to pay, and pay, and pay — ”
They waited, breathlessly, for the Icehart to attack.
It did nothing of the sort.
It simply stood there, staring at the Witch. The Witch stared into the crystal, then slowly turned her head to look at the Icehart without any sign of recognition.
But now Aleksia could see the form of a man faintly over that of the deer.
Her eyes widened as enlightenment dawned. “Ilmari! Annukka!” she hissed. “Help me! I must spellcast now!”
Bringing her free hand up in a beckoning gesture, she suddenly felt a tidal wave of Traditional magic engulf her. She gathered it up, spun it around her, building it into the one spell, the first spell that every Godmother learned when she first was allowed to do the truly Kingdom-shattering magics —
The Spell of Restoration.
You learned to do it — that did not mean you ever would. You might never see that much power in your lifetime. The Spell of Restoration had one purpose — it restored. It put things back the way they should be. It was possible, it was said, for it to raise the dead with enough power. That would be the power of a god — and so far as Aleksia knew, no one had ever done that. But with enough power behind it, the kind that a Godmother might see in her lifetime, it could make everything right again.
She felt Ilmari steady her, heard Annukka humming to help her hold the form of the spell in the dizzying rush of power. She felt the words forming in her mind. Simple words, for the strongest spells were the simplest. She was the center of a hurricane of power, but within it, she could feel the others, steadying her, feeding her. Kaari, burning hot with love and devotion. Annukka and Lemminkal, pillars of steadfast affection. Urho, a mountain of loyalty. Ilmari, holding firm, decent and honorable, scarred with harsh lessons, but the stronger for all that. And all of them holding the same vision to make it right for everyone.
The Spell completed, it exploded like a firework only she and her helpers could see. She felt it spread all across this part of the world, felt the power wash over the villagers and instantly melt the ice that had bound their souls in fetters harder than iron, felt the moment that they became human again.
But what was immediately in front of her was that the Icehart, the great spirit stag, transformed in an instant to the fairly tangible spirit of a man, and speechlessly held out his arms to the Snow Witch.
The Witch stared at him, dumbfounded, too overcome by shock to show the joy that was about to erupt inside her. But it was there. It was there — the heart was thawing, and in a moment, it would all burst out.
And then it did. Tears sprung into her eyes, and her voice was fraught with mingled anguish and love. “I thought you lost! I swore I would never love again, nor let any other love exist!”
The spirit sighed and in his voice was the sound of wind in all the mournful places of the world. “An enemy caught me far away, all unaware and alone and bound me to the form of the Icehart. I swore I would walk the world until I found you again, but the magic you held against love kept me out, until these helped me in.”
There was a trembling in the air, as something in the Snow Witch's power weakened and broke. Veikko made a small sound, and dropped to his knees, staring at the Witch. The Witch and the spirit rushed to each other and fell into each others' arms.
Kaari, who had been crying silently, bent to embrace Veikko protectively. Her tears fell on his face.
There was another sensation of trembling, then of cracking. The light suddenly came back into his eyes, and he recognized her.
“Kaari?” he said incredulously. She uttered a wordless cry of relief and love and joy. With a sound like thunder, the snow-servants burst apart, the Barrier evaporated and the Palace cracked in half and began to cave in on itself, as the wall around the palace shook. The man who had been the Icehart, and the woman who had been the Snow Witch, paid no heed, blissfully lost in each other's arms.
Ilmari uttered an oath and ran into the gate, with Lemminkal close behind. They seized Kaari and Veikko and fled with them just as the earth shook, cracked, ice-fog erupted from the cracks obscuring the pair still clasped in an unbreakable embrace and the wall began to tumble down.
Epilogue
“So…this is all that is left of them?”
Aleksia shrugged. “I have no idea,” she replied to Ilmari. “But those trees weren't there before.”
There was no sign, now, that anything had ever been here. Palace, walls, servants, even the original stone tower, were all gone. All that was left was an expanse of ice and snow that would probably be a fine meadow in the Spring, with two trees in the midst of it. One was an ash, one a linden, and they were twined so closely about each other that there was no telling where one ended and the next began. They were leafless now, but Aleksia sensed a vitality in them that meant that when Spring came, they would make a glorious show.
Behind them, the village once called “Misery” was now looking a great deal less dour. People spoke to each other in the streets, houses were being repaired, children played. Lemminkal and Annukka had performed six marriages already, and there was talk of building a church and finding a priest.
No one wanted to talk about the way things had been. Aleksia did not blame them. She actually hoped that
