The moon was nearly full as the days passed. Pétur had laid in his bed as the morning light glared into his bedroom. All he could think about was Sileny and how he had to help her. Despite his sleepy demeanor, Pétur inexplicably remembered everything she needed. The petals from Vadoma’s tears would be easy enough as the purple flowers littered the cliffs near his home. Fresh milk from the market was equally undaunting. He just had to pay for it with the money Sileny gave him to fill his waterskin. The tricky ingredient was not challenging to obtain but required a level of stealth slightly beyond Pétur’s skill. He needed to gather seawater under the light of the full moon. Pétur had no idea how he would sneak out and back into his house in the middle of the night without anyone seeing. The thought of his mother catching him out of bed or worse, knowing he went to the ocean, brought a new level of overly dramatic terror to his mind. Pétur abruptly paused his imagination for a moment. He replayed the conversation with Sileny in his head. Did she say he had to sneak the ingredients into the church at night? Pétur’s mind swirled as he grasped the depths of Sileny’s unrealistic expectations for him. Why did he say yes so quickly without thinking this through? Pétur sighed with anxiety before rolling over and pulling the blanket over his head.

Minutes passed until the morning’s growing light became unbearable. Groggily pulling himself out of bed, Pétur managed his way downstairs to see his mother cooking breakfast. Marika was preparing kasha the traditional Monsan way by using buckwheat groats, onions, salt, and butter. She quietly greeted him and indicated he should sit down at the table. Pétur sat down and rubbed his eyes. He silently watched while trying to wake himself up for another long day of chores. Fighting the urge to return to bed, he compromised and put his head down on the table. Seconds later, his eyes drifted close, and soon after, he found himself asleep.

He began dreaming the same flying dream with the sun, moon, and sea again. This version had minor differences, but the critical divergence that stood out was that Pétur’s mother was no longer the woman on the raft. It was a young woman no older than himself and noticeably shorter than Pétur. She wore a simple Monsan-styled white dress, but the neckline colors were blues, greens, and teal. Her dress had matching armbands in the same color palette. The woman wore a deep blue woven sash that hung from her waist, similar to his own. She sported fierce blue eyes and strangely colored hair. It was primarily white with iridescent streaks of cyan. Her hair seemed to sparkle in the way that stars would at night. There was a sense of happiness when Pétur looked into her eyes that rivaled the joy he felt for Sileny. As the dream played out, he could force himself awake before the monstrous shark appeared again.

Waking, a blanket slid from his back onto the kitchen floor. Puzzled by the blanket, Pétur looked around, seeing a bowl of kasha on the table with a note under it. His hungering stomach seized all reason from him. He quickly ate the kasha, which had gone cold during his morning nap. Pétur stood up, washed the dishes he used in the basin, and returned them to the cupboard. He picked the blanket up from the floor and took it to his mother’s empty room. Seeing that she was not in the kitchen, he folded the blanket and laid it on the edge of her bed. Pétur called to his mother and was answered only with silence. He thought her absence was odd since she usually would be home at this hour. Pétur remembered the note and returned to pick it up from the table.

“I am very proud of how hard you have worked at the church. Kaplan Rufa has told me of your improvements in focusing. He believes you are ready to fully embrace Vadim and has asked me to prepare for the ritual. I have gone off with several women from our village to gather rože for your prysiaha tomorrow. Edda arranged that you have the day off from work to assist her with some shopping. Take her to the market today, and do not worry about Wilk. I took him with me to get some exercise. I will return tomorrow just in time for your vow. Be at the church by midday, and I will see you there. Enjoy your day with your babka, and please, for the love of Vadim, stay out of trouble.”

Excited at the prospect of freedom, Pétur ran up to his room to change into his day clothes. In a whirlwind of speed, he was dressed and had gathered his things. He ran out of the house, leaving the door to slam behind him. About part way down the road, he stopped and turned back for his home. He pulled the key from his pocket and locked the front door. After he heard the lock click, he returned the key and ran back down the road. Within minutes he was bursting into his grandmother’s home.

Pétur exuberantly called out. “Babka! I am here. Mother said you wanted to go to market today.”

“Calm down, Pétur,” Edda laughed as she walked into the room. “Before we go to the market, I was hoping you could go out to the cliffs and gather a big bouquet of those purple flowers I like so much.”

“Sure,” Pétur said as he set his bag down. “I will be back soon, babka.” With that, Pétur set out the door for the cliffs.

***

While Pétur was out, Edda gathered various things from her room. She rummaged around in a pile of old clothes from Rybak’s younger years. Edda pulled out Rybak’s best traveling outfit laying the clothes on her bed. She continued ruffling through the pile and found his old money pouch. Edda placed it on the bed next to the clothes. She removed her own coin purse dumping it onto the bed. Edda divided her savings into two uneven piles after meticulously counting the coins. She returned the smaller amount to her purse and added the rest to Rybak’s pouch. Edda reattached her purse to her sash, followed by tying up the pouch on the bed. She paused for a moment as tears rolled down her eyes. Edda quickly wiped them, taking a slow breath. She walked to her table, wherein she had a small bottle of scented oil. Edda poured the oil on her fingers and then walked over to the clothes on the bed. She diligently used her oil-soaked fingers to trace symbols on Rybak’s clothing while rhythmically chanting ancient words. After Edda had finished, the oil faded from her finger and the clothes as if they were never there. Edda stacked the shirt on top of the pants setting the belt aside. She pulled a note from her dress and placed it at the center of the clothing pile. Edda took the money pouch and put it on top of that. She carefully folded and then rolled the pile into something more portable. Edda wrapped and tied the belt around the bundle securing it. Grabbing an old sack, she slid everything in and tied off the top with a bit of small rope. Edda placed the sack on top of the pile of clothes and briefly organized her bedroom to its original form.

Pétur returned with the requested flowers after having squirreled away a handful of petals into his pockets earlier. He quietly and quickly transferred them from his pocket into his bag. Moments later, Edda came out of her room, greeting him again. Pétur handed the flowers to her, and with a smile, she put them in a small flower vase. Edda took a moment to fuss over the flowers before placing them in a window. The purple flowers seemed to glow in the sunlight brightening up the otherwise plain house.

“Well, doesn’t that look lovely?” Edda asked.

Pétur nodded in agreeance.

“Pétur dear. I have a gift for you.”

“What is it?” he inquired in surprise.

Edda reached behind her neck and untied a small knot. She pulled the leather straps to reveal a concealed necklace. The necklace held a silver and moonstone pendant in the shape of a sphere. “This necklace is precious and has been in our family for generations. It was meant to be your father’s, but that day will never come, so I want you to have it.”

Pétur was speechless as he marveled at the pendant. It was the color of milk and translucent at the same time. It seemed iridescent with a sense of opalescence at differing angles of light. Pétur struggled to reconcile his grandmother’s poverty and this treasure she had been wearing. “Babka?”

“Pétur, you must keep this hidden always. This is as precious as your own life and must be treated as such. The Monsans would not understand our family’s customs. They would try to destroy our family heirloom. Do you understand?” Edda paused, waiting for a sign of acknowledgment from him. “Pétur, that means you cannot tell your mother either. She would have sold this off years ago if I had not kept it hidden from her. Pétur, can you do this for our family?”

“Of course, babka. I will keep it secret.” Pétur said in excitement.

Edda directed Pétur to sit down since he was taller than she was. She walked behind him and tied the knot securing the necklace. Edda leaned in and kissed the knot. She whispered, “Be steadfast and true.”

“Babka, did you say something?” Pétur asked in confusion.

Edda confidently answered, “I did but not to you, dear. I was talking to the knot.”

“The knot? Are you feeling unwell?” Pétur began to worry about his grandmother.

Edda laughed. “I have not lost my senses. This is customary for our people. You will understand in time. Just make sure to never take it off.” She paused and met Pétur’s eyes with confidence. “Enough worry! Aren’t we supposed to be going to market? I cannot cook dinner without ingredients, and the day is half spent. Grab that empty food sack from the table, and let’s go.”

Pétur complied, and with that, they were off to the market.

***

Hours had passed, and it seemed as if Edda had spoken to every vendor at the market, much to Pétur’s dismay. Pétur hoped the trip would be quick so he would have time to himself to plan, but it seemed Edda had other plans. The last vendor that Edda stopped at was the dairy merchant, Bydlę. He was a larger man that was as tall as Pétur but not as thin. Bydlę seemed to have a noticeable mixture of defined muscle and shapely fat all over his body. He was an older man with white hair streaked with the remaining brown from his youth. Bydlę had a full beard and mustache, causing him to appear more serious than he was. Pétur had noticed the interaction between him and his babka was much more friendly than the other vendors. Edda even touched his arm casually while laughing at a not-so-funny joke. Pétur thought this was bizarre behavior for a Monsan woman, but his grandmother was technically not from Monsa.

An opening in the conversation emerged, and Pétur interjected, “Excuse me, sir. I am sorry to interrupt you both, but I was hoping I could buy some milk?”

“Why do you need milk, Pétur?” Edda inquired.

“It’s for my friend. She works at the church with me. I wanted to uh …” Pétur nervously paused while he thought of anything that would make sense. He blurted out in a flash of brilliance, “…thank her! I want to thank her for doing my chores today!” The urgency and excitement caused Pétur’s cheeks to become slightly flushed.

Bydlę began laughing. “She must be a great friend to put up with Rufa’s demands on your behalf,” he said while winking at Edda.

Pétur smiled and said, “He does like to go on.”

Edda burst into laughter. “Bydlę, you are right! This girl must be special if she has made my grandson this bold.”

Bydlę joined in everyone’s laughter with delight. “Your father had a similar sense of humor. It’s nice to see you don’t take after your mother.”

All three burst into further laughter while Bydlę gave Pétur a hearty slap on his back. “So, how much milk do you want, young man?”

Pétur held out his water skin. “I think if I could mostly fill this, that would be great.”

“How much money do you have, Pétur?” Bydlę asked while becoming slightly serious.

Pétur pulled out the money from Sileny and showed it to Bydlę. “Is this enough?”

“You really are Rybak’s kid. Look, Edda, he haggles like your son did too.” Bydlę chuckled.

“Oh, Pétur. That is not nearly enough. Here let me pay for it.” Edda pulled open her coin purse to retrieve the money. She handed Bydlę the money.

“I am sorry. I thought that would be enough money.” Pétur looked down in embarrassment.

“That might have been enough fifty or a hundred years ago, but now things cost a lot more,” Bydlę explained.

“Well, let us hope this girl is worth the investment. I would like to see you have children of your own one day.” Edda smirked at Pétur.

“Babka!” blurted Pétur in utter humiliation as the others laughed.

After some further conversation and laughs, they said their goodbyes to Bydlę. Edda and Pétur made their way back to the house while discussing the church and Sileny in detail. Edda eagerly listened to every word he said. She had not been permitted to speak with Pétur this last month and had sorely missed their daily chats. Each word and moment was priceless to Edda, no matter how seemingly trivial. She knew that after Pétur’s prysiaha, nothing would ever be the same. Edda had plans to make a specific meal that she was sure Marika would disapprove of. She had decided to cook Rybak’s favorite fish dinner for her grandson. Edda thought this surprise might hold particular meaning for Pétur, who loved his father and the sea. By late afternoon they had arrived back at her home. They rested and talked for a good while longer to just before dusk. Pétur realized how much he had missed Edda this last month and was glad for their time together.