The Silver Thread (4 page)

Talvi took a sip of his tea, conscious of its warmth as it traveled from his mouth, down his throat, and into his stomach. He imagined it was Annika sitting beside him instead of Asbjorn, and he couldn’t bear the thought of having to part with her right after being reunited.

“You don’t have to leave him at all,” Talvi said abruptly. “Stay home with your family. I see no reason why I can’t be the one to take your dossiers to London. I’ve read your report nine times. There’s nothing more that you can share that I don’t already know. Besides, I need to make a stop in Paris for an American passport. It wouldn’t be any trouble.” There was a brief silence, when all that could be heard was the fire crackling in the hearth.

“I appreciate the gesture, Talvi, but Merriweather was expecting me, not you. This was my assignment, after all. It would be unprofessional of me if I didn’t deliver my own report.”

“You’re worried about offending someone who is renowned for routinely breaking embassy protocol?” he asked, helping himself to some of the warm olive bread. “Bollocks to Merriweather.”

“Don’t say bollocks in front of your nephew,” Anthea scolded as she set silverware on the table. “It’s such crass modern slang.”

“
You
just said bollocks in front of him,” Talvi said with one side of his mouth full of bread, and winked at his sister, “which indicates that it’s perfectly acceptable for
me
to say bollocks in front of him. Say, Sloan,
bloody bugger bollocks
. Did you know your mum hates those words?” The little boy gurgled and smiled as he clapped his hands. A look of indignation crept across Anthea’s face, but it melted away as she sat beside her husband. Talvi motioned for her to pass the honey, but she hesitated as Stella crawled into her lap.

“Mummy hates bloody buggy bollocks,” Stella giggled.

“She does indeed,” Talvi said, beaming with pride. Anthea’s mouth was a thin line, but Zaven was absolutely enchanted by his cousin’s antics. He, along with Finn, kept waiting for Anthea to blow her top, but she never did. Asbjorn just shook his head and grinned.

“I suppose I shall miss these colorful pleasantries when you are gone,” Anthea finally said, and pushed the jar towards her brother. When he reached for it, she clasped his hand tightly. He looked over at her, and saw her lower lip tremble. He smiled softly to her, before she let go.

“I can’t ask you to fulfill my obligations,” Asbjorn said, trying to give him a chance to back out of his offer.

Talvi drizzled a bit of honey into his tea and stirred it in slowly before looking back at his brother-in-law.

“How convenient that you didn’t ask.”

“I’d like to come along and see what all the fuss is about,” Chivanni blurted out. “If I were traveling to a new world, I would want an old friend with me.” Talvi looked over at his ginger-haired friend, who had remained human-sized ever since dinner last night.

“But Chivanni, I have no idea how long I’ll be gone. I’ll be responsible if anything happens to you.”

“You’ll be back by next March,” Runa stated as she sat down in the chair beside Finn. “I don’t think one year is so terrible.”

Talvi gave her an endearing smile and felt touched.

“It’s not the worst idea in the world,” Ambrose said, bringing a pitcher of eggnog with him as he joined the rest of the family. “Chivanni has already helped you a great deal. His abilities could be a valuable asset on Earth.”

Talvi recalled the story he had told his father, of how it was the fairies who had created his and Annika’s strange wedding bands, and it was the fairies who had married them, and it was the fairies that had been responsible for breaking the strange machine that had caused so much chaos with the portals between Earth and Eritähti. He wouldn’t be where he was today if it hadn’t been for the unwavering support of his dear friends. He supposed American culture wouldn’t be any more risk than what they had already encountered, what with the forest of flesh eating trees, the avalanches, the vampires, and black magic-wielding druids gone wrong. In comparison, America would probably be a lot of fun.

“Please?” Chivanni asked, furrowing his delicate eyebrows. His large, cinnamon-brown eyes pleaded as best as they could. “Please Talvi, please let me come with you.”

“Only if you promise you will do as I say,” he said, passing his plate to be filled with the decadent breakfast laid out before him. “Your aunt will have my head if anything happens to you.”

Chivanni nodded in agreement, swearing his promises, and fluttered his wings, hugging Talvi tightly before passing his plate around the table.

After extra helpings of everything, and extra-extra helpings of eggnog with a generous ratio of rum, Talvi couldn’t help but wonder if this would be the last time he saw his family. He sensed that he was not the only one with this thought, as the meal refused to come to an end. His mother would pass around a dish or a plate from time to time, as if there was a soul who might miraculously still be hungry. His father seemed hesitant to light his pipe, even though he always enjoyed one after every meal. And remarkably, Stella had stopped accepting sweeties and instead wandered off to play.

“Brother dear, we will all miss you terribly, but I for one am glad you are off so soon to search for Annika,” Anthea said, desperate to keep things cheerful. “I’m certain by now she must be feeling quite unprepared.”

“Unprepared for what? She’s not exactly a helpless sort of woman. She can look after herself well enough.”

“But is it just herself whom she is looking after now?” his sister pressed.

“What
ever
are you suggesting?” he asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow. His older sister was really beginning to annoy him.

“Oh how can you be so daft, little brother of mine?” Anthea scolded. “You’ve met your destined lover, you’ve married the dear girl with the blood of a samodiva…do you not remember what comes next for you?”

“I’ve conveniently put it out of my mind,” he sneered back, but Anthea ignored him and began to quote from memory,

“Within this body lie two unborn souls, both clever and strong in spirit. They shall be as one, until their three-hundredth year. Then they shall cast their gaze upon their destined lovers, becoming night and day, mirrors of one another. The first male twin to be born shall be married at dawn on the same day as his conception. His bride shall be from a distant land with the blood of a samodiva and the voice of a siren. Thereafter this union, through his bride’s altered body, she shall cultivate and give birth to a voice that will liberate one soul at a time, thusly anchoring these lives to the world of the living.”

Cultivate and give birth
…Talvi repeated in his head. A bit of color drained from his face as his sister’s mouth began to turn upwards again.

“If you believe I’m to become a father, it’s not true,” he insisted. “I always know when a female is expecting, and Annika was definitely
not
when we parted ways.”

“I have to say, I suspect otherwise,” Anthea said, looking pleased to have gotten her brother back for saying ‘bollocks’ in front of her children. “You of all elves should know how complicated things become when humans and elves intermingle, especially since our family has human blood in our veins. We all had our doubts that you would ever settle with anyone, yet you return home wearing a ring that you cannot remove. That means that Annika was destined for you. And if it is indeed true that Yuri has died and come back as a vampire, then surely she will become Konstantin’s bride, and a mistress of the underworld.”

“A mistress of the underworld?” Talvi mocked, but his sister ignored him.

“Oh hush, you! It’s the best translation we’ve come up with— it’s an ancient Druid dialect. Now if I may finish. ‘The second male twin born to you shall be married at moonrise on the same day as his birth. His bride shall be from a nearby land with the blood of a demon and the face of an angel. Thereafter this union, through his bride’s lifeless body, they shall bring peril to one soul at a time, thusly anchoring these lives to the world of the dead.’”

“For the past three hundred years, we were all so focused on protecting our dear Yuri from harm that we neglected to consider what might happen beyond that,” Ambrose admitted before turning his eyes to his son. “On the day you were born, Talvi, we were caught off guard to say the least. We were expecting two boys all along, so naturally we thought there was room for error with the prophecy when the first baby was a female. We even picked out the simplest of names for our second male twin, in hopes that Yuri might live close to home and tend fields. But
you
were our first male twin, thus you were destined to be our Talvi.”

“And then to prove it further, along came a young lady from a distant land with the blood of a samodiva in her veins,” Finn added. “I remember the day you first came home and told me about meeting her. You were enchanted with her.”

“She even sang for us the very first night she spent under this roof,” Althea pointed out. “It was quite lovely, like what I would expect the voice of a siren to sound like. We knew Annika’s arrival was anything but a coincidence. We knew she heralded great changes to come, but we also knew that we could not alter any of your destinies. No matter what we did, your fates were sealed.”

“I disagree,” said Talvi. “Yuri made her own decisions freely. No one forced her to become what she is today and shall become in the future. She had more choices available besides one particular story told by an old woman three hundred years ago. There are plenty of discrepancies within it, so why do you still insist upon taking it word for word?”

“Why do
I
insist on taking it word for word? It used to mean
everything
to you!” his sister snapped back. “I don’t wish to part with you on bad terms Talvi, but I do hope that you would pay more respect to what the rest of us hold dear, even if you no longer do.”

“We all feel hurt by Yuri’s actions, but we keep looking for another message that perhaps we’re simply not seeing,” Finn said to his brother. “I think all of us were convinced that it was just an innocent infatuation Yuri had with Konstantin. We felt that if we tried to discourage their relationship, that it would only make Yuri more determined to keep it alive. You twins are so foolhardy sometimes…you would cut off your nose to spite your face. We wanted so many times to intervene, but really, it wouldn’t have made any difference. None of us ever imagined that Konstantin would be the one to bring peril into our lives. We welcomed him into our home. We trusted him.”

“And now we shall pay the price for it,” said Talvi as he slowly pushed back his chair and rose to leave the table. “I daresay the face of an angel is the best mask a demon could ever wear.”

“What the bloody hell?”

Talvi clutched the strap of his bag as he came to a halt in front of what used to be the Paris embassy. Instead of a stately, centuries old building of stone, there was nothing but a fenced off narrow lot in the Latin Quarter. It was empty except for a large dumpster.

“This is the right address, isn’t it?” Chivanni asked, standing fully sized to his right. Even full size, Chivanni still only came to Talvi’s shoulder. Barely.

“Indeed it is,” Talvi frowned. He had been visiting this building throughout most of his life. It was similar to the Louvre or the Eiffel Tower in that it wasn’t a place likely to have a change of address.

“That makes two for two,” the fairy said, trying to stay positive. “Are we off to London, then? Third time’s the charm.”

Talvi pursed his lips at such naïve optimism, and jammed his left hand into his pocket, pulling out his cigarette case and a book of matches. He could feel his blood pressure skyrocketing as his heart thumped harder and harder. He couldn’t believe his luck. His first idea was to find the bookstore in downtown Sofia where he had met Annika. They found it had been closed after the owner died unexpectedly. A little harmless breaking and entering showed that all of the books had been auctioned off by the time Talvi and his friend got there. Even the shelves and the cash register were gone. The only things left behind were cobwebs and dead ends.

Talvi’s second plan was to get to the Paris embassy as Finn had suggested, where they might be able to help him find his wife. It was a hub of travel, with a customs office, dormitories, a library, and even a passageway in the basement level that linked up with the Metro, as some of the tourists from Eritähti were more sensitive to daylight than others. It had been built around another portal where travelers could safely pass between the two worlds undetected by humans. Unlike the humble little samodiva cave that Talvi used most frequently, the Paris portal had been cloaked not by trees and a waterfall, but by magnificent marble, alabaster, and hand-carved wooden staircases. It wasn’t hidden in the mountains outside of Sofia. Instead, it had wide steps leading right to the brass knockers on the front door. It had been built as intelligently as the London embassy had been, with the idea that sometimes the cleverest way to hide something is to not bother hiding it at all.

Talvi struck a match and took a few long, silent drags off the neatly rolled cigarette as he looked around. He began to walk along the fence toward the locked gate surrounding the empty lot, still fueled by his frustration. He found a heavy cement block and smashed the lock from the flimsy chains easily enough, and slipped through the metal fencing with Chivanni close behind. They walked carefully through the rubble, looking for clues, but the only thing he turned up was a brass paperweight of a miniature globe. Talvi clenched his jaw at the irony of the situation he found himself in. Here was this entire world resting in his palm, and yet, in this world where he stood, he had lost not only a woman, but an entire building as well.

Talvi let out an angry yell, making Chivanni jump in fright. He was about to hurl the paperweight into the dumpster when something caught his eye. He lowered his arm, and stepped closer to look at the corner of the dumpster. It was faint, but there was no doubt what was smeared along the side of it. Dried blood. He crouched on his hands and knees and leaned closer, and what he smelled made his stomach turn. It wasn’t that it was foul, but it was terribly unpleasant.

“Annika was here,” he said quietly. “That’s her blood.”

Chivanni was beside him in an instant.

“Are you completely certain? How long ago do you suppose?” Chivanni asked. Talvi narrowed his eyes as he took another sniff.

“It’s been at least two months. The stain has faded quite a bit, but I’m positive it’s hers.”

“It doesn’t look like enough blood to be too serious of an injury,” Chivanni observed, trying to be hopeful, but it didn’t stop Talvi from continuing to inspect the rubble for the next hour. After poking around and finding nothing, he finally agreed that the injury didn’t seem life-threatening, and that Annika had probably made it to America well enough, given that she had started to exhibit elf-like healing powers before they had been separated.

Talvi led his friend back the way they had come, and stepped into a cafe around the corner for lunch. He ordered a bottle of Bordeaux as well, and inquired about the missing building. The waiter was able to answer his questions too easily. There had been a fire a couple months ago, the building was razed, and that was that. Talvi said very little and ate even less. Instead, he subdued himself with the Bordeaux while Chivanni mapped out the nearest train station.

“Try not to get discouraged,” the ginger boy assured him as he poured the last of the wine into Talvi’s glass. “I think we’ll have more luck in London. Things always work out for you. I’ve seen it happen so many times. Wherever you land, you always land on your feet.”

The elf turned to look at his friend, and for a brief moment, a soft smile passed across his face. He wanted to believe him, he really did. Chivanni packed up what was left of Talvi’s uneaten lunch, which was most of it, and one train ride, two bottles of wine, and three hours later, their taxi pulled up to a thirteen-story building in the heart of London.

“Well, the building is still here, that’s of some comfort,” Talvi muttered. Snow was beginning to fall, and they hurried to the solid doors, and rang the cold metal buzzer.

Talvi wasn’t expecting the door to open as quickly as it did, and he and Chivanni were ushered inside a small foyer with three carved wooden doors. One was on the left, one on the right, and one directly in the middle.

“Why, Talvi Marinossian, it’s been ages,” greeted the elderly doorman, clad in tweed. “What brings you to London?”

“I’m here to see Merriweather.”

“You don’t have an appointment,” the man said, raising a suspicious eyebrow as he shut the doors and locked them. Even though he was much older, he carried a formidable presence.

“Do I ever, Gerald?”

The doorman chuckled to himself, looking a little relieved.

“Rarely, but I would give notice next time, if I were you,” he said. “We’re rather drowning in our workload as of late.”

“Has it anything to do with the Paris embassy?”

“I’ll need your password before I can answer that.”

“My password?” asked Talvi. “You’ve never asked before.”

“I’ve never had cause to,” Gerald replied in a kind, but firm voice. “However, we must insist on this formality. Doppelgängers are getting to be more troublesome these days.”

“Doppelgängers?” Talvi repeated. “Very well then;
lemon meringue
. Now what the hell happened in Paris? The embassy has utterly vanished.”

“Yes it has. There was a fire, a terrible fire,” said Gerald, and he pulled out a key from his pocket to unlock the door on the right side of the small room. “The chief inspector has attributed it to outdated wiring; however, we are conducting our own investigation.”

“How is that going?”

“As I said earlier, we are struggling with our workload,” Gerald sighed as he ushered them along. “So I’m afraid the investigation isn’t receiving as much attention as it could be. If only there were someone who excelled at gathering information; someone who had just returned from his hiatus and was available for the job, perhaps?”

“Yes, if only,” Talvi replied, acting disinterested.

He gave Talvi a curious look, then led him and Chivanni through a narrow hallway to an elevator. He inserted a smaller key into a little brass box, before selecting the floor. The polished brass elevator doors closed and there was the lurch upwards, until they landed on the thirteenth story.

Chivanni had never seen this section of the London embassy before, and now he was mesmerized by the sights as he and Talvi walked along a landing of an open room that rose up three more levels, illuminated by giant chandeliers powered by electricity, and skylights overhead. On the crowded main level below, there were large reading tables and desks with computers set up, most which were occupied by non-humans. The trolls were easiest to spot among the many elves, but there were also quite a few wood nymphs, fairies and other magical folk.

Chivanni grasped the wrought-iron railings on his left, passing rows and rows of books on his right, as they walked along the aisle. A spiral staircase in the far left corner of the large open room led to the main floor, but they stopped at an office in the far right corner instead. The only thing on the empty reception desk outside the office was a heavy layer of dust. The door beyond the desk was closed, with a metal name plate attached to the front of it reading:
Merriweather Narayanaswamy, Director of Modern
Intelligence
.

“Perhaps your friend would like me to give him a tour of the building whilst you meet with Merriweather in private?” Gerald offered discreetly, as if he had done this more than a few times. Talvi nodded and sent Chivanni on his way, then slipped silently through the door. He was careful to not make a sound as he shut it behind him, gently turning the deadbolt.

A woman sat at a huge desk covered in very tall and very neat stacks of papers and folios, with her back to the door. She wore a long-sleeved maroon sweater dress, and high-heeled black boots. Her thick black hair was pulled to one side in an elegant chignon, and she was holding a telephone to her pointed ear, taking notes on a pad of paper.

“I’ll let you know what I find out. Ta-ta for now,” she said, and hung up the phone. She swiveled her chair around and let out a laugh as she recognized who was standing in front of her desk.

“What
ever
did the cat drag in?” she mused, and leaned back in her chair with a bewildered and wry smile. She appeared older than Talvi, but not by much. “You look like you’ve been through the ringer…and then shat out of a hyena’s arse.”

“A pleasure to see you too, Merri,” he said, flashing a conceited grin at her. He sat on the edge of her desk, plopping the report from Asbjorn in front of her.

“I honestly wish I could say the same for you,” she said, studying his gaunt face and the way his clothes were hanging on him. “You look absolutely dreadful. I thought your hiatus would have treated you better, but it appears your personal matters have not been resolved. Are you alright?”

“I’ve had worse. Though, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in months.”

“It’s not because of what I think it is, is it?” she asked with an incredulous smile.

Talvi shook his head and tapped the thick folio with his forefinger, and Merriweather opened it up to the first page. Her smile began to fade, and a moment later she looked up at him with her dark eyes. “Why have you brought me this? What’s happened to Asbjorn and Pavlo?”

“They’re both fine. Asbjorn’s well at home with his family. I thought I would save him the trip and deliver his report to you in person.”

“How uncharacteristically thoughtful of you,” she said, looking relieved. She pulled open one of her drawers and reached far into the back of it, retrieving a small rectangular object. She stood it upright on the file that Talvi had dropped on her desk. It was an antique silver flip-top lighter with the words ‘cheeky bastard’ engraved on the front in a flourished script.

“Where did you find this?” he asked, snatching it and inspecting it closely. “I thought I lost it.”

“It was found in my last assistant’s desk after she resigned,” Merriweather said, letting the corner of her mouth turn upwards. “She finally realized that it’s bad luck in anyone’s hands but yours. I’ve been holding onto it for you ever since, so perhaps that’s why I’m now having a run of bad luck. I’ve also been waiting months for this information. Do you mind entertaining yourself while I have a quick look?”

“Not at all,” Talvi said, and left his perch on her desk, putting the lighter in his back pocket. He walked over to a little bar and took two glasses from inside the cabinet, but he left the bottles alone. Instead, he brought the two glasses back over to Merriweather’s desk, setting them down with a soft
clink
. Then he knelt down beside her as she skimmed over the pages, and opened the bottom desk drawer, pulling out a bottle.

“Oh yes, do help yourself to my very best scotch,” she said, looking annoyed. It did nothing to stop him from pouring them both a drink. Talvi lit a cigarette with his long lost lighter and took a slow walk around her office, swirling scotch in his mouth as he gazed out the huge windows at the late afternoon London skyline. He hadn’t seen this view in almost two years, but he had a feeling that he would be seeing more of it in the future. Snow was beginning to fall, dusting the rooftops with a thin layer of white.

“Has anyone else read this?” Merriweather asked, closing the folio a quarter of an hour later.

“Just a couple members of my family, and Asbjorn’s colleague, Pavlo. Why?”

“Did you just ask me
why
?” Merriweather demanded, and marched over to the window where Talvi still stood with his glass in hand. “After all our efforts to maintain open relations with the modern world and our own, you go and instigate a damned war with our enemies, and then have the audacity to let your entire family read Asbjorn’s report! It was supposed to be confidential!”