Chapter Six: Orka

Before dawn, Orka wakes from a violent nightmare, unsettled and craving drink she has vowed to avoid. Discovering Breca’s cot empty, she rouses Thorkel and searches their steading, fear spiking as recent child abductions weigh on her mind.

Outside, Orka consults the Spertus in their stream, but it offers no help. Thorkel finds Breca’s small boot prints at the side gate and follows the trail into the woods, the couple arming themselves as they track upstream through tense silence.

They reach a black pool that feeds their stream and find Breca crouched by the water. Suspecting a Näcken, Thorkel urges caution. Relief turns to shock when Orka sees an injured, hairless winged creature—identified by Thorkel as a tennúr—curled in Breca’s lap, bleeding and weak.

Driven by fear and anger, Orka slaps Breca for leaving safety amid rumors of child-stealers. The tennúr flares its fragile wings to shield Breca, and Thorkel restrains Orka, insisting the point is made. Breca explains he heard the creature scream and calmed it by giving one of his baby teeth, recalling that tennúr love teeth.

Breca reveals the tennúr is female and calls her Vesli. With the immediate danger passed and Breca unharmed, the tension eases. Thorkel laughs at Breca’s plea to keep Vesli, while Orka wrestles with lingering dread and the growing signs of vaesen near their home.