Everything is going well with my work. I have a new apprentice, but he is clumsy and has fallen off a ladder twice. Perhaps I should help him find a safer career that does not involve ladders.
Your mother and I worry about you day and night, but especially about your travels through Vargas while it is at war with Khrebek. Alek is also worried and has been trying to find a way to free you of being Baba Yaga. I do what I can to help him, although I am no longer a young man. Be assured that none of us will rest until we have brought you home again.
Love,
Your father
The other letter was from Alek.
Fina,
I thought it might help keep your spirits up to hear the news from home, so here it is. I finished the sword and even my father says it is the best work I have ever done. Now Sir Ganya wants me to make another just like it as a gift for his brother.
I think you’ll be interested to hear that my father is suddenly the most eligible bachelor in town. Since my mother’s death, Father hasn’t looked at another woman. That does not mean that they have not been looking at him. Now, after three years, they all seem to think that he is fair game. The butcher’s sister has been bringing Father fine cuts of meat. The tailor’s twin daughters have both been after him. One mends his clothes, the other stops by to clean our house. Now the niece of the owner of the Roaring Lion tavern is bringing him hot meals. When he stops in at the tavern, she gives him free ale. I asked Father which woman he likes the best, but he said he cannot choose. Separately, they are taking very good care of him, but if he proposes to one, he will disappoint the rest and not have such a fine life!
I miss you, Serafina. Every time I see something interesting or think of something funny, I want to run to your house to tell you about it. Although that cannot happen now, someday we will be together, I am sure of it.
Before the war started, I traveled through Vargas to learn what I could about freeing you of the Baba Yaga curse. Although I did not learn anything of value, I did not give up. Lately I have been talking to people who have come to Pazurskie for refuge from the war. Many do not even believe in Baba Yaga, but there are also many who talk freely about you. I still hope to meet someone who can tell me what I need to know.
I understand that you travel from place to place throughout the region. Be careful, sweet one. I hate that we are apart, but I hate even more that you spend any time at all in a kingdom that is at war.
Love,
Alek
Clutching both letters to her chest, Serafina lay down on her bed and let the rocking motion of the walking cottage lull her to sleep.
Chapter 14
Serafina stood in her doorway, looking out across the endless progression of rolling waves. The cottage had brought her to the top of a seaside cliff just the day before, and she could envision herself staying there for a very long time. Although she had no idea what kingdom she might be in, it seemed that the cottage stayed mostly in Vargas. She doubted she’d meet anyone here, however. As far as she could tell, there were no villages or towns nearby, and the only ships she’d spotted had been too far out on the water for her to see clearly. She thought it was perfect.
Maks brushed past her on his way out the door. “I’m going to look around. Maybe I’ll find a nice crisp grasshopper for breakfast.”
“Don’t get lost,” said Serafina.
The cat made a delicate coughing sound. “I never have!” he said, and scampered off between the bones of the fence into the tall grass beyond.
“I think I’ll go for a walk, too,” Serafina said to herself, and went inside to retrieve her shawl. A few minutes later she was back and ready for Boris to open the gate.
“Stay close by,” he said. “You never know what you’ll find in wild places like this.”
“There isn’t even a road, Boris,” Serafina replied. “I don’t think we’ll see any people here.”
“It wasn’t people I was talking about,” the skull muttered, swinging the gate closed behind her.
“He means ogres and trolls and …,” Yure began.
“I’m sure she knows what I mean,” Boris told him.
Yure’s jaws closed with a snap.
Good, thought Serafina. If ogres and trolls live here, maybe fairies do, too. This could be where Summer Rose came. I might be able to find her yet!
Serafina glanced from side to side as she tried to decide where to explore. To the left of the cottage, the tall grass continued until the land dropped out of sight about two hundred yards away. To the right, wind-stilted trees grew all the way to the cliff’s edge, but a glint of water farther back among the trees caught her eye. She would go that direction first.
The wind was stronger than Serafina had expected, buffeting her as she walked to the woods. She was relieved when she finally reached the shelter of the trees. It didn’t take her long to find the water—a stream that switched back and forth through the forest until it plunged over the edge of the cliff. Upthrust rocks formed a partial barrier on one side, cutting down on the wind even more. Although she could still hear the ocean, the sound was muted and the wind was no more than a gentle breeze. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, enjoying the smells of the forest and the salty tang of the ocean.
“I like the way it smells, too,” said a deep, rumbly voice.
Serafina looked around, but all she could see were the trees and rocks. Then something that she’d thought was a boulder shifted. Serafina gawked in astonishment when she realized that it wasn’t a boulder but an exceptionally large man.
“Please, sit down and join me,” he said, gesturing to the rock where he’d been perched. “It’s been so long since I’ve had someone to talk to.”
Serafina hadn’t expected to see anyone in the woods. If she had known that there was anyone nearby, she would have stayed in her cottage or even had the cottage move again. The last thing she wanted to do was answer another question and grow even older. She looked as stunned as a deer caught in the firelight that was poised to take off if only she could look away.
The big man chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you any questions.”
“Then you know who I am,” said Serafina.
“Of course. I saw the chicken footprints and followed them here. When they led me to a house instead of an enormous chicken, I knew that I’d found Baba Yaga.”
Serafina was torn. She was still afraid that he would ask her something, even if he didn’t mean to, but then again it would be nice to have someone to talk to who didn’t expect anything from her. Curiosity finally made her ask, “Are you a giant?”
“I am, indeed,” he said, looking serious. “I’m the very last of my kind.”
“That explains why you’re lonely,” Serafina said, half to herself.
The giant nodded. “I’ve been alone for five years, and they’ve been the longest years of my life.”
“What happened to the other giants?” she asked.
The giant didn’t seem to mind her question. He shrugged, and it was like a hilltop moving. “I went away for a few years, and when I came back, all of my family and friends were gone.”
Without realizing it, Serafina had drifted closer to the giant until she was only a few yards away. She was near enough now to estimate his height; he had to be at least twelve feet tall. “If I sit down, will you sit down, too? You’re too tall to talk to if you don’t.”
“It would be my pleasure,” he replied.
She glanced at the boulder that he’d been using as a seat. It was chest high, far too high for her to climb onto.
“Here, let me help you,” said the giant. He set his hands gently on her waist, his enormous fingers overlapping, and picked her up as easily as if she were a tiny bird. Then he placed her on the boulder, and she sat, dangling her legs over the side, while he lowered himself to the ground beside her.
Even though the giant was sitting, Serafina felt like a tiny child in the company of an adult. His head was more than twice
as big as hers, each eye as large as a goose egg. The thought popped into her head that she wouldn’t want to be around when he blew his nose, and she had to stifle a fit of giggles by pretending to cough.
“We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to,” said the giant. “I just like having you here. My name is Auster, by the way.”
“I’m Serafina,” she told him. “You don’t happen to know if there are any fairies in the neighborhood, do you? I’m looking for one named Summer Rose.”
The giant shook his head. “Sorry, there could be dozens right around here and I’d never know it. Fairies tend to avoid giants; I guess because we’re so clumsy and they’re so easily crushed.”
They talked about the weather then, and how much they liked the forest. Serafina quickly realized how easy it was to talk to Auster, and they were soon chatting as companionably as if they were old friends. She told him about her family and how confused and upset they had sounded in the letter she had received from her father. When she mentioned Alek and how she’d decided that she should never see him again, she couldn’t keep the tears from trickling down her cheeks. Auster told her about his family and friends and how he felt when he came home and found them gone. He had spent the last five years looking for them and had only just decided that they were gone forever. When she saw how sad he looked, she turned the conversation to other things, like the interesting people they’d met and places they’d seen.
It was nearly dark when Serafina finally asked Auster to help her get down from the rock. Once on her feet, she swayed slightly and he reached out to steady her, then broke off a sturdy branch and fashioned it into a cane that she could use to get home. They said goodbye, and though neither one mentioned seeing each other again, Serafina was sure that they would.
They fell into a regular routine after that. Serafina would eat a simple breakfast, then go for a walk in the woods. The giant was always there when she arrived. Sometimes they would have long conversations, and other times they would sit in comfortable silence. Sometimes they would stay in the forest, while other times they went for a walk along the cliff, although Serafina’s fear of heights made her stay away from the edge. At least once a day, Auster would say how much he missed his family and friends. Serafina tried not to mention Alek because it hurt so much to think of him.
One day they were sitting at the edge of the woods, looking out to sea, when Auster stood up and stared into the distance, using his hand to shade his eyes from the sun.
“What is it?” asked Serafina.
“Ships,” he said. “Over there!”
Serafina looked where the giant was pointing and could just make out some dark, tiny specks. As she watched, the specks grew bigger, until she could see that they were indeed ships. Within moments more specks came into view behind them.
Auster watched as intently as she did when the ships crossed in front of them, too far out to see the devices on their flags or the people manning the ships. It soon became clear that the second and larger set of ships was pursuing the first. Serafina wondered if the ships belonged to King Borysko and his enemy, King Kolenka, but from such a distance she had no way of knowing. For the first time since she’d arrived at the cliff, she wondered what was happening in the world she’d left behind and what exactly she was missing.
Serafina met with Auster again the next day, but this time she was unable to enjoy their conversation. She’d begun to feel as if there was something she should be doing and she was wasting her time by not doing it. Auster didn’t say anything, but he gave her more than one searching look and didn’t act surprised when she wanted to return to her cottage early.
Seeing the ships had made Serafina remember King Borysko’s war. Was Alek all right? What if he got caught up in the fighting? What if the fighting spread to Pazurskie and Kamien Dom?
She was on her way back to the cottage, her mind awhirl with all the awful possibilities, when she heard someone sobbing. The sound was so heart-wrenching that Serafina couldn’t help but go see who was crying. Following the sound through the trees, she came across a young woman with pale green skin and long, fluttery hair bent over and crying as if she was in pain.
“What’s wrong?” Serafina asked.
The girl took her hands from her face to peer at Serafina through her tears. “This awful dust has settled on my saplings! Just look at what it’s doing to my leaves!” she said, jumping to her feet.
Serafina blinked. The girl’s dilemma wasn’t at all what she’d expected, but then the girl was unusual as well. As Serafina drew closer, she noticed that the girl smelled like the trees themselves and had a strange grainy texture to her skin. It occurred to her that this was a nymph who lived in and with the trees. Of course she would be upset if her trees were ailing! Serafina had never met a nymph before, but then she had never met a giant, either.
The girl brushed her finger along one of the yellow, drooping leaves. A puff of white dust rose around the leaf, then settled back onto it. “This dust is evil! What can I do to help my trees?”
Resigned to answering another question—the last thing she wanted to do—Serafina said in her Baba Yaga voice, “That isn’t dust. Those are tiny white flies that are sucking the life from your trees. Contact the frost fairy. She can use her ice selectively to freeze the flies and kill them.”
“Really? How wonderful! Thank you for telling me!” said the nymph as she turned to leave.
“Before you go,” said Serafina, “do you know where I can find the fairy Summer Rose?”
“I have no idea,” the green-skinned girl said, shaking her head. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a fairy by that name. Sorry!”
Serafina sighed as she watched the nymph slip into the forest. For the briefest moment she had hoped that her problem might be solved. Ah well, she thought. At least I was able to help someone.
Serafina was surprised that she felt so good about what she’d done. She had seen how happy she had made the nymph with her answer, as if she had averted a terrible tragedy. It was a satisfying feeling and it lightened her gloomy mood. It also made her start thinking about just why she was hiding from people and their endless questions. True, answering questions as Baba Yaga made her body age and she no longer had any way to reverse it, but she knew that the blue rose tea did exist, even if it was extraordinarily hard to find. If she continued to look, she was sure she’d be able to find either the tea or Summer Rose someday. And what good was a Baba Yaga if she didn’t answer people’s questions and help them at difficult times? While she might not be able to help everyone, at least she could give some real assistance to some of the people some of the time, which was more than most people could claim. By the time she closed her eyes in bed that night, Serafina knew what she had to do. She would return to civilization, but only after she had spoken with Auster.
The giant looked mournful when she found him sitting on the boulder the next morning. “I can sense that something in you has changed,” he said. “You’re leaving today.”
Serafina nodded. “I am. And so are you. I’ve never said this before, but I want you to ask me a question. It should be about something that really matters to you. Maybe something that you’ve been thinking about for the last five years.”
Auster looked confused at first, but then his eyes lit up and he straightened his back from his dejected slouch. “I hadn’t thought of that! I know about the Baba Yaga’s ability to tell the truth, but it never occurred to me to come to you for help. All right, then. Where did all my family and friends go?”
“Fifteen years ago the leader of the giants learned of a new kingdom where land was plentiful and humans were sparse,” Serafina said in her Baba Yaga voice. “He convinced the Council of Giants to build ships that could carry them all due west across the sea to their future home. Family after family set sail. Though your family waited for you, even they could wait for only so long. You were away on your errand for two years. They had already been gone a year when you returned.”
 
; “Due west, you say?” Auster replied. “How many days’ sailing?”
“I have no idea,” Serafina said in her own voice.
“Sorry, I forgot: one question only. I guess I need to build my own ship, which should be interesting. I’ve never built a ship before. I know! I’ll get the gnomes to help. They’ll build anything for gold, and I have plenty of that. I don’t know how to thank you, though.”
“You were my friend when I needed one,” Serafina told him. “I’m just glad I was able to help you.”
“But isn’t there anything you need that I could give you?”
“There is one thing,” said Serafina. “You don’t happen to know where I can find some blue roses, do you?”
Auster shook his head. “I’ve seen plenty of roses, but none of them were blue.”
“It never hurts to ask,” said Serafina.
Chapter 15
Soon after Serafina arrived in the forest where she’d met Dielle, her friend stopped by. “Where have you been?” she asked as Serafina opened the door.
Serafina stepped aside as Dielle strode past to set a small basket filled with fresh-picked berries on the table. “I went away for a while,” Serafina said on her way to the cupboard for mugs.
“You could have told me that!” Dielle said, glaring at her. “I was worried about you! No one has seen you in ages!”
“I’m sorry! I just needed some time by myself. Tell me, how is your mother?”
Dielle collapsed onto a chair. “Not very good. I left today while she was taking a nap, but I can’t be gone for long.”
“How are your reading and writing coming?”
“Pretty well, I think. I brought the book you gave me. There are some words I don’t understand.”
“Let me see,” Serafina said as she poured tea into the mugs. She wished that she could offer Dielle cider, but she was short on supplies and didn’t have anything else to drink.