Lightscript Legends Episode 9
“A Thief’s Gift”
A gentle giant, a generous thief, and an opened locket…
The half-painted lamppost leaning against the unfinished outer wall, near the doorstep, was as dark as the windows. Assuming the cabin was an unoccupied summer getaway, Talvi swiftly picked the lock and slipped inside.
Elina reached the door just as it closed. Standing on the snow-dusted step, wondering what to do next, she was startled by a flare of heat rising from the locket still in her hand. A glow seeped out between her closed fingers, rising in misty ribbons of galactic gold. Then the light and heat receded back into the locket as suddenly as it emerged, and she found herself inside a past version of her own living room.
The walls consisted only of framework and exposed insulation. Tools lay in the corners. The sawdusty scent of new construction hung in the air. The only furnishings in sight were a rocking chair and a lamp on a rickety end table beside the little stove, which appeared yet to be used.
Elina squinted against the bright flashlight beam Talvi was sweeping throughout the room. Its light glanced off several markings within the incomplete walls, from measurement notes to playful stick figure illustrations.
Assuming she was alone, since her flashlight failed to illuminate Elina or the shifters, Talvi sank into the lone rocking chair. She dropped her face into her cold-reddened hands…and sobbed.
When her tears were finally spent, Talvi looked out into the icy darkness, beyond the frosted glass of the same window Elina had touched earlier in the Dreamscape.
This time there was no storm of shadowy images from foreign pages of Time outside the glass. There was only a cold, still, deeply dark night penetrated by the distant sparkle of Christmas lights from some happily lit home down the road.
Talvi stared at that glittering glow desperately, as if trying to absorb its light and warmth through her tearful eyes. And, as she stared, the flickering white light over her shoulder brightened from the strength of a candle to that of a torch.
As the white light grew into a burning cloud of iridescent embers, Dravial slunk into the darkest corner of the room…and Skyvior smiled.
Elina steadied herself against an exposed beam and held her breath, gaping as the Lightshifter’s form crystalized into a beautifully blazing beast with eyes and claws like translucent pearl. Six glittering wings whipped in a fluid, sweeping motion across his body like a cloak of white fire, changing his form with a flaming flourish. His molten-pearl eyes mellowed to a soft, warm brown. The plasmic flames rising from the crest of his arched neck fell around his transforming face in a mane of thick white locks. And finally his feathers morphed into soft plaid fabric.
Fully shifted into his human mask, the Lightshifter stood on the rough plywood floor like a hero fallen from a Viking saga who landed in the old flannel shirt and cargo pants of a common cabin-dweller. He dusted a few embers off his broad shoulders, shook the last bit of stardust from his hair, and gave Skyvior a broad smile.
Then he looked down at Talvi. “You like the lights?”
At the unexpected sound of his deep voice only inches behind her, Talvi leapt to her feet and spun around, loosing a few more unruly curls from under her hat.
The Lightshifter chuckled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Who are…what did…where did you come from?” Talvi sputtered.
The Lightshifter raised one thick white eyebrow. “My name is Norius. But you are the one who broke in, so…where did you come from?”
“I…I just…I’m sorry I…thought the place was…empty.”
“So, if someone leaves their home to go to work or run an errand, their place becomes free for the taking?”
Talvi swallowed hard and averted her eyes. “…no.”
Norius grinned and waved one bear-paw-sized hand. “I don’t mind you coming in. I’m just saying you could have knocked. Although, to master your level of lock picking skill, I suppose you must practice.”
“I’m sorry.” Talvi shivered, inching toward the door. “I’ll just…um…go now.”
“No, no.” Norius knelt in front of the wood stove. “Stay and get warm.”
Talvi watched wordlessly as he lit the fire with unnatural swiftness, then stood to fill half the small room with his sheer bulk once again. “Now, how about something warm to drink?”
Talvi shook her head. “I’ve already been too much trouble.”
Norius grinned down at her. “If you were too much trouble for me, I could easily toss you outside. Seeing as I haven’t done that, you are obviously not too much trouble.”
With that, he strolled into the partially constructed kitchen and bustled about, humming to himself while whipping up two mugs of hot chocolate. His eyes rose from his work to meet Elina’s for a brief moment, and she was almost certain he winked.
A few minutes later, Norius placed one steaming mug in Talvi’s hands. Then he plopped down on the bare floor to drink the other himself.
Talvi stared at the steam curling up and away from the mug, letting the heat soak into her cold hands. “Thank you,” she murmured, slowly lowering herself back into the rocking chair.
Norius peered over the rim of his mug and gave her a smile that warmed where the crackling fire could not reach. “You’re welcome.”
She took a hesitant sip of the delicious liquid while gathering her thoughts. After swallowing, she suddenly blurted out, “I can pay you.”
Norius wiped hot chocolate from his snow-white mustache. “What for?”
Talvi set her mug on the rickety end table and pulled a tangled wad of delicate chains, studded with jewels, from her frayed coat pocket. “For my uninvited entry.”
Norius raised one eyebrow at the glitzy jewelry in her outstretched hand. “Well, thank you, but…that isn’t quite my style.” He tilted his head and gave a her a studious stare. “It doesn’t appear to be your style, either.”
Talvi dropped the bling onto the table. She retrieved her mug and held it to her chest, as if trying to thaw the ice gathering in her heart. “It wasn’t for me. I…got it for my sister.”
“Ahhh,” Norius stroked his beard. “Well, no wonder you broke in here. After spending that much money on your sister, there must not have been enough left for a warm place to sleep.”
Talvi sighed. “Okay, fine. I stole it for her. But…” her voice caught slightly as held-back tears stung her eyes, “she’s not getting anything from me ever again.”
“Why is that?” Norius asked gently.
“She…she was all I had and she…” Talvi’s voice was broken by sobs, which only softened when Norius gently rested one huge hand on her shoulder. A soft warmth skittered across her skin, soothing the exhausted ache in both her heart and her body.
Finally she stood, wiped her eyes, and emptied the rest of her pockets, adding rings and cash to the necklaces and bracelets on the crude table. “I stole all of this for her. Everything I did was for her. But it wasn’t worth enough to make her stay.”
Norius spoke softly, as if too strong a tone might shatter the girl like glass. “The only piece of real worth is the one around your neck.”
Talvi’s brows furrowed in confusion. She felt under her curls for a familiar black cord. “This?” she asked, drawing the polished wooden locket from under her coat collar.
Elina gasped. Skyvior smiled. And both Shadowshifters slunk deeper into the shadows at opposite corners of the cabin.
Norius nodded. “It’s beautiful.”
Talvi sniffed, then giggled. “Thanks. But I’d be lucky to trade this for a candy bar. There’s no precious metal or stone on it. It’s not even an exotic wood.” She gestured toward the window. “It’s just a little chunk of a tree from this forest.”
“But it’s valuable to you, isn’t it?”
Talvi ran her thumb over the tiny star engraved into the smooth, golden wood. “I guess so. I made it myself for…a family photo.”
“May I have a closer look?” Norius asked.
Talvi shrugged and lifted the cord over her head. That strangely soothing warmth tingled through her again when she passed the necklace from her small fingers to Norius’ enormous palm. He examined it for a few seconds, then opened the tiny clasp…
Talvi’s breath caught. She hadn’t expected him to open it without permission. Not that she had room to criticize, while standing beside a heap of jewelry pulled from a box no one had given her permission to open. But still…
“I would choose this piece over all the others combined,” Norius told her, nodding toward the shimmering tangle on the table. “Those are only pieces of metal and stone.” He gently set the open locket back in her hand. “This is a piece of you.”
Talvi snapped the locket shut once more. “And it’s empty, just like me.”
Norius gave her a look that was both gentle and piercing. “Strange, isn’t it? How heavy emptiness can be?”
Talvi nodded sadly, then lifted her face to give him a weak smile. “Do you really like it that much, though?”
“I do not lie,” he replied seriously.
Talvi placed the locket back into his hand. “Then…keep it. Merry Christmas.”
Norius’ eyes went misty as he slowly closed his massive hand around the small gift. “Thank you,” he murmured. “I’ve…never been given one of these.”
“A necklace?”
“A Christmas present.”
Talvi didn’t know what to say. Even if she had known, she wouldn’t have been able to force words past the lump forming in her throat at the sight of that mountainous man tearing up over his very first Christmas present.
“Can I give you something?” Norius asked, still cradling the locket in one hand, while reaching into his shirt with the other.
“Um…you already let me break in, and made me hot chocolate, so you really don’t need to…”
“I want to,” he interrupted, slowly drawing a book from behind his worn flannel. “Do you like to read?”
Talvi nodded, unable to contain the eager sparkle in her eyes as Norius placed the pearly-white hardcover in her hands. “Thank you,” she said softly, hugging the beautiful book to her heart. “I will keep this forever.”
Norius gave her that soul-warming smile again, then tilted his head toward the stolen jewelry. “What about those other treasures? Will you be keeping them as well?”
Talvi sighed. “No. But I sure hope my talent for taking without being seen works as well for giving it back.”
Elina and Skyvior crept up behind Norius as he watched Talvi leave.
She cradled her new book inside her coat, where the locket once laid against her chest. At the end of the driveway, she paused to look back at the half-built cabin sleeping in the starlight. She could see Norius in the doorway, illuminated by golden light burning in the lantern that had been dark when she arrived.
“I’ll come back,” she whispered. “Someday, I’m going to live here.”
Norius, still holding the locket to his heart, smiled at the sparkling sphere of Lightscript that had ignited the lantern. “My first Christmas gift came from the hand of a thief…and the little rascal just stole my heart.”
🏔️💫Lightscript Legends💫🌲 is an ongoing series of bite-sized stories and sip-on-the-go serials. Click here for the full list of published episodes and subscribe to get new installments in your inbox!