The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas, Elizabeth Rokkan Page B

something. There is, too, but
it’s
for
Unn and me.
And perhaps for God, she added, to be on the safe side, staring out into the driving snow.
    An important little pause on the way.
    Through the driving snow she saw Auntie come out as soon as she entered the yard. Whatever did that mean? Now she realized that she was uneasy in advance – and there was Auntie coming out as if she had been on the watch for her. Why should she be doing that?
    Siss took several big leaps through the sifting snow – the first to set foot in the fresh carpet. Auntie waited, small and lonely, looking sad through the tattered snowflakes.
    ‘Has something happened to Unn?’ she half shouted before Siss reached the doorstep.
    ‘What?’ gasped Siss.
    This puzzling little knocking.
    She had to turn everything around. It had been standing on its head.
    ‘I asked why you’ve come and not Unn?’
    So all she could do was release the horror. ‘But surely Unn’s at home, isn’t she?’
    At once the dark shutters flew gaping wide. Flustered questions on both sides. A hasty search of house and woodshed to no purpose.
    Flustered running. No telephone in the house, but there was one not far away. Auntie left to phone around.
    ‘It will be dark before we can do anything,’ she said as she began running.
    Siss ran home to Mother and Father. Now she needed them, needed anything they might say. The snow sifted down, and the first darkness began to appear.
    Again Siss ran along the road. Now in the fresh snow it seemed dazzlingly new. She met no cars; there were no tracks. She did not think about the sides of the road, only about coming home, giving warning.

2
Vigil
    Unn has vanished.
    It’s getting dark.
    It mustn’t!
    But the early darkness would not be delayed by haphazard, desperate wishes; it continued to fill up and thicken rapidly.
    People had now been warned over a wide area and had gathered to make a search. There were too few lanterns, and the evening and the driving snow turned the search into flustered confusion. Lantern light and prolonged shouts for Unn were drowned in snow and the growing darkness. People walked in lines – and a wall of night confronted them. They intended to break the wall down. They did not give up either and broke it down as best they could.
    Unn had vanished.
    If only this snow had come yesterday, said the searchers, there would have been tracks. Now it has come just too late and made matters worse.
    Siss was part of the tumult. Nobody bothered about her to begin with. She ran with a lump in her throat. There had been a hard struggle at home before she was given permission.
    ‘I
am
going, Father!’
    ‘We’re not having youngsters rushing about in the night and the storm,’ said her father as he hurriedly got himself ready.
    She had continued to threaten.
    Then came an obvious question.
    ‘What happened when you were with Unn yesterday evening. Anything in particular?’
    ‘No,’ said Siss flatly.
    ‘Yes, what did she say?’ asked Mother, joining in. ‘You did seem a bit odd when you came home. What did she say?’
    ‘I shan’t tell you!’ said Siss and was to regret it bitterly. She realized she had already said too much. It was pounced on in mid-air.
    ‘Good heavens, did she say something so you know why this has happened?’
    ‘No, I know
nothing
about it, so there!’
    It was lucky they asked questions backwards, so that she could say no with a clear conscience. I ran away when Unn wanted to tell me, she thought.
    Mother came up and said, ‘I think she’d better go with you. We don’t know what this is all about. You see how upset she is.’
    So Siss went with them. At first several of her classmates shared in the confusion, but they were sent home. Siss kept to the edge of the crowd so that she would only be seen in glimpses.
    Soon it was night. They were prepared to search all night through, if necessary. Unn must not be left lying out of doors.
    Where should they search? Everywhere. There