The she-goblin had her arms crossed over her stomach, which thanks to Seppo’s comments, I now noticed was slightly swollen. Her dark eyes glittered, deep-set in her face. Despite the difference in color, I could see Seppo in them. Satu was broad where Seppo was slim, dark-skinned where Seppo was fair, and well-muscled where Seppo was slender, but the shape of their eyes were the same, the curve of their ears, and the pitch-black color of their hair. Like her son, she had a vine tattoo that spiraled from her neck to around one of her ears. There was something about her that pulled you in, maybe her smile and glittering eyes which managed to offset her otherwise serious features.

“Seppo told me you’re expecting,” I said.

She nodded. “It’s been a while since I’ve added to my brood,” she joked. “Though being on Soren’s council is quite like looking after a toddler.”

“I heard that,” Soren muttered.

“The father is human,” she continued. “I’ve actually had a child with him before, but the boy was one of the rare ones to come out fully human. I don’t expect this one to be, though. I can feel it.”

I nodded. “Thanks for keeping everyone from killing each other.” I turned back to Soren and Donnar, who were still standing there, silently. “Shouldn’t you be leaving, Donnar?” I scanned the room. He was the only svartelf left.

“Alas,” he said. “I need to speak with you.” He glanced at Soren. “Alone.”

Great. Now I got to add half-mad ramblings from another madman to my day.

I resent that. I rarely ramble. It’d been maybe twenty minutes since Lydian had deigned to grace me with his presence, so of course, he’d reappear now. Odin’s Ravens, I wished there were a way to kill an already-dead person.

But no, Lydian’s ghost haunting my brain aside, part of my job as the stag meant speaking with the other residents of the Permafrost. Unlike my predecessor, I didn’t immediately know what was going on with every living thing, though I had a general feeling of the state of the world.

A rather negative one, that is. This time the voice in my head wasn’t Lydian’s but my own. Even so, I could feel his wordless agreement.

So, if Donnar needed to speak with me, then it was my duty as the stag to speak with him or any other creature of the Permafrost who desired it. Svartelves may have been … well, svartelves, but they were still residents of the Permafrost, and I had a duty to them like any other creature.

“All right,” I said. “Let’s talk.”

Donnar looked at Satu and Soren, who still stood in the room. “I believe I did say alone.”