The Ice Palace by Tarjei Vesaas, Elizabeth Rokkan Page B

Vision in March
    March arrived with its clear sky after all the midwinter weather. Now the mornings came early, shining and frosty. The drifts had settled, making for good skiing. It was the time for ski trips, the time for the trip to the ice palace. It was the end of March now.
    The class had decided on the ski trip one Saturday just before they went home. They would go on Sunday morning. The trip would be extra special, because Siss was coming with them.
    They decided they had won Siss over. Three of them had approached her.
    ‘Come with us on the trip, Siss. Just this once.’
    They were the three she liked best.
    ‘Oh no,’ she said.
    Just those three. The group knew who to send.
    The three had no intention of giving in at the first refusal.
    ‘Come with us, Siss. You simply can’t go on cutting us like this. We haven’t done anything to you.’
    Siss had a strong current against her. She intended to go to the ice palace on her own, and yet …
    The one of the three who knew she was the strongest took a step forward and said softly, ‘Siss, we want you to come with us.’
    ‘Siss,’ she repeated, even more softly, making it into a dangerous weapon of temptation. The other two stood stock-still, giving even more effect to her words.
    And they were too strong. The promise was pushed a little aside, Siss answered in the same dangerous tone as her tempter had used and with which one answers tempters. ‘All right, I’ll come. But if I come we’re going to the ice palace.’
    The three of them glowed, ‘Now you’re being sensible.’
    Siss had a guilty conscience as soon as she was alone. But Father and Mother were so happy when they heard about it that the hurt seemed to come from that source.
    In the morning the group collected and set out with a lot of shouting and noise. It was a frosty, clear morning, with a little loose snow on top of the firm foundation, as it should be when at its best. Everyone was pleased that the trip would take them past the waterfall, and there was general rejoicing that Siss was with them. Siss was conscious of their friendliness; it sustained her buoyantly as her skis did on the snow-crust with the new snow on top.
    Everything was and was not as it should be.
    They followed a track that would bring them to the river just below the waterfall. Here were great silent pools where ice had formed and where you could cross over if you wished. The waterfall roared in the silence. They went right up to it.
    All of them had been here to see the ice palace once or twice during the winter, so it did not take their breath away – yet it towered above them, powerful and mysterious. It was shining and free of snow now. The March sun had found the way to it early today, and was playing over the ice formations.
    They conscientiously remembered to say nothing to Siss about dangerous subjects. She understood this and felt simultaneously secure and embarrassed. She was secretly intumult at the sight of this place again. The men had cemented the link between the palace and herself that night. She would have to stay behind and take leave of the others here.
    They feasted their eyes on the palace, listened to the roar of the falls which would soon become much stronger – and then they were ready to go on.
    Siss stood stock-still. What they feared had happened. It had occurred to them that perhaps they had not won her over after all. They stood waiting for her to say so.
    ‘Look,’ she said, ‘I don’t think I’ll go any further. I really only wanted to come here.’
    ‘Why?’ asked someone. But one of the three tempters said at once, ‘Siss must decide. If she doesn’t want to come any further it’s none of our business.’
    ‘No. I’ll turn back here,’ said Siss, with her usual expression when she wanted to prevent opposition.
    ‘We’ll turn back, too, then,’ they said generously.
    Siss was embarrassed. ‘No, of course not. Please. Can’t you go on as you’ve planned? I’d like to