C3 Chapter 3

It was wonderful to climb into the car after being out in the night chill. Halkatla left the car willingly for, as she put it, “It’s no use kicking a man who’s already down,” to which Tova nodded in agreement.

So they each got their own space, she and Morahan, she in front and he in the back.

She had more or less settled down when she heard his voice. “Who is she, really, that Halkatla?”

Tova started and sat up again. “I thought you were asleep,” she said reproachfully. “Hatkatla is my soulmate.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Why do you want to know?”

He was also sitting up. “Because she’s so ... sort of elusive. It’s almost like you’re not dealing with a human being. That doesn’t just apply to her,” he said quietly.

“You’ve realized that we’re not an ordinary family, I suppose?”

“You can say that again.”

“Well, why not leave it at that, then?”

“Would that really be fair? I mean, I’m your travelling companion.”

Tova grabbed the opportunity to change the subject. “You should never have joined us. You should have been travelling on a safe train instead.”

He shook his head of black curly hair. His voice sounded a little sad. “I’ve had the chance to see so much more this way. Not only an amazingly beautiful landscape ...”

“Yes, I suppose it is reminiscent of the green hills of Ireland.”

“I’ve never seen the green hills of Ireland. I’ve only seen the soot of Dublin. But you see, it’s meant an awful lot to me to be able to be with all of you. It’s diverted my thoughts. And I must say, they’ve been well and truly diverted,” he said bitterly and dryly.

“I’ll say,” said Tova, giggling.

She was sitting with her back to him. The confined space in the car gave it an intimate feeling. She liked that. They confided in one another in a special way. And the darkness concealed her grotesque-looking face. She was nothing but a voice. It was a nice feeling.

“Tell me what you know about the Sandnes Lake,” said Morahan.

“I can’t tell you anything about the Sandnes Lake. I know nothing about it.”

“Okay. But you never answered my questions. About Halkatla. Or about Marco and Rune and the rest of you. Or about your whole family.”

“It’s an intricate story,” she said reluctantly. “Also, we have taken vows that under no circumstances are we to ever tell ordinary people about the whole battle we’re fighting against astounding forces. It’s best they don’t know about it.”

“Well, they couldn’t possibly avoid noticing the monster in the tower, so you might as well ...”

He was interrupted by a coughing attack that sounded frightful. As Tova listened to it she grew deadly afraid. He’s dying! No, I don’t want that!

Tova wasn’t used to looking after others. It was too sentimental, she thought. But before she knew it, she had got out of the car and moved into the back where he was sitting. Of course, that didn’t exactly make things less cramped, but she didn’t stop to think too much about that. She held him close to her as his body went into painful convulsions.

Damn, she thought, damn, damn!

But exactly whom she was cursing she didn’t know.

At last he was able to breathe normally again. Her eyes were burning and tired in the semi-darkness, and to her sincere surprise he began to stroke her brittle and utterly hopeless hair.

“You’re a wonderful girl,” he whispered hoarsely.

She was so startled that she almost fell back on her usual practice of responding with a wickedly malicious remark, but she couldn’t get herself to do it. Morahan didn’t deserve to have a malicious remark thrown at him. So she just sat for a little while before getting out of the back seat and saying somewhat brusquely: “Well, we’d better get some sleep!”

But his simple words would be permanently chiselled in her memory.

Marco, Halkatla and Rune met out in the evening breeze. Those three had virtually no need of sleep. Well, perhaps Marco did, now that he was more like a human. The others were completely independent of such luxuries.

“Where have you been, Rune?” asked Marco.

“I’d like to know that, too,” said Halkatla. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“I’ve been listening,” said Rune with a crooked smile.

They knew what he was referring to. All three of them had the ability to pick up signals, not only from their allies but from enemies as well.

“And what I heard led me further down into the valley. Our friends are warning us: our enemies are busy devising a big plan.”

“Tell us more.”

“Since you, Marco, have some ability to conceal yourself from Tengel the Evil, they don’t know very much about the motorbike. In fact, it was never mentioned. They plan to attack the car, and this time they’re not just going to make do with a few speedy small-time Chinese gangsters.”

Marco thought for a moment. “I have a plan that I’ve been thinking about for quite some time. And it’s very similar to what you’re about to suggest, Rune.”

They smiled at one another. Their ability to understand each other without words was superb. Halkatla wasn’t bad herself – she, too could receive their signals.

“I understand,” she said. “I suppose it’s not worth saying out loud when we’re all thinking the same thing. We’d best keep it to ourselves.”

The other two nodded in agreement.

“Let them get a little rest,” said Marco.

“There won’t be time for that,” said Rune “The enemy is fast approaching. And unfortunately we’ll probably need your help, Marco.”

“Tova has already attained stamina and strength from the brew she drank at the Demon’s Mountain,” Marco reminded them. “But Morahan doesn’t possess anything like that.”

“We can provide him with a little help,” said Halkatla. “At least until he reaches other people.”

“Yes, in Dombås,” nodded Marco. “Presumably there is a doctor there. Come on, there’s no time to waste!”

They went over to the car.

“Now?” Tova responded to their suggestion.

“Immediately! But the question is, of course, whether you can ride a motorbike?”

“That big bulky thing? Are you crazy? I can barely handle a moped!”

Then Morahan took them by surprise again. “I can handle the motorbike. If Tova dares to sit behind me, that is.”

“But you need to get to a doctor, Morahan!” said Rune. “You risk riding with death right at your heels, if you know what I mean!”

“So what?”

They couldn’t think of an answer.

“Well, good luck to you,” said Halkatla warmly. “Off you go, then. Meanwhile we’ll hold them off in the car. We’ll head south and meet them down there.”

“But what about the three of you?” asked Morahan.

They laughed heartily. “Oh, we’ll manage just fine!”

“The bottles,” said Tova. “You have two, don’t you, Marco? And Nataniel’s? No, he’s got his own.”

“You watch out for yourself, Tova, and we’ll see to the others,” Marco said, smiling at her. “It’s you we’re counting on now, you know. You have to get there first.”

She sighed and said in a trembling voice, “Y-y-yes, I w-w-w-ill.”

Then he bent and carefully kissed her on her cheek. Tova blushed deeply and started to cry. “You mustn’t do such things!” she shouted angrily. “Neither you nor Morahan. You’re not to ...” The rest of the sentence was drowned out in inarticulate sounds.

She threw herself onto the motorbike. “Drive, damn it!”

Marco went over to her. “Now, that wasn’t a pleasant good-bye. You could at least also say good-bye to the others.”

“Yes, of course. I’m sorry,” she muttered remorsefully. “Watch out for yourself, Halkatla! And you, too, Rune! You are all my friends and I like you so damn much, and God have mercy on me if I were ever to lose you!”

They smiled at her and said that they didn’t want to lose her either. Then in turn they went up to Morahan and ran their hands over his outer, invisible body, his so-called aura, providing him with some protection: although it wasn’t as strong as Tova’s, it would at least last for a little while.

Tova turned a little clumsily in her seat behind Morahan and saw them standing there in the darkness. “Halkatla, leave my boys alone,” she wanted to say, but she remained silent and waved instead.

Then the motorbike was started up and roared away, turning north at the main road.

It was still night when they passed Dombås, but they bought more petrol there in order to be sure to have enough for the long trip across the mountain.

Then the road began to climb towards Dovre, and a little later they were facing the expanse of Fokstumyra. Large areas were still covered by greying snow.

Dovre, Tova thought sadly. Dovre ... how important those mountains have been to the Ice People.

It was here that Charlotte Meiden had journeyed south with Tengel and Silje and the children, Sol and Dag and Liv, all those centuries ago! She had decided to give them a farm in Akershus in thanks for having taken care of Dag.

That journey must have been completely different from this one on a fast, noisy motorbike! What drudgery it must have been crossing this uneven terrain only on horseback or on foot! They had been travelling towards a new, unknown life: they had put their former lives behind them, burnt all their bridges. So had Charlotte Meiden.

Kolgrim had rushed through here on his way north to the Valley of the Ice People, driven by a feverish urge to obtain the treasure and gain the not so honorable approval of Tengel the Evil. After him came Tarjei and Kaleb and their men.

Kolgrim had never returned. And Tarjei’s return trip had turned into a fatal journey. He had come back from the Valley of the Ice People on a stretcher.

Somewhere up in these mountains Ulvhedin, who had also been on the hunt for the valley, had ended up being snowed in with his horse. Could it have been on the mountainside over there? Or had he managed to get further?

Ulvhedin had turned back – that time. His longing for Elisa had forced that raw child of nature to turn around.

But many years later he and Ingrid had rushed across Dovre, making a new attempt, this time in a bitter fight over the treasure. Together with the calm Dan they had set out to find the mandrake that Kolgrim had taken with him to the Valley of the Ice People. All three of them had managed to return home and in one piece – with the mandrake, thank goodness! (Tova knew that was something for which Rune was grateful!)

Then many years passed. And the next expedition wasn’t so successful ...

Heike and Tula. Alone and bitter, having both lost their spouses, they went on a mission to finally break Tengel the Evil. Belinda and Viljar also crossed the mountain in an attempt to save them.

That journey turned out to be Heike’s bane. And Tula had returned home only to disappear into the Demon’s Mountain.

And now it was their own turn. Tova, Marco, Nataniel, Ellen and Gabriel were to have flown across here – or to have driven at high speed on these modern roads – once and for all to remove the curse that had been placed on the valley.

But how had that turned out so far? They had lost Ellen. Nataniel and Gabriel were both hospitalized with serious injuries. Marco was preparing to take up the battle against their pursuers, an unknown group selected by Tengel the Evil.

Tova herself was riding on an unprotected motorbike behind a man condemned to death who had nothing to do with the Ice People. The full responsibility lay on her shoulders.

She squeezed Morahan spontaneously. “You’ve been more help to us than we have to you!” she shouted against the wind.

“Thank you for those words,” he shouted back, “but you have no idea how much you’ve ...”

Shouting into the cold night air was too much for his lungs. His body shook with another coughing attack, and the horrified Tova felt the motorbike zig-zagging back and forth uncontrollably.

My goodness, he’s about to faint, she thought.

“Stop, Morahan, stop!”

In his delirium he registered what she said and made a desperate attempt to stop the bike. Thanks to that, the outcome wasn’t fatal, although nothing could stop the motorbike from skidding across the moor. Tova held on to Morahan tightly, but he had lost consciousness and they crashed rather violently into a bank of snow-covered grass. The motorbike made a graceful jump, throwing them forward as over a horse’s head. Tova managed to put out her hands and escaped the accident relatively unharmed, even though the snow wasn’t as deep as she might have hoped. But she was worried about Morahan. Although he, too, had had a fairly soft landing, he lay completely motionless. A thin stream of blood trickled from his mouth. It might just as well have come from his ruined lungs as from a blow.

“It’s as if we’re cursed,” said Tova. “Everything we do seems to go wrong!”

She looked around. The short spring night had paled long ago and the mountains brooded silently around the wide expanse on which they found themselves.

Up on the hillside lay some shuttered mountain huts. Tova knew that people seldom went up into the mountains during the month of May.

She had to get Morahan inside one of those huts. That way they would also be shielded from attack should their enemies have learned of their plans. They certainly couldn’t just stay out there in the marsh. She didn’t dare check to see if the motorbike had survived. She wouldn’t understand it anyway.

The nearest hut wasn’t all that far away. But how was she going to get Morahan up there? Or what if he was dead?

She didn’t like that thought at all, for two reasons. Partly because she didn’t want to be all alone up there in the mountains, and partly because she didn’t want him to die – not yet!

Actually not at all, she realized.

He was a fine man. He may have been simple and uneducated, but what of that? There were far too few good people in the world. So few to whom you felt attached. The world needed Morahan, she thought.

Clumsily she grabbed hold of his shoulders to lift him, but her wrists had received a shock during her fall and wouldn’t cooperate. She probably wouldn’t have been able to move him anyway, it was just wishful thinking on her part.

As usual she let out her frustration in a rather unchristian way: “Damn, damn, damn!”

After she had been squatting down next to him for a minute she finally dared to check whether he was still alive. When one fears an answer, one puts off asking the question.

His skin was warm beneath his leather jacket. She gently let her hand move across his chest. That probably wasn’t the right way to look for a person’s pulse, but Tova had always done things her own way.

Yes, his heart was beating. But his breathing was very strained! His lungs were working like a pair of bellows!

After a while she realized that there was no reason for her to go on sitting there with her hand on his chest like that anymore. But it had been wonderful to feel another living being, especially a man, of course, so close.

How often the story of the Ice People tends to repeat itself, she thought. Villemo had also been stuck on a snow-covered mountainside with a man. Of course, her situation had been much more dramatic. Snowstorm, war. And the man had died in the end.

However, Morahan wasn’t going to die. He was breathing heavily and tortuously and was slightly twisted.

“Lie still,” Tova ordered. “First feel whether you have any pain anywhere. In your neck or back, for example.”

“No ... no, I don’t. I can’t understand how I could have ...”

“It was my fault,” Tova quickly interrupted him. “I should never have shouted to you like that. But we’d better get inside that house over there. Do you think you can make it?”

At first he tried to insist that they continue riding, but neither he nor the motorbike were in any condition for it. So he agreed to rest in the hut and she supported him as they made their way over to it. With great difficulty and as carefully as possible, they finally managed to get inside. It is common knowledge that it is permissible to break into a mountain hut in an emergency. As long as you treat the hut and its contents with respect.

Morahan didn’t have the energy for anything: he immediately collapsed on the bed and stayed there while Tova lit the fire.

When the heat had started to spread in the room, he said, fatigued: “Come here and sit down, Tova! I want to talk a little!”

She obeyed reluctantly, because she wasn’t used to anyone wanting her close to them.

“No, not down there at my feet, silly!” he smiled tiredly. “Sit so that I can see you and tell me all about this mad story I’ve been dragged into.”

“Yes, but only if you tell me about yourself first.”

He did, and as he did so she discovered how rich and exciting her own life had been. Because his life had been a sad, dreary journey between work, the pub and his miserable flat. As far as his love-life went, his relationships had been few and far between – and those had been uninspiring, she was able to conclude to her own satisfaction.

As he told her his story, she sensed a faint longing for education and for a change in the circles he moved in. But he didn’t seem particularly ambitious when it came to money.

A good person who had let his life pass by. And now it was drawing to a conclusion.

She was awakened from her thoughts by him asking her to tell him something. He felt he probably had a right to know what they were in the process of doing.

“You have a point,” she said, straightening herself. “But it’s just so hopeless trying to explain it. A fairy tale that has been going on for eight hundred years, how do you explain that in a jiffy?”

“A fairy tale – for grown-ups?” he asked. “Even though it’s real?”

“You could say that. It’s the eternal battle between good and evil, Morahan ...”

“I have a first name, you know! And you are all on the side of good, that much I’ve understood.”

“Absolutely! I myself was meant to be on the bad side, but they managed to get me on the right track. And don’t worry, I won’t ever go back to the side of Tengel the Evil.”

“You’ve mentioned that name a few times. Is that your main enemy?”

“He was the monster in the tower, yes. At the start of the twelfth century he drank from the source of evil, thereby attaining eternal life and power over people. He is the Ice People’s ancestor, unfortunately!”

Morahan was quiet for a long time, trying to comprehend and digest it all.

“Go on,” he then said flatly.

“You’re demanding a lot of me, Morahan ... Ian, I mean. But now I’m going to demand just as much from you. I’m going to ask you to believe me!”

“I’ll most certainly try to be open-minded.”

“That’s good enough.”

She made herself more comfortable on the bed. The morning light had now conquered the night definitively, but it was still so early that there was no traffic on othe road yet. She wondered whether anyone would see the motorbike but she doubted it. It had been unpleasantly hilly in the area where they had been riding.

It was nice and warm in the room by now. When Morahan lay on his back as he did now, his face appeared smooth and very youthful looking. He was an attractive man, she thought, and that was exactly why she turned her head and looked the other way.

Then she began falteringly.

“Way back in the Middle Ages, a small group that consisted of the remaining descendants of a Mongolian people made their way west across the tundra. They had been chased from their homes because of their ability to perform magic and witchcraft. Among them was an extremely malicious boy, a real devil-child. His name was Tan-ghil, which means ‘born under a black sun’.”

“That must have been Tengel the Evil?”

“Yes. During their escape he sought out the sources of life at the outer edge of the ice, and he managed to find the source of evil. Something you can only find if there isn’t the least bit of goodness in your nature.”

“And that was where he was promised eternal life and power over human beings?”

“Yes. I’m pleased you’re not laughing, Ian; that would have made me sad.”

“I’m not laughing.”

“He obtained his power on the condition that every generation of his descendants would produce one who would serve evil. They can be recognized by their special features: among other things, they have yellow cat’s eyes and they are extremely good at magic and evil spells.”

“And you’re one of them.”

“Yes.”

“My poor little friend! But something tells me that Halkatla is also someone who, like you, had an unfortunate start in life.”

“She is,” Tova answered quickly, because she didn’t wish to go into too much detail about Halkatla. He had to hear the truth in small doses or it would be too much for him. “Little friend”! That sounded so nice!

“Can you work magic?”

Why did he have to ask so many difficult questions? “Yes, I can. May I continue my story? Thank you! Anyway, the rest of the Ice People settled down in Norway, more specifically, in Tröndelag, where we are going now. And the youth, Tengel the Evil, grew up to become the worst creature on earth. What he did to his contemporaries is so horrific that I can’t even explain it to you now. But he had a mandrake in his possession – you know what that is, don't you?”

Morahan nodded. “A mandrake. Yes, I know.”

“It was so powerful, you see, that it was able to convince him that the times weren’t good enough for him to exert his power. But his son and great-grandson tricked him even more. He made sure that Tengel was lowered into hibernation, to be awoken again when it was more appropriate for him to rule the world ...”

“Hold on, now, you’re not explaining this properly. His son and great-grandson, did you say? And then you said ‘he’ but you must have meant ‘they’.”

“No, I meant ‘he’. It was one and the same person. His name was Targenor,” said Tova in a monotone. “It was Targenor who was supposed to reawaken Tengel the Evil. Except that he didn’t.”

Morahan gestured with his hand that she should stop. He needed time to sort all this out.

Finally he said: “But how could he hibernate? ... Where, and for how long?”

“In the Postojna caves in Yugoslavia. And he has been reawakened very recently. By the flute player in the tower. That idiot accidentally played his signal. And Tengel the Evil invaded his body.”

Morahan let out a deep and sceptical sigh through his nose, but he himself had been up in the tower when it happened so he didn’t know what to believe. “Continue,” he said. “I’d like to know a little more about you. About the ones who have been exposed to his curse.”

“The stricken descendants,” Tova said, feeling somewhat pressured, “were bred from coldness and darkness. There were no good fairies sitting by their cradles. They were doomed to live a life outside of humanity. An ostracized group of witches and wizards. Then, some time in the sixteenth century, a stricken descendant was born who tried to turn the evil into goodness instead. For that reason, he was known as Tengel the Good, and we and all of humanity can thank him for the fact that things haven’t gone totally wrong yet. No, I know it sounds crazy, I can’t ...”

“No, go on, I’m listening!”

“That’s nice of you,” she said, laughing lightly in despair. “Well, in 1742 a girl in the family, Shira, managed to reach the source that contained the clear water of goodness. That water can dissolve the water of evil, and the five of us have brought some of what she collected in her jug with us up here. It’s a question of us getting there before Tengel the Evil does, because he won’t be able to regain his full power until he’s drunk from the water of evil again. Oh, there is so much more I could have told you about us, but that will have to do. I myself can hear how crazy it all sounds.”

“I’d like to hear the whole thing some other time, if I have time before I ... Ugh! Now I’m starting to talk nonsense. But Halkatla doesn’t resemble you.”

“No, she’s much prettier.”

“That’s not what I meant. There’s something strange and peculiar about her.”

Without batting an eyelid, Tova said: “Halkatla lived from 1370 to 1390.”

“Now you’re making fun of me,” said Morahan, offended.

“No, I’m not.”

He grew aggressive. “But what about Marco? I don’t get him at all.”

“Marco is half black angel.”

Morahan’s face had darkened. “And Rune, the strangest of them all?”

“Rune is the mandrake.”

“The mandrake?”

“Yes. The black angels gave him life.”

“Ugh,” said Morahan and turned to the wall.

Tova fought back her tears. “I told you you wouldn’t understand any of it. Why did you make me talk about it in the first place?”

“There’s a difference between talking and downright lying. I’ve been able to maintain my sanity over the last few days by telling myself that my illness has reached such a critical stage that it’s causing me to have hallucinations. And now you are saying that what I’ve been witnessing is true!”

He had strained himself once again. The awful cough was breaking down his body even more.

“Goddamn it!” Tova shrieked. “Did you really have to do that? How are we ever to get out of here? I can’t ride a motorbike and you can’t just lie here and die. I don’t want you to die, you prize idiot!”

Morahan couldn’t get a word out, all he could do was try to breathe. “My God,” Tova whimpered half hysterically. “Tengel the Good! Sol! Help! My protector Marco has abandoned me and so have Rune and Halkatla, and Morahan is coughing so much his lungs are practically dissolving. He’s going to die! And I don’t want that! I don’t, please help me!”

Morahan was getting dizzy from the strain of trying to breathe.

She’s summoning Tengel the Good, he thought, but everything seems so distant. Tengel the Good? He lived in the sixteenth century. My God, the girl actually believes what she’s told me!

Finally he got enough air into his lungs to be able to speak. “I’m not going to die. This is normal for me.”

But he knew he was lying. With each day that passed he was getting worse.

“Oh,” she sighed with relief. “Oh, thank goodness, I thought you were about to slip away from me.”

She stood looking down at him and her eyes were filled with such concern that it warmed Ian Morahan’s very soul. He went on lying on his back with his arms covering his face as he tried to recover after the last attack. This had been the most violent so far.

“You’re not going to die now,” Tova said in a gentle voice. “That’s what they said.”

“Who are ‘they’?” he asked hoarsely.

“Tengel and Sol.”

He looked up at her with impatience but she seemed serious and sincere. All at once Ian felt a sense of exhaustion seeping through his entire body, a sense of hopelessness.

Even though he would never have believed it, he whispered, “I’m scared, Tova.”

She immediately sat down next to him on the bed. “Of course you’re afraid. Anyone would be.”

He sensed the overwhelming spasms approaching again. He did everything he could to prevent them, but there was nothing he could do, he was completely and utterly at their mercy. “There are so many,” he stammered through his clattering teeth, “there are so many things I would like to have done ...”

Tova didn’t know what to do. She wanted so badly to console him, but that sort of thing didn’t come easily to her and she was certain that he would push her away. She, Tova, the foul witch, despised by everyone because of her grotesque appearance.

Shyly she extended her hand to him without having any real purpose for doing so.

But Morahan immediately took hold of it as though it was a drowning man’s last straw. Surprised, she moved even closer and lifted his head. He’s going to hit me now, she thought, but he didn’t. He didn’t seem to notice who she was.

Goodness, how he was shaking! His whole body shivered as if with a fever. Tova lost all her inhibitions and pulled him close to her, leaning him against her shoulder.

“There, there, there,” she said in a voice her family would never have recognized.

He let out some fearful gasps. Then he whispered, “I’m wandering all alone, Tova! I’m going to be forced to leave all the beautiful things I’ve only just discovered. All the little details in nature, in people’s changing expressions, in one’s own thoughts. The joys. Expectations. Sorrows. Disappointments. And I’ll have nothing that I can leave behind, not a trace. In just a few years I’ll be forgotten.”

“Not by me, Ian. Not by those of us who got to know you at this fateful hour for the world.”

It seemed as though he hadn’t heard her. “I won’t even be leaving a child in the world. Nothing to show that Ian Morahan existed. All traces swept away ...”

“It’s not too late yet.”

Oh, she hoped she didn’t sound as if she was begging him for something.

“No, it’s too late now, you know that perfectly well.”

Almost desperately she stroked his hair. “If only Marco ... You must hold out, Ian, until Marco is back to his old self again!”

Morahan, who had never allowed himself to cry before, let out a deep, painful sob. “I’m ruined, Tova! And it’s not just my lungs, everything inside me is deteriorating because of that damn asbestos. And nothing was done about it. The factory manager claimed that the doctor was trying to make them into scapegoats. All they cared about was the prestige. No one cared about me. Others have died there before me. And the doctor knew that. But no one wanted to listen ...”

Now he was crying hysterically, something that was definitely not good for him, but Tova couldn’t stop him. She felt a deep sense of sadness. But also something else. A quiet surprise that he had accepted her as someone he could confide in.

Oh, how well she understood his fear. And his sorrow. And he had been concealing all these things for far too long. It had to come out at some point. And now it had become her responsibility to make things as comfortable for him as possible.

With clumsy hands she caressed his cheek and held him close to her.

And to her surprise she was gripped by a feeling she never thought she would ever be capable of: tenderness for another person who wasn’t part of her immediate family!

Those members of the Ice People who were stricken didn’t normally have such feelings.