My soul left my body, "So you mean… you're FIF-TEE THOU-SAND years old?"
The troll king nodded patiently. "Yes."
We just stared at each other. Wind howling. Me? I was frozen like an idiot then I sneezed and sneezed again aggressively. "Wow. That's… very old. Like 'your bones have arthritis' old."
The Troll King LAUGHED. A massive, mountain-shaking, glacier-cracking laugh that probably made three avalanches happen in other countries. Behind him, his wife and their kid peeked out—big, wide eyes, tusks, ancient scars, frost hair like icicles.
"Wait, I felt like the rift was moving. Am I the only one feeling that?"
Then the wife cleared her throat and said gently, "You felt the rift moving because this entire iceberg… is inside the body of a giant whale."
I blinked. Then blinked again. "This—this HUGE ICEBERG—Is a WHALE?!"
"Yes," the Troll King confirmed.
