[Event 2] 900 - Lukas sat by a fire, cooking some fish that he had caught while Iceland was taking a nap. He hoped that the child had calmed
down...
stirred from the smell of food. It had been a while since she'd had something decently cooked. With all of her blankets still pooled around
her body she shuffled towards the source of the smell. She didn't pull the blankets back from over her face, and refused to look at the
sister imposter.
impostor.*
glances over at her. "I made lunch..." It looked like she was still being grumpy...
"Where's my sister?" She stared at the food, and the fire… anywhere but at him.
sighs. "Please, Ísland, I don't know... we don't have a sister..."
"Liar!" She pouted and faced the opposite direction dramatically, oblivious to almost pushing the edge of her blankets in to the fire.
quickly leans over and slides the blanket away from the fire. "I don't lie."
"Then where's my sister?" She asked firmly. He was obviously lying if he said she didn't exist.
sighs. "We don't have one.... I would like to have a sister as much as you but we don't have one..."
shakes her head and sits down, wiggling her toes in the air. "Nei. Idun is my sister, and you're her impostor."
raises an eyebrow. "Idun? I don't know of anyone with that name... My name is Lukas..."
"Lukas? I don't know anyone with that name."
frowns. "But we are brothers..."
"I'm not a boy." She crinkled her nose up and shook her head. He obviously had no idea who she, or her sister, were.
stares at her. This was his brother, right? It had to be.... "You aren't...?"
started to lift up her skirt up as though to prove her point and make sure. Unless her concept of genders was wrong she was fairly certain
that she was a girl…
frowns and puts his hands on her hands to keep her from doing so. He would believe her. "But... you are Ísland, ja? "
nodded. "Idun said so." She wasn't quite sure what it meant though.
"Was Idun Norge?"
nods again.
frowns. "I am Norge..."
shakes her head. "No you're not."
nods. "I am."
shakes her head again and frowns.
"If I am not Norge then you aren't Ísland..."
frowned. "I am, too."
"Then I am Norge."
"Then where's my sister?"
shakes his head. "I don't know. Do you know where my brother is?"
shrugged. "Idun knows everything, so you're obviously not the real Norge."
stares at her. Maybe the faeries were playing a trick on him... "I am the real Norge. Both Idun and I are."
Thora
was
very confused by this.
frowns. Maybe he came up with something that sounded plausible... "There are two Norges and two Íslands..."
"I'm the only Ísland." She said with a frown. There were few enough people here that she is pretty sure she would have noticed another one.
sighs. "Well, there are two Norges..."
nodded slowly, still not trusting him fully. "So you're my brother?"
nods. "Ja, I am your brother. Idun had me come take care of you. She is very busy."
eyes him warily. Why didn't he say that to begin with. "Why did you say I didn't have a sister then?"
frowns. "I didn't want you to worry about her..."
"What happened to her?!" She feels somewhat panicked now.
blinks a little before hugging. "Nothing..."
"You're lying! What happened to her?"
shakes his head. "Nothing happened to her."
"Then why did you say that?"
sighs. "Because I thought you would worry about things that did not happen."
Thora
is
worrying more now because of that. "I'm Thora… Are you really my brother?"
nods. "I really am your brother."
nods slowly before smiling. She liked having more siblings!
glances at her and smiles when he sees her smile. "Now let's eat, ja?"
nodded excitedly. She wasn't very good of a cook, so she always looked forward to Norge cooking for her.
turns back to the fire and pulls the fish he cooked away, setting it on a plate and passing it to her.
takes it eagerly and hurriedly stuffs it in to her mouth like someone that hasn't eaten in months. It kind of burned, but tasted *so* good.
laughs faintly as he watched her. He starts to eat his own fish more slowly.
finished eating much too soon, a few remnants of the meal smeared over her puffy cheeks. She stared at her 'brother' and watched him eat.
glances at her with a small smile on his face. Sure, she wasn't his brother but she still seemed cute.
Thora
wonders
if he is going to eat all of his food. She was still hungry.
pauses before holding out the rest of his food to her.
takes it without hesitation and eats it happily.
watches, glad that she seems to like it. He always worries about his brother not getting enough food.
Thora
thinks
his brother is probably dead since she's never met him. But she appreciates the food!
doesn't think he is...
doesn't think he could survive out in the wilderness alone here; it wasn't very forgiving.
Lukas
thinks
that if she could, his brother could.
probably would have died if not for Norge showing up with her settlers. Those celtic guys were kind of weird and wussy.
knows and tries to send them as much as he can.
"How was the ocean? Did you have a good trip?" She wiped her face off with her sleeve and all but climbed in to his lap with her blankets.
smiles at this and hugs her close. "It was a good trip. It is long but it was worth it to meet you."
"Did you kill any whales? Or sharks? Or see any fairies? Or elves? Or maybe a giant evil bird tried to sink your ship!" Her eyes were wide
with excitement as she waited for the tale of his trip over.
laughs and shakes his head slightly. "Nei... I only saw a few faeries, but I see them often..."
pouts. She wanted a better story than that.
isn't very good at telling stories. Instead, he opens up a bag he had carried and out flies a faerie. Maybe she could see them...
gasps and claps her hands excitedly as she giggles. She had elves and trolls here, but nothing as cute as fairies!
smiles. The faerie notices the girl and flies over to sit on her shoulder.
pets the fairy a bit too eagerly. She wanted fairies to play with here!
The faerie blinks and pouts at the petting. Lukas laughs faintly. "Be careful with her..."
nodded quickly and picked up the fairy and holding her in front of her face. "She's so pretty!"
The faerie glowers at her, not liking being handled like this. Lukas nods. "She doesn't really like to be touched, though."
pouted, her lower lip quivering as she looked at the fairy. "But I want to play with her."
nods. "You just have to be really gentle, okay?" The faerie didn't like seeing the little girl pout and tried to fly back to her shoulder.
frowned and nodded, looking up at Lukas with watery eyes. "Can I be a fairy too? Then I could play in the woods with the fairies and elves_
all day!" Not that she didn't play with the elves in the woods all day as it was.
smiles and shakes his head a little. "Nei, you have to be who you are right now so that you can be a good sister." The faerie starts to
braid Thora's hair.
giggles as the fairy braids her hair. "Why can't I be a good sister *and* a fairy?!
laughs faintly. "Because then you couldn't eat the fish I cook..."
frowns. That was a good point; She did like his fish. "What do fairies eat?"
glances at the faerie. "Nuts and berries."
"I like nuts and berries!"
nods. "I'm sure you do, but you like fish too, ja?"
nods happily. "There's not a lot of berries here, but fish are good! So are the goats and cows Norge brought me!"
"See? So you would have a hard time being a faerie as there aren't many berries." The faerie glanced at him as if asking if there were_
enough berries for her. "You'd have to argue with her about them."
"Then I could just go visit you and get more!" It was perfectly logical. "There are a lot of berries where you're from! Right?"
laughs and nods a little. "But you have to stay here."
pouts. "Why?" She didn't have fairies here; or very nice weather most of the time. And the men here were boring.
ruffles her hair, angering the faerie who had to restart a braid. "For the same reason that Idun and I can't stay here. You just have to."
thought that it was a stupid reason. "But I don't *want* to stay here. I want to go home with you and Idun!"
frowns. "I'm sorry... I wish that you could come with me... but there are mean people near where I live."
blinked at him. "Mean people?" Surely he and her sister could kill any mean people that got in their way!
nods. "Even though I know I could protect you, I don't even want to think of you being in the slightest bit of danger..."
nods and pouts with disappointment. She didn't know much about Europe, or sailing, but it was much more exciting than sitting on an island
in the middle of no where.
doesn't know what he'd do if she got hurt or kidnapped. He ruffles her hair again, earning an angry noise from the faerie.
"Stop ruffling my hair!" She made an exasperated noise and crinkled her nose. It made her feel like a baby when he did that.
laughs and pats her shoulder instead. "Okay."
"Tell me about your ship! Did you kill any big towns? Steal any cool stuff?"
shakes his head. "Nei... we caught some fish, though."
Thora
gives
him her best scowl. That was not what she wanted to hear at all. Maybe the fairy could give her better stories… but she didn't want to grab
the fairy since Lukas said she didn't like that, and she also didn't know how to talk to her… so much for that plan.
blinks a little. "You don't like fish?"
"I do." She frowned. She just liked stories about battles, and excitement more than fish.
"Well we found a giant fish..."
"Was it bigger than a whale?!" That would be an interesting story to hear!
pauses before shaking his head a little. "Nei..."
frowns again. This story wasn't as fun anymore.
tries to think of something to make her smile again. "Maybe we can have that fish tomorrow."
Thora
is
not pleased by this suggestion and folds her arms over her chest. "My sister tells better stories than you do. You're boring."
frowns. "You want me to tell you a story?"
rolls her eyes. What else would she want from him?
sighs. It would be hard to think of one he could tell a little girl. "What kind of story?"
doesn't want him to think of her as a little girl! She could handle it! "One with lots of blood! And war! And pillaging!"
stares at her. "How about faeries? Faeries are nice..."
groans. "Do fairies chop people up and steal their stuff?"
shakes his head slowly.
pouts. She wanted to hear about viking battles! Not fairies prancing through the woods… not that she minded those stories; they were nice,
too… but she didn't want that right now!
didn't really want to talk about viking battles....
starts to wiggle off of his lap. If he wouldn't tell her viking stories what good was he?
frowns again. "I'm sorry..."
"Idun tells me about vikings!"
"She does?"
nods with a pout.
sighs. "I'm not good at telling stories..."
"Why not?" She tries not to look too excited as she practically jumps back on to his lap.
shrugs. "I'm just not."
bounces and claps her hands. "I think you'll do fine!"
laughs faintly. "I don't know about that..."
"Pleeeaaaaasssseeeee?"
sighs. "I can try..."
bounces more excitedly. The fairy in her hair probably wasn't very happy with her, but that didn't matter! She was getting a story!
tries to think of a story he could tell that wasn't too violent. The faerie hold on tightly to her hair, scowling.
preferred the violent ones. The bloodier the better!!
wasn't about to tell her a bloody story.
"Have you attacked Britannia lately or explored any new towns, killing everything in your path!"
shakes his head. "I don't like to pick on kids..."
sighs loudly and begins to worry that his story might be boring.
had given no sign before that it would be anything but boring.
doesn't think he's given any sign to show that it would be good either; and he was taking *sooo* long.
just wants to make sure he had a decent story to tell...
"If you don't want to tell me a story, I can ask your men~" Idun's men always told much more colorful stories than she did.
sighs. "Fine, I've got one."
beams at him excitedly.
"There was once a ship of very brave vikings. They sailed to all kinds of new lands. This day, however, they were sailing to an island_
where there was a small fishing village. They were giving passage to a villager there who had gotten lost at sea."
watches him eagerly, waiting for the good part of the story where they stole stuff and attacked the villagers.
"They reached the island one morning and docked their ship. The fisherman disembarked first, wanting to hurry home to his family. The crew_
left next. One man felt an odd feeling, as if he was being watched, but he brushed it off. However, they all noticed the fisherman running_
back towards them, yelling. All of the villagers were missing. Things in the houses were still there and it looked as if it had been a_
normal day if there had been people there."
"What then?" She asked him eagerly, snuggling in closer to him with a slight fear for what was to come. Not that she'd admit it.
"The vikings looked around the village but found no sign of where the villagers had gone or what had even happened to them. They decided_
that it would be safe to stay the night as they had to reload their ship before they could leave. The sailors stayed away from the forest_
surrounding the town on three sides. There was something about it that seemed... different."
"Were there monsters? Or Franks? Or *worse*, Danes?!"
sighs. "Just be patient, you'll find out."
Thora
is
being as patient as she can be!
"Anyways, the day passed quickly and the vikings settled in to sleep in the main hall. At any given time there were two guards keeping watch
Nothing out of the ordinary had happened."
nods silently and waits patiently by bouncing on his lap.
"At dawn, the vikings gathered and realized that the youngest one was missing. No one had any idea of where he had gone."
"How young was he?"
shrugs. "I don't know..."
frowns, but continues to wait for the story to continue.
"They searched everywhere thought he could have gone. The only clue they had was that he was on watch at dawn."
frowns; why would they make the youngest person keep watch at dawn? But she kept her mouth shut and waited.
"The vikings were very concerned about him but no one had any idea where he could have gone except the forest, which none of them were too_
eager to search. One viking suggested burning it down but another pointed out that it would just burn whoever was in there as well. So the
vikings simply set about preparing their boat for an earlier launch."
gasps. "THEY LEFT HIM THERE?!"
blinks a little in surprise. "Ja...?"
"Why?! What happened to him?!"
"They don't know yet."
groans. "What happens next? Hurry up!!" She was getting impatient.
sighs. "Well, their boat had sprung a leak overnight so they had to stay another night while they fixed it back up. They kept watch again."
nods with wide eyes. Surely the good part with blood was coming up now!
"No one noticed anything unusual this night either but another viking went missing."
pulls her blanket tightly around herself and curls up closer to him.
holds her close. "Everyone searched for him but there was no clue as to where he had gone."
watches his face with avid interest, wishing he would hurry up and get to the point!
might be stalling for time since he didn't know where he was going... "So they set to work trying to leave as soon as possible. They didn't
want to stick around."
Thora
thinks
that was why he should have told her a story about his real adventures. "They just abandoned him there?!" She cried out fearfully.
didn't want to talk about his real ones. "They couldn't find him..."
Thora
likes
the real stories! She pouts. "What happened?!"
sighs. "They kept getting ready to leave until they noticed that as time passed, more and more of them were disappearing."
nods excitedly, certain that the part with blood and carnage was coming up.