Elsbeth and Rav'n still sit on the block chatting and waiting for the others to return.
"But tell me - why have you embarked on this mission? Surely, your peoples’ ways will change as much as those of mine with this alliance of our bloodlines, and as one who cares for the old ways you must have thoughts on this and the consequences of reclaiming this lost kingdom?"
Elsbeth sighs, looking both younger and older at once. She plays idly with the mistletoe about her neck, not saying anything for a long moment.
"I've always been one to wander," she admits. "Even before my Father and eldest brothers were killed, I dreamed of far lands and such. When my Great Uncle called for me, I was not to be takin' such lightly. Too, the High Druid has his own reasons for wanting a girl like me out. Frankly, I'm happier for it."
She meets Ravn's gaze. "But I'm not like them, not like Callum even. Callum would have the old ways, himself drippin' in blood, callin' the war down upon him in his glory. My kin would have things grow for us, for my kind. The High Druid would have the influence of the land grow too, the ways of the gods and the land together and stronger.
"Meself, I'm a bit of all and none. Rolf forever reminds me of duty, my own remind me of loyalty. Then I be meetin' lads like Peter and Kerim and yourself, lasses like Madelyn and even the bird folk like Edgar. All so different. Am I to be the oak, standin' firm on the land, or the reed, one that bends and changes and evolves."
She brushes her hair from her face and sighs. "Am I makin' any sense to ye?"
Ravn's eyes take to the distance when the talk turns to trees.
"You speak of the oak and of oaks I know little, but of ash I know much and I will tell you the wisdom the Yggdrasil holds in this matter."
With his spear, he draws a treeish shape in the gravel, pointing at first to the roots and drawing mystic symbols as he speaks.
"The holy tree has three roots - one in each of the wells of essence that feed it sustenance. Among the roots dwell Nidhogg, the dragon of devouring who signifies that nothing is forever, there dwells Mimer, keeper of the fountain of wisdom, there dwell the fate weaving Norns, Urd of the past, Skuld of the present and Verdandi of the future, and below them lies the land of Hel, realm of the dead. These places are all worthy of a visit for the seeker of knowledge about the past and the future."
"From the roots the trunk stands mighty - within it dwell the crafting dwarves and their everburning forges, worthy, too, of a visit for the seeker of knowledge about the ingenius and mystical creations."
"From the trunk stretch the countless branches of the Yggdrasil, the lands of mortal beings such as mankind. The creaks in the bark is what we perceive as hills and valleys, the sea we just sailed but a mere drop of dew, and here and there the bones of Ymir, the giant from whose corpse the world was formed in the beginning of our time, protrude as mountains to our eyes. The seeker of knowledge about the present and he who seeks to influence the world of men must venture here."
"Far out on the branches, the leaves reach up into the heavenly skies and the realms of the giants. Some of the evil creatures have crossed the border and now inhabit the outermost leaves, and before Ragnarök the cold of the Fimbul winter will force them inwards to our lands, much like the creature you encountered on the coast before our first meeting. The giants possess much knowledge of the ungodly and are well worth a visit for the seeker of arcane knowledge."
"In the crown of the foilage lies Asgard, home to the Aesir and Aesynjar, the gods, and Vanaheim, home of the Vanir, their faerie cousins, accessible only by the Bifrost, the rainbow bridge where Heimdall stands vigil. There stands Valhalla, Odin's mighty hall where the fallen heroes gather in preparation for the final battle on the Ida plain at Ragnarök and there must, eventually, venture the seeker who has found."
The confused look on the druidess' face suggests that she fails to see the connection to the finer point he is trying to make. So do I, actually - Ravn, you're babbling! He returns both his visual and mental focus to the original topic of the conversation.
"But I digress - you ask me how you should be, the steady trunk or the bending branch. Well, consider this - when gale winds blow across the land, the tree yields to its power lest it break and fall under the force. Yet when fair winds return the tree stretches back into its original shape - the withered leaves and rotten branches may have broken off in the gale, but the trunk stands straight again, proudly guarding the roots it stems from and the land that bears it. New, fresher branches will grow and with the coming of spring new leaves will grow, too, but the trunk remains, ever stronger for having yet gain endured the winds of time. This holds true for ash AND oak."
Again, he looks thoughtfully in the direction of the others.
"Still, no wind, however strong, can change the nature of a tree - an ash does not become an oak by bending nor should it. They may grow in the same forest but you cannot change their nature. Nor should you."
A strange feeling comes over him, the uncertainty from his visit to the Court of Gods returning with chilling force.
"Since I came to these lands I have seen much fallen that I thought to be standing and I wonder - has Ragnarök come and gone? Are we now floating on a broken, charred branch toward an uncertain, new beginning? Is our purpose here to populate a new tree, neither ash nor oak but something else entirely?"
He studies the Celtess intensely, forebodings of ill tides and conflicts hitting him with fearful force.
"And if so, what will determine the nature of such a tree? Was it Odin's will, borne across the endless, voidless Ginnungagap from his slain corpse, that we compete with your people for a home on its branches? And must we, like the Aesir and the Vanir, now end our war by breeding together? Is it not we but our common children, fruit of the future, the ones who shall populate this new world? Has Örlog come full circle?"
He sighs deeply with the realization that these are questions to which only the Norns have the answer that Odin apparently sees fit to deny him.
*..sigh..*
Elsbeth herself sighs at Ravn's deep questions. **This one lies more in his thoughts than most,** she thinks to herself. Where Herloch had been much like Callum, a creature of his own tradition, Ravn was obviously more than that. His tradition was his life, and the changing of that tradition threatened all he knew.
Much as the slaughter of her family had threatened her...
"You be askin' many things," she ventures softly. "Though I know little of the Gods and Stories of your kind, I do know that change is upon us. When the hordes swept down upon us, change happened whether we wished it or not."
The druidess pauses. "Ye, and me own kin, they see change as something feared. They, because change might mean the loss of all they see they are. I think ye see it for the Gods have said it would be so, should ye be strayin' from what they desire.
"The Old Gods work different, I be thinkin'. We are bein' what we are, woman and man, livin' lives and bearin' children and tending to what we can. We're not gods ourselves, only servants gifted with what they give us to be workin' with. Where that path leads, I don't even think the Gods know. Ye can plant the tree, but how it grows nobody knows, even the tree itself."
She reaches a hand down to scratch Laddie's head. "I don't think Laddie knew that he'd be following a Lass such as me about. The hands of Gods may have put us in the same place at the same time, but only meself and him did make that work so that we sit here now. We both had tools, but the gods left it to us to use them."
Ravn studies the young woman with admiration and respect. Her ways may not be mine, but she believes in them and seeks understanding of them as much as I do mine.
"You speak wisely and with much insight. 'Tis true that changes are often feared, for there so many unanswered questions in what we already know that the questions brought on by the uncertainty of change may flood our cup of understanding. It soothes my anxieties, though, to learn that there among your people, too, wisdom to respect the Ways of Olde and not abandon them entirely."
"'Tis also true that the gods will have their way and that we are but instruments among their other instruments to shape our world to their liking, and seldom do we see what their liking be. So mere mortals, for lack of wise council, must do as they interpret the godly decrees and hope for the best. Yes, change is upon us and we must change with it."
"But you and I are more than mere mortals. We are seekers of the truth behind the gods' unclear messages, interpreters of the signs, and bearers of divine wisdom. It is to the likes of us that kings and emperors will turn for advice on how to follow the gods' bidding, and we should see the future as clear as the present. In this we are as cursed as we are blessed, for upon our unworthy shoulders rest the fates of thousands as much as upon the shoulders of the rulers that heed our interpretations."
"So let us now turn our attention to the tasks before us. Our joint sovereigns have charged us with this mission, to clear this island and prepare it for landnamma. How we may best advise Rolf in this matter, I think you agree, is to await the clearing of it and the knowledge it will bring before offering any advice - it is, as yet, still a strictly military exercise in which he is probably more proficient than we. So let us instead reflect upon the future whilst our companions map the present to uncover the past."
"What of the time to follow? Daring the assumption, if you'll follow my thought, that the gods will that we strive to join our cultures and strengthen that joint without losing our respective roots - how should we counsel?"
Elsbeth's eyes widen at Ravn's words. She kicks her feet in the dust, her hand still on Laddie's head, her eyes lowering as she considers her words.
"I've not even thought that far," she admits, shaking her head. "I'm but a Lass still, not as far up in the order as others. I've been flattered that those above think me worthy. I've been wonderin' meself oft. I fear my actions are more that of a girl going from place to place and less a seer such as y'self who thinks of such."
She sighs, her grey eyes meeting his. "'Tis a job of jugglin'. Jugglin' the needs of My Lord with the needs of the Great Druid with the needs of Rolf's Lord and the titles he's given me. Somewhere in the middle is the needs of Marva, known as Elsbeth among your kind."
Elsbeth smiles. "I'm not answerin' ye am I? Truth be told, I think the future is holdin' a crux, a time when we'll either fight among ourselves for this land or we'll band together against that which will destroy us. My thinkin' is that answers will be found in all, from traders to fighters, from Old Gods to those of your kind. Each will have a voice and in the end we'll all be separate and together, the old, the new and maybe somethin' different born of both, a people bred of your kind and mine. A new age, mayhap, ye think?"
Again, Ravn's features reflect the joy he takes in talking to this young but thoughtful woman.
"Ah, but surely you've answered and wisely, at that. We are both novices to concellorship and need drink more of Mimer's well of wisdom before we mature completely to such a role. Maybe that is why the gods have set us on this course.."
"As for the future, I hope it will be one of peace and kindredship between our peoples. The sagas say:
'Hardship is in this world
of whoredom much
axe times, murder times
cloven shields
windy times, wolf times'
- and I see and hear much of trollish presences, the breed of Loki and Surt abound, trollkind and giantkind, and we would be wise to unite against such powerful foes. Many a kingdom has fallen to internal strife and feuding, weakened and ripe when foreign raiders do appear, and ours should not follow suit for our diversity. Yet it is also true that sometimes brother will fight brother over things that strangers would deem insignificant - there is danger in both evenness and diversity, I think."
He lifts his gaze to the horizon, looking down along the pier and over the blue rim so far, far away, deep in thought and slightly embarassed at his loss for words to sustain the pleasant discussion.
Elsbeth nods her head. "Aye, much as ye and Rolf have been buttin' heads over things, or even you and I. I'm thinkin' I'm much different than the lasses in your land!" she adds with a laugh.
"Just remember that Rolf is a good man, a decent man. He's had to put up with worse from me than he's had to from you! And poor Madelyn- her faith an' her youth come together an' don't always be seein' eye to eye. And so it goes."
She stands, holding out her hand. "Shall we be seein' what they've found? At least the two of us have gotten somethin' done, don't you be thinkin'?"
No, not that different at all, my fair companion.. Ravn's thoughts go back to the sharptongued girls of his home, their taunts harsh enough to send any overly self-confident bragster running for the sanctuary of the longhall - only to be taunted there, as well, by the scornful wenches.
"A bridge of understanding is the best day's work for any man," he pauses with a smile to Elsbeth, "or woman, for that matter. But our vocal labor is not yet done, for the fruits of it has as yet been postponed by their nature to the far future. At present, we should speak of options."
His friendly features take an air of seriousness, or ra
"Any general must know of his troops' capabilities and I fear Rolf knows little of ours. Of this we can counsel him now and use that knowledge, if shared, in our deliberations on actions to take."
"I know it is hard to divulge the secrets that our teachers taught us, and harder still to find words in mortal's tongue to address them, but let me begin for I will dare it."
"Odin, the Grey Wanderer, grants me many divine favors, although I have still to learn many. These are the ones I know:"
He sits up, clears his throat and begins a rhythmic chant.
"These Songs I know
By Liege’s Wife unknown
Nor Kin of Man
Help is One’s Name
With it shall aid
‘Gainst Sick and Sorrow
And Illness all
This I know of Two
What any Man doth need
Who wills longer live
This I know of Three
If much I need
Mine Foes to halt
Mine Enemies’ Edges dull
Not aid them Arms nor Guile
This I know of Seven
That see I Hall doth stand
On Kindred Folk ablaze
Nay would it burn so wide
That Nothing I may salvage
This I know of Eight
Which for All would be
Of Use to know
Where Hate grows
Among Heroes’ Breed
I may it soon extinguish
This I know of Eleven
When to Battle I go
To lead old Friends
Under Shields I Crow
That in Force they Fare
Hard to Strife
Hard from Strife
Safe from every Harm
This I know of Fourteen
When I must in Meeting
Gods recount
Aesir and Alfar
I all well can tell
Which few unscholared dare."
"These seven runes I know but with every day my knowledge widens and my view clears. What of you, Elsbeth? Which powers have your gods bestowed upon you that you may speak openly about?"
Elsbeth sits again, thinking. "I've no fancy rhymes to speak of," she replies. "But my gifts are those of the land. I bond with those of nature." She pats Laddie's head, "and understand their speech, as needed. I feel the pains of the land and nature, and heal them as I can heal those on it. I will be able to assume their shapes and forms, as I am allowed. I finally can bond with the land, feeling its lust for blood as well as its need for peace. The Old Gods are of wind and earth, water and fire. I am of all and none, closer to those around me than those who speak to me."
As she finishes speaking, her eyes have a faraway look, her hair slightly wild about her, almost as if she is less of the world of man and of some race of the trees and fields...
Ravn's gaze has turned toward the horizon again.
"It is much as I feared - the threads of the divine defies the tongue's weave. Well, I suppose example shall present our capabilities soon enough and better still than words of the unspeakable."
He looks back at Elsbeth, smiling gently as he gets up from the stone block.
"It has been both a comfort and a pleasure sharing this time with you and hopefully we will spend more time together like this. As for the immediate perhaps we should, as you suggested, go see what progress our companions have made."