Halden Road - Northeastern Nornlands - Amunarr

2,728th Passing of the Ehwan Calendar

Solar Year 558,153 A.D.

The cart trundled down the road, hitting rocks at every turn, jolting the three Yuttle men out of their relaxed moods as they got closer to home. The scent of the horse, their unwashed bodies, and leftover fish guts followed the old cart, carried off with gusts of warm summer wind. Most wouldn't call two ruts in a grassy field a road, but the people of Halden did. 

Kifen raised an arm taking a quick wiff, letting out a sigh.

"Ma's gunna make us wash, int she." 

"I'd do the same in her place" Kynleiger said with a smile. "Who wants to clean a hall and cook a feast only to have folks smellin' like dog-ass at the table?"

The boys let out a snorting laugh and Kynleiger's smile widened.

"Pass me the pipe there Sun." He said pointing to a cracked leather pack resting in the back of the wagon.

Suntear rummaged through the pack and found the wooden box his father kept his pipe and stink weed in. It had the world tree carved in an intricate round sigil. Atop the tree Valfnirs eagle wings were spread wide, his eyes peering upward at the uncarved, unseen, and unnamed cosmic bird his father loved to speak of in stories.

"Thank you Sun. Take these."

He handed him Holsta's reins. Suntear watched, one eye on the road, the other in the box as his father opened it with a gentle ceremonial air. He pulled off some of the green dried stink leaf and packed it into his long wooden pipe. The figures carved on the pipe were of Odin, Villi, and Ve, swords held high in a charging attack. The bowl at the end was of the first giant, Yimir, bloodied and missing the top of his head. Picking apart the leaf, Kynleiger jammed it into Yimirs dead skull. With a word and flick of his fingers the golden lights in his channels surged and his finger caught fire.

He puffed and flicked the fire out with a practiced grace. The cart suddenly hit a rock and jolted sharply. The wooden smoke box toppled to the floor of the cart.

"Thor strike you boy! Clean it up." He jerked the reins from Suntears hands and Suntear got to his knees, picking up the pieces of dried flower.

"Hey dah?"

"Yeah?"

"When can I try some?"

"Try someh what?" Kynleiger said, Loki's own smile crossing his face as he took a pull of his pipe.

"You know…"

"Kif, a boy talks round things. A Shaman needs know when to speak plain and when to slide round with his words. Out with it."

"When can I try some stink leaf?" 

"When you're well into your training and have shown you can handle your own." Kifen dropped his head a bit.

"Well when's that?"

"When I know, I'll tell you. Till then you stay out of it you hear?"

"Yesser." Kifen said, shoulders drooping.

Suntear placed the smoke box next to his father on the wagon seat and sat back on the grain sack he'd been using as a seat in the back of the wagon. There was only room for two up front, being the youngest he was given the back of the wagon. That was fine by him, more room to work with his parchment sketching maps of the area as they rode. Kynleiger was aimlessly peering up at the clouds, some ravens called out from a tree nearby, splitting the silence with three quick calls. Suntear could see a pair of ravens in the air circling about. His father seemed to be watching them, scrutinizing them.

"What's the names of Odin's two ravens?" Kynleiger asked.

Suntear knew the question wasn't meant for him, though he knew the answer before the question was done. Odin was one of his favorite Gods, and Odin's stories were some of the best. But the question was for the Shaman to be. The question was for Kifen. Kifen hesitated, scratching his head. 

"Weren't they Hugo and somethin?"

Kynleiger's eyes turned daggers at Kifen who pulled in on himself, his face turning red.

"Come on Kifen, you can do better than that."

"What do names matter anyway? They're just a couple of birds."

Kynleiger shook his head, almost reddening his own face in shame.

"Boy… names have deep meanings in the world. Knowing names gives you knowledge of a thing, they are the house that hold the secrets that are part of the shamans trade. You'll need them more than you know."

Kifen crossed his arms with a sour look on his face.

"Suntear, what are their names?"

Suntear jumped, startled to be called on when he was happy just listening to the two. He looked from Kifen to his father, wondering if he should shame his brother. But his father had asked so.

"Huginn, and Muninn. They carry news to Odin from their travels around Amidgard. Huginn deals with Thoughts, Muninn with Memories."

Kynleiger raised a brow, eyeing his son. 

"Nice to see someone can listen." He said taking another puff.

"I listen pa, I'm just tired is all. I knew their names."

"Really? Well then listen here. Bein a shaman, caring for your clan and village, it ain't about pretending to know what you don't. Nothing wrong with being dumb when ye are, it's how we all learn. Lyin to yourself, or others bout your knowledge, now that's a good way to get someone hurt, or get yourself run outta town."

Kifens face reddened even more. His crossed arms were turning white from his tight squeeze. He turned and glared at Suntear. Suntear saw but kept his head down. His older brother still had four passings and about six inches on him. Suntear was quicker but he could only outrun him for so long. Eventually he'd have to sleep down the hall from his brother, and Suntear didn't want to give him reasons to visit while he slept.

Kynleiger held his pipe sideways so both the boys could see it.

"Who're these then?" He said, meaning the carved figures on the side of the ornate pipe.

"Well that's Odin and his brothers." Kifen said eagerly.

"And the brothers' names?"

Kifen racked his brain for a moment and sighed in defeat.

"I remember they both start with 'V', and they helped kill their grandpa." 

"Well that's a bit better. Suntear?"

"Villi, and Veh. And that's Yimir, or what's left of him, he's the father of all Giants and Gods."

"Ah good, good." Kynliger said, nodding and taking another puff. 

"Now Suntear, since you seem to listen so well, tell me, why did they kill Yimir?"

Suntear furrowed his brow trying to puzzle it out. He knew what his father had told them, but it didn't feel right, not exactly. He'd said Yimir needed to be slain to make the world, so that humans could be made and have Amidgard to live in. Odin, Villi, and Veh knew this so they slew him to make the world.

"Because they thought they had to. To make Amidgard. To make a place for us."

"So it was because Huginn told him to then? They thought they had to? So they did it?" Kynleiger said, emphasizing the word thought just as Suntear had.

"Ummm, I don't know, when did Huginn meet Odin?" Suntear asked, truly wondering.

"Hmmm, that's a good question. You know for a blacksmith to be, you really make me ponder the Gods sometimes."

Suntear smiled at the compliment, though not at the reminder that he was to start training with Master Yarin in a few days' time. He didn't want to work metal, or choke on smoke. He wanted to see the world, map it, see all the edges of the Gap. His father had laughed when he'd told him.

"A mapmaker?!? What good is a mapmaker to the clan and village? No, we're in dire need of a smith, and a smith you will be."

That had been that. Suntear would try and listen but everything told him he needed to go out and see the world. He covered the walls of his room with maps he'd copied from traveling books found in the runkeepers bookshop. At least he could use the funds he raised working with Master Yarin to actually purchase some of the better traveling journals. Rather than just trying to copy the maps he'd seen from memory.

Suntear’s homespun clothes and black braided hair were filthy from their week at the river. His mother was going to hide him for dirtying the ornate shirt she'd hand stitched with branches and roots on the cuffs. His mother said they were the roots and branches of the Worlds Tree, Yiggdrasil. Suntear wasn't old enough to care and wouldn't mind washing them himself, or the beating. The fun and stories had made the mess worth any punishment.

Suntear pulled out the map he'd been sketching of the river and ol' Halden road. There was a large tree that had grown wide in the middle of one of the many grassy fields they'd passed. He'd seen a few ravens roosting in it and decided to add it as a landmark. He listened to his father and Kifen quizzing back and forth. Every now and then answering a question when his father asked.

Suntear was often left alone by his parents. Kifen was the first born, the shaman to be. It suited him just fine. Suntear could easily get away with mischief. Sneaking off in the dead of night to explore the woods. Shirking his chores to draw maps of the forest. Or even daring to walk near the dark Gap of the world when he sought to prove his courage to his brother. Now that he thought of it, when he did approach the Gap Kifen only ever sat back, making excuses for why he'd not come closer. He'd approached a few times, but not nearly as often as Suntear.

As they rode along Kynleiger began to sing Maiden's Cracked Shield. The boys joined in and Suntear even put his map away to join in.

(song Lyrics PH)

Nearing the end of the song the cart came rolling into the village. A few folks poked their heads from their houses to wave and even sang along a time or two.

Kynleiger reined Halsta to a stop outside the moss covered Council Hall in the village square. It was rumored to be one of the oldest buildings in all of Halden. It had been rebuilt a handful of times since the founding of Halden some 200 years ago according to Kynleiger. 

Kynleiger cleared his throat before hocking spit into the dirt. Then looked to his two boys.

"I have some council business to attend to. Be ready to leave before nightfall or you'll be washing Halsta well into the night."

He looked pointedly at Suntear who hadn't looked up. He was still deep into the work of his map. Kynleiger raised his voice slightly.

"Have I made myself plain?" 

Suntear looked up from his parchment only to nod in assent. Kynleiger turned, heading off to the Council Hall. As soon as he was out of earshot Kifen rounded on his brother, socking him in the arm.

"Why you gotta make me look a fool like that! How'll I ever be Shaman if ya keep outshinin me in front of Dah?"

"He asked me a question, I answered." Suntear massaged his arm.

"Use somma your listenin and make sure you're back fore night. I don't wanna go huntin for ya again."

"I listened; be back before nightfall, counsel nonsense."

"He said counsel business, not-"

Suntear cut him off abruptly, anger, his boiling over.

"Business, nonsense, it's the same. A bunch of bristly old boars rooting out small troubles in the backwoods from nowhere. The Skalds don't tell heroic tales of Lough, the Makers, the shapers of the world. Bout warriors from the Nordland Wars. Not of councils or village shamans. " 

Suntear’s eyes gleamed as he spoke. Kifen just shook his head.

"Them bristly boars keep us safe n build up our village. I for one'm gunna see if I can sit in with them." 

Kifen punched Suntear in the arm again, harder this time. It stung worse than before and he sucked through his teeth in pain.

"Fine by me." Suntear said hopping off the wagon and sprinting off toward the open field behind the butcher's. Kifen watched him leave shaking his head.

The light flies were already starting to buzz, hovering low over the tall grass like swirling fire embers fading in and out as they went. Suntear once heard a Skald in the Inn telling stories of Lough's childhood. He would go out catching biteflies with his bare hands. The Skald had said it was a practice which served him well when he took up a sword and fought in the Kahlist wars.

Bounding through the hip high grass he chased the bugs as they flickered and zipped wildly. The harder he tried to catch them the faster they flew. The light fly he was chasing zipped over a small boulder, he vaulted after it and nearly stepped on a girl with dark brown skin and blonde hair nearly to her waist.

"You nearly crushed me!" She said.

She wore her long blonde hair tied into three braids, two larger on her left and right sides with a small third in-between that trailed down her back. Her eyes shone ethereal gold and her skin was soft ebony, her face was all covered in black freckles especially round the cheeks. She furrowed her brow in anger at him slamming a large book shut, holding it to her chest as she stood.

“Teh Noot! Is that you?" she swore, wrinkling her face at the stench of fish.

Suntear would have blushed if he weren't so startled to see the girl, his mother had scolded him many times on how to treat a girl who will one day carry her own spear and shield. But Suntear had never seen a girl with hair so bright, or skin so dark, and her eyes reminded him of the golden light of the sun as it set behind the dancing shadow flames of the Gap. Suntear had never seen a girl like her.

"What are you?" Suntear said with no thought at all. Shock and dismay filled Adina's face as Suntear began to sputter an apology. "Oh I mean who are you. I'm so sorry. I-" some of what Adina had said finally made its way from Suntears ears to his thoughts and he lifted an arm, smelling himself.

The week-long trip with nothing but sleep and river swims to wash him had left its mark. Not to mention sitting in the wagon with the leftover fish all day in the baking sun and road dust.

"I'm Adina," She said with a disgusted look on her face "my father just moved us here, he's a tinker by trade and we just opened our shop here in Halden."

Suntear scooted back up onto the rock hugging his knees and resting his chin on them. Partly to mask the smell, partly from the embarrassment that was slowly creeping redness into his face. He remembered his father saying something about a new Tinker moving into the village, but he hadn't said they were Ehwa. He sat there quietly thinking for a moment as the light flies swirled about them. Adina sat there glaring at Suntear expectantly.

"Sorry, I am Suntear, son to the Shaman." He said. Adina tightened her grip on the book she’d been reading. "My apologies for stumbling into you, I didn't see you behind the rock."

"You're forgiven." She said taking a step back as if wanting to leave. Suntear glanced at the book inquisitively. The cover had Ehwa Heiroglyphs across the top and a picture of a Ehwa man with the head of a bird, the sun resting atop and ornate headdress. Suntear had heard of the Ehwa beliefs. Gods that with the heads of animals and other such nonsense. His father only ever brought them up to mock the idiocy of the Ehwa.

"What're you reading?" He asked. Relaxing she sat back down crossed legged, opening the large tome onto her lap. The page she opened had more of the old Ehwa’s language that used drawings instead of proper runes. Animals and water and people in strange poses. It always seemed childish to Suntear compared to the Nordic Runes his father had taught him to read. But the picture of swirling blackness as well as his recent embarrassment had him too nervous to comment on the strange text.

"This is the book of the Gods," she said, as if it was plain as the sky being blue or a stone being hard, she saw the lost look on Suntears face and continued; " it's the ancient written accounts of the first children when they walked with the Gods."

Suntear had heard of the first children, the stories of the first children walking with Thor and Odin were some of his favorites. When the Gods formed the first humans they spent time teaching, training, and raising them until the Gods left man to fend for themselves and leaving on the bifrost back to Valhalla to feast and battle with the dead until Ragnarok. He'd never heard of written accounts of those days though, only the stories his father told him.

"What does it say of the Frost Giants?" Suntear asked. The girl looked back at him her brow furrowing.

“The what?”

“The Frost Giants!?” He said standing up and gesturing with his hand at the height. She shook her head in bewilderment. “Come now everyone knows of the frost giants. Children of Yimir whos body was shaped into the world. Giants of ice and death who pillaged the land until Thor drove them back to Nifelheim.”

“Oh, Nord fables!” She said as realization dawned. “No my father told me to stay away from the Nord tales. Too much drunkenness and brutality and vicious gods that don’t care for the people they supposidly made. Plus the stories aren’t even written down, how can you trust the words passed from one person to another over the thousands of years since Ra pulled the world from the Nu.” Suntears face turned to anger as she went on.

“Like an Ehwa would even know, he probably doesn’t even know the right stories. Odin sacrificed his grandfather to make the world for use what did your Gods do?” He asked heatedly.

She turned up a smile and climbed onto the rock next to him, opening the book to him.

“Look here, this shows Ra forming the world from the Nu.”

The page showed a swirling blackness with wavey lines.

“Whats the Nu?” He asked nostrils still flaring.

“The Nu is the chaotic waters before all things.

“Everything started out as water?” he said a puzzled look on his face. 

“Yes, the chaotic waters from which all forms came into being.”

“What's with you Ehwa and water." Said Sun with a haughty air to his voice. "Everyone knows that Ordin shaped Amidgard from the body of Yimir, the first frost giant. It's the blood of Yimr that made the waters, everything didn’t come from water. Water is just… Water.” He finished lamely.

"You short haired fool, you probably can't even read, let alone know the ways of creation." She said her face tight with anger.

"What does my hair have to do with it?" He said

"Everyone knows that short hair keeps the gods from blessing you with wisdom and strength. It is through our hair that we receive the blessings of Ra." She said

"Are you calling me weak?" He said, his face reddening again. 

"No I'm calling you short haired, it's your lack of blessings that make you weak." She giggled and nudged him with her shoulder.

She looked back to her book turning the page. The picture was of a man standing tall and straight back in the traditional style of Ehwa Hieroglyphs, he was surrounded by the waters of the Nu. All Ehwa drawings had a one sided depiction that her people used in writing as well. The man had a set of massive wings and was illuminating the dark waters around him. On his head was a golden headdress and a glowing sun that hung from it resting on his forehead. Even through his anger at mocking the stories his father told him he couldn’t help but be curious about the drawings.

"Who's that?" Sun said.

"That is Atum he created himself out of the Nu by speaking his name." Adina said.

"That's it?" Sun said incredulously "he spoke his name and created himself?"

"Do you have a better way?" She asked, using a phrase that was often spoken to her by her father, especially when she was acting wanton.

"Of course, by being born just like Odin was." He said, as if the answer was obvious.

“Well then how was Odins parents born?” 

“Well Bestla was the daughter of Yimir born in a fever dream, and Bur was licked free of a block of ice by the massive cow Adhumla.” Again with a tone as if she were dumb.

This boy frustrated Adina. He had such a simple way of thinking and his Gods were so strange to her. Making the world out of a Giants corpse. An eternal war for Glory and Honor in a feast hall in the sky. They didn't even tailor their hair to discern their slaves from their leaders who are descendants of the divine. They are so savage her fathers harsh words were starting to make sense.

“Well then Yimir must have been born somehow? How was he born?” 

“He was formed from the union of heat from Muspellheim and Ice from Nifelheim.”

“So then how were they born?” she said growing frustrated. Suntear let out a laugh that turned Adina’s cheeks red. “Whats so funny!?”

“Muspellheim is the land of fire to the north of the Gap, its where the hot weather and the light of the Sun that Sol carries comes from. Nifelheim is the land of ice and cold winds where the Frost Giants were banished to by Thor.”

“I don’t much like being Mocked Suntear with short hair.” she said. Adina closed the book and got up to leave.

“No, look, I am sorry, your pretty book is interesting. I am sorry please come back.” Adina stopped and looked at him with anger in her golden eyes.

“Will you let me read then without interruption?” 

“Yes, please read. I will be quiet.” 

Suntear quite liked the pictures in the tome, he’d never seen anything like them and he would rather stick hi hand in the Gap than miss the chance to hear a new story. Adina walked back over in a huff and sat down on the rock, further away this time. She opened to the page showing the black swirling waters.

“Before time or form the cosmos was and endless sea of churning dark water. The Nuun, where all forms of what could be were hidden from creation.

From the ever churning chaos came the great serpent Apep. Apep was being and non-being at once and from this conflict within Atum was born."

Suntear listened excitedly, the snake Apep reminded him of the world serpent Jormungunder. Who encircled the roots of the world tree endlessly devouring himself. The page of the tome showed a wriggling serpent pulling in on itself in tight knots and curls. The next showed a golden man drawn side on so only one half of his face could be seen. He had that strange eye symbol on his forehead and a winged crown besides.

"One become being, the other non-being. Apep now shattered from his perfect wholeness sought to consume Atum and return to the oneness. Atum being creation, being existence incarnate struggled for his freedom. He changed and morphed into the living God, the Sun beetle and in doing so escaped the clutches of Apep. With the birth of the sun light filled the Nuun and drove Apep to the dark depths where he still sleeps to this day."

The next page of the book showed the golden outline of the man and a winged beetle clutching the Sun in outstretched legs. The picture was stunning to Suntear he'd never seen so much detail and intricate work put into paper and books. Most of the Nordic texts were all runic passages telling the stories of their ancestors and the Gods. Stories that until the last three-hundred passings had only ever been spoken. It wasn't until the Nornic expansion that the texts were written down to help hold the truth and meaning of the stories over such great distances.

Atum raises the first land from the Nuun. From his breath of life he forms the first brother sister pair of Shu, God of air, and Tefnut, the Goddess of water. The two together created Geb, God of the earth, and Nut Goddess of the sky. 

(Need to fill in more of the creation story here)

Suntear looked up from the book. It was growing hard to read as the sun slipped behind the treelines to the west. His heart jumped into his throat as the words of his father came back to him.

He scrambled to his fret hastily and brushed off the grass that clung to his pants. 

"I am sorry," he said looking toward the setting sun and back toward the village. Many of the windows of the village flickered with the light of candles and fires. "I must return to my father before the sun is gone or he'll tan my hide."

"Yes, my father will be wondering after me as well. I bet you I can beat you to the square!" She said excitedly.

"What? You can't beat me, even if you were't holding that fat book." Suntear said motioning toward the thick tome of pictures sitting open on the ground.

She picked up the book and tucked it tightly under her arm. Then looked at him dead on the eye. 

"Oh yeah?" She said, shoving him softly. He was caught so off guard he barely braces himself as he tumbled over the knee high stone and into the tall grass on the other side. He looked up to see her golden braids bouncing away through the grassy field. Light flies parting as she went like swirling golden waves.