Private Tales Judge For Mercy

[Kehlani Emerson]

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*Aboard a Nordenfiir Ship*

The waves were calm, lapping up against the side of the Nordenfiir ship trying to hug tightly only to be pulled away again. A dark cloaked figure watch as the small ripples in the water would lap up again and again. As the waves were calming, so was the nightly silence. No one to tell the womanly shaped figure what to do or where to go, just her traveling across the seas on a mission of some sort. The woman would inhale and exhale deeply as she let the cold wind snip at her face, another thing produce by the earth that held such calmness.

Upon the woman experiencing an earthly calmness, an interruption came by a curious Nordenfiir shipmate.

"Hvað ætlar þú að gera þegar þú nærð Faarin?" They would ask, wondering why such a mysterious woman, who didn't dare show her face, wanted to travel with them. Knowing the answer, the woman stood silent for a moment before answer in return. "Hvaða mál ég hef í Faarin, eru málefni mín ein. Ég hef aldrei séð stað eins og hann en ég þarf ekki að útskýra mig fyrir þér. Vinsamlegast ég óska aðeins augnablik af ... þögn."

The woman didn't want to make conversation, all she cared, for now, was silence. It had been a long time since she could just be somewhere in a state of calmness but she wasn't shocked that she would experience interruptions to that calm state of silence. Her reply was cold and sharp but she neither cared nor felt bad about how she answered the shipmate. She would rather the shipmate read the signs of unwanted conversation than bore her with light-hearted banter.

The shipmate hesitated and then asked one more question to see if he could get some sort of conversation. "hvað heitir þú?"

"My name does not matter, but if you insist... it's Yelena." The woman lied as she rather keep her real name private. "Ye... Yelena.." the shipmate repeated making the woman roll her eyes. "It's such a beautiful name..." he complimented as he moved closer to the woman trying to get a look at her face. The young woman quickly held a dagger to the shipmate's throat, pressing her blade against one of his many veins. "Not interested." The woman said before removing her dagger from his throat. The shipmate growled a little but backed down as he didn't want to cause a scene.

It had taken an hour or so but upon that hour running out, the Nordenfiir captain's voice ringed out "Að nálgast Faarin"

To this, all the crewmates began to work hard on easing the ship into docking. Once docked, the woman left a pouch of coins on a barrel and then quickly made her way off the Nordenfiir ship.

 

[Cadwaladr Mikkelsson]

The loud rhythmic sound of steel clashing against steel rang out throughout the bone chilling evening air originating from the Blacksmith's workshop along with a bright orange glow, illuminating the nearby area around, the forge's heat cut through the cold while the fire blazed and roared out. It contrasted greatly with the near pitch black sky that stretched across the sky, and the brilliant white snow that softly drifted down to the ground, both made it quite difficult to see but only worked to highlight the forge even more.

It was a common sight to see the large Nordenfiir in his forge from morning till night, for days on end, he worked away at his forge to craft all sorts of things needed by other citizens or to those from outside who come for the rich hunting grounds and the cabins. He would often attract children and outsiders to his forge to watch him work the bright blowing metals being wrought to shape by his hammer and anvil.

Taking a small break to wipe the sweat that had collected on his brow, Cadwaladr set down his hammer onto the anvil and moved to shove the cooling steel back into the glowing coals of the forge with a pair of tongs with his left hand while his right hand reached up to grab the rope connected to the large billow, pulling down the rope to force gusts of air into the forge's coal as with each gust the flames grew brighter.

Today seemed like any other regular day for the smith, he wasn't going to complain anytime soon but he hoped that something out of the ordinary would happen, perhaps a pack of wolves making their way into the town, a band of mercenaries or bounty hunters coming to seek someone out... but nonetheless as he stood pulling on the billows to breath gusts of air into the forge, he had a slight smile across his face as he usually did.