Private Tales Peace and Quiet

[Baise]

Out of the hall the sounds of the rowdy gathering were only slightly muffled. No longer immersed in the din it became a drone with no individual conversations clawing at his attention.

Valthar had imagined returning home and stepping back into his old life exactly as he had left it. Instead Brenna had taken up arms again and now they had both been pulled into a matter of espionage by the Queen herself.

I thought you were not supposed to fight, he signed. His movements were awkward and hurried, betraying the frustration he felt.

Brenna Ardullsson

 

[Brenna]

Brenna stamped her feet to keep the warmth in her bones as they stepped into the cold; the wind cut across her cheeks and threatened to turn her lashes into icicles. She had known this was coming the moment she had told her brother what she had done but she had at least hoped to sleep on the matter first to cool his own temper. Her brother was not as quick to anger as she was but it still boiled just as hot when it got going.

She gave a frustrated sigh and rolled her eyes.

This is in my blood. Our blood. You want me to sit with cubs and ignore what my purpose in life is?

 

[Baise]

"I can fight now," he said, signing and speaking together. "But my purpose was never to be a great warrior. It was yours. I thought you weren't supposed to?"

Valthar's fingers shivered and he drew them back inside his furs and rubbed his chest.

"Is it particularly cold here?" he asked, drawing out is hands reticently. It wasn't by northern standards, but he had been in the summer lands for too long.

 

[Brenna]

Brenna huffed and took out her mittens, offering them to him. They were actually a pair from the scholar she had been staying with so they were huge for her but probably the right fit for him.

It's about normal for this time of year. Doesn't mean it isn't cold though, come on, I can read your lips fine so you can focus on not freezing. It would be very embarrassing to have a brother who froze to death.

She nodded her head in the direction of the road. It would keep them both warm if they walked and spoke.

Yes a hit to the head could be death. Or it could not. I cannot keep living my life on a chance, I need to do this. When I came back to so many... dead they needed people to step up. It was a sign.

 

[Baise]

He turned into the road and was grateful it put his back to the wind. He was not about to freeze to death, but he could not remember the cold being this uncomfortable. It cut right to the bone.

"Then you might be destined to by like father. Burn bright, die young. It is your path to choose. Just...do not die in training."

At least they had thought he had died fighting off demons. That might have been small comfort to those he had been close to. There were not many people he was close to.

"I am sorry you got dragged into all this."

 

[Brenna]

Brenna couldn't help but laugh, the sound a stark contrast to her usual silence.

Brother I have been training for two years, and before that I spent a year on my own in the wilds on The Path. Do you think Uncle would truly let me continue if he thought I was going to put myself in an early grave? He would not do that to mother. She gently bumped against his arm to try and add a lightness to the conversation. She knew it was probably as difficult for him to hear as it was for her to say it. She let the silence lapse for a moment before plucking up the courage to ask him what she had wanted to from the beginning.

I'm not so sure I really understand what 'all this' is. What happened on your ship home?

 

[Baise]

"Someone was murdered. Sounds like... Valthar paused and looked around. "Someone important to the Queen. They moved through nordengaard and murdered another whilst I was locked up."

"I do not really understand it myself, but they all concerned. This person used magic to kill and cover their tracks."

 

[Brenna]

Brenna raised both her eyebrows when he told her and then frowned, kicking a stone in front of them like a ball. It was a habit she had had from a young age when something was bothering her. Magic was never a good sign.

I think it's good we are going. It will help us be more prepared if something happens to Faarin again, maybe even stop it happening.

A beat.

You're not mad with me are you, Valthar?

She stopped him then with a hand on his arm. After their mother's retreat into herself and their father had died, she had drawn her strength from him. She wanted to choose her own path but she couldn't bear his disapproval.

 

[Baise]

"Mad with you?" Valthar asked rhetorically.

"No, I am..."

It was not easy to work out exactly how to explain what he was with her.

"I don't know. Coming back here has not gone quite as I expected. Itnwas naive to expect everything to be the same. Just...wear a helmet?

"Oh and don't sign the queen to tell her I said anything about the murder. I wasn't supposed to..."

 

[Brenna]

Brenna held his gaze a whilst longer as if trying to make sure he really was telling her the truth about his feelings and then she let out the breath she was holding in a rush, gifting him with a shaky smile.

I'm deaf not dumb.

A sentiment that could be applied to both of his requests. She gave him another long look before starting to walk again.

It's not all that different. Home is still the same, nothing exciting has happened since you left. I've been trying to keep your boat and nets in good order but it's not my strong suit. Ingrid had her baby, he's so big now.

It was idle things about neighbours and life, but she hoped the normality would make him feel a little better, ease a bit of the homesickness he might have felt.

But you must have had some adventures in the Summerlands. What's it like down there?

 

[Baise]

Adventures and lots of people trying to kill me. It is unbearably hot and full of orcs and sorcerers. I look forward to being home.

He smiled softly, looking to the horizon in the rough direction of home. It was more comfort than she could know to find that many things of home would be the same.

Met some good people on the way. A dwarven family who looked after me in Belgrath. An elven warrior who made my axe. A child trapped in the body of a monsters.

 

[Brenna]

Brenna smiled as he began signing again, he didn't even seem to have noticed he slid from speaking to communicating in this way. It was a small thing but small things mattered.

It is really hard to imagine you doing those things. It seemed crazy, her brother who loved his boat and the endless ocean, fighting all these things, meeting all these new people. I'm glad there was some light even though it was a long journey, maybe this next journey will bring some light too. I'm excited to meet the Priests of Kiringssal.

She gave a yawn then and stretched, the weight of worry that had been building on her shoulders was leaving now and she thought she might actually be able to sleep tonight.

 

[Baise]

I have..."a confession."

There were words he was struggling to remember for it had been so long. There was a deep line across his brow. Valthar wasn't a deep thinker. He had lived a simple life and been content, happy with it. Right now something obviously concerned him.

What if the boat and the nets and the water...what if it is not enough any more?

It seemed a very odd confession to make. Outlined it seemed a very insignificant concern. To him it was not, which was why he shared it only with her.

 

[Brenna]

Brenna tried to keep the shock off of her face. It was an alien concept, the idea of her brother not heading out every morning to his boat, mending his nets by the fire and the look of peace on his face. But she couldn't very well tell him to suck it up after she had told him the same a few moments ago. Perhaps their fathers blood did run through them both even if he didn't think his destiny was to be a great warrior. She thought long and hard before she began to speak.

Then... I think this journey might help you decide that. And if you decide that the fishing life isn't for you anymore then we will figure it out together. You're not on your own anymore, brother.

Brenna gave his hand a light squeeze then just to exemplify her point. She couldn't imagine how it must have been to be without friends or family for two years trying to make decisions on your own. Then she continued.

Is it fighting you are interested in now? Or are you eyeing up a comfy position in the Harem?

There was a jesting look of mirth in her eyes as she struggled to keep a straight face.

 

[Baise]

"No, no I'm not," Valthar said, realisation dawning on his face. It warmed his insides and chased the cold back out of his bones. "I am glad you were here in the city and I was not being kept from my family even longer."

But...don't mention the harem again! He signed, his hands shaking as he laughed out loud.

"I haven't worked out which of them men around there are in that group but they might not find it such an amusing joke!"

 

[Brenna]

Brenna smiled.

Me too. I've been waiting for days. Exasperation clear on her face. I was pretty close to just busting you out myself. She could feel the vibrations of his laugh even as she saw the shake in his hands and a massive grin began to cover her face.

I wouldn't discard it as a career option I'm just saying! She was trying to control her own laughter now. Once it had stopped she tried a different path. What do you think you want to do? Do you even want to stay in the North or are you thinking of going off on adventures down south again?

 

[Baise]

"Haha, I don't think I'm near the top of the line of the Nordenfiir on the quest," Valthar laughed.

"I would visit the south again, perhaps. It is a very, very long journey. Even the ship to their northern coasts is a long trip. It is not as pleasant a small boat ride. And the open lands are full of orcs."

No one had yet given him the gut wrenching news that a portal stone had been discovered on Eratejva.

 

[Brenna]

I think one day I might like to go South too, just to see what it's like.

It felt like a whole new world now she was in training, like she was clawing back a future that was stolen from her. Anything felt possible.

What do you think of the group who are coming with us, have you met any of them before? I am mildly concerned the man in the brawl fight is going to be my 'Guard'.

A scrunch of the nose.

 

[Baise]

"Just stand in the shadow of the enormous one. Was he actually called Hugi? That's like..."

Valthar knew there was a word for a thing with a name that described what it looked like but he couldn't remember it.

"They seem like a standard group of norden fighters. Father would have loved them."

 

[Brenna]

Brenna snorted a laugh.

You do realised you're all huge to me? She motioned between the two of them by going onto her tip toes and motioning that the top of her head even on tip toes came to his chin. And Valthar was one of the shorter of the men in their group.

He would have loved this whole adventure. A soft sigh. I do miss him at times like this. It feels wrong Uncle is teaching me all these things when it should have been him.

 

[Baise]

"He would have been more drunk than anyone there, picked a fight with the huge one, probably won it and be back in there singing by now."

Ardull was rapidly becoming a legend for his heroics, but Valthar knew his faults too. He had been loud, brash and outspoken. Valthar had never been that much like him at all.

'We should get back. Curse the unbearable southern sun but I have not got used to the evening chill. Need to be near a fire."

Saying that reminded him of a night he had spent beside a fire despite the summer lands warmth. That memory, too, seemed to chase away the cold.

 

[Brenna]

Brenna laughed, she had to agree with her brother about their father. It would have been nice to have seen him in this element though. Her lips twitched when he mentioned going back to the hall.

I should have waited for mother to finish the million and one sweaters she was starting to make you when I left.

She began to turn her feet so they could do a loop back towards the mead hall. She was musing over the look on her brothers face.

You miss someone in the South? Dear god did my brother finally meet a mate?!

 

[Baise]

"It wasn't as if I was alone every winter!" he accused, grinning. "But oh there was a warrior elf in Alliria..."

Valthar's eyes narrowed but the grin remained.

"Many of the finest..." Valthar's expression briefly faltered as he struggled to keep up the joke. It was a strange way to describe the table leg smashers.

"...warriors around. Please don't make me translate for you."

 

[Brenna]

It started with a smile, then a grin and soon Brenna was doubled up in laughter at her brothers face on discussing the matter. It took a good solid five minutes for her to calm down and wipe the tears from her eyes before she could actually string together a sentence again.

Here I was worried my poor brother was out there all alone. Maybe there is hope for mother to become a grandmother, she is chomping at the bit. It's been nothing but "this young man, that young man" since I got back. Now she can bother you too.

 

[Baise]

"No you are not passing that on to me!" declared Valthar. Trying to give her a stern glare whilst laughing was proving too much for him.

"Be glad you are of our people and get such pressure only in the spring. Imagine being a human or an elf and suffering as much all through the year."