Private Tales What Calls the Tundra Home

[Braum]

The Tundra

Two months. That was all that he had left in the Tundra. All the time that he could still spend out within the snows. It seemed almost absurd to think about, but he had made his promise to Ivar and he would be true to his word.

Growing up he had never thought that he would ever leave Kjos, much less his entire homeland. Yet when his friend had come speaking of grand plans to journey across the world...he hadn't been able to let him go alone. Braum had seen Ivar grow up, had watched the misery which surrounded him. He'd done his best to combat it, to help his friend, but he knew exactly why he wanted to leave.

So they had made their plans, and had sworn they would leave with the melting bay in the spring.

That meant he had two months. Two months to figure out a mystery that had plagued him his entire life.

Who was he?

The question was a constant in his mind, asked first when he'd noticed that he was...different than others. He was no exile, but his parents were adoptive, and they swore his father had found him on the edges of a battlefield when he had been but a babe. It had not bothered him truly until he'd grown, and on his tenth name day he had been nearly as tall as his father.

So the question plagued him, and so he had finally decided to get an answer.

That was why he was walking through the Spires of Kjos, why he was making his way to the battlefield his father had found him on. Because maybe, just maybe, he could start to understand who he was.

 

[Elenwë]

Khel's soft paws made barely a whisper of noise against the fresh snowfall as they made their way along the narrow hillside ridge. Winter was once again at the height of its power in the Tundra and it was making its presence felt. Snow had fallen heavily all night and large drifts and banks had formed in cleared pathways within the space of an hour. The Snow elves never minded of course, this was His Way and the natural cycle of the world. Soon spring would stretch her arms and banish Him from the world for another year and Time would turn again in the blink of an eye. At least, it was a bare blink of the eye for one such as Elenwë.

A snowflake landed on the end of her nose and her eyes crossed curiously to examine it. With her keen vision she could just pick out the intricate little details of its web before it melted. Its uniqueness never to be appreciated by another. Khel, meanwhile, simply licked off whatever landed on his pink wet nose with no care to the fact he was damaging what many of her sisters considered art.

Her lips lifted in a rueful smile before tugging the furs about her closer. She might have been brought up to not mind the cold or winter but it didn't mean she had to necessarily like it seeping into her bones.

"Look, there it is," her voice sounded loud in the silence of snow. They were on the other side of the old battlefield that had been used for thousands of years as the stage for men, giants and elves to fight out their differences. In the distance she could just make out Kjos; not a place she intended to get near too. No, what brought her here lay on the field itself. Carefully, Khel picked his way down the hillside.

 

[Braum]

For every step that Braum covered it would have taken an ordinary man twice as many.

He had always been large, larger than anyone in Kjos. His size had been a joke among the children of the village, and in truth he had never really minded. Anyone who had said too much had quickly backed away when he'd made his displeasure clear.

Anyone but Ivar anyway.

He hiked for some time more over the plains, until the snowy hills of the tundra began to fall away and the field of battle revealed itself.

It was an entirely unremarkable thing, save for the corpses that littered it's snowy hills. One could still see them, the skeletal remains of giants, mammoths, and even men that lay strewn about the field. It was a way to honor them, for some.

He knew this from the old stories.

Braum lingered at the beginning of the field, his breath folding into his chest as he marched forward towards the distant mountain where his father had found him.

 

[Elenwë]

Khel made short time of the descent from the mountains onto the battle torn plains. Once his large paws, one easily the size of her head, touched down on the flat snow the Priestess slid from his large back and took the rest of the journey on foot. Khel was not a pet, he had agreed to come on this journey with her and as a sign of respect she liked to complete the bits of journey she could on her own two feet.

Besides, there was something that excited her about walking in the footsteps of those who had gone before her.

A series of images slid through her mind from the giant snow Lynx, that of the scent trail of the Mammoth. Elenwë nodded her head in understanding and confirmation: yes it was the giant creature who she was seeking.

Soon the large rise of the beasts body loomed before them and on quick, light elven feet she made her way over to the skeleton. Mammoth bone marrow could be used in all sorts of helpful medicines and she intended to fill up their diminishing supply.

 

[Braum]

The battlefield did not smell as it would in other lands. It was the Tundra's freezing air that preserved the dead. Those bodies which had rotted were either not in the shade, or had been touched by some sort of magic as they'd died.

Such was not uncommon during these battles, though most of the remains were still just husks of what they had once been in life. Braum walked among them slowly, peacefully, until he heard the crunch of snow on the other-side of a massive mammoth corpse.

The thing was like a Mountain in it of itself.

Braum knew that there were not a great many Mammoths left in the Tundra, at least not that anyone had seen for quite some time. It was said the Giants once used them as weapons of war, though their tribes were too insular to tell.

"Hello?" He called out, loud enough to echo through the battlefield.

 

[Elenwë]

Elenwë had clambered up the great hulking beasts flank, probing the meat as she went to try and find a weak point through which to drive her blade. When she found what she was looking for gave a soft hum of satisfaction and drove her dagger into the frozen hide. So intent in her work was the Priestess, that she didn't hear the noise of footsteps on the other side of the Mammoth and nor did she see how Khel had dropped into a low crouch with his ears flat against his skull. So the sound of a voice surprised her enough to make her squeak.

Her foot slipped on the wet coat and with a sharp yelp she found herself sliding back down the monsters flank on her stomach. Desperately she tried to scramble for some sort of purchase on the frozen body but whatever tufts she could grab broke off in her fist. She was just lucky that the snow was soft and freshly laid and not frozen. Though, the gratitude was far from her mind as she fell into the freshly fallen bank of the stuff. A comedic outline of a body could probably be seen on the top layer and when she sat up her head barely came above the hole.

"Jukkete!"

 

[Braum]

It was hard for Braum to feel threatened by...well pretty much anything. At his size even a bear wasn't much of a cause for concern, at least usually.

So when his voice echoed out and a woman went sliding down the corpse of the mammoth all the giant did was take a few steps back so that she did not crash into him. She went tumbling onto the ground and into the snow, falling comedically into a pit of her own making.

Braum blinked for a moment, and then the woman pulled herself up head first.

A word forced it's way from her lips, and the giant shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry."

He told her.

"I do not speak that language." The Nord spoke in the common tongue of the North, one that most Nordenfiir spoke as well as those to the north.

 

[Elenwë]

The elf shook her head like a dog would shake its fur out when it was wet. Snow flew in all directions and then she placed a hand either side of the hole and heaved herself back out onto the flat plateau.

It was a curse, please forgive my tongue.

Her lips didn't move a muscle but her voice was as clear as day inside of his mind in the common Norden tongue. She was too busy brushing snow off of her furs and wriggling as some slid down her undergarments to give him much attention presently. What little warmth she did have was gone now her clothes were sodden and the snow had touched her skin. Home was a good days ride back over the Mountains beyond and she found herself miserably thinking of the large spring pools in the bathing house.

Finally she raised her lilac silvered eyes... and kept raising... and raising... until eventually-

Elenwë blinked. The man was huge.

 

[Braum]

Braum shirked back slightly. "Stop that."

The Nord commanded instantly, pointing a hand at her accusingly.

He had heard a voice in his head before, though that had come from a Witch back in Kjos. The sensation made him...decidedly uncomfortable. It was almost as though a thought were invading his own, and he did not like it in the leas.t

Braum was a simple man of simple actions. Talking in someones head was most definitely not simple and he did not like it in the least.

"Use your tongue." He frowned. "Please."

The Nord added at the end, not wanting to be rude. "That other thing makes me want to scratch my brain."

 

[Elenwë]

The elf's ears twitched as snowflakes began to land on their tips again. For a moment she didn't respond to his words, the gears in her mind clearly turning as she tried to recall the sounds that made up the words when spoke out loud. It had been an age since she had used this language, near on a whole century, and it was akin to dusting off an old winter coat. Finally she blinked, disrupting her unwavering gaze and she inclined her head in a polite gesture of respect.

"My apologies, it has been a while since I have had need to use this language. When I use..." she faltered a moment and brushed her temple. "Magic, the mind instantly translates. It is easier."

Her eyes lingered a moment longer, running down his body before back to his face. A small frown marred her perfect face.

"You do not look like one of the Bears."

 

[Braum]

"Thank you." It was not that he was prejudiced against magic. It was just...weird. He didn't like the feeling. It was like having an itch inside of his skull that he would never be able to scratch.

Gave him the heebee jeebies.

For the first time he looked her up and down, noting her ears. Braum had never seen a snow-elf before, if indeed that was what she was, but...well she certainly looked the part. His adoptive mother had told him stories of her kind, how graceful and lovely they all were.

Her fall from the mammoth made him doubt those stories. "I am not Nordenfiir."

He sounded rather proud as he spoke.

"I am from the free city of Kjos." Braum told her. "And you?"

Braum asked.

 

[Elenwë]

A smile that could still a thousand hearts swept across her face.

"Ira Thalore," the Tower's name sounded more like it was sung than said but such was the nature of elven words and her home had no Common translation to it. Not many mortals even knew of its existence; it was guarded and cherished by her people. A sacred place that housed the Halls of Knowledge. After a moment her smile faltered and a look of unease crossed her face as she turned and half glanced towards the spires that were a smudge against the horizon. The Bears and their people did not get along well with the Snow Elves; wars had waged between their two peoples for many lifetimes and nobody seemed to even know why it had started other than primeval arguments of superiority of race. She wondered if these people shared their quiet contempt.

Her ears twitched again and she turned back to the giant.

"Forgive me... I thought Kjos was a human settlement."

 

[Braum]

There was no contempt from Kjos, not to anyone.

Even the Nordwiir were allowed within the free city, as long as they did not cause any trouble. Kjos did not particularly care who you were or where you were from, as long as you did not harm anyone or commit any sort of crime.

That was what his father had always said, though his friend Ivar would tend to disagree with that sentiment. "It is."

The Giant said.

"Mostly." There were a smattering of other species. Some Nordenfiir, A Nordwiir Witch who had settled there ages ago, and even a few Frost Trolls who had decided to live in a city. "Why do you ask?"

Braum said, entirely ignorant of her insinuation.

 

[Elenwë]

Elenwë ran her eyes slowly down the nearly 9ft male specimen in front of her then back up. Perhaps humans simply grew a little larger than she remembered. It had been a while. Most humans she saw now were children or the sick and those ones tended to by lying down so it was always hard to tell.

"It has been many moons since I have been there is all," a slow and innocent blink returned her gaze to his. What an odd sensation to have to tilt her head just so in order to do it. She was not used to that; humans had always been shorter than elves two centuries ago. If he wasn't human, surely he would know it. Perhaps he didn't want to tell her what he was, it was a very rude question to ask after all and she felt a flicker of shame come across her.

"Pardon my manners, my name is Elenwë, Priestess of Ninquë. I was collecting some bone for some herbal remedies my Sisters and I make." As she spoke she put a fist over her heart and bowed in a fluid movement.

 

[Braum]

"I am called Braum Iron Skin." The people of Kjos did not have surnames, a tradition that came from the North somewhere.

He did not know it's origins of course, and had never really cared to ask. History was more Ivar's thing, his friend knowing his way around the ethos of the Tundra almost as much as he did it's geography. Braum wondered what he would have made of the Elf.

Funny that he was the one meeting what was practically a myth. "I've come here looking for my past."

He explained.

"My father found me here as a babe." The Nord realized that the stranger probably did not care, but she had told him her purpose and so he would be plain with his.

 

[Elenwë]

Elenwë blinked in surprise. Of all the things she would have thought would draw a Man onto an old battlefield, attempting to find his origins was not what she had been expecting. Children were not, generally, what one found on the fringes of war. There were many prophecies amongst her people of babes born in such a manner; had she stumbled across one of them accidentally? Excitement built in her chest though she kept her face neutral; it would probably make the poor lamb run a mile if she started rambling about ancient texts of destiny.

"Can I ask when?" her head listed slightly to the side, ensuring to be polite about asking after his age. Humans were so coy about it. "Perhaps we could be of some assistance, it is not often one stumbles onto the beginning of a story like this."

 

[Braum]

He thought for a moment. "Twenty...five winters ago."

Braum thought that was how old he was, though in truth he wasn't entirely sure. They had never really counted, and by the time he'd been fifteen he had all but towered over his own father. At that point age had been rather irrelevant.

For a few seconds he mused, then continued.

"I do not know if I am a story." The giant let out a laugh. "Though I know how to tell a few."

As a child he had been something of a liar, though he'd always preferred to think of it as weaving tales. It had been difficult to spin some yarns though, like blaming the breaking of his bed on his six year old sister.

That had not gone over well. "The Battle was between Kjos and Velkar The Strong. If that helps."

Velkar had been a Nordenfiir Warlord who'd made his best attempt at uniting several cities and peoples of the Tundra. He had been a cruel man, but had come close to succeeding in his goals. His army had perputedly been made up of everything from Giants to Frost Wyrms.

 

[Elenwë]

So Young... It astounded her every time a human informed her of their age. At 25 Moons, Elenwë had not been considered more than a babe. After shaking her head to clear her bewilderment she ran long, elegant fingers over her chin thoughtfully. The war did ring a little bell but nothing of note for the elves. The Nordenfiir seemed to seek out war and bloodshed; whenever they had news of conflict it was always the Bears involved somehow. Combined with their long lives the snow elves had given up trying to keep track of every unimportant little skirmish.

"I know it was more than Bears that took to the field..." again she gave him that odd almost side ways look up and down as if debating saying something. "There was a cluster of graves I passed a half a mile back towards the mountains belonging to the Giants. Perhaps it is worth a look?"

 

[Braum]

"I think so!" Braum said with a laugh, his head shaking slightly as though he had found something quite funny.

The Elf would no doubt think him strange, but for some odd reason the situation amused him beyond what it should have. He had come here to find his past, and now he had an Elf directing him on where to go. It was like something out of the stories.

"Apologies." The Nord said simply. "I am not a...scholarly man."

The opposite in fact.

Most had called him a simpleton all his life.

Braum was not stupid, far from it, but he never did enjoy reading or the like. Perhaps it was a good thing he had someone a bit more...focused, to help him.

 

[Elenwë]

Elenwë's smile sat awkwardly on her face as the mortal bellowed a laugh. It was as though she were confused at why exactly he was laughing and she smiling. For a moment it lingered and then faded as she turned her attention to the task and curiosities at hand. It was with restraint she walked back towards Khel who had laid down to wash his paws when it became obvious the two intended to talk not fight. He purred as her fingers scratched behind his monstrous ear and then clambered on his back. Once she was seated the feline rose and pranced past the giant.

"This way," she said simply.

The giant snow lynx had a quick loping pace which he utilised to cross the distance between the mammoth and the graveyard Elenwë wanted to visit. Tombs like giant spikes rose from the ground marking their destination on the horizon.

 

[Braum]

Braum followed after the woman at a quickened pace.

He'd always had the advantage of his gait. The men and women he usually traveled with were painfully slow in comparison, and the Giant often found himself having to slow his pace in order to just allow others to make sure they could keep up.

Mounts helped, but the people of Kjos generally did not enjoy using them. Horses, Boars, and all the like were just another mouth that one had to feed in the Tundra where food was already scarce. Sometimes it was best to just go on foot.

For Braum that was more than true.

He moved after Elenwe with no problems keeping up, his steps thundering and crunching the snow as they moved through the ancient graveyard.

There was a stillness around them, a quiet that hung around them more serene than even that of the Tundra at large. It made a chill run down his spine.

 

[Elenwë]

The snow elf led them quietly through the two large curved bones which had been propped up to create a crude archways of sorts into the graveyard. Inside snow had piled high against the thick slabs of metal which marked out each fallen brothers resting place. They towered nearly a full foot over the mounted elf and she had to look up and squint to make out their names.

"My Giant is a little rusty," Elenwë said in an apologetic tone, glancing over her shoulder back to the man. "But perhaps take a wander, see if any stick out in particular. There are little crests see?" she pointed to the nearest one. Atop the name was indeed some sort of scribbled design. "Maybe you've seen one before... or was there anything your adoptive parents found you with?"

 

[Braum]

"I was swaddled in a cloak." The Giant said as he wandered among the ruins for a few moments, looking up at the great slabs and narrowing his eyes.

He had never been one with an eye for details, that had always been Ivar. Yet he took particular care to look around this time, his gaze flickering over every curve and angle. Lips thinned for a brief moment and he shook his head.

Hand came to reach out to one of metal slabs. "No...I-"

Before he could finish one of the slabs suddenly shifted to the side, and where Braum touched it a soft glow erupted.

His hand jerked away in an instant, lips thinning as he looked at his palm and then the metal.

"Magic?" He asked the Elf as if she would know.

 

[Elenwë]

Elenwë hopped off of Khel with her silver eyes opened wide.

"Yes, but not a type I am that familiar with. The Giants keep their magics a closely guarded secret, passed down from one to the other and so forth," she had to go on her tip toes - an odd, amusing thing for the elf - to peer at the place he had put his hand and awakened the magic. She laid her hand over the same spot herself but could feel nothing and the door stayed the same.

Without another word she slipped into the doorway the slab had revealed, curiosity piqued.

 

[Braum]

He frowned for a moment. "Giant?"

It seemed an obvious answer for what he was, for what he could be. His size alone should have been a clue for that, and yet...yet it had never really occurred to him. He was not the size of a giant, not at least from the legends that he knew.

Even these ruins were larger than him, the doorway was larger than him.

Had one of his parents been giant and the other not? Lips thinned for a moment, and then he took in a breath as he stepped forward after Elenwe.

The hallway was dark, a stairway leading into the earth.