Laugavegur, A Hinterland Journey

Chapter 5 - To Decipher a Geise

After Ratatoskr disappeared, Anja, Tokki, Nidi, and Skari returned to Skari's cave in Vondugil.

"But what does it mean? Shelled life of blue and gold?" asked Tokki as he sat heavily on a three-legged chair that creaked in protest. He and Anja had been trying to decipher the geise the whole way back but had yet to gain any traction. Skari kindled a small fire to take the chill off the night.

"A turtle?" Anja ventured.

"I've never seen a golden turtle before. Nor a blue one for that matter," said Tokki.

"Well, I know who is going to make the beasts 'bathe the land in blood'," said Anja as she pulled her sword out and set to honing it with a whetstone. "That is a riddle I can solve."

Tokki started to laugh but cut it short when he felt Anja glaring at him.

Skari, who had been brooding silently since leaving Fjallabak, finally spoke. "I wish you had not sworn to fulfil the geise, Anja."

Anja was surprised and a bit hurt by the reproach. Why should they not fulfil the geise? "If we do not fulfil it, Skari, who will? Who will make it safe for the people of Fjallabak to return?"

Skari palmed his head. "I appreciate your courage, Anja, but this is no light-hearted adventure upon which we must now embark. The 'shelled life of blue and gold' is most likely the egg of a wyvern."

"A wyvern?" asked Anja.

"A dragon! We need to get the egg of a dragon!" shouted Tokki.

"And it will be most dangerous," said Skari.

Anja snorted. "Nobody said you had to go, Skari. If you are afraid, you can stay here, in your cave."

"Anja," Tokki hissed.

"No, no... You have misunderstood my meaning," Skari said. "The burden of facing Katla is most certainly mine. I just cannot guarantee that I can keep you safe."

"I am not asking for any such guarantee," replied Anja. "Nobody ever made it to Valhalla by letting someone else do their fighting for them. If you would like to go on this journey as well, I suppose I cannot keep you from coming."

Skari smiled. "And where is it that you suppose we should go to fulfill the geise?"

Anja opened her mouth and then closed it. She had no idea. The squirrel's riddle meant nothing to her. She hadn't even known what a wyvern was much less where to get the egg of one. "I will let you know come morning." Surely, she could come up with a solution by then.

"Indeed," replied Skari. With that he threw down his bedroll and lay with his back to the fire.

Though sleep seemed to be easy for Skari, Tokki and Anja found it far more challenging to quiet their minds and rest. Tokki spent much the night twisting tufts of cotton grass into a long, thick coil of rope, his small fingers adept and nimble to the task. Anja knew he must still be hurting, thinking about Magdali, Arden, Ilse, and all the loved ones missing from the burned-out village. Tokki tended to use the meditation of repetitive motion to dull his emotions. It was a coping technique that Anja never learned. She remembered when they were both much younger, living with Haroldur. One night, Tokki awoke from a nightmare and had cried out for their mother.

"Your parents are dead," Haroldur had replied bluntly from his bedroll. "Go back to sleep." It was the first time anyone had verbalized the truth. It was a truth that others had danced around with hedged statements about their parents having left and probably not returning or just simply using the phrase that Anja hated above all others, 'gone'. The ambiguity of it grated her. Gone? Gone where? Tokki and Anja both knew that their parents were dead but hearing it stated so plainly and without any empathy hurt. Anja had spent two days lashing out, throwing rocks at trees, and doing her best to anger Haroldur. Tokki had spent the same two days silently weaving a fishing net.

By the time the grey of dawn filtered through the entrance to Skari's cave Tokki had managed to twist a sizable coil of rope. Anja had accomplished little save stoking the ember of her hate for Katla.

***

With the rising of the sun, Skari, Anja, and Tokki shouldered their leathered rucksacks filled with dried fish and extra clothing.

"Ah," said Skari as he stretched at the cave's mouth. "Where to?"

Anja still had no idea.

"How about a hint, Skari?" prompted Tokki. "I suspect you know precisely where we need to start."

Skari smile. "Dwarves."

"Dwarves? What about them?" asked Tokki. A few Dwarven traders passed through Fjallabak every now and then. They had interesting trinkets and finely-crafted knives, but Tokki couldn't see how they could help fulfill the geise.

"Ravendome!" said Anja. "Beyond the dome of raven beak."

"Yes, I suspect a friend of mine who lives within the Dwarven enclave might be able to help us acquire one of the items we need for the geise," said Skari.

Ravendome was less than a day's walk from Fjallabak, but it seemed worlds away. The enclave was located up within the Everwhite Hills, a harsh,windy, and cold expanse even in the warmest of seasons. Anja had heard that the Dwarves lived in a city excavated from black rock that shone like glass. Though she had ventured out from Fjallabak on occasion, Anja had never been as far as Ravendome. The road between Fjallabak and Ravendome was primarily used for the conveyance of trade goods and raw materials. There was little reason for orphaned children to make the trek. And yet, here they were, striking out toward the highlands in the south, in search of a city beneath black rock.

To deal with grief, Tokki twisted rope and fishing nets. Anja sharpened her sword or tried to tick her guardian off. Do these coping mechanisms make sense to you? How else might they handle their pain?

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The adventure has just begun...