OOM (during the 4 year jump)

[gods_that_haunt_me]

I work like a Dwarf through the seasons.

My toil is fraught with frustration, and blessed with inspiration.

The gods move me. They give me every reason to wake up with the sun. To make love to Helga. To seek the trees with which to build my boats.

This is my existence. And I would not trade it for anything.


It is early spring, when the first warm breath of wind mingles with the receding chill in the air. The water reflects a cloudless sky. A perfect time to stay outdoors from morning to evening. Working, and delighting in the work.

With every pull on the draw knife, a plank of wood takes shape. I see what it will become; I see how it will be a part of the ship.

The ship itself is yet a skeleton. On its bones I will lay the flesh and smooth its skin, a living thing. I see it all in my head, and I pray to the gods to help me make my vision real.

Comments

[bigarmy_strangepants]

On this particular spring morning, Ragnar Lothbrok comes strolling by to take a look at the ship that will be.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

The only sounds this morning are the birds in the forest, the lapping of water against the shore and the dock posts, and the rhythmic scrape of a blade on wood.

Floki is so engrossed with his carving that he doesn't hear the extraneous sound of footsteps in the underbrush.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar comes closer, neither hiding not making any conspicuous sound. He does't want to startle Floki into make a wrong movement and gouging the wood!

[gods_that_haunt_me]

That would be bad!

But eventually, Floki pauses his carving to check the smoothness of the surface, and that is when he senses a presence that is neither Helga nor woodland creature.

He turns around, and his expression brightens exponentially.

"Ragnar!" he exclaims, setting the knife aside and throwing his long arms wide, looking like a scarecrow wanting to embrace his friend.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Floki!" Ragnar exclaims. "You're building a boat!"

Of course he is; but every new boat is remarkable and special.

He gives Floki an effusive hug, clapping him on the back and grinning widely.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Yes, I am!"

He returns the hug with a few hearty claps on the back as well, and he draws back to beam at him, chattering and gesturing excitedly.

"And she will be big and beautiful! I saw her in a dream, and I knew I had to build her. She will be wider, but still light and flexible enough to ride the waves instead of butting against them. And she will be longer, with twelve oars on each side, and with a mast that can easily be removed and replaced if it breaks. If it breaks! We shall see how she stands up to Thor's storms when the time comes. But she will be magnificent, Ragnar, and she will be ready for the next journey West."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"You are building the mast the way they did on the really big ship, in the magic place?" Ragnar asks.

That place is but a foggy memory, but some things are burned into Ragnar's mind: the really big ship, Gyda in clothes from the future, and Athelstan with his face full of that red sauce.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki blinks.

And he mellows at the memories coming back to him through the mist.

"Yes," he says quietly, pensively.

A pause.

"It has been a long time since I thought about the magic place. Without giving us a door, it seems as if it has forgotten us, too."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"At least we can hope that Gyda is still safe there in her afterlife," Ragnar says. "Maybe the magic was worried we'd make off with all the secrets from the future, drawing maps and building ships and taking over the world as we sailed to the places on your ball that we'd thrown darts at."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Gyda, yes," he says with a fond smile that's just a bit sad. "I hope she doesn't miss us too much. She has all her friends and activities to keep her busy. But it's true -- give a Viking one opportunity, and he'll turn it into ten."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Opportunities are scarce, as is good land around here," Ragnar says. "So if we want to live, and live well, we need to seize them!"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"And seizing things is definitely what we do well," Floki agrees with a grin.

He then glances at his cabin up the sloping hillside.

"Helga is making stew today. Will you stay and eat with us later?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Oh yes, gladly," Ragnar says. "Will there be special mushrooms in it, or just ordinary ones?"

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki snorts a laugh.

"Just the ordinary ones. We wouldn't want you getting lost on the way home."

He gestures for Ragnar to follow.

"Come say hello to Helga, and then we can take a walk."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"I wouldn't lose my way just because of a mushroom or two," Ragnar protests, following along towards the hut.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Oh, it depends on the type of mushroom, you know," Floki points out, amused.

As they approach the little house, a slave girl is leaving with an empty bucket to fetch water. Then Helga appears in the doorway, looking like a wood nymph, wearing a flowing green dress and strings of beads around her neck. Upon seeing the two men coming up the path, a smile brightens her face.

"Ragnar, welcome!" she greets him, surprised and pleased to see him.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Hello, Helga!" Ragnar says, cheerfully. "You look as amazingly lovely as ever."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Why, thank you," she replies, beaming and blushing.

"I don't know how she does it, Ragnar," Floki says as he wraps his long arms around her from behind. "It's as if every morning she springs from the ground like a flower, even in the winter."

"Oh, Floki," she murmurs up at him, rubbing the back of his hand, before turning back to Ragnar. "I hope you've been well. How are Ubbe and Hvitserk doing?"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"They only know two states: completely wild, or asleep," Ragnar says. "And they go from one to the other in the time it takes to snap your fingers."

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Helga chuckles fondly, and a little sympathetically, at that. "Oh, that sounds just like Floki," she chirps.

"What!" Floki protests. "I have three states: wild, asleep, and hungry."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar laughs.

"For Ubbe and Hvitserk, hungry is part of wild," he muses.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

"Hm, I always knew they were kindred spirits," Floki remarks.

"And speaking of hungry," he goes on, "Ragnar is staying to eat with us." He then whispers loudly near her ear, "So put some more mushrooms in the pot!"

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar laughs. "I'll find my way home in any case!" he promises.

[gods_that_haunt_me]

Floki giggles, and Helga just looks at them as if they're just a pair of silly boys no older than Ragnar's sons.

"I'm sure you will," she says, and she turns around in Floki's arms, reaching up to bring his face down to her level so she can kiss him. "Now go run along and play."

"The lady of the house has spoken, Ragnar," Floki says with a grin, and he starts moving off toward the dense forest surrounding the house.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Do the trees come walking off the mountains, just lining up for the honour to be in your boats?" Ragnar asks, whimsically.