A short drabble based back in Viking times. Rated T for mentions of blood. Enjoy.
Winter was long and cold in Norway, it always had been. The personification of the nation itself admitted it. He knew from experience that it was even longer and colder when there was no one else in the house. Perhaps Denmark was out on another viking* into the Deep South and had decided to stay down in the intense heat of their winter than the frigid cold of his own. Sweden was more than likely preoccupied with either some random craft or leading a viking out in the Baltic. It was more than likely that Finland was accompanying him.
To be honest, most of Norway's winters were long and cold until he had found Iceland. The small boy was one of the only people who actually looked up to him, awe brimming his eyes at the prospect of having a big brother versus fear of having his head chopped off. That was a look Norway vividly remembered and still saw quite often whenever he went on a more violent viking into England.
Despite all of the bloodshed Norway had seen in his few hundred years of life, the small silver haired boy still insisted on staring up at him as if he had instead saved the world. Even when Denmark took Iceland with them on vikings, when things got more violent and Norway would walk back to the ship soaked in blood, Iceland would simply say that his big brother had graciously granted the English a path into Valhalla.
"Big brother," Iceland's tiny, squeaky voice piped up from across the room where he was seated under a pile of furs next to a roaring fire. "Why does it get cold in the winter?"
Norway looked at the small boy, searching his face to see if it was joking. He was met with nothing but deep curiosity. Norway smiled softly and stood lightly from his chair by the door, quietly making his way over to his brother.
"I thought I had told you the story of Gangleri and High* yesterday?" He teased, settling on the floor next to the boy wrapped snuggly in furs.
Iceland pouted and reached a stubby hand out to grab at Norway's curls. "You did not speak of summer and winter, remember? You said tha' a wise man would not have asked and so I didn't."
"And yet you ask today?" Norway questioned, pulling the smaller hand into his bigger ones and blowing on it gently.
Iceland blushed slightly. "I was wise yes'erday. Not today."
"Is that so?" Norway hummed, watching as his brother nodded in confirmation. "You know of Svasud*, don't you? The good natured father of Summer?"
"O' course!" Iceland cheered. "Denmark said that Svasud lived in the Deep South an' tha's why it's so warm down there and everyone is nice."
Norway chuckled slightly at the prospect of the ever so animated Denmark telling the young Iceland of how it was always svasligt in the Deep South. He suspected lots of hooting and hollering.
"That's correct. The father of Winter is called Vindloni* or Vindsval. He is the son of Vasad and they are cruel and cold-hearted. Winter takes its nature from them and too is cruel and cold."
Iceland grunted in agreement and settled back into his furs. "Why is winter so long, then? It is always so long in your land 'n' my lan' but not in the Deep South."
"I don't know." Norway admitted. "Perhaps Svasud does not like us in the north because it is too far away from his home in the south."
"Does that mean that Vindsval and Vasad live in the north?" Iceland asked in a terrified voice.
Norway froze as he looked down at his brother, his face twisted in shock as he nervously glanced around the room, as if waiting for the cold-hearted Wind Chill and Damp Cold to jump out at him at any moment.
He slowly stood and offered the smaller boy a hand. "Come with me." He commanded softly and pulled the boy out from the furs, leading him to the door where he was previously sitting.
Norway pushed it open, letting it creak slightly as he lifted his brother up and stepped into the fresh snow.
Iceland clung to Norway, holding tighter and tighter still with each step that the older took away from the longhouse and the fire and the furs and into the winter and the snow and the cold.
"Don't look down, silly boy." Norway chided, as he noticed Iceland's gaze locked upon his feet and the snow. "Look up."
With a small noise akin to a grumble, Iceland grudgingly looked away from his brother's feet and instead focused on his face. Norway had a small smile on his lips and his eyes seemed to mix with different shades of blues and silvers.
"Further."
With another grumble, Iceland slowly turned his head skyward, slightly expecting to see Vindsval hunching over them, a glare upon his face as cold wind whipped about him. Instead he was met with a small glowing piece of silver and gold resting upon a backdrop of dark blue. Seemingly transparent strokes of green and red and purple flickered through the sky, illuminating the close knit groups of white light.
Iceland gasped softly at the sight, much to his brother's amusement. Looking back down at Norway, he whispered quietly, "Did you know that this was out here?"
Norway giggled lightly and simply nodded at his brother, a smile touching his lips as he did so. Iceland turned back to stare at the stars in the sky, the galaxies providing the pristine sky with color.
"This is when Night is out, swallowing all of the worlds whole." Norway whispered into his brother's hair as he nuzzled him slightly. "During Summer, Day is constantly out and Sol is there to help. But in Winter, Vindsval thinks he is being cruel by casting Day and Sol away for months and instead giving us Night and Mani. Little does he know, however, what Night brings with her. She puts on a show that dazzles us all."
Iceland looked down at his brother once again. "Or maybe, Vindsval does know an' he just wan's to be nice for a change."
Norway smiled at the young boy. "You're probably right. Now, let's get you inside before you freeze."
"Nooo…" Iceland whined. "I want to look at Night even more."
"She is quite a beauty, isn't she." Norway murmured, walking back to the longhouse despite the small boy's protests. "Lucky for us she will be back tomorrow."
"Will she have another show for us?" Iceland wondered, snuggling sleepily into his brother, the weight of the day suddenly hitting him.
"But of course. And that one will be even more spectacular than the one she had tonight."
*'…out on another viking…leading a viking…' So when vikings went out and about it wasn't commonly called a raid. It was usually a trip for trading or communicating, something of the sort. Children and women would also go on 'a viking.'
*'Gangleri and High' This is the first part of The Prose Edda, the Gylfaginning or the Deluding of Gylfi. I could have just said the Gylfaginning but it's about Gylfi who disguises himself as Gangleri and up came High, Just-as-High, and Third who told him about the Æsir.
*'Svasud' He is Summer's father. He is a very content man. That's about all I can tell you. The Prose has next to nothing on him.
*'Vindloni or Vindsval…son of Vasad.' Vindloni is the same entity as Vindsval but the Nordics were really into giving the same entities two-hundred thousand different names. Come on, I mean Odin has 12 names alone. Anyways, if context clues didn't clue you in, Vindsval means Wind Chill and Vasad means Damp Cold.
Vikings, man. Nordic mythology, man.