A/N: Love to all of you! Terribly sorry for the delay, but my Fridays are getting busier so I'll have to start updating on weekends.
Anyways, before we start you'll need to know that Ragnarök is like the Norse version of the apocalypse; I'll provide more details at the bottom. Also, to add on to the notes from last chapter, Odin's wife Frigg has been described as having the power of prophecy, yet she does not reveal what she knows. Enjoy dearies! :)
Chapter Four: Of Looms and Wolves
"I thought about one of my favourite Sufi poems, which says that God long ago drew a circle in the sand exactly around the spot where you are standing right now. I was never not coming here. This was never not going to happen." ― Elizabeth Gilbert
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"Enter, child."
She slipped through the ornate silver portal, turning quietly in a circle to gain her bearings. She was poised on a diaphanous ivory platform, marvelling at its ability to support her weight, while a myriad of foreign fragrances assaulted her nose simultaneously from all directions.
However, none of this was the reason why she suddenly dropped to her knees. The stirring celestial vision encircling her was what caused her to adopt such a devout posture - the churning amaranthine seas of the cosmos, where majestic planets and glowing moons surged along with the flow and ebb of endless waves of blazing stars, and comets and meteorites shot past in brilliant explosions of colour- all of which combined made her feel like an inconsequential drop of water in this frothing ocean of deep space.
"Rise, Embla. Come, sit by my side and do not pay any heed to our surroundings, perhaps then you will not be so overwhelmed."
Startled, she turned towards the owner of the rich, melodious voice, bowing once more in reverence as she beheld the goddess Frigg, wife of Odin and Mother of the Nine Worlds. The goddess was truly a shining paragon of beauty, with a bejewelled winged crown resting upon her glossy dark locks, and a silver girdle cinching resplendent white robes tight around her lush frame. Frigg was engaged in her favourite pastime of spinning gossamer clouds, but she paused for a moment and fixed a benevolent gaze on Embla, beckoning her once again to take a seat next to her.
She did as the goddess requested, watching her use an enormous wooden spinning wheel as she waited patiently for her to speak.
"You must be curious as to why I summoned you here, child?"
She hesitated. "I...It is an honour to be called into your presence, my Lady. The reason doesn't matter."
Frigg laughed out loud. "What a modest little human! You may speak your mind freely here, my dear; I do not plan on punishing you for inquisitiveness! And while we're at it, you may call me Mother. After all, my Lord considers himself to be your Father, although he does share that right with both his brothers."
"As you wish… Mother. I do not know why I have been called here, but I would very much like to find out."
"We will get there in time. First, we should get to know each other better. I was not present at the last feast thrown by my husband, but I learnt that both you and Askr were in attendance. Did you enjoy yourself, child?"
"Oh, I most certainly did, Mother! The sumptuous varieties of food there and the merry atmosphere were more than enough to satisfy me!"
"That sounds wonderful. Did you make any new acquaintances?"
"Well, there wasn't enough time to talk to every single person at the feast, but I did enjoy conversing with the goddess Skaði. She has so many interesting stories to tell!"
"I can imagine. I also seem to recall hearing that she introduced you to Fenrir."
She shifted uncomfortably, still disquieted whenever she remembered her first encounter with that sinister god. "Yes, I met him as well."
"And what do you make of him?"
Blinking in confusion, she tried to read Frigg's expression, but the goddess did not look up and continued spinning her clouds serenely. "He… he was polite when we were introduced to each other. I didn't really talk to him much, though, because immediately after that Askr and I left the feast and went home."
That was putting it mildly. Askr was used to other gods staring appreciatively at her whenever they travelled to Asgard, but something about Fenrir had rubbed him completely the wrong way. The god had continued to pin her with a lewd stare even after Askr had appeared beside her, blatantly ignoring the man as he told her that it was time they made their way home. Askr had taken her roughly that night, clearly agitated about the way the wolf god had been looking at her, and needing reassurance that she belonged only to him.
Frigg seemed to be deep in thought as she contemplated her answer; several moments passing by before she deigned to grant her a reply.
"Have you ever heard the story about my son Baldr, child?"
Well, that was a surprising change of topic. "Yes Mother, I have. Everyone knows the tale of his… passing."
"Then you are aware that Loki was responsible for his death."
"Yes. I am so sorry for your loss."
"It is all in the past, but thank you for the sentiment. Let me come to the point. It has been prophesized that my beloved son will be reborn in the new world after Ragnarök. For that to occur, the wellbeing of both you and your husband is of utmost importance, since you will be the ones to repopulate the earth."
Her hands were becoming increasingly clammy as she twisted them nervously in her lap. "I still don't understand what you want, Mother."
"It is quite simple, really. I have the gift of foresight, but I do not usually reveal all that I can see because I prefer not to interfere with people's futures. In your case, however, I feel that I have the right to make a slight exception, since both you and Askr are special and there are infinite paths that your lives can take. I merely wish to ensure that you tread on the best path possible."
"What do you mean, Mother?"
"I am currently preparing the ultimate protection for both of you. Sometime in the near future, you will be in grave danger from someone you know, danger that could possibly end your life. I think deep down in your heart, you are already aware of who will pose such a threat to you."
Fenrir. Her head pounded painfully as she regarded the goddess with dread, hardly knowing what to say. "What should we do, Mother? How can we be rid of this threat?"
"I am sorry, my child. I cannot help you with that." She stopped spinning for a second and stroked Embla's hair gently with one hand, her gaze brimming with pity. "However, I shall make you one promise. If you die, you shall not be sent to Hel like my son, for that would prevent you from ever being born again. Instead, Freyja has agreed to take you to Fólkvangr, where you will await the time for your reincarnation. You do not need to worry about Askr, of course; Odin will definitely take him to Valhalla."
"I know that Askr will be fine, but why would the goddess Freyja choose to help me? I am no warrior, and she always takes only those who perish in combat to Fólkvangr."
"That does not matter; you may not be part of a physical battle, but your role in the eternal war for the good of all our futures is enough to guarantee you a place in her abode. Besides, she has a deep-seated hatred of Loki and all the members of his family, so trust me when I say that she will be most happy to aid us in thwarting any of their plans as far as possible."
"Thank you, Mother. Your words have filled me with great relief."
"Do not thank me yet, child. The future remains uncertain. I will grant you one more boon, however. An álfar of my companion Eir (the goddess of healing) shall be born upon earth and in her mortal form guide your reincarnated self in the right direction, so that we can all be saved when Ragnarök comes to pass."
She felt increasingly worn out as the days passed; even the long hours of uninterrupted daily sleep were proving useless in reviving her. She was somewhat aware of the strange dreams she experienced at night, but whenever she attempted to recall any of them, all that she could perceive were blank spots in her head. It was extremely frustrating, and the only thing the dreams seemed to achieve was to put her on edge with an excruciating headache.
On top of that, she was very concerned about Ayanna. Two days had flown by after the incident in the lund, but the witch continued to lie in bed at the Longhouse, stating that the spell she had performed on the ring had drained her of all her energy and that she did not know how long it would take for her to recover. They had both lied to the Mikaelsons, claiming that Ayanna was exhausted after healing so many people, and that she merely needed a short break from her duties. In the meantime, Esther had volunteered to take up her work in the lund.
Therefore, Caroline's days now mostly consisted of taking care of Ayanna and aiding Esther with some small tasks, besides playing with all of the children whenever she was free. It was not the most scintillating of times, but she was still grateful to be considered a guest of the Mikaelsons, which automatically exempted her from being burdened with heavy duties like the other women in the village.
However, she still tried to make herself as useful as possible and not take undue advantage of the Mikaelsons' hospitality. She knew that she excelled at organising and executing projects, so she desperately sought new missions to distract her from all her problems. One of the biggest difficulties she had experienced so far was the lack of technology in this place. She especially missed her neat little handphone, surprising herself when she realised just how much she used to depend upon it.
She was determined to wean herself off all such addictions, however, and mentally kept on giving herself regular pep talks along the lines of 'That's right, Caroline Beula Forbes, you get into your Katniss Everdeen survival mode right now and show everyone how independent you are!' It was the least she could do to prevent herself from breaking under all this pressure.
The irony of it was that this situation mirrored what she and Tyler had been planning to do some time back, when they decided to run away together from Mystic Falls. True, she would not have been travelling alone then, and they would probably have had an easier time on the run since they were surrounded by the comforts of modern technology, but she would have still faced this same problem of being cut off from her family and friends, forced to adjust to a new environment and learning how to survive there. It was unbelievable just how naïve they had been back then, confident that it would be an effortless task to take on the world all by themselves!
She had definitely outgrown that phase of her life, though, and recognised that she had to behave in a more practical manner now. The day after she visited the sacred grove turned out to be Laugardagr; thanks to Ayanna she was already aware that it was the Vikings' Washing Day. As Ayanna rested in the Longhouse, she followed Esther, Emiliya Pavlov and some of the children to the hot springs near the village, where only women and young children under the age of six were allowed to bathe and wash their clothes. Elijah and Finn, therefore, had gone with Mikael and Vasil Pavlov to the men's hot pools some distance away. She had been very excited to see the hot springs because they did not exist in Mystic Falls in her time.
As Esther bathed Rebekah and Kol, Caroline joined Emiliya in keeping an eye on Nik and Dalla, who were busy having fun splashing around in the water. Emiliya was very sweet and reminded her a lot of Bonnie's Grams.
"You are so very beautiful! Esther told Vasil and me about you and I'm so happy to finally get the chance to talk to an álfar of Freyja! I didn't trouble you during our evening meal yesterday, though, because you and Ayanna looked very tired."
"Thank you so much! That was very kind of you, Emiliya. If you don't mind my asking, since how long have you and your husband been staying with the Mikaelsons?"
"Oh, we have known Esther since she was a child, but we only started living with them when they came here from their homeland. We ourselves left our home in Bulgaria long ago, because we were among the few people there who refused to convert to Christianity and had no choice but to leave our home in order to protect ourselves."
"That must have been horrible!"
"Yes, we wandered about like a couple of lost souls for a few years, homeless and friendless. Thankfully, we then found a home in the land of Jorvik, where Vasil incidentally learnt how to play his now favourite game Hnefatafl, and all was well after that."
"Does it get any easier to stop missing your native place over time?"
"The pain of leaving does fade gradually as the years pass, but there will always be a small sense of longing in your heart for all that you have lost. The trick is to make a new home for yourself wherever you are. Life is short and should not be filled only with regrets."
That was some sage advice indeed. She took Emiliya's words to heart and decided that from that day forth, she would do her best to immerse herself in the local culture. After all, there was no saying when Ayanna would be up to helping her once more, so in the meantime she had to make the best of her circumstances.
The very same afternoon, she approached Esther for help in learning how to make clothes for herself. She felt extremely guilty about using Ayanna's dresses for so long, and wished to rectify that situation immediately. Luckily, Ayanna assured her that Esther had yet to unlock her full magical potential, so she would be unable to make out anything about Caroline's past or future if she touched her hands while teaching her, thus there was no threat of her cover being blown if that happened.
Esther was most happy to help, though she found it funny that a divine being like her had no idea how to sew. She showed Caroline a warp weighted-loom set up against the wall at one end of the Longhouse where the latter had never been before; it was here that Esther herself had previously been weaving sails for Mikael's Viking ships.
She taught her the basics of handling the loom and Caroline was amused to discover that even in this time, scissors, needles and pins made of iron and bone actually existed. Later on, Esther gifted her with a small cylindrical holder in which she could store these objects; she informed her that these containers were often hung down from women's brooches so that they could carry them everywhere in case of emergencies.
The older children were not interested to participate in what they deemed to be an extremely tedious chore, but the younger ones, namely Nik, Kol and Rebekah, were most fascinated to watch Caroline train in the fine art of dressmaking.
"Red! Red!" Rebekah insisted on being the ultimate decider of a suitable colour for Caroline's first dress. The latter was not really paying her much attention though; too busy laughing her head off at Kol. The little fiend had somehow managed to upset a whole basket of sewing materials on top of himself, and Esther was giving him a sound scolding for butting his head into places where it didn't belong.
While all of this was going on, Nik took the opportunity to jump up onto the bench next to Caroline. "What did you do yesterday? I didn't see you the whole day, and when you and Ayanna came back for dinner, you only talked for a short while with my parents before you went to sleep."
"Sorry Nik, but I was very tired last night. Ayanna had taken me to the lund so that I could watch her heal the villagers, and we basically spent the entire day there."
"Oh, that doesn't sound like it was much fun… (Giving her a sympathetic stare)… I know! Why don't you join Elijah, Finn, Dalla and me tomorrow? Mother will be giving us some runic lessons in the morning, but after that the four of us are going to explore some caves that Elijah discovered nearby. (Whispering) We'll have to leave the two babies behind, of course."
She laughed softly to herself; he himself was still just a baby! "That is an excellent plan, Nik! Thank you for the kind invitation!"
He beamed, surprising her with a spontaneous hug which caused her to lose her balance and fall back on the bench. She let out an indignant yelp as she inadvertently pricked her palm with stray needles. Everyone turned to look at her, gaping in shock before all of their voices broke out simultaneously.
"NIKLAUS! Look at what you've done, you foolish boy! I hope you've not been badly hurt, Caroline."
"I'm so sorry Caroline! I didn't mean to injure you! Are you alright?"
"Care! Care!"
She put her hand up, her ears ringing with all of the sudden noise. "Please stop worrying, all of you! I'm perfectly fine! See, I'm not even bleeding anymore."
There was a sudden hush when they all realised she was speaking the truth. She wanted to kick herself for being such an idiot; she had forgotten that they knew nothing about the magical healing properties of her skin! She quickly decided to provide them with a grey lie instead.
"I'm immortal, remember? So it's impossible for anything to hurt me!" Well, that was the closest she would bring them to the truth, conveniently omitting the part about how she could be killed if wooden stakes were plunged into her heart, or how the removal of her daylight ring would cause her to burn in the sun.
"That's amazing!" The children all looked very impressed. Even Esther seemed fascinated by this remarkable revelation. She blushed deeply and tried to change the subject.
The next morning, she accompanied the four oldest children to their lessons with Esther. Ayanna had assured her that she would be fine by herself, instead encouraging her to seize the opportunity to pick up the handy skill of rune carving. Thanks to the diamond ring, Caroline was able to easily absorb the meanings of runes (like the ones on the marble slab), as they automatically translated into plain English in her brain, but Ayanna felt that it was also important for her to be able to write using these symbols.
Thus, she gave Esther the somewhat flimsy excuse that she had not carved any runes for a very long time, and that she hoped to brush up on her runic knowledge. Fortunately, Esther seemed to accept her explanation and told her to take a seat with the others. She sat in between Elijah and Nik, and proceeded to learn all about the Futharks- the basic runic alphabets.
Years later, she would say that this was the time when she first truly appreciated the profound attraction that bound her to Niklaus Mikaelson, although this understanding itself was triggered by a surprisingly small incident.
In the middle of lessons, Esther had provided all of them with flat stones on which to practice carving whatever runes they liked; and Caroline was busy trying to engrave the newest rune she had learnt- Dagaz, the main meaning of which was hope or happiness- on her stone. However, she was distracted from accomplishing this when Nik tugged insistently on her hand.
"Look at what I carved for you, Caroline!"
She looked, and didn't quite know whether to laugh or cry in despair. The boy had carved the rune Ar, which mainly symbolized beauty and the power of the sun, and it was clear that he meant it as a great compliment to her.
Outwardly, she gazed intently at the rune, although privately she was mostly regretting the fact that she had severely underestimated him back in her time. It seemed that Klaus fancied her no matter how old he was, and even if this time his crush on her was of a more innocent nature, she was truly sorry that she had shut her eyes to this simple fact earlier- that she would always be his first choice, whatever his age and whatever the circumstances. Her acceptance of this knowledge engulfed her with a bittersweet feeling; all this time, she had been so busy focusing on getting Elena and Stefan together, that she had sadly remained blind to the possibility of creating her own epic romance.
She sighed softly, realising that she had thrown away her chance to find happiness with Klaus before. However, she vowed not to repeat her mistakes in this time and place; even if she could not possibly pursue a romantic relationship with Nik here, she would at least attempt to form a lasting friendship with the young boy, starting from now.
"Thank you Nik! That is truly a lovely carving!"
Later on in the afternoon, the five students made their way to the caves which Nik had told her about. She was not too surprised to see that they were the same caves in which Elijah had once trapped human Elena, and where Esther's coffin had been kept hidden from Klaus. After all, some things do remain the same!
She had a fabulous time there. Elijah had surprised her with his playfulness (mostly because she only remembered him in his stuffy suit and tie avatar), when he proposed a rowdy game of hide and seek (although that wasn't really the name that he gave the game!). As the only girls among the players, she and Dalla had quickly formed an alliance, finding good places to hide together and giggling all the while. She thoroughly enjoyed herself, and it all helped her to forget her troubles for a while.
But that was yesterday. Today was a different story; her head pounded with every step she took. She decided to secretly go to the woods where she had first met Nik (although she wouldn't go too far away from the village; after all, she was in no mood to meet any of the werewolves again), and try to find fresh prey to sate her bloodlust. Ayanna had told her that there was a lack of huge animals in the forest because of the presence of the wolves; therefore she would have to make do with whatever rabbits or birds she could catch.
It was a nasty piece of business, but she dearly hoped that having her fill of blood would help in alleviating her crushing headache. As she walked towards the forest, she turned around for a few seconds when she reached the edge of the village, silently surveying the place where she suspected she would have to stay for quite some time. The surroundings were beautiful enough all right, but all she wanted was still just a way to go back home.
"Would you like to have some more wine, Master?"
A deep, menacing growl emerged from the shadows. "NO, you damned fool! I told you to leave, didn't I? Do you want me to rip your heart out before you get the message?"
The terrified servant raced out of the room without another word.
The shadows rippled as He moved towards the sole window in the room, looking up at the crescent moon hung upon a cloudless night sky. He hummed softly to himself.
"Shame that of a beauty so fair,
I was fully unaware,
But now Embla shall be mine,
That I solemnly declare!"
Hahaha please forgive me for the silly verse at the end, I know it's terrible! :P Anyway, there were lots of images floating through my mind for this chapter and making it very dear to me, so I really hope you enjoyed it! :)
Here come the notes:
1. Frigg is the mother of Baldr, whose death is seen as the first in a chain of events which will ultimately lead to the destruction of the gods at Ragnarök. Baldr will be reborn in the new world, according to Völuspá.
2. Völuspá is the first and best known poem of the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end, related by a völva addressing Odin. It is one of the most important primary sources for the study of Norse mythology.
3. Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures (including the gods Odin, Thor, Týr, Freyr, Heimdallr, and Loki), the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water. Afterward, the world will resurface anew and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors. Ragnarök is an important event in the Norse canon, and has been the subject of scholarly discourse and theory.
4. For the first part of the chapter, you can search for 'Frigg spinning the clouds' on Google to get a better image of what I'm describing.
5. Eir is a companion of Frigg and a goddess associated with medical skills. You can make your own guesses as to who the álfar mentioned by Frigg is in her mortal form.
6. In Norse mythology, Fólkvangr is a meadow or field ruled over by the goddess Freyja where half of those that die in combat go upon death, while the other half go to the god Odin in Valhalla (mostly legendary heroes and kings).
7. The story of Baldr's death goes like this: He had a dream of his own death and his mother had the same dreams. Since dreams were usually prophetic, this depressed him, so his mother Frigg made every object on earth vow never to hurt Baldr. All objects made this vow except mistletoe.
Frigg had thought it too unimportant and nonthreatening to bother asking it to make the vow (alternatively, it seemed too young to swear). When Loki, the mischief-maker, heard of this, he made a magical spear from this plant (in some later versions, an arrow). He hurried to the place where the gods were indulging in their new pastime of hurling objects at Baldr, which would bounce off without harming him. Loki gave the spear to Baldr's brother, the blind god Höðr, who then inadvertently killed his brother with it.
Upon Frigg's entreaties, delivered through the messenger Hermod, Hel promised to release Baldr from the underworld if all objects alive and dead would weep for him. All did, except a giantess, Þökk, often presumed to be the god Loki in disguise, who refused to mourn the slain god. Thus Baldr had to remain in the underworld, not to emerge until after Ragnarök, when he and his brother Höðr would be reconciled and rule the new earth together with Thor's sons.
8. It is well known that the goddess Freyja hated Loki because he once stole her treasured golden necklace, so that's why she would be willing to help Frigg protect Embla.
9. The 10th century was about the time when the First Bulgarian Empire had converted to Christianity, so the Pavlovs would have saved themselves by fleeing to Jorvik, which is modern day York in England.
10. I assume that Caroline arrived in the past on a Thursday, which was the same day as her Prom. So Friday was when she went to the lund, and now I've described how her weekend went about. Next chapter we'll come back to her present- Monday.
11. Runes have various meanings when used in different ways, so I'm definitely no expert in them.
I think that covers about everything, thank you so much for reading! Reviews would be much appreciated! :)
Yours,
Christine Rose