KETLDR COMES OF AGE
Introduction: In doing research on clothing such as Vikings and people in the Ironwoods might have worn I learned about linen being put in water to rot the woody stalks to release the fibers and then the woven cloth put out in sunny grassy fields to bleach white. This process reminded me of one of my favorite shows and its American remake which I also enjoyed. "Riget" by Lars Von Trier tells of a hospital built upon the site of where the Vikings bleached their linen and tells a scary yet amusing and entertaining tale at the same time. Stephen King did a very creative remake with his "Kingdom Hospital" series which takes place in America. Both are very unique stories and I feel if a "Project Runway" designer had designed a dress inspired by i.e. Coco Channel in comparison of creativity and won it would be in the essence of how Stephen King reinterpret Von Trier's story with his unique style for an American audience.
Not only do I bring this up for the bleaching fields but both these stories center on a young girl who inspires me with the essence of Hollie in both tales. Ironic in the first because all the haunting is caused by her own father murdering her a hundred years or so before the story takes place so that he will not be discovered to have sired a daughter out of wedlock. Hollie of course has Loki who is a very loving father that she is devoted to. In the second story the girl is an orphan but the age of the child and the atmosphere that both movies are filmed in just screams Hollie to me!
Hollie
Ketildr and I have shared a chamber for as long as I can remember. She is my niece but since she is almost sixteen and I am only ten she is more like an auntie to me. But in the last few months she has become lovesick for GAR. She reminds me of Snowflake when she was almost a year old and came into her first heat. My sensible, independent Snowflake suddenly began to act like she was possessed by the spirit of another rolling on the ground and mewling with the strangest songs which she had never voiced before. When mama saw how shocked I was as she did this as well as stick her hiny up in front of every male in the castle and turn around and look at them mewling even stranger songs she explained it to me.
"She is now old enough to have kittens and she is letting the Tom cats know." mama explained to me when I asked her if an evil spirit had taken possession of my cat.
"But she is still a kitten herself and too young to be a mama." I said because she was still not full grown.
Mother agreed with me and taught me a spell she used with the animals to control their desire to breed. If I ever want Snowflake to have a litter the spell can be reversed. But I have seen how difficult breeding can be on the barn cats so I do not wish Snowflake to go through this. She seems perfectly happy without a litter of kittens so all is well. So I went and talked to mama about doing a spell to make Ketildr settle down and be herself again.
Was I ever taken aback when my mother burst into laughter and it took quite some time for her to stop laughing. My mother is very loving but she rarely laughs and or cries. She is very sober and logical in her thinking and the more emotional and quarrelsome people around her get the more I cannot say serene so I guess the best thing to say is the more her whole demeanor becomes body language to express how ridiculous the emoting is. Later she told me that my surprised reaction to her laughter made it all the much harder to stop laughing. Finally when she was able to get enough of a degree of calmness about herself she explained the situation to me.
"When a man or a maiden falls in love child all one can really do is let nature take its course. Yes there are those who make a good living giving out love spells, potions to place in the drink or food of the one they love, and the like. But it is only wishful thinking because there is no magic that can control matters of the heart. She has long had a special spot in her heart for him and now it has blossomed. Gar feels much the same for her and the two will make their vows official when the tribes gather this summer."
"But there are some things we can do that will make this time of waiting easier for the both of you." mama said. "She must fill the chest Gar will bring back on his next visit with linens and other bridal necessities as well as her wedding garments need to be made. As you will be her maid of Honor you will need a new outfit too and a chamber must be prepared for her and GAR to dwell in as a married couple."
"Getting busy with those things will put all her romantic energy to practical use and I think you will have your niece back in a way that you can enjoy her. Later this morning we will go to the clothing and materials room and start getting the needed supplies together. This is why I have had you girls work extra hard the last couple of years growing flax, and spinning and weaving both it and the wool into cloth. Now both of you can have fun making linens and bridal clothing. Papa and GAR have also brought many beautiful skeins of various colored silks back with them over the years and they are carefully packed in the cedar chests made for that purpose. With these you can smock, embroider and decorate to your heart's content."
Ketlidr was so excited when grandmother told her the news at breakfast. She loved making beautiful clothes and embroidering linens and was very eager to get started. Mama told me that before she met Loki and GAR people wore clothing made out of leather, fur, and wool which was shorn from the backs of our long haired dogs. Sheep are now used to but we still enjoy the dog wool as well as a material made of both kinds of yarns. We also have a few things that are made from cotton but cotton like silk has to be grown in warmer climes and neither cotton or silk wicks as well as linen does. When it is hot we wear linen shifts and linen outer garments and in cooler times the outer garments are wool.
Linen was very difficult to dye so we usually left it in its natural color or bleached it white. Embroidery and smocking however as well as creative seaming made beautiful garments from this material. But with wool we could have a lot of fun as wool took to dye as Snowflake will chase mice. Experimenting with small scraps of wool and dye herbs was always fun. Ketldr loved shades of gold and green as they reminded her of the sun shining on the oak trees in the Ironwoods so when we had just the right shades we dyed the wool material for her wedding garments as well as some yarn to weave bands to decorate the wool with.
Ketildr
Ever since I was born yes I can remember my birth and have discussed things I remember about it with my mother Auba. My mothers pain, the concerns of what I would look like when born, certain small things that I have understood all the more make her tend to agree that my birth memories hold a strange accuracy. What truly confirms this among other talents for me is that I only need hear, see, experience, etc., something once and will have full retention of it. At my own choosing I can remember the event and expand upon it with my own ideas.
This is why I am so proficient in magic and lore because I seem to be created with an uncontrollable passion to learn and experience things. Long ago I would have left home was it not for Hollie telling me the concept of "Deeps and Wide's" that I truly believe she learned from the Three Norns. Going deep with all the things I have learned allowed me to balance with the "wide's" which I define as travel and experiencing new things. By finding "wide's" within the "deeps" I feel I learned the concept of wisdom and inner peace. The older I get the more I sense Grandfather Loki has never truly found this and his spirit at heart is a restless one. Papa, mama, Uncle Ferris, Aunt Strong House, as well as Grandmother, are strictly territorial. They love, protect, and move about the whole of the Ironwoods but have no desire to go beyond its boundaries. But many of my siblings and cousins feel as I do and as for Aunt Hollie well so many things about her are enigmas. This is so strange because she keeps no secrets unless asked to and then she is very trustworthy about what she keeps close to her heart. How it is that someone as down to earth and practical as my young Aunt Hollie can have such a mysterious aura about her?
Hollie and I have had our quarrels over the years but we always have made up quickly. I have always felt a deep affection for Hollie since her birth and she seems to feel the same for me. Right after her birth I wanted to constantly hold and care for her abandoning my until then much loved baby doll. When grandma took her from me to nurse her I would run to my room and sob until she was brought back to me. My grandparents developed a system of bribery consisting of teaching me new magic and the like in return for allowing them some time with their daughter. Papa and mama's patience was often tried by this but things became better when I started having newborn siblings to assist with. As Hollie grew older I taught her how to care for the babies and she loved it. In fact when we were younger one of the main things we might quarrel over was who was going to hold and rock the littlest ones.
When I turned twelve or so I started to feel romantic about Gar. Up till then I had always admired him as an Uncle like Ferris. Gar was very patient with me and my ever increasing attempts at flirting and courting him. Sex and the "magic" surrounding it were taught to me as soon as my moon cycles began. I was taught how to control the conception of children, and many of the varieties of the sexual arts as well as how to defend myself with magic from a would be rapist. My mother wanted me fully aware of who I was with and what I was doing. She loved Jordie my father with all her heart but she did not want me seduced in a vulnerable state like she and Aunt Strong House were at the beginning of their "marriages."
When I was fourteen Gar started responding to my attempts at seduction. He did nothing wrong proclaiming that he wanted to marry me when I turned sixteen. So neither one of us thought it was wrong to have him gradually initiate me into the erotic arts. Gar was patient and gentle teaching me how to allow him release with my lips before I was ready to be penetrated. My reaction was never one of fear or revulsion due to his skill and my first full experience was pleasantly memorable. Mama, papa, and the other adults knew what was going on but pretended they did not as I found out later. Gar had asked and sought permission from my parents before he responded to any of my wooing. Whenever he was in residence at our estate I would always "sneak" into his chamber late at night and back to the one I shared with Hollie before dawn broke.
Hollie was good with it never threating to tell tales and she had never been that type while we were growing up. She had also been told in simpler terms that my comings and goings were part of being engaged so it did not bother her. But I knew she was not happy at all with my being able to talk of nothing and think of nothing but Gar. Even I had to laugh when grandma told me about Hollie and Snowflake.
A few years ago a father and son from our village and spent a year among the Ashier and had learned some fine woodworking techniques from them and shared their own woodworking skills in return. Since then my grandparents, my parents, and my aunt and uncle had been able to refurbish their private chambers with some lovely new beds, chests. Chairs and tables. Wedding gifts from these people would include the same kind of furniture for our chamber - the bed having been completed. It was a lovely curtained four poster in the Ashnier style and Holli and I would be embroidering green wool hangings for it with silk threads after we fitted and dyed the woolen yardage needed. Soon my bridal chest would be finished made from fine seasoned cedar wood and this would be filled with clothes and linens we were working on.
Two to three times a week ladies from the village would come and help with the sewing and also fix special meals on those days. This started after Hollie and I had completed the fitting and dying for all the linens and clothing us planned to make. As we worked away on this in the solar the conversations and questions always turned to Loki, Gar and their travels. Some of the village girls that I had grown up with wondered if I would be traveling with my new husband especially until I decided to have children.
Ever since this subject was brought up with Gar and my family they were against it all of them. They said it was because the world was too dangerous of a place for a woman to be traveling like they did even in the company of her well equipped and capable family. But as I listened to the advice of some of my slightly older friends who were already married I learned about how men enjoy traveling in order to enjoy the favors of more then one woman as well as to do business. A couple of the girls told me how they had to come to my grandma to be cured of sickness that could only be caused my the too wide sharing of sexual favors. Since they were faithful to their husbands, but their husbands widely traveled their secrets were discovered in the unhappy of ways.
When I talked to my mother about it she said that some men had larger appetites then others and this was how they satisfied them with out bringing trouble upon themselves by having affairs with other women in the same village. Auba said that my father and uncle were perfectly happy since they had been married but grandpapa and Gar no doubt needed more. However grandma was strict about how they took care of themselves so they would bring no sickness home that would cause the troubles my friends had.
The closer the time to our marriage came the more restless I felt about all of this. A few times I had even spoken to father about it and he just said that it was the way of things. Nobody seemed to understand that I had a deep need to travel and explore except Hollie who said that I would enjoy seeing the places that she had been to with the Norns. Gar was good to me but the idea of sharing him with others was abhorrent and the restlessness about all this grew and grew as the months went by. The conversations, jokes, and not so subtle hints during the conversations we had while doing long hours of needle work as well as the romantic tales we listened to often accompanied by music to break the ennui were rapidly taking over the joy and excitement I felt about my upcoming nuptials.
Hollie
For several moon cycles my meetings with the Norns had involved my seeking their wisdom about Ketldr. As they do each one gave advice according to her name and position. Urd told me that she had studied hard to gain wisdom and knowledge as a fish seeks water. As one who has much enjoyed a banquet she is more then sated with what she has learned and her growth. Her desire to travel and explore is the same as the natural desire of the sated diner to walk and settle off the feast of which they have partaken. Verandi said that she is working hard in her thoughts to decide how to live her future and that everyone who is born and grows up must do this. She told me that I can learn from what my niece decides to do in order to make my own plans when I arrive at that age. Skud said that whatever happens that I should remember that my niece has wisdom, passion, and determination and with these she can make a success of her life whatever the environment and fate outside of her control holds for her.
Urd and Verandi said that my parents and grandparents had done an excellent job in providing a good home and family life for us as we are growing. But Skud added that our elders were now struggling with what she called "letting go". She further explained that anyone who cares for a child will go through this battle. "Good parents and grandparents like yours want their children to achieve their dreams and with some of their children choices they can be joyful from the first but others it can take a long time for them to accept. Even when those choices are good ones they can still struggle with some. "
As the time for the wedding drew down to the last moon cycle Ketildr seemed to be calmer and more at peace then she had since she first fell in love with Gar. But I sensed that this was not the case as the other elders thought. I just knew somehow that she was now keeping her feelings in her own heart and making plans. Even as the person who spent the most time with her as her chamber mate and sewing partner she never spoke of any of this with me. My feelings were not hurt because I knew in my own heart that she did this to not only protect herself but me too. She did not want to share anything with me that might later threaten to divide my loyalties with the rest of the family and later when I fully understood this I realized how much she truly loved me.
Ketldr picked a day about two weeks before we would travel to the gathering for her official ceremony at the gathering of the tribes. I was the first one to learn about it because I was the first to go to the kitchen that morning to begin the first meal. On the table stood a beautiful wooden bowl carved from a tree burl that Ketldr and I had found in the woods together last year. Under the bowel was a mat of fine linen worked with runes of beautiful silk thread. Runes were also burned into the bowel in a lovely manner. As I placed my hands upon these objects I realized that she had left them as farewell gifts as well as infusing powerful magical spells that would prevent anyone going after her to bring her back. Mama and Auba found me grasping the objects and crying with no chores done when they came to the kitchen. One of the very few times I have ever cried so hard or neglected my duties.