Disclaimer: I don't own TVD or TO
Welcome back, everyone. I don't have a Beta so please excuse the grammatical and spelling errors. I'll fix them and update the chapters later.
Question: We all know that the Originals go back to the Old World (east) and end up in France by ship. Since Anastasia can't be with them, she'll be traveling through the Continental US (west), up through Canada, and Alaska through the Bering Strait into Russia. She'll move back south into Song Dynasty China.
So what would you, my lovely readers, like to happen? Where would you like her to visit throughout her journey through the past 1000 years of history? Which people should she meet, and where should she live?
1. We're in Alaska now. I'm not very well versed in pre-Columbian America so I'm using information I found about the lifestyle of the Natives that live in the North Slope region of Alaska. Please review and don't be afraid to call me out on anything I get wrong. I'm not a historian so I'll be using the web for my research.
2. I'm definitely going to include India and travel along the silk road. I want to see the Byzantine empire before its collapse and see the rise of Venice and return to the Americas after Columbus. That's a general map. Anyone who wants to recommend someplace can place them in the review box and we can have detours and see new places we've never seen before. My Indian readers, please tell me what you want to see about India during the 12th century. Please send in your requests and suggestions.
3. To the guest reviewer: Anastasia has magic but it is slightly different from the magic of the witches. She mostly elemental magic and is coming up with her own spells. Even if she could possibly heal or siphon the venom from the wolf bite, she doesn't know how to. It's a lack of knowledge about this magic that's holding her back. She knows a lot about being a vampire, which is fairly straightforward. Magic isn't so straightforward and she has no one to teach her.
Read, Review, and Enjoy.
Chapter 5: 15 Years Among Birnirk People
They finally arrived on the coast of what would become Alaska. Anastasia had made the assumption that when winter came, the ocean would freeze and they could just walk across the ice into Asia, but as she thought more about it, if that was possible in the 11th century, then there would have been contacts between the two continents well before the arrival of the Europeans. So no walking into Russia in the middle of winter. They arrived at a place called Kiŋigin in the Native tongue and the people survived by hunting whales, seals, walrus, caribou, and even wolves.
The sea was not too far from the village, creating lagoons in the low lands of the area. The village was placed high above the lagoons, allowing the earthen mound and whalebone-framed homes to remain dry and warm all through the year. The open ocean not too far from the village allowed the Inupiaqs easy access to a stable food supply when they would take their Umiaks (1) out to sea to hunt during the summer months.
Anastasia, Aslaug, and Jorunn settled just outside of the small Native settlement. They didn't have any bone, but the area was surrounded by tall spruce that Anastasia easily cut down and cut to hold back the large amounts of earth that would be placed above and around the home. By the end of the week, the house took the shape of a bunker with a small door surrounded on all sides by packed earth, moss, and leaves. From the door was an entrance tunnel that led to a single living room for cooking and everyday activities. Above the living area was an elevated sleeping area that they covered in the furs they brought with them on their journey. With her knowledge of Roman building methods, Anastasia added a small hypocaust (2) under the sleeping area to keep the small house warm and an earthen chimney to bring smoke out of the house.
From March to September. It took them six months to cross Continental North America from east to west on foot.
"AAAHHH!" And just in time for Jorunn's baby to be born. And he came right on time. 40 weeks. "Push, my lady," Aslaug encouraged as she helped the Birnirk midwife deliver the child. Although they spoke different languages, when Anastasia went to ask for help in the village, many women came to the house to help her. Jorunn kneeled on the fur, with Anastasia supporting her on one side and a volunteer helping her on the other side, holding her arms as she pushed down into her pelvis to force the baby out. Aslaug aided the midwife as she had done many times before in their old village, watching as the baby began to crown. "AAAAHHHH!"
And Anastasia was going deaf as Jorunn screamed into her sensitive ears. She didn't know much about natural childbirth as she had a team of highly-trained OB/GYN and nurses at a sterilized hospital. All she had to do was breathe and push when she was giving birth to her daughter.
"You have to push, my lady. I can see the head," Aslaug said.
Another woman wet a rag and passed it over Jorunn's face and chest to wash off the sweat. "I cannot..." she groaned. Anastasia felt bad for Jorunn as she had been in labor for almost 24 hours and on her knees for several when it came time for her to push. She barely slept after her contractions began and barely had anything to eat or drink that her lips became chapped. She was also horrified by the lack of sterilization and medicine available. When she had her child, she had an epidural to help with the pain. Jorunn only had a few bitter herbs to chew on and no antibiotics. It's a wonder that humanity survived with the high number of women and children who died in childbirth. At the same time, she was amazed by the women who had come to help deliver the baby. They had no formal education in a fancy school at the cost of thousands of dollars. All they had was experience learned by watching and aiding their mothers, sisters, and neighbors in childbirth.
"You're almost there, lady Jorunn," Aslaug said. "Just a little more."
Jorunn pushed and pushed, feeling the large head of the baby sliding between her legs while the midwife twisted this way and that as the shoulders came next. Even before the rest of the baby slid out, she heard the cries of her child, giving her the strength to push once more, allowing the baby to slide onto the fur. Jorunn collapsed back onto the bed as Aslaug cut the umbilical cord and handed the baby to Jorunn.
She was weak and tired, but she looked between her child's legs to find out the sex. "A boy..." she smiled as she remembered her husband's will. "Balder Dagson. My son."
Balder had no shortage of affection washed on him. From his mother to his two older sisters (it was the cover story they choose to justify why three unmarried women were living alone. Anastasia, due to her skin color and dark hair, became Jorunn's step-daughter from her husband's previous marriage (who had married young, only to lose her husband) while Aslaug became Jorunn's daughter with Dag, making her Balder's full-blooded sister) and everyone in the nearby settlement. Balder was raised with the Native Birnirk children his age and absorbed the language like water while his mother and sisters struggled to learn to communicate. At home, he spoke the Norse language while in the village, he communicated in the Native language he had been exposed to since he was a child.
As the language barrier broke down between the small family and the few dozen families in the village, the Dagson-Manuel family became more prominent members adopted into the community. They learned the dances, songs, food, and traditional practices of the people.
Not long after Balder had been weaned off of breast milk, Jorunn began showing signs of breast cancer which was quickly spreading to the different organs around her body. While her son was growing into his first year, her health declined. She lost a large amount of weight, she couldn't eat, she was always fatigued, which left her on bed rest. There was no treatment for cancer in the 11th century. The pain was unbearable to the point that she decided that she would rather die a quick death instead of wasting away in her house. She drank a cup of Anastasia's blood before her neck was snapped.
When she awoke, she was far from the settlement and her son. Anastasia was a draconian sire. Jorunn was not allowed a daylight ring until she could resist lunging at a person with an open wound. She was also not allowed to see her son, which motivated her to work harder on her self-control. They hunted further to the southeast in larger settlements, never hunting in the same village on consecutive nights and the bodies were disposed of. Jorunn also had to learn to dispose of her kills without relying on the use of Anastasia's fire. Anastasia wanted Jorunn to become a vampire with self-control and self-reliance. She had to successfully compel her meal and eat without killing before Anastasia used made her a daylight ring.
Five years later, Aslaug turned 20 and she also wanted to become a vampire. She drank a cup of Anastasia's blood before her wrists were sliced open into two bowls. She didn't want her blood to be wasted when it could sustain the family. Once again, Anastasia took her away to hunt her first meal and learn the ways of a vampire before she could receive her daylight ring.
It was fairly easy to feed while remaining hidden as people were covered from head to toe due to the weather. They compelled some women to come to the house for social events and they would feed on them and heal them. Anastasia found out that she could heal small wounds like bite marks simply by applying a bit of vampire blood to the site of the injury rather than having to feed people her blood. With this method, there was no chance of a random person dying with vampire blood in their bodies and transitioning into a vampire. They only fed in the village once a week and other times, they went back to the old hunting grounds in the surrounding villages and towns to feed. They supplemented their diet with animal blood, no matter how disgusting they found it. In the cold harsh environment, there were not many people in small settlements who would not be missed. If they continued hunting and killing the Natives, people would start pointing fingers. Blood from polar bears, caribou, and even seals and fish sustained them when they could not drink human blood.
Summer 1013 AD
Anastasia laid on top of the house looking up at the stars that formed the Milky Way. No matter how many times she had seen the sky over the years, she never grew tired of watching the starry sky without any light pollution. She would use her thousand years to commit the night sky to memory. She didn't turn around when she heard the small feet marching up to her.
"Sister," Balder said as he came to sit beside her. "Why do you always look up at the stars?"
She looked at the young boy with his brilliant dark brown hair and blue eyes. "Where I'm from, I could never see the stars. The night sky was always dark. But, here, the sky looks like it's glittering with jewels. It's beautiful."
He settled next to her. "Mother says that the stars were placed in the sky to guide us. She told me how the seamen from the old land used the stars to guide them to this land."
Anastasia hummed in agreement. "When your mother held you in her belly, we traveled across this land using the stars to guide us. We'll use them to guide us again when we leave."
"What?" he complained. "We're leaving? But I have yet to participate in the whale hunt."
Anastasia sighed as she stood up, walking down the side of the house hand in hand with Balder. "We're leaving, but not right now. You're already 12 so we'll be leaving in a few summers. You'll have time to do your whale hunt." When they arrived at the door, she released Balder's hand, allowing the lean young boy to go ahead of her through the low entryway.
"Mother, sister Anastasia says that we'll be leaving," he complained to Jorunn. "I do not wish to leave. I wish to participate in the upcoming hunt." Jorunn stopped, releasing the bone needle and part of the caribou-skin parka she had been sowing in preparation for the winter. She looked up at her son, at his brilliant blue eyes that showed determination just like his father. She sighed and nodded, "Very well but only during the spring after next. You will be fourteen years of age then."
The young boy smiled and launched himself at his mother. She smiled a proud and sad smile as she looked at her son. He looked like his father, his blue eyes and light skin reflecting his lineage as a child of the Northmen. However, his accent and his wishes were more indicative of the land he grew up in surrounded by foreigners. She was grateful that these people welcomed her and her son, allowing him to grow up as a normal boy, but their customs were very different from her people. He had been among them since he was a babe and had learned their ways through observation. He had been taught cooperation and compassion were necessary to survive in this harsh land. He had been taught to respect the animals he hunted for they sustained him. He had learned their dances and songs that worshipped the spirits. He knew how to hunt Polar Bear and how to carve ivory and bone using a bow drill. He had not learned his father's craft as a woodcarver because Jorunn did not know how. He did not know metallurgy or how to use a sword or throw an ax. She had tried to teach him about the customs of the old land and gave him a wooden sword, which Anastasia and Aslaug taught him to use from the little they learned from Dag. They also taught him to use the bow and arrow.
Growing up in a household of women, he also knew how to cook, clean, and sew. When he went out hunting, he butchered his game, taking what he could use for his family, including the blood, hyde, and bones, while throwing the rest into the sea for the animals to eat. Nothing was ever wasted in the cycle of life. He learned natural sciences from astronomy to geography from Anastasia and grew up with a scientific understanding of the world greater than anyone else in the 11th century.
"Come," Jorunn said, patting the space beside her on the bed. "There is something you must know." Aslaug stopped the sowing with she exchanged a glance with Anastasia who nodded.
Anastasia moved to the corner where the stone bath was molded to the wall. Waving a hand, she created water to fill the bath before lighting the flame in the hypocaust to heat up the bed and the bath. She sat on a wooden stool before Jorunn.
"What is it, mama?" Balder asked. Jorunn looked at her son as she opened her mouth to speak. A look of sheer dread washed over her face as she thought of the worst reaction her son could have. What if he hated her? What if he saw her as a monster because she hunted and survived on human blood? She could not live if she were to be hated by her son.
"Why don't I start?" Anastasia said, taking the pressure off Jorunn. "Our people come from another land far across the sea. The land was harsh for farming, similar to this land, so the men would often go raiding nearby lands for food, slaves, and other valuable goods. The raids are called "Viking" and the men who raided were "Vikingar." In the village your mother and father come from, a powerful man lost his daughter to an illness." She continued to explain the reason why Jorunn and Dag had left Europe and where they settled in a village on the eastern seaboard of the continent. Anastasia showed him the parchment and the map she had been drawing to track their travels. She explained to him about the men who became wolves during the full moon and the women who could use witchcraft.
"Like you?" Balder asked.
"Like me, but I do not know as much magic as the witches from our land," Anastasia said. "My power comes from my Father. It is different from the magic of the witches who serve Nature."
His sapphire eyes widened. "Our father? Does that mean I also have magic?" he asked enthusiastically, his body leaning slightly forward in excitement.
"No. We do not share a father. It is a lie we tell our neighbors." Anastasia's eyes burned with unshed tears as she finally shattered the lie she had held onto for over twelve years. In those years, they had lived together and slept in the same bed. She was there when he spoke his first words and she was present to hold his hand as he took his first steps. She watched him play with the children in the village and taught him how to use a sword and a bow from the little she had learned from his father. She taught him to make snow angels and snow forts for snowball fights. She had to learn to better control her strength because he was just so squishy. She never wanted to accidentally harm him. Even if they had no blood relation, he had become her little brother. In twelve years, the lie they had told became the truth and they truly became a family. "Come here." She pulled the young boy into a hug. "Even if we do not share blood, we are still family. You are my little brother. I never had a mother or father or brother but Dag, Jorunn, and you became my family." Her tears fell onto his shoulders as she sobbed. She pulled back and looked at him in the eyes. "Family is not about blood. It's about our bond and our loyalty to one another. Even if we do not share a father or mother, Aslaug and I are your sisters and Jorunn is our mother. Never forget that."
Balder left his home with his dog following close behind him and went out to the lagoon. He carried a wooden bucket in hone hand and had his fishing pole strapped to his back. He needed time. He needed time away from his family to come to terms with the many secrets his mother and sisters had told him. Fishing in the lagoon would help him think clearly.
Over the past few days, he had learned that his sisters were not related to him and that they and his mother were creatures who survived on blood. He learned about the Original Vampires and the spell that was used to create them to protect them from the wolf-men. Anastasia's real father gave her a portion of the immortality elixir the witch made, turning her into an Original Vampire before he sent her to the village, where she met his mother and father. He also learned that Aslaug was their slave, a human taken from her home when she was only a child and sold to do work without pay. It was the first time he had heard of such a term since the people in the village had no such practices. They didn't go raiding villages for wealth and slaves. He still could not completely grasp the full meaning of the term but he understood that Aslaug was owned by his parents for 10 years and had to buy her freedom using metal (how metal could be used to trade for food and other goods, he could not understand).
He learned that Anastasia had great strength and speed and other supernatural abilities that allowed her to control a person's mind. He learned that her blood could be used to heal injuries, but could not heal diseases, which was why, when his mother was dying, her blood made her like Anastasia - a vampire. It happened over ten years ago when he was a babe but he understood that the illness would have killed his mother had she chosen not to become an immortal. And years later, when Aslaug became an adult, she too chose to become immortal.
At first, he was confused. He found it hard to grasp the requirements needed to become a vampire. He knew that his father had died on the journey to this village, so he asked why his father had not become immortal. Anastasia explained the events that took place on the journey and the reason why his father died. She explained the weaknesses of vampires because they are not true immortals. Even if they cannot age or die of natural causes, they can still be killed. He had learned a lot of new information that he needed to organize in his mind.
As he sat for hours with the fish lure in the water, he thought deeply, trying to understand everything. His confusion finally gave way to relief. Had his mother not been turned into a vampire, she would have died a painful death due to her illness. He would have never known her. Similarly, he did not want illness to touch Aslaug. As for Anastasia, he was grateful for whatever god brought her to his family. Had she not been present and immortal like the family of Mikael, his family would not have known the danger the Mikaelson family posed and they would have likely died in the village and he would have never been born. He was grateful for her. And she was right that blood was not what made them family. It was their bond. He knew her all his life and he called her sister. The fact that they did not share blood did not make her a stranger in his eyes. She was his eldest sister. As was Aslaug. And his mother suffered through the pain of childbirth to bring him into this world and chose to defy death to remain his mother. He could not imagine life without her.
He reeled in the last salmon, placing it in the bucket with the others he caught. He placed his fingers between his lips and whistled for the dog. "Come Fenrisulfr." The dog was holding the limp neck of a waterfowl in his mouth before jumping out of one of the shallow ponds near the lagoon to rush to his master. He placed the waterfowl at Balder's feet, offering his kill to his master. Balder smiled at the dog, bending down to pet the animal as he praised him. "Good work, Fenris. You caught your own game. I will prepare it for you." The dog barked and wagged his tail as he followed his master back toward the house, carrying the fish and fowl. When he arrived home, he found his mother and sisters absent. He had not seen a glimpse of them in the village and deduced that they were likely to be out hunting. Hunting humans.
He sighed and turned to his task. He took one of the salmon from the bucket and placed it on the butcher's bench. The fish floundered in distress before he quickly placed a spike directly into the fish's brain, causing it to seize and flare out its fins. He cut the fish inside the gill arches on both sides of the fish before he made a final cut just above the tailfins. He placed the first fish in a bucket of water to bleed out before he took the other fish and repeated the process one by one. It was Anastasia who taught him this method of killing fish. She explained that she had learned the method on her travels. When fish suffocate out of the water, they can take hours to die and all the movement the fish makes ruins the taste of the fish and causes it to rot faster. "Just as humans can't breathe in water, fish can't breathe on land. It's like they're drowning so they flounder, trying to find water as a human would try to find land. It causes something called stress and fatigue. Remember when you spend the day hunting or practicing and you come home and complain your muscles hurt... it's like that for the fish. It's painful for them for hours so we should be merciful since they sustain us. You should never be cruel to animals. They may feel the same pain we do."
This method kills the fish quickly, mercifully, and the removal of the blood allows the fish's taste to remain and the fish can be stored for longer without rotting. Growing up among the Birnirk people, he learned to respect nature, to cherish and honor the animals he hunts as they provide nourishment for him and his family. The animals died to sustain him so the least he could do was allow them a swift and painless death. And just as his sister taught him, he forced a long flexible baleen wire into the salmon's spine through the cut in the tail, causing the fish to cease all movement, before he placed it in a slurry of ice water. As he looked at the fish he caught, he couldn't help but think about his mother and sisters. He was the predator and he caught the fish to eat and sustain him. His mother and sister were also predators and their prey was human. It was no different.
As the day went on, he continued with his chores. He cleaned the house and continued to make meal preparations for tonight while storing the rest in the ice and salt pan. He marinated the fish with herbs (grown every summer in their small garden surrounding the house) and vegetables (brought by Anastasia whenever she ventured from the southern regions and preserved with magic) and grilled it over an open flame. He boiled the bone and the rest of the meat to make a stock placed in the box to be preserved by magic and used the rest of the stock he had to make a soup.
He heard the door open and knew that his mother and sisters had returned. "Welcome back," he said as he turned to face them. He looked at his mother, who could barely look at him without tears in her eyes. His heart broke at the thought that he had been the one responsible for his mother's distress. He walked up to her and took her hand in his. "I am sorry, mother. I did not mean to upset you. After learning all that I had, I felt like everything had been a lie. I needed time to myself to reorganize my thoughts and come to terms with everything you told me."
"Really? So you do not see me as a monster?" Jorunn asked as she tried to wipe her tears away.
"Of course not. We, humans, hunt animals and kill them for food. It would be hypocritical of me to call you a monster for doing the same," he explained. "You are my mother and I trust you. I trust my sisters, who have never done anything to break that trust. Now that I think about it, I've never seen you hunt."
He looked at Anastasia, who replied, "That's because we feed on the neighbors when you're not in the house or we'll go to the neighboring villages. We supplement our diet with animal blood so we don't need to always feed on humans. We heal them and compel them to forget."
They sat down on the cushions at the low table and began to eat. "So you can survive on animal blood?"
"We can, but it was human blood that was used in the spell so it's human blood that allows us to keep our strength. Animal blood can keep us alive but our powers will be severely weakened and we won't be able to use our compulsion."
"And you've never used compulsion on me?"
"No!" all three women replied in unison.
Anastasia continued, "Drinking animal blood only will cause us to have a severe reaction to human blood. It'll cause us to lose control when we're exposed to human blood and we won't be able to stop feeding and massacre large numbers when we feed. I was like that when I first turned."
"What about mom and Aslaug?"
"I took your mother away after I turned her. I didn't allow her close to you until she could control her blood lust. Remember 6 years ago, Aslaug and I left for a while?" He nodded. "It was to teach her to feed and teach her control. I didn't give them their daylight rings until they could be exposed to human blood without reacting violently. I would never put you in danger like that."
"So, what about me? Will I have to turn into a vampire when I turn 20?"
The ladies looked between one another. Jorunn turned to her son and said, "If that is your wish. Transitioning from a human to a vampire, everything was heightened. I had to work hard to learn control because I wanted to come back to you as soon as I could. I never wanted to think of you as food. And I had to always be careful with holding you because you were so small and weak that I was afraid that I would crush you with my greater strength. Being a vampire makes the world seem more fragile. If you want to be a vampire, then you shall be. If you wish to remain human, then it will be so."
He nodded. He didn't have to think about becoming a vampire. When he was older, he planned to ask Anastasia to turn him, but it was not yet time.
October 1015 AD
It was the Fall just after Balder's fourteenth birthday. In the Summer, they had hunted plenty of bearded seals. Women gathered in the large hall in the village, each sewing a portion of the waterproof skin of the animal. The older and younger men were working on the wooden frame of the umiak. It was all in preparation for the next Spring when the young men would accompany their elders on the whale hunt.
The women told stories and gossiped as they worked. They spoke about their families and how proud they were of their sons. They asked the spirits to protect them and allow them a good hunt so they would have fresh Muktuk (3) next summer. One of the younger women, a new bride and mother, in the group turned to the Dagson family.
"Mother Jorunn, I hear many men have been asking for your daughters' hands in marriage. They have yet to choose amongst the young men of the village."
"Ah," Jorunn replied. "My eldest daughter, Anastasia, was married once and had a child. Her husband and child have passed into the afterlife. In our culture, a married woman belongs to her husband her whole life. When a widow returns to her parents' home, the gods will not bless a second marriage." That was completely untrue but the moment they arrived in the settlement, they had their stories straight. Anastasia became Dag's daughter from a previous marriage and Aslaug became Jorunn's first child. They were honest about their journey across the continent and Dag's death at the hands of the wolves. "As for my younger daughter, only her father or brother can give her hand in marriage. When Balder comes of age, he will choose Aslaug's husband." That wasn't entirely false. Had Aslaug been her daughter, and human, she would have chosen a husband. But they were vampires. Both Aslaug and Anastasia had trysts and lovers over the years but neither of them found a partner they wished to marry. Strangely enough, becoming an immortal has made her less inclined to find another husband. She could take care of her son so she had no need for a man as much as she had when she was human. In her heart, she knew she would never marry. Anastasia and Aslaug was another story.
Anastasia does not trust her sexual partners. They're simply for bodily pleasure, and nothing more. She has sexual relationships but she will never allow her heart to yearn for a human man. A man weaker than her yet would seek to control her because he is a man. She'll wait a thousand years for her intellectual equal or keep her heart to herself for all eternity.
Aslaug decided that she will only marry when she finds a man who will love her and be faithful to her for all eternity.
"Your people have such strange customs."
"We crossed a sea and a continent to come here," Anastasia replied. "Just the next village may have some different traditions, lands apart will have different ways of life."
"Yes, yes," said one of the older women. "Quite right. I find it fascinating that your people live for so long." She turned to the young mother. "You must know they have a strange fruit common in their old land that does not exist here. It allows them to remain beautiful as they age. It is fascinating. Not just women but also men. Soon, the young Balder will also stop aging like his sisters." Another lie to explain why they don't age.
When the women finished sewing, the men stretched the animal skin over the wooden frame of the Umiak and placed it outside in the crisp winter air to cure. While that happened the men prepared tools for the hunt while women made new parkas for their men and sons to keep warm when they would go out to sea. At the same time, another group of men in the community cut a path in the ice as spring was approaching.
March 1016 AD
When they reached the water's edge they would sometimes see the whales spouting near the surface. In his excitement, Balder could not help but stand to watch the beautiful creature. It was almost time and he had his harpoon prepared and ready for the hunt.
A few nights before he had to set off for the hunt, Balder took a torch of flame and left the house, into the thick boreal forest. He had made this journey many times before. Many large predators had left the surrounding forest as they feared his mother and sisters, the worse predators of all. He arrived in a place where a small opening had formed in the rock, leading into a small cave. He went down into the cavern that was just a few meters deep. He placed the torch in the fireplace that he had left from his last visit, lighting the cave. He sat on the raised fur bed against the back wall of the cave and removed his parka and kamik (4).
"Balder?" he stood abruptly when he heard the soft voice of the young woman.
"Nanuq." His heart hammered against his chest as she materialized in the firelight, her long black hair set around her like a halo. He held his hand out to her, taking her smaller hand in his as he led her over to the bed. His mother had taught him that in their culture it was polite to escort a woman by the hand. When she sat down beside him, he placed a soft peck on her cheek, causing the young woman to blush furiously. They had grown up together and just as Balder had learned the way of her people, she had learned a few customs of his people. She learned that her people and his people had different ways to show affection. Balder especially liked physical touch as he always held her hand and kissed her cheeks and lips whenever they met each other.
As she removed her parka, she pulled out a shirt that she had sown for him, made of the same bearded seal skin that made up their umiaks and kamik. "Here. This is for you. To keep you warm during the hunt." Balder smiled and kissed her again as he took the shirt.
"I brought a gift for you as well." He pulled out an intricate stone-carving of a bowhead whale, causing a smile to spread over the young woman's lips. "To honor the spirit of the whale." Balder had always given her stone carvings of different animals. Last time it was a polar bear, and the time before that was a bearded seal. She had arctic wolves and wolverines too. Each one of them had gems for crystal blue eyes.
"It's beautiful. Thank you." Red face, she lowered her eyes sheepishly as she pecked his lips. She turned the carving over to look at the base. "And what does this symbol mean?"
"It's for good health." Balder carved runes on the base of the statues that he had given her in hopes that the magic in the runes would protect her. Nanuq placed the carving on a shelf carved into the wall of the cave, joining the other animals Balder had given her. They sat together in silence for a while, their bodies gravitating to one another until their lips finally met. Slowly, they removed each other's clothes before they laid back on the fur bed, touching and kissing one another all over.
The two lovers cuddled together under the furs, enjoying one another's company after their passionate lovemaking. Balder passed his hands over Nanuq's shoulder, bringing her closer to him. They were both in their own minds s they enjoyed the close proximity they held to one another. They loved each other but they could never be together. Even though he was raised among them, Balder was still a foreigner with pale skin and ocean eyes to Nanuq's family. His family's customs and traditions were too different from their own. They could never marry but they would remain lovers until Nanuq either married or Balder had to leave. "Nanuq..."
"Hum?" she hummed.
"I love you."
"I love you as well, Balder, my prince."
The next day, Balder set out with his crew to go whaling. They took the umiak onto the thin ice and waited for the whale. They waited for days and camped out in portable tents on the ice during the nights where they slept in their parka to shield themselves from the cold. They waited until the whale was well within their reach, right up against the ice before he launched his harpoon into the animal's thick skin and blubber. He and his screw spent hours in the day throwing harpoons at the great whale, trying to tire the animal while they also tried to keep an eye out for the great predator of the north, the Polar Bear.
Jorunn was worried sick for her very mortal son and her mind was worrying about all the things that could go wrong. He could fall into the ice and drown or freeze (whichever came first) or he could be attacked by a polar bear. Anastasia and Aslaug watched the mother pace back and forth, biting her nails with worry. Anastasia sighed. "Why don't you just go watch him."
She stopped her pacing and smiled at Anastasia. "Brilliant idea." She disappeared in the direction of the beach.
A few days later, news came that the hunters had caught a bowhead whale, and everyone in the village left to help haul the catch onto the shore. The villagers worked together to pull the rope to pull the beast onto the thin ice before the sun had set. Long-handle knives were used to cut up the muktuk and meat as roped were used to pull the muktuk away from the body of the whale and sprawled out over the ice. The scent of blood on the ice forced the vampires to have to leave the group sporadically to regain control of their senses.
Each family in the community would receive a portion of the muktuk and meat and even the bones and baleen of the whale for use to make tools and other things. It took days for the entire whale to be cut up and shared amongst the many families.
At the end of the week, a large celebration was held in the central hall in the middle of the village. Men beat on drums and stomped their feet as women sang and the children danced. Together, they celebrated the hunt, eating and sharing in the muktuk of the whale they had just caught. In their small community, the rest of the meat would hold them for weeks to months if it's stored well along with the other game they catch throughout the year.
As Anastasia ate and watched the celebration, she saw Balder slipping out of the hall. She looked around and noticed a certain young woman was also missing. A smile formed on her lips knowing full well the relationship her little brother had with the young Nanuq.
When Balder returned home, he found Anastasia on the top of the house as always. "Were you waiting for me?" he asked as he looked up at her.
Anastasia's eyes narrowed when she noticed the glum expression that marred her little brother's face. Usually, whenever he returned from his lovers' cave with Nanuq, he'd be as bright and cheerful as a star. "You want to come up and tell me what's bothering you?"
The boy climbed up to the roof on his hands and knees and sat himself beside his sister. Anastasia passed her fingers through his long dark hair as she waited for him to talk. "Nanuq is getting married. It's been arranged. She'll be moving into her prospective husband's home."
Anastasia pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry."
She could feel his tears seeping into her shirt as his voice trembled. "I knew this was going to happen but it still hurts so much."
"I know it does. No matter how much you try to prepare your mind for heartbreak, you can't keep away the pain," Anastasia said. "It hurts because your love was true."
"Did you feel the same when you lost your husband?"
"Yes."
They remained in silence together for a while. "I asked her to come with me. I knew she'd say no but I wanted to ask her anyway."
"Do you hate her for saying no?"
"No. I knew she was not a selfish person. She would never leave her people. They're her family."
"You're 14 and you're expected to be selfish and impulsive. I'm glad you're not because you have to be selfless and self-sacrificing for the people you love," Anastasia said. "Sometimes it's better to let the people we love go. Not for our sakes but for theirs."
Another long pause passed between them in the silence of the night. "I want to leave."
Anastasia looked at him for a long while before she finally said, "Very well. We can make the preparations now."
The family prepared to leave, only taking a few items with them that could fit on the umiak. They would be bringing a few warm clothes, some salt, the food preservation boxes, the metals and jewels, and a few other items they brought with them from the old village. It was several hours before dawn that Anastasia carried the umiak back to the beach and packed their belongings into the small boat.
"Balder!" He swiftly turned his head when he heard Nanuq rushing toward him. She stopped to catch her breath. "You are leaving?"
"Yes," he said. He placed a kiss on her lips and rested their foreheads together.
"I am sorry," she cried as her tears ran down her cheeks. "I..."
"There is no need to explain yourself, my love. Just as you could not leave your family, I cannot leave mine. Your loyalty is one of the many things I love about you," he smiled. "Even if we part, we still love each other. And because I love you, I will not be selfish with you. I will let you go. Promise me something, Nanuq."
"What is it?"
"Promise me that you will live a happy life. Promise me you will always remain hopeful. Promise me that you will stay healthy."
She nodded furiously. "I promise."
He placed the rope that was tied to Fenrisulfr's neck in her hands. "Here. Take Fenrisulfr. He will protect you in my absence." The young lovers hugged and cried in each other's arms for several long minutes before they shared their last passionate kiss. In tears, Nanuq walked backward before turning around to return to the village. Balder watched her back disappear behind a mountain of snow and stood there for several minutes before he turned to his family. "Did she make it home safely?"
"Yes."
He nodded and wiped his tears before he stepped into the boat. "Let's go."
According to Wikipedia, Wales Alaska is called Kiŋigin in the local language. I'm using that name for my village in the region for my story. It could have been called that back then. It wouldn't make sense to call it Wales. Although we're in Wales, I'm using a documentary about the North Slope Inupiat as a source of information for the things that happen in the story from the shaman to the dances, and whaling and how boats are built in the area. I know the documentary is talking about times from the 17-20th century (just before and after contact with the Europeans), but it's hard to find anything on a culture that didn't keep written records from 1000 years ago. (History of the Inupiat People of the North Slope - YouTube)
Also, according to Wikipedia, around the 6th-12th century AD, there was a group called the Birnirk Inuit in the area where several burial mounds can be found to this day as part of a National Historic Landmark. These people have a similar lifestyle to the North Slope Inupiaq as shown by the evidence of whale parts like bone and baleen found at the archeological sites and harpoons to hunt marine mammals even though they lived in smaller family units. (Wales, Alaska - Wikipedia; Birnirk culture - Wikipedia)
I know I spent a lot of time explaining the whaling tradition, but I did the research so you're reading it. This story has allowed me to learn a lot more about a few Native American cultures (Cahokia in the last few chapters to the Birnirk people) and people who have lived on the American continent for over 1000 years. I never learned the history and culture of these people in school and I would have never known what I do now if I only used native Stereotypes instead of research and archeological evidence.
I'm not sure about the dog's historical accuracy, but I wanted to give the family a pet.
(1) Umiak: A boat used by Inupiaq sailors for centuries made with wood frames, covered in bearded seal skins sewn together by women and waterproof. It was used to tow a whale to shore.
(2) Hypocaust: a hollow space under the floor of an ancient Roman building, into which hot air was sent for heating a room or bath.
(3) Muktuk: the skin and blubber of a whale, typically the narwhal or the beluga or bowhead whale, used as food by the Inuit.
(4) Kamik: Inupiat snow boots made from animal skin.
I'm pretty sure everyone knows what a parka is.
Note: the shortest distance between mainland Alaska and Russia is 55 miles (88km), if a team professional rower can go at a speed of about 10km an hour, I don't a group of vampires can't go twice that fast. So it took about 4-5 hours to get from Alaska to mainland Russia.
Face claims
Balder Dagson (15) - Alex Lawther
Timeline
January 12th: Henrik dies.
February 10th: Esther casts immortality spell. Esther and Mikael kill their children to turn them into vampires. Anastasia arrives.
March 8th: Esther makes daylight rings for her family. Rebekah meets Anastasia. Anastasia leaves the village.
March 12th: Esther curses Niklaus.
Mid-March: Niklaus kills Esther. The Originals run from Mikael.
March 22: Anastasia reaches the Cumberland Gap. Jorunn is 13 weeks pregnant.
Early April: The Originals take a ship from Vinland to the Old World.
April 19-25: Anastasia arrives at Cahokia. A week later, Anastasia leaves Cahokia. Jorunn is 18 weeks pregnant. (Mystic Falls to Cahokia ~ 840 miles ~ 1.3 months of travel).
June 1001: Anastasia arrives at Winnipeg. Dag dies. (Cahokia to Winnipeg ~ 1000 miles ~ 1.5 months of travel. 23 weeks pregnant).
September 1001: Winnipeg to Wales, Alaska ~ 3317 miles ~ 3 months (36 weeks pregnant). Balder is born.
October 1001: The Originals arrive in Denmark (or somewhere in mainland Europe or Scandinavia).
Spring 1002: The Originals meet the De Martels and Lucien in France. (I chose sping because it's during the spring season that European court starts and we saw a lot of nobles in the De Martel castle It's spring or summer, especially with all those flowers Aurora was lying on).
Summer 1002: Jorunn becomes a vampire.
Spring 1007: Aslaug becomes a vampire.
Thanks for reading.
