Circa 800 AD

The bed was far too cold. Where was-?

Right, he'd sailed on the morning tide, yesterday.

He contemplated pulling the furs back over the head and doing nothing for the day, but he really did have things to do. The stack of firewood was getting low, and-

As he sat up, he began feeling nauseous.

Something wasn't right about this.

Very, very not right.

Cautiously, he climbed out of the bed. Big mistake. He retched into a nearby bucket.

After about twenty minutes, when he seemed to have thrown up just about everything he'd ever eaten, he decided that he should seek advice from someone who knew a little bit more about curing illness than he did. After all, this must surely be an illness- or some bad fish.

Right?

He ignored the tiny but persistent wriggles of doubt in the back of his mind as he made his way down the path to a fairy circle.

It wasn't really a long walk; he'd chosen the location of his house for that exact reason. And the fact that it was also only a short walk from the seaside was only a coincidence.

Still, Norovegr was glad of the shade when he finally got to the circle. He sat and began to wait; he honestly had no idea how long it would be until anyone showed up. Hopefully not days, like that one time.

Today, it seemed, was his lucky day. The air in front of him shimmered and a beautiful lady appeared.

Of course, she wasn't just a lady- the term implying that she was both human and mere nobility. No, this was the fairy queen.

"Norovegr! What brings you here today?" She always seemed pleasant at first. Today was no exception. The trick would be to keep her in a good mood until he got the advice he needed.

"I think I might be ill."

"Now, you know that's not possible. Not unless your people have come upon hard times. Which they have not." She smirked. Lovely, she had decided to be infuriatingly knowledgeable and smug today. "But, of course, you must first realize that you're not human."

"Of course." Was she really doing this? He didn't need to be patronized.

"And certain…needs…have caused your body to be capable of things that only half of humans are capable of…"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're with child, Norovegr."

It was a good thing he was already sitting down.

"So that's how you found out you were going to have me? A fairy told you?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"That's…different."

"To be fair, I hadn't realized that that was, you know, possible."

"What happened next?"

Norway hid a smile. It was nice to have one less secret to keep.

A/N: In case you couldn't tell, the first part takes place in the past, the second in the present (well, concurrently with the story).