Tino could feel his feet sinking into the forest floor slightly, interrupting the brown and green expanse with his footprints. It was a warm, bright, summer day, and the dappled light of the sun danced between the green tree leaves. As beautiful as this day was, Tino was disappointed; he had not spotted a single deer, and his mother and sisters were counting on him to bring back dinner.
Just then, there was a distant sound, like footsteps. Hopeful, the Finn pulled an arrow from his bag and placed it on his bow. He would wait; soon, whatever it was would be in range. As the footsteps grew louder and closer, Tino realized that they belonged not to a deer, but a group of men. Faintly he could hear speech; there were many of them. Tino darted behind the cover of a large, scrubby bush; for all he knew, they could be members of a rival tribe, and revealing himself could mean his death. Tino gripped his bow tightly and held his breath.
They were passing by just now; in a flurry of beards, leather armor and bags full of something or other. They all held weapons, a great variety including spears, axes, and a few swords. Despite being heavily armed, the men seemed fairly carefree, and spoke wildly to one another in a strange, harsh language. Though still frightened, Tino was rapidly becoming curious. He wanted to see if he could get a glimpse of what the men might be carrying. Unfortunately, it was hard to see much of anything from where he kneeled, so with a strange, squatting walk, Tino inched forward as quietly as he could, bow still in hand.
Suddenly, the unthinkable happened: Tino's foot got caught on a root. Before he knew it, he was falling forward, dropping his bow and arrow and landing directly into the path of the strangers. Tino cried out in pain and horror. Not daring to stand, he gazed up at the men; all of them stood silent, frozen. They stared back down at him with sharp eyes. One man, older than the others, stepped forward and gestured roughly for the Finn to stand up. Tino got to his feet and cleared his throat.
"May I ask," he said, trying to will away his fear, "what you come for?"
The elder, who seemed to be the leader of the group, tilted his head to one side, his brows knitted. Oh, it seemed that they didn't speak his language at all. Where were they from? The troop of men began to speak amongst themselves as two other, younger men came fourth.
Both were blond, long haired and bearded. One of the men; a green eyed warrior carrying an axe, began to speak. It seemed that he had picked up bits and pieces of the language of the Finns.
"We are….. team of rowers. Come to do trade. No fight, only peace."
Tino was skeptical, "Why then, are you armed and armored?" he asked.
The green eyed man put his axe down on the ground, and the other men proceeded to do the same.
"We carry for fight rivals. They not you, you friend." the man said, clumsily. "I Ivar, this Berwald."
Ivar pointed to the taller man at his side. Berwald must have been richer than Ivar, for he had come with a sword. Berwald was a real giant of a man, his eyes seemed to be made of blue-green ice.
XxXx
Tino awoke in a cold sweat; his head was in horrible pain, just as it had been after his first dream-memory. Oh God, two visions within twelve hours! If what Lukas said about the memories was correct, just meeting Berwald must have drawn this particular memory out of hiding. Yes, that had to have been it; after all, similar events apparently triggered similar memories. Tino smiled; he was proud to be able to explain things on his own.
Since it was now morning, Tino decided that it would be a good idea to get out of bed; he had work today, after all. He glanced over at the clock; it was seven thirty. His alarm wasn't supposed to go off for another hour.
As Tino tried to sit up, he noticed pressure across his chest. He looked down to see a long, pale arm draped over him. Tino gritted his teeth and looked over at Berwald's sleeping form.
"Shit, I forgot he fell asleep like that."
Upon hearing Tino's voice, Berwald stirred, his arctic eyes blinking open. The giant Viking pulled Tino closer to his chest, sighing. Tino groaned, why did Berwald have to be so damn affectionate? Sure, he was a good looking guy, but Tino was only getting used to having him around. Wait, did he just admit that Berwald was good looking?
"Dreamed of the day I met ya. Remember it clearly now. We were in th' forest. Ya fell."
Tino froze. This was, well, he couldn't explain it; he could only feel his jaw go slack, creating a comically shocked expression.
"I had-I had, the same dream, Berwald." Tino managed to force out.
Berwald's eyes grew wide. "Lukas was r'ght. Th' memories, they're returnin'."
"Well, yes. And I'm sure there will be more. Let's eat and get cleaned up; I have to go to work and there's no way I'm leaving you alone. I don't want my apartment destroyed."
"Mmm."
XxXx
Tino paced back and forth in front of his car; both he and Berwald were ready to leave, but Tino couldn't bring himself to do that just yet. The specifics of taking a Viking to work were making things more complicated than they needed to be. How on earth would he explain Berwald's presence to Elizabeta, his boss?
There was of course, the option of saying that he was a foreign exchange student, but that wouldn't work; Berwald seemed to be in his mid twenties already. Or maybe Tino could say that he was a Swedish immigrant, shadowing him in order to learn English? That wouldn't work either; Berwald was Tongue Bound to Tino and understood everything he said; it wouldn't be very believable.
There was also the option of telling his boss the truth; after all, Lukas, Emil and Feliks believed it. But they were different. Lukas and Emil were far too desensitized to weird magic to be surprised for very long, and Feliks just accepted things and went with the flow. Elizabeta was far different; there was no way that Tino himself could convince her of Berwald's origin.
She did, however, know Lukas; she had even seen him practice magic! That was it, if anybody could convince Elizabeta of his story, it was Lukas. Quickly, Tino pulled his cell phone out of his back pocket and called up his friend.
"Hello, Lukas? Could you do me a favor?"
XxXx
The Héderváry Photography Studio was relatively small, and conveniently located next to a Kroger super market. Often, curious grocery shoppers would stop by; they were always in a hurry to get home, but still interested nonetheless. One of these customers; a heavy set women with an armful of grocery bags, was busily chatting with Mike, one of Tino's co-workers, about having her young children photographed.
Berwald stood close to Tino, half observing that conversation, half staring in awe at the photographs hung on nearly every wall. Tino couldn't help but grin; the poor Viking was once again, over stimulated.
Elizabeta stood behind the counter, her curly, brown hair pulled into a low ponytail. On the other side of the counter, stood Lukas, busily talking to her.
"Good", thought Tino, "he got here before us."
Elizabeta, who noticing that her employee had entered the studio, turned and smiled broadly. Lukas too, turned around, looking slightly irritated, as he always did. Tino walked briskly to join them, and Berwald stalked behind him as though he were an obedient, domesticated bear.
"Hello Tino," Elizabeta said brightly, "I'm glad to see you. And this must be Berwald."
"I'm sorry to drag him with me, but I'm afraid to leave him at home."
"Oh, don't worry; I would be afraid, too. And of course, young lovers should never be separated." Elizabeta had a mischievous glint in her eye. Lukas smirked knowingly. Damn it, they were in cahoots!
"We are NOT lovers." said Tino
"That's not what Lukas told me, besides, look at Berwald's eyes. He understood what you just said, and he seems pretty upset."
Tino looked back at Berwald: the giant's face had fallen. He stared back at Tino pleadingly.
"Look, I'm sorry. Maybe, if what I saw in my first memory was true, I will love you some day. Now is just too soon." Tino took Berwald's hand reluctantly; it was huge and bearish in his own. Bearish, Tino liked this description. The Viking did have a hilarious tendency to act like an overgrown teddy bear at times.
Click. There was a flash of light, and Tino turned to see Lukas and Elizabeta laughing. In Elizabeta's hands was a large, black, Nikon camera.
"That one's a keeper." she said with a chuckle.
Berwald stood as erect and strong as an oak tree, his eyes dangerously narrow. He glared at Elizabeta and her flashing contraption.
"Tino, she jus' used magic. Might want to kill ya." Berwald growled.
"That's not magic," Tino said through gritted teeth, "That's a camera. It sometimes flashes light. It is used to make pictures. It's harmless."
"If it hurt ya, tell me. I'm a warrior. I c'n crush that, cam-err-ah."
Lukas chimed in, "Berwald, there is no need. Just stay calm today. Tino is safe; watch him and stay out of his way."
"Tino, let me know if he needs anything." Elizabeta added.
XxXx
For the next week, Berwald accompanied Tino to work. He certainly wasn't used to modern technology just yet, but was learning to tolerate things he saw every day, such as cars and cameras. In fact, Berwald had only attempted to attack the dashboard of Tino's car once more before he realized that it was not, in fact, growling at him.
Berwald's face was also beginning to heal. For the first few days, Tino had left the stubble on the Viking's face alone; for fear that shaving would re-open his cuts. On Friday, however, Tino taught a reluctant Berwald how to shave. The giant truly looked handsome; no longer was his strong jaw obscured by heavy, blond stubble.
In spite of all the progress that had been made, Tino still felt like he had gotten nowhere; Berwald still didn't understand much about the modern world at all, and Tino simply didn't know how to explain it. Simple things, things like TV's and toaster ovens that he had taken for granted, were brand new to Berwald; and explaining them was extremely difficult.
There was also the communication barrier. Sure, Berwald was Tongue Bound to him and Lukas, but he still had virtually no grasp of the English language. As a result, people he encountered thought he might be rude or stupid. Acting as Berwald's translator could be quite frustrating.
Despite these proverbial road blocks, Tino couldn't say that he hated having the Viking around. Sure, he was out of place and over affectionate, but he could also be endearing in his own strange way. On Saturday evening, Tino sat in front of the TV, shivering violently. Berwald noticed his plight and wordlessly wrapped a white afghan around his shoulders. At that gesture, Tino just couldn't help but smile. Maybe, just maybe, he would be able to fall in love with a displaced Viking.
XxXx
((Sorry about the wait guys, I moved into my dorm room a week and a half ago. Anyways, this story is going to really start picking up now that I've got all of the set-up stuff out of the way. I'm gonna throw a lot of challenges Berwald and Tino's way, let's hope that the story gets interesting enough.))