Hundreds of ships and sailors and fishermen crowded the docks, one looking much the same as another to the priest's eyes.
"Hafros!" the woman bellowed, and the priest very nearly fell over in surprise.
From the mass of the crowd came a gruff voice yelling: "What?!"
A red head bobbed over the crowd, followed by a red-speckled-white beard.
Eyes shielded with a hand, and the face broke out into a grin.
"Aderyn!" the man shouted, and the crowd was very nearly flattened as the most enormous sailor the priest had ever seen barreled through them.
He grabbed up the woman in a bear-crushing hug, and she thumped on his chest affectionately, while both of them laughed until the priest's ear drums felt like they were going to burst.
"Now what's this all about?" the fisherman rumbled, and he mussed the woman's hair like a little sister.
She laughed, and gestured to the priest with thumb over her shoulder: "Take a look for yourself!"
The great colossus of a man peered down at the priest from on high, tilting his head to the side. He skimmed his eyes up the priest's figure, and then down, and then up again. The priest very suddenly wished he was larger, and perhaps slightly more muscular. He felt little an effeminate reed next to this man.
"Well I'll be." Hafros murmured, and jerked a finger over his shoulder.
"You two should come inside the ship's cabin. We'll talk it over there, aye?"
He turned without waiting for a response, and boarded one of the larger fishing vessels, leaving Aderyn and the priest to follow regardless.
"First thing!" the man said, once they were inside "Introductions! Hardly proper to talk when we don't even properly know each other."
He grabbed a bottle of rum from a nearby shelf, and flopped down onto a wooden bench to enjoy it.
"My name is Hafros." He said "I'm the captain of this here vessel, small as it is, and I've lived here most of my life. Parents were sailors too, believe it or not. They came from further away than this though, both of them, and my brothers have ranged a bit closer to home. Never felt much of a hankering to return myself though."
The priest sat down gently, and declined the rum.
"I am generally known as Father Orrin. Orrin Carrig, if you want to know. I grew up in the hill country, but took a liking to the church early on, and was assigned to a village near here when they heard the last priest had passed away."
"You got any family Carrig?"
"Only my mother. The church takes good care of her, back in our home town."
Hafros nodded sagely, and turned his gaze to Aderyn.
"You already know me." She protested.
"Did you bother to introduce yourself to the boy here though? I bet you didn't."
Aderyn shrugged uncomfortably.
"Not much to know. I have parents, more or less. My name is Aderyn. I hunt things. It's how I get by. That's all there really is to know about me."
The priest decided to change the subject, before they made her more uncomfortable.
"How do you two understand…" he waved his hand around "All of this? The recognitions, visions of sorts? Do you have those too?"
Aderyn smiled, mischievously "Halfros here thinks we're all chosen ones of some sort. Chosen by… Odin, was it? I'm not so sure myself, but it's as good an explanation as any."
"It's the ONLY explanation." Hafros bellowed. "I'll swear it!"
Aderyn gave a twinkling grin at the priest "He's a heathen too, by the way. Disciple of Thor. You're surrounded by us, it seems."
The priest nodded, feeling queasy. He had, in fact, already noticed a hammer talisman around Halfros's neck, but had thought it polite not to mention it.
"Assuming- that I buy into all of this— that we're tied together in some way, at least," the priest said ",then what would you say we're meant to do?"
Halfros shrugged dramatically, and Aderyn looked unhappy.
"Beat's me." Hafros said "I figure the gods will show us sooner or later. Till then, we just keep an eye out for each other and for the rest of the gang."
"There's seven of us."
They both looked at the priest, and he blushed.
"Seven- or maybe eight. That- sounds right, doesn't it?"
Hafros paused and rubbed his beard, and Aderyn pursed her lips. She was the first to nod.
"I think you're on to something there holy man. It does seem like there should be seven of us, at least."
The priest felt something like vertigo, and swallowed hard. He counted off on his fingers, his hands shaking.
"You two, me, and Catrina. Then Lily, that's the herb-woman in my village, I think she's part of it too. And- Catrina also mentioned the Man in the Woods. That- still only makes six."
"So we're still missing someone." Hafros rumbled.
"Or two people, if it's eight." Aderyn corrected.
Hafros nodded solemnly. He looked so serious that the priest suddenly imagined him as a priest on a pulpit, heathen or no.
"Well there doesn't seem to be much clue about the seventh or eighth member." Hafros said, regretfully. "So we'll have to leave that to fate a bit. But this man in the woods-"
"-NO."
"-Absolutely not!"
Aderyn and the priest responded up on top of each other, and Hafros blinked at them confusedly from under his great bushy eyebrows.
"Now why not?!"
"The Man in the Woods-" the priest said "-is an absolute terror, a criminal, and extremely dangerous."
Aderyn nodded in vigorous agreement "You don't mess with a wild man like that Hafros. They say he'll tear out your throat with his teeth, and is half mad besides."
"Now that sounds like superstition to me." Hafros said firmly, completely ignoring the priest's incredulous glances at the Norse hammer charm around his neck.
"Even so." the priest said "He isn't to be trifled with. There are knights all from here to the fair city hunting for him. To associate with him would be a crime in of itself!"
"And I'm at bad enough with the king's men already." Aderyn cut in.
Hafros harrumphed loudly, and looked down at them with all the judgement he could muster (which was a considerable amount).
"You two have already agreed that this destiny stuff is important." He chastised them "So it stands to reason that if the Catrina girl says he's one of us— and she hasn't been wrong yet— then we need to meet the fellow. Danger or no."
The two looked taken aback, but couldn't find anything to protest that. Slowly, they nodded. The priest found himself contemplating his life choices, and wondering if this mission was really so holy that it was worth it.
"So when can you two make it up to the forest?" the priest asked, nervously.
"Me?!" Hafros said, guffawing "I'm set to sail out fishing from dawn till dusk! I have whole crews of men relying on me being there! You two will have to do it on your own."
"But you just said it was our duty!" the priest protested.
"I have more than one duty!" Hafros said "And I won't abandon this one. The fish still need catching, and you two can bring the fellow to meet me when you're done."
The priest wanted to protest that Hafros didn't seem to understand the gravity or danger of the Man in the Woods, but Aderyn was already nodding.
"Understood. We'll report back to you as soon as we can."
She guided the priest out of the cabin, waving a goodbye to the sailor as they did.
"It's no use arguing with him. I learned that a long time ago. And besides, with the ruckus he'd cause stumbling through the woods, we'd never find so much as a scared rabbit."
"But- the two of us can't possibly hope to survive an encounter with the Man in the Woods. At least with him we had some muscle."
Aderyn looked at him, and scoffed "Now holy man. Just because I don't want to meet the man in the woods doesn't mean I can't take care of myself. Besides, he's one of us, right? We've got nothing to be afraid of."
It felt like she was trying to convince herself as much as him.