The meeting

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Sygnafylki, Norway
1007 AD
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I woke up from the twittering sound of birds outside. The cabin was still dark, only letting a few strokes of light slip in through the gaps between the greened planks.
I could feel the winter was soon to be over, and since I barely had any food left, I was glad I could finally go hunt again.

I threw the covers off of me and jumped out of bed. I walked outside as I grabbed my bow and arrows from the holder.

When I opened the door, I was met with a burst of striking sunshine, making the landscape before me seem like something out of a dream. The grass was half-frozen, making it shine and rattle every time a gust of wind came over the mountain. Half the trees were empty and naked, making me want to cover them up. While the other half was covered in dark green needles. Every time the wind came, some male birds were singing intensely, as if the wind would drive the females away.

Just when I was about to turn away, I noticed faints of a rainbow in the sky, shining in lots of different colours, stretching over the many mountains.

'If it was up to me, this is how Valhalla would look like' I thought as I walked away from the beautiful sight, on my way to find some food.

I had been there for so long, that I knew the mountain like the back of my hand. It was not a problem to find my way around anymore. I slowly walked in the direction of the river to drink some water, while enjoying the beautiful scenery on the way.

'Prrrrr.......prrrrr' I could faintly hear woodpeckers from a tree nearby, making me smile. I loved the satisfying sound of spring and the warmth. Though it was never really warm here.

I threw off my clothes and jumped into the freezing water to wash. I swallowed a mouthful of water. It tasted good, just as expected from cold river water. It was pretty relaxing, although it was winter-cold so I had to go out pretty quick not to get cooled down.
     I noticed that my bleak hair had become very long, as it was now covering my whole back. It was extremely tangled and looked somewhat like a carpet.

I should cut it'

When I was done washing, I took a dagger from my belt and cut my hair so that it was dangling above my shoulders, and resting against my chin. My hair felt much lighter on my head, and the feeling of clumsy ness had vanished.

I took the hair rests and tied them up in a round shape while I walked back to the cabin. I walked until I reached a hollow stone, and sat down. I slowly crawled towards the hole and put my hair close to a grouse's nest. I had found them last fall and was happy to see that the couple had survived the harsh winter this year.

The birds had acknowledged me as a friend, and often let me come close. They were now protecting their eggs, ready for children to hatch, so they were a bit more aggressive to my hand coming close, and so I dropped my hair a bit further away from them. I thought they could use it to warm up their babies-to-be.

I continued walking south to finally start hunting. I got my bow loaded and searched for movements. I saw a few in the corner of my eye, but they were all too quick for me.

After a while of trying and failing, I decided to follow my instincts and go further south. And as I had hoped, luck had struck!

I saw a yellowish hare lurking behind a tree, just barely visible. I slowly walked closer, making sure not to crack any sticks on the ground.
As I came closer I realizes it was too big for a hare, so I put my bow down. Was it a human?

Chills ran up my back and my legs started moving by themselves.
Away, as far away as they possibly could.
If there was a person here it could mean there was most likely more, and more than one meant trouble.

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