Ravens
'Ylva! Take care of your mother!' my father yelled as the long boat sailed away, the people on board anxious for their next raid. I sat at the shore, watching the boat until it was less than a speck on the horizon before I head to the market in the middle of the town.
Agoir is known for its markets, the main reason it's fairly populated is because of the trading that takes place. I managed to score two cabbages with a few eggs from the chickens back home, my mother should regain some strength after some stewed cabbage.
My mother fell ill around six days ago, so up until today I helped father with the farm, chickens and all. Now I'm on my own, it'll be hard without the helping hand but I'm sure I can manage.
It's been two days and there's still no improvement in mother's health, I've tried many remedies that she taught me herself but they obviously haven't worked, I've asked for help from others and they advised me to seek out a wise woman, someone who can read runes to decipher the future, to find the outcome of my mothers health. I'm grateful that I could get another villager to look after mother while I'm gone, it'll take two moons to reach the wise woman on the mountain but the journey will be worth it.
'I'll be back, I promise', I look straight into my mothers' eyes, she's worried I'll get hurt, 'I'll be safe, this is for your own good'. I could feels her eyes staring at me as I walked out of the village, I knew she would be lonely so I'm glad people are taking care of her while I'm gone. The path came to a stop eventually, that didn't stop me, I knew my way around the mountain side, I used to go up to the mountains with father when I was little.
I'd stopped a while back to eat, the sun slowly beginning to set and the breeze becoming cooler, thank goodness I have a coat. By nightfall I reached a small village called Miohus, they were celebrating Sigurdsblot, the god who slayed the dragon Fafnir, a feast for the chief and his friends and a small dance in the village. I sat and watched as the children danced in the firelight, the two men behind me talking, 'with such a celebration huginn and muninn should have told Odin, those birds are everywhere', I perked up, listening about the new names I haven' herd, huginn and muninn, 'I wouldn't believe they would be here, probably some other celebration more elaborate than ours. I stood up and turned towards them, 'excuse me, who are huginn and muninn?' the two men looked at each other before looking back at me, 'huginn and muninn are Odin's two ravens that he sends out at dawn and they return at dusk to give him news of important events that happened during the day' the taller of the two told me before walking off with his friend.
The next morning, I set off for the next bit of my journey, by nightfall I would be with the wise woman. It was slightly chilly and a little windy. my hair was blown into my face, I moved the strands away from my eyes when I heard a caw, looking up I saw a raven perched in a tree before it flew off and away. My immediate thought was of the story I was told in the village, but I shook it off, there is no way they would need to watch me. The sun had reached the centre of the sky, lunch time! I managed to find some wild plums to eat as I'd forgotten to ask for food back in Miohus.
It's late afternoon and I've almost made it to the wise woman, my feet are sore and I'm tired from the climb up the mountain side. My eyelids feel heavy and my breathing quicker, I'm struggiling to continue, my eyes shut and I hit the ground.
'yawn' my eyes flutter open and I find myself in a small hut, 'oh good, you're awake' a slightly raspy voice startled me, I turned around and the wise woman stood next to two ravens. 'ravens? What are they doing here, are they huginn and muninn? How did I get here?' by now I'd jumped of the bed and was rambling questions, 'calm down dear child, huginn and muninn brought you here, they have been keeping an eye on you and picked you up when you fell. Now you must be wondering who I am, I am not the wise woman, I am in fact Odin' I watched as the petite old woman transformed into the king of the gods, 'do not be startled, I am here to reward you on your kindness and courage on your journey to help your mother.' Odin summoned a small vile and put in my two hands, 'inside this vile is a remedie that will heal your mother, no go, the ravens will take you home' I smiled and turned to the ravens 'thankyou for helping me,' turning back to odin, 'and thank you your majesty for helping my mother' he replied with a curt nod and I was on my way, the ravens having transformed into large enough birds to carry me.
'goodbye huginn, goodbye muninn' the ravens flew off as I waved, they had dropped me off at the outskirts of Agoir. 'mother I am back, Odin has graced us with a remedie to cure your illness' I announced as I walked through the door.
And now I am still grateful for the ravens that carried me to Odin, grateful that the gods helped my family, grateful to be the daughter of a viking.
