DOWNFALL || ivar

TWO

Sea foam waves lapped over each other as the bronze ship cut the water apart. Lush mountains peaked on the horizon, taunting the ship closer. A young girl hung over the boat's side railing, her thin fingers stretched out to skim the blue-grey water. After a few seconds, she pulled herself up and settled her green eyes on the distant mountains.

A gust of cold air washed over the ship and sent chills down the girl's spine. She stepped away from the side rail and retreated back to the ship's hull and the blankets she called her bed. Plopping herself down she pulled the cotton layers over her lean body. Hidden somewhere in the tangle of soft cloth was a leather journal, Yvette searched through the warm coverings until she found it. Pulling it out of the blankets, the young girl unwrapped the straps and ran her fingertips over the pages. The deep brown diary had been a gift from her Uncle. While Yvette's other family members had criticized and looked down upon her interest in books, her father's brother had endorsed it. He often encouraged her to take advantage of her family's paper-making business to expand her knowledge of writing.

Yvette would often visit Uncle on Sundays after morning chapel for help reading. These visits were often and sent the girl winding through the woodland trails just to get to his house. Nearing the cottage, she'd walk alongside his wife's garden path and past the barnyard. "Hello?.. Anyone 'ere?" Yvette called out as she entered the wooden cottage. Light flooded in from the windows and lit the room, revealing all the dust particles in the air. A shapely figure entered the room, long honey hair framing her body and green-speckled eyes that could capture anyone's attention, it was Brita, Uncle's wife.

"Yvette? Why've you come so early? Surely you didn't skip morning chapel?" The woman questioned, squinting her green eyes in suspicion. While Uncle was more leisurely about Church, Brita stuck to it like a life-line. She had kept up her church-going-streak for six-years, only missing one day when her father had unexpectedly passed away. It was even rumored that she had sworn to give birth to her first child there, bathed in colorful light of the stain-glass windows.

"Of course not! I just ran here from the church, that's why I'm early," Yvette replied, silencing the older woman's questions. "Do you know where I can find my Uncle?" She asked, pulling out her leather-bound journal from her satchel.

Brita eyed the book the book with contempt, "A girl of your age shouldn't place reading above handi-work. Shouldn't you be helping your mother?" The woman scowled, reaching to snatch the journal.

Yvette pulled away, holding the booklet to her chest, "If I don't learn to read now, when will I?" she questioned.

"When you're older, literature shouldn't be the concerns of girl who's only seen nine winters." Hissed Brita.

Yvette huffed, arguing with Brita had no use, she was as ignorant and stubborn as a goat. Brita scowled at the girl and her journal before turning on her heel and stomped back to wherever she had come from. "Thank the Lord", Yvette sighed, she took one last glance at the room before walking to the barn. The room was just as simple as it had always been. A wooden table and stools sat in the center surrounded by various house-hold goods. A sack of grain and flour leaned against one wall directly across from jars of oil and a rack of dried herbs. On the table sat books, lazily stacked atop each other adjacent to a quill dipped in a jar of ink; all obviously belonged to Uncle. But something new caught the young girl's eye, a large sheet of cloth-like paper was stuffed under a pile of books, its corners sticking out like sore thumbs.

"That's new", Yvette mumbled, her eyebrows furrowing in curiosity. She stepped to the table and tugged at the sheet. It took a few tries before the thick paper gave way and slid out from beneath the books.

It was larger and thicker than any other paper Yvette had seen, when fully stretched it filled half of the table. And pressed into the paper were glimmering lines of gold, crimson reds and deep blues, Yvette's widened as she took in the beauty of page. Only at the Chapel had Yvette seen paper with such detailing and artistry. "Is this a holy page?" The girl wondered, letting her fingertips follow the lines of golden yellow. As her fingers reached the bottom of the paper, Yvette realized that part of the page had been hanging of the table. She pulled the page up revealing elaborate words labeling the strokes of color. The complex lettering made the words hard to read, but Yvette did manage to recognize a large "M" and the word "Sea".

'A map?' Yvette wondered. Recently Uncle had been talking more and more about sailing, perhaps this is where he wanted to go? The young girl's curiosity won the best of her causing to delicately pick up the map and and fold it under her arm. She exited the cottage and followed a well-worn pathway to the barn house where Uncle spent most of his time.

Uncle's barn was much smaller than Father's. While Uncle had two measly stalls and a backroom, Father's had four and a two separate rooms just for paper-making. Normally Yvette would have been working in the paper room, mashing fibers into paste and drying sheets with her siblings, but today Father had made an exception.

Yvette slid open the barn's wooden doors and sunlight poured into the room. Stepping over a wooden divider, the girl entered the barn. Two stalls sat on one side of the chamber, parallel to Uncle's personal working space. Maneuvering her way around piles of books and various objects, Yvette entered Uncle's 'office'.

Uncle was hunched over a desk overflowing with various pages and a bowl of what must have been breakfast. He was writing vigorously, hand clamped down on a bird quill with flashes of dark ink appearing with every stoke. Stepping around bales of paper and stacks of books, Yvette approached her Uncle. Puffing up her chest, the girl cleared her throat and waited for Uncle to recognize her ____. The scribbling of quill on paper stopped and a brief second passed before Uncle stretched his back and turned to face his dark-haired niece.

"You're early," He said, voice deep and hazel eyes sparkling. With his strong nose and blonde locks, Uncle was of the most recognizable men in town. Back in his glory days he had been one of the most sought after men too. Charming and handsome, he could've had any girl he wanted. And out of all his options, It had always puzzled Yvette why he choose Brita.

Yvette smiled and retorted, "And I would'a been earlier if it weren't for your wife."

Uncle chuckled and turned momentarily to drop his quill back into an ink bank. He returned back and let out a sign, "You seem to be bigger every time I see you Yvette, " He eyed her up and down, "And one day you'll make a fine tall, strong and intelligent woman-" Uncle's words were stopped by the realization of what Yvette had stuffed under her arm. "An observant woman too, where did you find that?"

For a moment, the Yvette herself had forgotten the map she carried, she pulled it out carefully and handed it to Uncle. "Um, underneath a book stack."

Uncle unfolded and scanned over the thick page, smiled, and then returned his gaze to Yvette. The girl took it as a cue to ask finally ask about the 'elephant in the room'.

"A map?" She questioned, her eyes glimmering with curiosity as she waited for an answer. Yvette leaned closer as if she'd miss the answer if she wasn't listening closely enough.

Uncle nodded and his niece unleashed a flurry of questions. "A map of where? Where did you get it? Are you going there? Are we going there?".

Uncle's laugh silenced the girl, "Sometimes I forget about your curiosity, and yes, hopefully we will be going there..."

Yvette's eyes widened with shock, she hadn't expected her uncle to say yes. "Well what is there?" Where is it? Where are we going?" The girl asked, her eyes landing on a large portion of the map glistening with gold paint and red lettering. "What is that place? Please tell me that's where we're going!" Pointing to the heart of the region.

Uncle laughed, "That is someplace special, the Roman Empire, we'll save that for another time," Uncle paused looking up to meet Yvette's confused eyes, "But here- this is something more obtainable, something I know more about." Uncle's fingers traced up the map over a dark sea to a land far above Francia marked with mountains.

"Well what is that?" Yvette questioned.

"The North Kingdoms, the northmen."