Foreigner

Chapter 4

          Ragnar had found his party rather boring and similar to a usual feast until Arne presented his gift. An interesting slave of a race Ragnar had never seen, which was interesting in itself, but the slave also didn't speak Norse but he had yet to test if he could speak the language Athelstan spoke. As that thought passes through his mind his eyes begin to search the room for the priest. Scanning mostly the outer edges of the room where he was most likely to be as he was still unaccustomed to and fearful of vikings. After a few moments Ragnar finally laid eyes on Athelstan, who was indeed standing wearily in a corner trying his best to stay clear of the partying guests. Ignoring the drunk guest trying to get his attention Ragnar made his way straight towards the priest.

     It didn't take long for Athelstan to notice him as people where loudly greeting him as he went by, and the priest gave him an apprehensive look as Ragnar approached closer unsure of what was going to be wanted of him. Once Ragnar was close enough he grabbed Athelstan's arm and began to guide towards the back with just a simple "Follow me." as explanation.  

     They made there way through the back hallway away from the deafening crowd of drunkards and came to a stop in front of one of the backrooms. Ragnar then turned to face Athelstan with his characteristic grin of excitement that always made Athelstan's hair stand on end.

     "I received a gift but, he doesn't speak a language I know," Ragnar gestured to the door, "but you know other languages from your travels perhaps you could try to talk to him, after all I think you'll find it more enjoyable than staying in the hall."

     He warily glance at the door, while Ragnar was right that he'd rather be anywhere but the party, he had no idea of the strangers temperament.

     "Well have fun," and before Athelstan could even say anything Ragnar opened the door and pushed him in closing the door behind him.

     Athelstan quickly found the rooms other occupant as he met the startled brown eyes of the man slumped on the floor. He looked lost and in the midst of turmoil and Athelstan couldn't help but sympathize. Athelstan took in the young mans dirty and disheveled appearance. He also noted that the stranger was in no way poised for a fight or an escape attempt was calmed Athelstan's erratic nerves. While he didn't move to approach closer to him Athelstan moved to sit on the ground as well to be at eye level.

     "Eala?" Athelstan first tried out English already knowing the language of the Norsemen was off the table, "Salve?" nope no reaction to Latin either, "Bonjour?" still just a confused look. Athelstan let out a sigh but was quickly struck with the idea that if he got the stranger to talk it would be easier to determine his language. This time Athelstan motioned to himself "Athelstan," and the gestured towards the stranger who simply cocked his head to the side in confusion. Athelstan did continued this three more times but still received nothing from the stranger but confusion he let out another small sigh.

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     After the second time the man repeated the strange word Eunseom realized he was introducing himself, and when he realized that he was met with two dilemmas. The first one being the strange nature of the mans name and Eunseom was trying to prepare to say it without completely butchering it lest he make the man angry. The second dilemma was how was he to introduce himself. After all did he really still deserve his name, he definitely did not deserve the one Tanya gave him, but he found himself unwilling to use the name the slave traders forced upon him. He looked down to his hands in a moment of contemplation before coming to a decision.

     That decision being he was going to try and call out the other mans name first. He looked up at the man sitting across from him and found multiple emotions playing across his face, pity, slight exasperation and anticipation. Taking a small breath Eunseom gingerly pointed to the man "Athalsin?" he tried questioningly. which earned him a soft chuckle from Athelstan who also gently shook his head before his attempt to correct Eunseom.

     "Ath-el-stan," he said more slower enunciation.

     "Athelstn" Eunseom tried once more, Athelstan seem to accept this as good enough with a small nod of his head, even though Eunseom could still tell he hadn't quiet got it.

     It wasn't until Athelstan gestured to him that he realized he now had to introduce himself. He was not using purple and while he had entertained the idea of giving a fake name the only ones he could think of was that of other Wahans and he found himself as unworthy of those names as he was of the one Tanya gifted.

     "Eunseom," he spoke softly still unsure of his decision. Athelstan gave him a gentle smile at his answer.

     "Eunseom?"

     He gave Athelstan a nod. He was slightly surprised at how Athelstan pronounced correctly when he had had such troubles with his name, but he also noted how it sounded just slightly off due to the unusual accent.

     Eunseom flinched slightly when Athelstan moved closer to him expecting to be hit for some reason or another only to find Athelstan's hand waiting expectantly.

     "It's nice to meet you Eunseom."

     While he didn't understand the rest of the sentence he recognized his name and tentatively took Athelstan's hand to finish the greeting. After the quick handshake they both sat in the silence as Eunseom waited to be engaged with before speaking as he had observed when traveling with other slaves that speaking out of turn could end badly.

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    Athelstan began to ponder Eunseom's origins, Eunseom was not a name he recognized in the languages he knew and his accent was also alien to Athelstan. While he wanted to try and continue to converse upon second glance of Eunseom he realized how tired and wary the young man was and recollected his own first night in Ragnar's home and how exhausting it was for him to deal with all the cultural and religious differences. He considered he also had it slightly better than him as he could at least also understand his captors.

     He stood to leave and as he did he noticed Eunseom flinch again and only pitied him more. He reached the door of the room when it hit him that Eunseom had not been given food, and knowing Ragnar and his propensity for drinking he wouldn't get any until morning, Athelstan decide to rectify this before letting the poor boy rest.

     Closing the door behind him and trailing through the halls towards the sounds of drunken men and women he finally found himself encompassed by vikings in various states of drunken stupor and had troubled as he navigated towards the tables where he hoped some food would left. He managed to find a small serving of food and consoled himself that it was better than nothing be fore he began to journey back to Eunseom's room. 

     Knocking on the door before entering he found Eunseom still seated on the floor in the same position that he left him. He entered the room and felt his stomach knot when he saw Eunseom's surprised expression when he set the meal in front of him. After receiving grateful nods Athelstan left Eunseom to eat and rest and decide to seek out Ragnar in hopes the man was still sober enough to have conversation with.

AN: Hello Guys, again sorry for taking so long and thank you for all the comments and I hope you continue to like the story. And just to make sure no one is worried I'm doing fine and just had a really bad case of writers block, with that out of the way I look forward to your reviews and feel free to let me now of any grammatical mistakes so I can fix them.