OOM: Uppsala

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Inside the tent, it's murky and a bit smelly, and full of rather drunk people lying around and laughing.

"Athelstan, pour your friend a drink," Ragnar calls from somewhere in the middle, waving at the people entering.

Comments

[capture_eternity]

"Yes, Athelstan has been very nice and helpful to me, too," Dorian says. "Even though I haven't known him anything near as long and well as you must have."

[athelstanthescribe]

"I enjoy serving people well", he says simply, sitting down obediently.

[capture_eternity]

"There's much more to you than that!" Dorian protests.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Thank the gods for that," Ragnar says, smirking into his refilled mead.

[athelstanthescribe]

He looks between them, uncertain.

"Well, all right. Perhaps I have gone beyond that."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"You can't possibly think otherwise," Ragnar says, shaking his head. "You've become one of us, and are treasured for what you are. Why else do you think I've brought you?"

[capture_eternity]

"You yourself said you're no longer considering yourself a monk," Dorian points out.

[athelstanthescribe]

"That's true." He looks over at Ragnar. "And you know I love your family. But... I'm still finding what my place will be."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"The gods will show it to you," Ragnar says, sipping his mead.

[capture_eternity]

"Those whispering voices again by which you know when to start rowing?" Dorian says, picking up the conversational thread from earlier.

[athelstanthescribe]

"Yes", Athelstan says simply, looking to him. "Then I suppose I'll just keep listening."

[capture_eternity]

"Do you know who you will be listening for?" Dorian asks.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Does it matter, as long as there is a voice?" Ragnar muses.

[athelstanthescribe]

"I don't", he says to Dorian, and his smile fades. "Perhaps more than one."

[capture_eternity]

"But there is something?" Dorian asks.

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"Those voices tell you different things, and you're torn between the different ways of things being right?" Ragnar guesses.

[athelstanthescribe]

"I no longer hear my God", he admits. "Not in this land. But I remember."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"So you hear our gods," Ragnar states, "even if their voices may be a little strange to you. They, and our land, have claimed you, then."

His voice is grave, but he seems satisfied with that result.

[capture_eternity]

"Do you think you'll hear your own God again if you ever return to people who believe in him?" Dorian asks.

[athelstanthescribe]

"How can I tell? Perhaps." He glances briefly at Ragnar, then away. "If I return."

He doesn't sound desperate to do so.

[capture_eternity]

"You might go with Ragnar the next time he goes on Viking," Dorian muses. "You know all the languages along the way, after all."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

Ragnar chuckles. "You're thinking like a merchant who travels overland, or along the coasts and rivers," he says. "All the languages along the way are those of the waves, the fish, and the seagulls, and I doubt even Ragnar speaks them. And yes, I might even take him along if there's the chance. He's one of us now."

[athelstanthescribe]

That gets a look somewhere between startlement and panic.

"But you know I'm no warrior."

[bigarmy_strangepants]

"But you know," Ragnar answers, with a fond smile, "that the gods need men who aren't just warriors. You'll learn to hold your own easily enough i that is needed; as for the rest, there are things you are very good at nobody else can do."

[capture_eternity]

Dorian sips his mead and tries not to grin.