Calm sea, calm winds, calm sail, calm man.

Geir and his brothers were in the middle of the sea, seeing nothing but the blue salty waters that surrounds them. He was steering the ship, keeping it precisely to the east, to the land he seeks. He was hopeful, full of confidence, happy, and excited for what’s to come.

His two younger brothers though… they were having a hard time. Eirikr was bored to death, it’s been a week of no activities but tending the sails and the oars with Karl, and this calmness they are being subjected to was getting into his nerves. As he, like many rowdy dream filled young boys, expected to go through violent waves, fighting sea monsters, and maybe find a beautiful mermaid in their journey, standard expectations for boys like him.

His brother though, Karl, was bored too, as again, tending the oars and the sails are the only thing that resembles any sort of actions in this journey. Karl was instead more keen to see magnificent sightings of whales, patches of untouched islands, weird and curious people, and many more, he was excited to be a discoverer. But sadly, for him, currently it is only the borderless deep blue sea itself and the fickleness of the wind in the sea that he could only discover.

But Geir wasn’t quite the exception as he does have some expectations, like finding an island or two, but instead, his expectations were wildly and weirdly being subverted. He expected some harsh and stubborn winds in the middle of the journey, violent waves too, and it surprises him that they’ve been getting only calm and cooperating winds through out the journey, it was puzzling, but he appreciates it more than anything.

* * *

A couple of hours has pass and no land was still in sight, but one of Geir’s expectations were met as fog sets in, but like before, the winds were still malleable.

In this particular situation, Geir know what to do as he quickly went to his pockets and do what he has been taught on navigation, using the sunstone to find the sun. Before the fog came, Geir noticed that the sun has passed its height of the day and was heading west, signify the afternoon is fast approaching.

This recalling made him remember that the sun he is finding with the sun stone, is in the west, so as he rustles in his pocket and took out the sunstone, he uses it like a scope. He went left and right, shaking the fog around him to find the sun and when the sun stone gleams with light, he found it, exactly behind the ship conveniently.

With the finding of the sun and knowing their position is right, Geir went back to maintaining the steer and keep focus on their surroundings, for the fog is becoming thicker and their sights were getting more obscured by it.

His brothers were on the look out in front of the ship, acting sentries. It was a hard job, considering how thick the fog has become, but they kept their eyes peeled, always staring, always aware, and always prepare. After all, they don’t want to crash and wreck their boat at some island, or gods forbid, at a cliff.

But it was still quiet, no whistling of the winds, no moving waves, just pure calmness and silence like before, just clouded by this thick fog.

And then water poured in, rain, it was but a downpour, but still unsalted water nonetheless. Seeing the opportunity, Geir called for Karl to gather as many raindrops as they can, their fresh water supply was still enough, but the fact is, they still don’t know how long they would be in the sea.

However, as Karl left his post and went to grab their only bucket, Eirikr spotted something, it was faint, the color too was mixed with the grey fog they are subjected to. So he sharpens his eyes more, trying to make sense at this malaise feeling from what he is observing, and then he saw the waves, it was crashing, crashing hard to the point he knew exactly what the water was splashing at.

“CLIFF!!!!!” He screamed from the bottom of his heart to his brothers.

Geir heard this and quickly pushed the stir as hard as it could to the starboard side, Karl even dropped what he was doing and quickly went to the sails, pulling the left side of the sail to restrict it from taking more air in the port side and subsequently pushing the air more towards the starboard side instead with the open right side of the sail.

It was toe biting moment for all of them, especially Eirikr, he was after all in the front of the ship.

“TURN MORE!!!!” Eirikr screamed again as he saw they were still heading towards the cliff.

“Are we still heading towards the damn rock?!” Karl asked.

“Yeah! Oh! wait…” Eirikr looked back again at the front of the ship and saw they weren’t heading towards the cliff anymore. “We’re in the clear!”

Three of them blew a sigh of relief after that, as they saw the somewhat visible rocky grey cliff at their left side. It was huge, quite imposing even, they couldn’t even see the top.

But slowly and steadily the huge rocky cliff, steadily lowered to the point of becoming a beach. And it that beach the fog abruptly dissipated, it shows the cloudy and rainy skies, but most importantly, it shows land and what’s on it.

They made port at the beach, pulling their sails, and pushing the longship more inland to port it more firmly. Geir after that went back to the ship and prepared.

He wore his red gambeson first, then layered it with his hauberk mail, and lastly he wore his gjermundbu helmet.

“At least bring one of your weapons! What if they’re hostile?” Karl asked concernedly.

“I still have my dagger and I could always take and use one of their weapons against them, you both besides gonna need my axe and sword if anything happens while I am away.” Geir as thoughtful as ever with his family, said.

“…okay, just be careful alright!”

“Yeah! And keep watch of the surrounding!” Geir ordered.

““Yes Sir!”” They both complied.

As he drop down from the longship to the coarse sand of the beach, he walked slowly to the uphill coastal village.

He trudge over the wet ground, while keeping his head high to deflect the water droplets from getting into his head. While also walking, Geir kept one of his hands at the back, near his dagger’s hilt so he could always strike first when one of the villagers tries anything against him.

The villagers were somewhat startled at this sudden visit by a warrior from their coast, but their were more confused at how this warrior was dressed.

“Excuse me…” An old man, spoke up first when Geir was finally a step away from one of their buildings. “What business do you have? Sir Warrior?”

“What village is this?” Geir asked.

“Riesröne, a place where travellers like you rest, but… I haven’t seen travellers like you around here, even though… you are speaking in our tongue.”

“Hmm…” Geir observed the old man, trying to sense everything, whether it’s deceit, malice, or even truth, but what he got from his face was a wary old man that speaks no lies.

“Hey old man! Do you…” A young man suddenly came out from the building behind the old man, dressed like a merchant while wearing a huge floppy wizard hat, intriguingly. “Another me! But… what village do you come from Sir?”

“Vangsbygd, but my family don’t live there anymore, we live in a homestead near it.”

“Vangsbygd? I am sorry, either I am not the greatest traveller in this world or you sir are lying to me!” He suddenly turned hostile.

“But I am telling the truth.” Geir was puzzled at his statement, but that sudden hostility pushed his right hand to be prepare with his dagger. “But also…” He came to a realization. “This must be the west…” Geir muttered in excitement. “But… why do they look and speak my tongue?” And he muttered in confusion.

“Speak the truth now sir.” The pointy hat man suddenly unsheathes his sword, an arming sword. “Where do you truly come from?!” He then pointed it at Geir.

“Okay let’s calm down first, I speak only truths and I do think you are not the greatest traveller in this world.”

“How dare… take that back!”

“I am serious, because do you know what Eyklandi is?”

“Eyklandi? What the fuck is that?!”

“I knew it…” Geir smiled.

Geir after that went to the pointy hat man, walking quite menacingly with an intent to disarm him. Thankfully and weirdly, it wasn’t much of a struggle.

“Look, I am telling the truth and if you want me to refute what I said about you… then come with me! I can tell you things that might make you the greatest traveller in this world.”

“What could you possibly tell?” Still vexed and still insulted, the man asked Geir demeaningly.

“Me and my brothers, currently in the beach, came from the west, came from the vast cold western sea.”

The pointed hat man was silent, he was in disbelief and suspicious, but the way Geir said it made him realize that the delivery wasn’t an exaggeration, it was truth and only truth.

* * *

Sand was being trampled left and right by two man, under this murky cloud. It was Geir and his new travelling companion, the pointed hat man, joining Geir and his brothers to be a guide to the old world he lives in.

“Guys!” Geir called for his brothers as they were in front of the ship. “This pointy hat gentlemen is Marco! And Marco this is my brothers, Eirikr and Karl!”

“A pleasure to meet you! And… wow… you really aren’t lying, I never seen this kind of ship!” Marco said in amazement.

“Really? What kind of ships do you guys have here?” Karl asked.

“Ours are more rectangular, more rigid to say the least, they’re not as thin as this intriguing piece of work.”

“Is that so…” Karl was intrigued.

After the pleasant meeting of another, four of them boarded back in and set sail again to the east, to a city called Harranborg.

“But as per the agreement! We’re going to Hakstad first, I need to pick up a few things there.” Marco said.

“And where is that?” Karl curiously asked.

“East from here, just like Harranborg, here I’ll show you!”

Marco then pulled out a compact medium-sized map from his pouch and showed it to the three brothers. It was a regional map where they were currently in, called Noranda, a land filled with many peninsulas, fjords, bays, and mountains.

A brief history of this land was given too by Marco. So as they were sailing the calm sea again, they killed the time by hearing Marco’s story and historic facts about the land this three brothers have landed.

“Like any settled land, there’s of course a people! This particular land is settled by people called the Harans, Garns, and Adans.”

The three people more or less were closely related, customs wise, tradition wise, and even biological wise. But their different because of the place they settled.

The Harans in Marco’s words are hardy warriors that settled the eastern parts of the land.

They borders the outsiders from Noranda, it’s also where Harranborg is and where it got its name, quite literally means, the City of the Harans.

The Garns on the other hand, are farmers everywhere you meet, because the land they settled, the western and southern parts of the Noranda, is the most flattest and richest for a steady agrarian society.

They’re also known for their horsemanship, as of course, with a flat land like that, it’s easy for them to breed and train horses and themselves to be great riders.

It’s also the land that the four of them just landed at.

Then there’s the Adans, they settled the northern parts of Noranda, where hills and mountains are a plenty.

Due to this they settle near the coast in the fjords, where most of them are known to be fishers and merchants.

But they have settled more inland, in the deep valleys, where there they took up a more fitting craft as skilled miners, to carve and work with the land they have settled at.

Hakstad, the place they four were trying to go, is a Garn village. It’s not far from the beach they are standing on, but they will be going up a river.

Which thankfully with the longship the three brothers has, it will be an easy job. The ship itself was designed not only for speed, but also for inland navigation, that’s why its narrow and thin.

“Marco, I want to ask, why do they call themselves the Garns, Adans, and Harans?” Karl asked curiosly.

“Those three names came from the legend these three people claim descent from! Garn, Adan, and Haran are legendary brothers that settled the respective land where their descendants are now.”

* * *

It was a slow wind in the river, too slow for the sail to forward the ship more.

The four of them were rowing and rowing, spilling sweat, using muscles that some have not discovered, and just pushing the ship up river.

“Okay this isn’t going anywhere, let’s dock for a while and wait for more favourable winds for us!” Geir suggested.

“Wait! Hold on… hmm….” Marco stopped Geir idea and looked quite conflicted as what he was about to suggest otherwise.

“You got a better idea?” Geir asked.

“Yeah, here let me…”

Marco stood up and went towards one of his pockets to brought out a white chalk. He then went to the sails and drew a circle with runic looking signs in that circle.

“What are you doing?” Geir asked curiosly.

“Rune magic?” Marco said.

“Ohh! So, you’re going to make an incantation or something?”

“Yes, and it is…” Marco paused for a moment, then sweat came. “I forgot the incantation…”

“Uh, huh…”

“Shit…” Marco paused back again, contemplating on something and then suddenly looking at Geir and his brothers with such suspicion, but it suddenly went away. “I think… I can trust you three this far, so… let me introduce you to someone I should have introduced earlier.”

Marco suddenly took off his pointy hat and grabbed something quite gently on top of his head.

“Honey… wake up, you need to introduce yourself.” Marco waking up the one he said he was about to introduce.

“Huh…? Ohh!!” She woke up from Marco’s hand. “Hi! Nice to meet you! My name is Siasêr, your ordinary pixie girl! I am also Marco’s wife!”

““…””

A ghast, surprised, and…. Just plainly shocked to meet this bubbly and sparking pixie girl. Though it was for Karl and Eirikr, Geir has seen his fair share of magical beings in his youth as a merc.

“Firstly, I want to apologize for not introducing her earlier, secondly, are you serious? You haven’t seen a pixie? Wait, do you know what a familiar is?”

Karl and Eirikr, still jaw wide opened, shook left and right slowly.

“Are you suggesting that the west has no magical beings?” Marco was very curious and slightly concerned.

“There are, we got trolls, headless horsemen, and the occasionals Sìdhs, tiny, long-eared, and bright blue eyes, just like your wife here!” Geir informed.

“Huh… is there any Fadas too in the west?”

“Fadas?”

“They’re like her, except tall, red headed, green eyed, and even more a pain in the ass, haha…”

“Hey!” Siasêr took offence.

“Ohh! You mean Álfs! Yeah, we got them too and they are as or even more a pain in the ass than Sìdhs! Haha…”

“HEY!” Siasêr took it to heart. “I am going to back to sleep if you’re only trash talking my kin!”

“Haha… Sorry, sorry honey… but we do need your help!” Marco said.

“Hmm…” Siasêr pouted for a moment. “You can make it up with a good dinner this night!”

“Bestiamien Beef and Fiorire Wine?”

“And a nice bubble bath!” She demanded more.

“Alright.”

“Alright then! So… what does four boys like you four, need from a woman like me?” Siasêr said playfully.

“We need wind honey and I forgot the incantation.”

“Ahh… again? Marco, love, seriously, you need to write it down! You can’t memorize all of them!”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah… can you make the incantation?”

“Of course!”

Finally found what she was needed for, she then floated from Marco’s hand and went to the sail that was already drawn by Marco. She stood floating there for a moment, speaking something in her language, it was gibberish for Geir and his brothers, but Marco fully understands it.

He explains to them that it’s just a simple request speech for the spirits to bless us with winds.

And winds did they got as when Siasêr finish her incantation, winds, quite a strong one, suddenly blew the sails.

They were back on the journey more or less.

“Alright, I’ll be going to sleep again, if you need anything Marco, just telepath me!” Siasêr, on Marco’s hand, went back to sleep.

“Yeah and sleep tight honey.” Marco gave a small kiss to Siasêr, then placed her back on his head as he closed it with his pointy hat.

* * *

After finally arriving at Hakstad and gathering the things Marco wanted from Hakstad, they went back again on sail, this time not needing Siasêr for the incantation, as they were sailing down the river.

It was a normal sail from Hakstad, then out from the mouth of the river to the sea again. The sea as always were calm, slightly dark, but not raining at all. Because of this calm sail they didn’t do much in the sea, only some did.

Marco was heading his wife’s words, he went to his journal and written down the incantations that were hard for him to remember.

Geir as before, was controlling the steer, and just enjoying the smell of the sea.

Karl and Eirikr on the other hand, went back to their bored state.

But soon this absence of activity were filled as Marco, suddenly, closed his journal and stood up. Calling for the three of them to witness something starboard side of the ship.

“You three are going to see why, this particular sea is called the Giant’s Sea!”

And as Marco finished his enthusiastic sentence, a whale, three times the size of their ship, surfaced to then blew out the water it has taken in.

Thankfully for them, they were far enough to just feel the water to but a sprinkle.

But this sight was enamouring, not only for Karl and Eirikr, for Geir too. This was genuinely the first time he has seen something quite unique, after the many adventures he had as a merc, this kinds of sight was the very reason why he wanted to venture out of his home, why he could enjoyed the adventure, even if it was one filled with blood.

And this also woke something up for his two brothers, the sight was their first taste of the enamouring things of this vast world.

After that brief, though quite the memorable, sight. The four of them finally arrived at Harranborg, same like Hakstad they need to sail up the river, but different than Hakstad, as this wasn’t a riverside village they were arriving at.

This was a city, a city that has ports for their ships, has people working on those docks, and two story high buildings.

It was a familiar sight for Geir, he has seen these kinds of cities and he has defended and attacked them too, as he noticed where the guards and militias were stationed at.

When they docked at the port and paying the docking fee, Geir, fully armored again and now armed to the teeth, carried the wools and fur pelts that he brought from home, as well as the kilo of gold he entrusted to his siblings to be safe.

The first place they were going was the market to sell those wools and fur pelts, it was more or less to get hands on some coins of this land, as Geir isn’t quite sure that the traders here would take his kind of gold coins as payments.

After trading the fur pelts and wools to a couple of silver and bronze coins, they went to the tavern to rest and have dinner, the sun was setting after all.

But before they could get in the tavern that Marco suggested, they were suddenly ambushed, by a woman.

“Marco? YOU DAMN PIXIE FUCKER!” A redheaded woman, slightly shorter than Marco and Geir, dressed like a merchant, suddenly jumped at Marco.

“Wha? Estryd?! Get the hell off me!” Marco yelled.

“No, you damn pixie fucker! You think you can get away from me?!”

“Bitch, get the enfer out of me!”

“Why should I? Asshole?!”

“Because I have companions here!”

“Huh?” Estryd then turn her head towards the people that’s been following Marco. “Ohh!” She then jumped down from Marco. “Hi! My name is Estryd Einarsdottir! I am this asshole’s sister!” Estryd said as she lengthens her hand towards Geir.

“Nice to meet you… Estryd, I am Geir Arnesson, and these two are Karl and Eirikr Arnesson! My little brothers.”

To say surprised at her actions, would be an understatement for Geir. It was a sort of whiplash for him, as the women he has met through out his journey either kept to themselves or very timid.

But this was a fateful encounter for them two, as she would be the one to introduce Geir to the dream, the very thing he truly deserves.