Endless Flowers

[Kharis]

Carefully and quietly making her way through the trees, ducking every time she heard a sound, Kharis was approaching the Vikings' designated area yet again. She never was in plain sight, of course; she was just watching them, observing what they do and how they look. They were very strange to Kharis, how the men were dominant, and the women seemed fine with that. Upon examining them, she also noticed that the Viking women seemed so fragile, and soft.. Kharis kind of liked that, though she'd never admit it.

She cursed under her breath when she made some plants rustle a little too loudly, and she crouched down as she subconsciously wrapped her fingers around the handles of the two daggers hanging from either hip from a leather belt-like contraption. Kharis was very close now, hiding behind a tree in a lightly forested area just far away enough as to not hear their conversation, but close enough to see the details of their clothing and facial expressions.

Kharis wasn't completely sure that she hadn't been spotted by a Viking, which made her frown a bit, and she regretted coming here in the first place. She wasn't scared, of course, but she truly didn't want to cause trouble.. she just wanted to observe from afar. She silently hoped that if anyone had spotted her, they wouldn't make a scene about it.

[Sigurd Vittfarne]

Sigurd was training with his men. Sword sparring and bow training was something they had to do regularly, even now, at peace time. It helped enhancing hunting skills, educating young lads who needed to become valued warriors soon, and keeping men fit in case of any emergency. Yes, they were still in peace time, and they didn’t want to infringe the peace agreement; but there weren’t only the Amazons around. Somewhere had to be other men too. Not to mention wild beasts...

One of the not yet men who was learning from the older was Lars, the thirteen years old scrawny boy with the dark blonde unruly hair like a pile of straw, Sigurd’s halfbrother. He was his only family left, and they cared for each other. He was just running to bring back a stray arrow, when he heard a noise. Looking better, he discovered a dark-haired woman hidden behind a tree – one of the others, no doubt!

”Hello! Who are you? I am Lars Olafsson of the Ylfing clan!” he asked the young woman, grinning with all his white teeth, approaching her with the naivety of his age, at the verge between childhood and manhood.

If she was as vile-intended as some of the lads were saying, she could have killed him or taken him prisoner, but Lars hadn’t thought about this one second.

”Sigurd, come here to see what I found!” he further shouted to his brother.

Sigurd was not too pleased to be interrupted from the sparring. Some of the men grinned, still they were accustomed with Lars’s way of being and didn’t mind it too much. He went over, curious to see what was there. The young woman he saw was beautiful, darker like the Byzantine ladies,

”Hello there! Welcome in peace to the Ylfing clan!” he said, glad that his cousin, the jarl, was hunting now.

The jarl didn’t like intruders on their lands, but Sigurd didn’t mind them.

[Kharis]

Kharis was a bit startled by the young boy haphazardly approaching her, and she quickly hid from view. But he meant no harm, and he was young, so she didn't take out her daggers. The boy, or, Lars, should be more careful, though; if it had been one of the more agressive Amazones, the boy would've been dead.

She wasn't one of them, though, and she cautiously peeked out from behind the tree, weighing her options. It was truly an uncomfortable situation for her; she liked to be hidden away, but it was too late for that now. There were too many of them, and they were armed, so she shouldn't upset them. But, if things got out of hand, which they wouldn't, Kharis could always outrun the Vikings. She decided to be friendly, as they were to her, but hopefully she wouldn't attract any more attention.

Looking down to brush the dirt off of the little leather dress she was wearing, Kharis turned around and came out from behind the tree, keeping a hand on its treetrunk. "Hello! I'm Kharis; an Amazone, of course," she said with a little laugh, motioning to her clothing. She had an accent, but it wasn't as bad as most of the others', since she worked very hard in the Academy to try to master the language. "Hm, yes, thank you," was all she said to the much bigger man, and nodded her head in thanks, the corners of her lips tugging up into a smile.

[Sigurd Vittfarne]

The young woman was interesting. Sigurd knew already that they were warriors, but at the same time that the treaty had enforced peace between their peoples. While Lars looked at her in awe, not sure if he liked more her beauty, her weapons or her unusual jewelry, Sigurd remembered his manners, introducing himself:

”I am Sigurd Olafsson Vittfarne, one of the warlords. If you are interested in our swordplay and archery techniques, you are our guest now,” he invited her ”Lars, bring some mead, please, our guest might be thirsty.”

His young brother had to learn how a man should run his household. It was not only about being thirsty, drinking together meant less chances of killing each other later. Hospitality was a rune most people abode to.

”So you were hunting and you lost your way… what animal have you been after?” he helped her find an excuse why she was here.

Now Sigurd was not as naïve as not to understand that it was sheer curiosity that drove her to the Ylfing settlement, but she didn’t need to lose her face about it. And going at greater distances than expected while caught into hunting had happened to most hunters; it was something his men might believe, and the jarl wouldn’t hear anything different.

[Kharis]

"Thank you, Sigurd," she said genuinely, relieved that the young Lars was now doing something else instead of looking at her that way. It was flattering, but it made Kharis feel a bit uncomfortable after a moment. But what was this mead? Some sort of beverage, but she had never tasted it, causing her to tilt her head with curiosity at the mention of it.

She assumed all the men behind Sigurd were being trained for combat or something similar, and upon closer examination, they were all indeed men. This was very unusual to Kharis, considering that all of the Amazone warriors and hunters were women, but the Vikings were quite fascinating nevertheless.

It took a moment for her to respond; the question confused her, since her clothing wasn't really cut out for hunting, but she eventually caught on to what he was saying, "Ah, yes.. I was tracking a.. beast.. it was quite dark, with the shade from the trees; it was a heavily forested area, no sunlight coming in, so I couldn't tell," though in reality, Kharis couldn't think of an animal at the time, "And it was very big; I had to follow it and wait for the right time to sneak up on the animal, you see.. Anyway, that perfect time never came, and it brought me very close to your territory. I apologize for the intrusion," she apologized, finally ending her story. Hopefully is was believable enough.

[Sigurd Vittfarne]

Sigurd smiled friendly at her.

”You are welcome. Come and see them for yourself, and maybe if you have a totally different fighting tactic, you care to show us later.”

This would indeed be really interesting, as a sparring or a joust. He hadn’t fought a woman before and he hoped not to be the case in a war. In his opinion, these Amazons were the Earthly offspring of Valkyries, the warrior maidens of the Norse pantheon. He was protected by them, having one on an amulet at his neck.

He noticed how she got curious at hearing his order for Lars, and it made him wonder if they didn’t have the same drinks or it was only the name which she hadn’t heard about.

”Mead is made of honey, water and fruits. If I remember well, in your language it is called militites”, he said.

This was, indeed, the name it got in Constantinople. He knew since the drawing up of the Treaty with the Amazons that they were speaking sort of the same language, just another dialect. Like he, a Norlander, could understand an Upplander speaking, but the words were not identical.

Her hunting story was believable, especially now, that they got surrounded by Vikings. Fortunately, all of them were Sigurd’s warriors. They had sworn allegiance to him and they wouldn’t harm anybody who was not their drottin’s enemy.

”Meet Kharis,” he introduced the Amazon lady to them. ”She comes in peace, she lost her way while tracking a wild animal. Let’s continue the sparring, and maybe she will show us their way of fighting later.”

As Lars was coming with the jug of mead and with a bowl to drink it from, Sigurd introduced his men to Kharis now:

”He is Halvdan, he is Bjorn, he is Leif, he is Iwar,” the host made the round.

As Lars came with the mead, Sigurd held the bowl for the boy to pour, then he gave it to Kharis, saying:

”Let’s drink for peace and friendship – and may more of your people and our people know each other, swap stories and skills.”

The other men took from their belts the drinking horns, and once his hands were free, Sigurd did the same thing. Drinking together, eating together, meant hospitality accepted. It meant peace and safety.