Heima: Challenge to the Crown

by S. W. Gunn

  Astir estimated that the time away from the palace would take about a cycle. She had already set forth the proclamation that would allow Ofriki and Viga to run things in her stead. She had faith that they would be able to handle things just fine during that period without her. The most exciting part for her was going to meet her new family; she just hoped that they would like her. Lost in her own thoughts she continued walking from the council meeting room towards her quarters. The meeting had concluded early so she would have time to ensure that everything she would need for the trip would be properly packed for her and all of those who would be coming along. The plan was to stop in Araedi before continuing on to Anddyri.

  When Lord Rammliger, leader of Araedi, heard that she was coming he had insisted on a formal ball for her and Daell. She was hesitant to accept, but Daell insisted that she could not. He was so sweet, he had completely forgiven all for what happened at the Kostir. Astir had not because Anderskoti went beyond the normal boundries of formalized personal combat in Heima, especially for the Kostir. His actions and verbal abuse offended her. She was just thankfull to Modira that he did not win the Kostir because she could not imagine being married to such a man, especially after only a cycle with the man she was now married to. Her own thoughts again made her chuckle as she remembered her brother’s words at the end of the Kostir; he said that Daell was literally everything that Viga said he was during his speech before Daell was allowed entry, and more. At the end of the Kostir he said to her, once Daell recovered, she would see that his words were true. Her brother was right, her husband was everything that Viga had said he was, and more.

  She walked briskly to her quarters to inspect the progress of her handmaidens. As soon as she entered, she could see that they had already completed the task and had moved onto other details. No one except Daell, who was sitting on the bed staring out the window, was there.

  She said, “It appears that my handmaidens were unusually efficient.”

  He turned to her and smiled. She could see the concern written on his face.

  “Indeed my Queen.”

  She sat down next to him on their bed and asked,“What is wrong?”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  She leaned her head against his shoulder and answered, “For me it is.”

  “I am just worried. I am hoping my family will be proud of me and that they will love you as I do.”

  “Daell they are your family, I have no doubt that they love you unconditionally and will thusly love me, just for being your wife.”

  He glanced down to her and smiled. She could see that his words indeed gave him some cheer.

  “Thank you for your kind words. I am excited for the prospect of seeing them, I can only imagine the heartache my poor mother has felt for not hearing from me for so many cycles.”

  Astir rose from the bed before turning to him and saying, “Take heart my love. Soon we shall see them. I can only imagine the joy your mother will feel on seeing your return, especially with a bride in tow. She must have spared no effort to marry you without success, only to have you go and resolve the problem for her.”

  Daell laughed and stood up. He wrapped his arms around her, slowly pulling her close. He was so much taller than he was that she had a hard time seeing his face from this close so she tilted her head back to look at him.

  “Let us go check on my handmaidens and make sure that they are on track to have us ready to leave tomorrow.”

  He released her and said, “As you wish your Majesty.”

  She took his arm and they headed out of their room. The next morning came quickly and Astir found herself boarding the same carriage that she boarded those many cycles ago. This time she was much more at ease with herself than she was then, now she was the Queen on her way to visit her new family. She saw Daell’s friends board the carriage behind them as she climbed into her own carriage. Her husband entered the carriage immediately after her. It took almost all the effort she could muster to convince her brother that he was needed to aid the council much more than he was needed to protect them. She had insisted that the Hamarr would be more than enough protection for them. It had reminded her of her own father when she was leaving for her tour before. Daell took her hand as he settled into the seat with her before giving her his broadest smile. Astir could tell that he was extremely happy to be going on this adventure. She suspected that he had snuck out of the palace grounds many times over the last cycle and had explored much of the island but she did not say anything because she knew it made him happy and if he was happy, she was happy. After all she knew that he was an explorer in the truest sense.

  He was curious not just about locations, but also about people and things. She had seen him many times conversing with any members of the palace staff that would talk to him. Not only would he ask them about themselves, but about whatever task they were working on at the time. From the stable boys to the guards, Daell talked to everyone. Astir was impressed with his ability to get people to open up and talk to him, first he would always start each conversation by getting the person to talk about themselves and then he would take the conversation where ever that person would go with it.

  Another thing she found out was that he secretly was giving marglod coins to the children of many of the staff. She had not known it but later she discovered that he had a large sum of his own coins that he had earned while he was in Araedi. He gave it all away to those children over the last cycle. Along with that, she had heard tales of him actually helping many of the staff with thier work. Stories of him aiding with cleaning the hestir stables, to repairing one of the many side buildings were plentiful. She had known the tale of him cleaning the stables was true as every once in a while he would smell of hestir before heading to the bathing tub. Astir figured that you could take the Jordling away from the forge, but not his desire to work from his spirit. A proper King would have never done these things, Astir's father never did. But Daell was not a proper King, he was her King.

  She took him in with her eyes. His hair had already started to extend to just above his shoulders. It was currently at the point now where he could barely tie it back into a small ponytail, which is how he usually wore it. She found that she absolutely loved the look on him because she thought that it gave him a much more regal appearance. He turned to see her looking at him and he smiled broadly.

  “How are you feeling my Queen?” He asked.

  “I am feeling wonderful, I love your hair, I believe it suits you.”

  “At first I was unsure, but it has grown on me.”

  “A pun?” She asked him while laughing, which caused him to laugh.

  “Not on purpose my Queen.”

  The captain of the Hamarr approached their carriage door and asked,“Your Majesty may we head off?”

  “Please Captain.”

  He nodded and then closed the door of the carriage. She heard his coarse voice call out the command. The carriage slowly rocked and they were on their way to the docks. The ride on the Gjalfur from Bygod to Heimili was a smooth trip and nn their arrival another caravan of carriages awaited them. It took every bit of convincing from Astir to get the Mayor of Heimili release them. Apparently Daell had become quite a bit of a folk hero for the Jordlings in Heimili. The Mayor had proclaimed that the city must once again have its newest hero tour its streets and visit with its people, they would be deeply offended otherwise. Astir had imagined that touring Heimili and visiting with people was something that her husband would love so she made a promise to the Mayor that once they returned from their task that they would stay for two turns so her husband could visit with the people of Heimili. Daell readily agreed to the proposal. Once the Mayor had recieved promises from the royal couple of their return, she released them. The caravan immediately left Heimili to head for Araedi. The trip would take several turns.

  As soon as they got on the Leid of Araedi Daell chatted constantly with her about any and every subject that could be imagined. They shared stories of thei
r youth and about persons who they met on their shared but seperate trek through Heima before the Kostir. She had to admit that she thought his stories were much more interesting than hers but he seemed entirely captivated when she told her stories to him. They were once almost caught enjoying a private moment while riding in the carriage. The caravan apparently had an issue with the wheels of the lead carriage. It came to a stop, which Astir had not noticed since she was within the embrace of her husband on the carriage floor. They did not notice the guard approaching them until he was close were close enough for Daell to hear him. Thankfully Daell reacticed quickly enough to pull her upright and luckily for their pride, Daell was able to convince the guards that she had lost a piece of her jewelry and they just fell from a bump as they were just searching for it. He was so deft that he actually slipped one of her rings off her finger and raised it in victory as if he had discovered it at that exact moment.

  They made many stops along the way, visiting multiple inns. Daell was almost impossible to pull from the dining halls at each one. He would make new friends everywhere they went, however he was always attentive to her. He would make sure to befriend people within the dining hall and then bring her to join the conversation. She could only imagine how terrified or shocked the poor Jordling servants were as he introduced them to the Queen of Heima. At first she had assumed that they would freeze up or excuse themselves, but they almost always opened up to her once he introduced her. It was just amazing how wonderful he was with people to her.

  It had taken several turns, but they arrived in Araedi safely. The heat was just as unbearable as she remembered it being from her last visit and just as the first time, she was greeted by a vigorous crowd. This time however, it seemed different. It was much louder and more excited in tone. Almost as if the Jordlings of Araedi had seen that the new King was one of their own and that caused them to explode with joy in response to the discovery. So loud was the crowd that it had even taken extra inducement to calm some of the hestir as they were upset from the excessive noise made. They toured through the entire city, which Astir could see provided her husband with a very significant level of enjoyment. He actually was reaching out of the opened carriage and touching hands with people as they passed. One woman even gave him a bouquet of flowers. Daell took them and gave her a hug. He was the King of the people, she could see this now. The majority of the citizens of Heima were Jordling and they had never had a King of their own so they embraced him completely. After awhile slowly passed through the Merchantile quarter. As they approached some of the shops Daell made the drivers stop.

  “Hold on one moment my Queen; I must greet one of my friends.”

  She was curious so she moved closer to the door of the open carriage to see what he was doing. He walked over to an elderly Jordling woman who was running a cart that had svass. She responded when she saw him by giving him a hug. Astir could see the joy on her face. They spoke for a little while. She did not know who the woman was was but she would ask later. Although he was subtle, she saw her husband slowly slip his entire coin purse into her hands before he walked back to the carriage and climbed aboard. Astir looked into his eyes, he had tears running down his cheeks, which made her cry. The woman must have been someone special to him in some way. He bashfully smiled to her and began to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Gently she pulled one of her kerchiefs and wiped the tears from his eyes. He turned to the driver and signaled for him to continue the tour. As soon as the carriage moved he once again waved towards the woman.

  The caravan finally made its way to the center area of the city. It stopped at the palace that she had visited before the Kostir. Standing waiting at the palace was Lord Rammliger Aldarsson, the leader of Araedi, and his son Anderskoti. She could see that Rammliger had a pleasant visage, his son however did not look pleased to see them.

  Chapter 11

  Touring through Araedi had not only brought so many memories of his time there before, but it had touched Daell. The response from his fellow Jordlings was overwhelming as he had never felt so much unconditional love. While riding through the city, Daell tried to reach out to his new friends and let them know he felt the same as they did. One woman even gave him flowers. It was the first time in his life that any woman had ever given him flowers so he hugged her with joy. He glanced at his wife to discover that she was watching him. She smiled as they caught eyes. Daell turned back to the crowd and continued to wave at them.

  They circled through the city and then entered the Mercantile quarter. As they entered He caught sight of Kaupmaud. She had always been so kind to him when he was in Araedi. She would ask him how he was doing and what he was up to when he paid her a visit for his once a cycle svass treat. Honestly she reminded him quite a bit of his grandmother who had died several harvests ago. An urge to speak to her overcame him, to see how she was doing and just to tell her how much he appreciated her kindness to him. Turning to the driver he asked them to stop the carriage.

  Once the carriage stop he turned to Astir and said, “Hold on one moment my Queen; I must greet one of my friends.”

  She looked very confused. Daell climbed out of the carriage and walked over to her. Kaupmaud was not paying much attention to the caravan initially; she was trying to sell svass to the massive crowd. Once she realized the caravan had stopped, she turned to look at Daell as he exited. A wide smile crossed her face.

  “Daell!” She said excitedly, “It’s been many cycles, I’m glad to see you’re well.”

  She gave him a soft hug.

  Daell grinned to her and responded, “And I of you Kaupmaud.”

  “I don’t suppose you can tell me why you are riding around on a carriage.”

  “I married the Queen of Heima Kaupmaud.”

  “Really?” She asked.

  Daell nodded.

  “Well that’s good for you friend, I’ve always known you were due something special. What brings you to stop and talk to this old svass dealer? You need a svass?”

  Daell shook his head as he said, “I do not. I just wanted to stop and thank you.”

  She asked with a look of confusion on her face, “What for Daell?”

  “For your kindness to me.”

  She reached out and patted him on his cheek.

  “You’re a sweet boy. Let me give you a svass, no charge for you.”

  Daell shook his head again before sayingr, “I appreciate it Kaupmaud, but I do not need a svass.”

  Suddenly he realized that she did not entirely understand his new situation. As King of Heima, Daell was probably the richest man if all of Heima, and yet here she was trying to give him a free svass to cheer his spirit. Daell reached down to his belt and removed his very full coin purse before subtly handing it to her.

  “Kaupmaud you deserve this gift, please take it from me and be well.”

  “Why thank you.”

  Tears fell from Daell’s eyes as he turned around and headed back to the carriage. As he sat back into the carriage his wife was looking at him, she had tears in her eyes. He smiled shyly at her, embarrassed to be seen crying. Reaching out to her, he softly attempted to rub the tears from her face with his thumb. She took a kerchief and dabbed away the tears from his face before smiling at him and tenderly stroking his cheek. Daell turned to the driver and signaled for him to drive on. As he took one last look at Kaupmaud, he could see the joy on her face. He waved one last time, which she responded to with a wave. Daell felt wonderful to make such a difference in her life as he had no doubt that she would never have to sell svass again. He knew that she had been selling svass for a least a dozen harvests because her husband had died and she was left alone to support herself. She would awake well before the rise of the sun to make the svass and then stand by that booth for almost the entire turn attempting to sell svass. That coin purse had enough marglod that she would never have to see another svass again.

  The caravan finally made its way through the city and into the Royal quarter. Daell was quite happy to be ab
le to visit it. It was the only place in all of Araedi that he had not been able to access during his first visit, now he could see it. The thought struck his mind that maybe later in the turn he would sneak out and explore it. He had snuck out many times in Bygod to explore the whole island. He was certain his wife had known because she always had that knowing look on her face. In fact he was certain she was aware of his many escapades since their adventure out the gates. Daell heard the rumors of disapproval because of his daily activities but he was a Jordling and he could not help himself, to sit about idly was too much of a burden to bear. When he saw someone within the palace struggling with a task and he felt he had no choice but to aid them. Daell had become almost a full time member of the hestir stable cleaning staff. It was a chore that had to be done every seven turns and it was very hard work. For some reason most of the staff assigned the task were young men who had probably only seen ten to twelve harvests, he felt bad for the poor lads so he would pitch a hand with them every time. Even though his wife never spoke a word about it Daell had no doubt that he would smell of manure most of that turn from the task. The only assumption he could make was that she understood and accepted him, which made him even happier to be married to her.