North Child

by Edith Pattou

  And then there was clothing. For my outer layer I was supplied with a knee-length parka of reindeer hide, the fur turned outwards. Beneath that I wore another layer of reindeer hide – trousers and an undercoat – the fur turned inwards. My long underwear was made of feathered duck skins, the feathers turned inwards. (That would take some getting used to, I thought.) Then there was a pair of two-layered boots; the outer layer lined with fur, the inner with duck feathers, again turned in. There was also a pair of mittens made of the hide of a white bear. Of course, putting my fingers into them reminded me of my white bear, although when I put my nose to them, they did not have the same scent at all.

  I looked at the large pile of items in some dismay. How would I carry them all on my journey north? I asked Malmo. In reply she handed me a large knapsack made of reindeer hide. She said that what I wasn’t wearing on my body would fit into the pack, including my tattered pack from home. I was sceptical, but she turned out to be right.

  I was also concerned about paying Malmo and her people for all they had given me. I offered Malmo my moon dress, but although she gazed at it with polite admiration, she had no interest in owning it. Certainly there was no use for a ball gown in the village of Neyak. Malmo was more interested when I told her about the crate of pears from Fransk. Thor and I had eaten many, but plenty still remained.

  In the morning when I awoke, I discovered that neither Thor nor Malmo was in the house. I ate a bowl of porridge that had been left on the hearth and then put on some of my new clothing. (I wasn’t yet ready to try the feather underwear.) When I stepped outside into the chill air, I felt snug and warm. I made my way to shore.

  I ascended the makeshift gangplank of the knorr, then stopped abruptly when I saw Thor. He was seated in his old place by the steering oar, with a barrel of ale beside him.

  “Is that your breakfast?” I asked somewhat severely.

  “Drink of the gods,” Thor said with a grin, and took a long gulp. He gazed at my new garb with amusement. “Gone native, I see.”

  “Thor, I mean to journey north,” I said, going to sit beside him. He took another long drink. Then he raised his mug.

  “‘North, north, north, she sailed to Asgard and on to the north, north, north’,” he sang lustily.

  “The people here are good,” I went on, ignoring his song. “I am sure they will help you repair your boat. And you might find some who wish to journey to a new land. Or you could stay here with them. I believe they will make you welcome.”

  “‘Welcome, ho, to the halls of Valhalla, where the ale flows and the boar’s head roasts’.”

  “Thor,” I said with some urgency, standing and moving in front of him so he could not avoid my eyes, “the ale will be gone soon. You cannot bury yourself in it always. You must go on. Find a new life, or a new journey. It can be done.”

  His blurred eyes focused for a moment, then slid away again. “‘North, north, north…to Asgard’,” he sang.

  I got to my feet. “If I am able, I will come back here when I am done with my own journey. To see what you chose.”

  “Chose, Rose,” Thor said in a singsong voice. “Rose chose to journey north, north, north…”

  I moved to the hold, where the crate of pears was stored. “I am giving these to Malmo and her people. To repay their kindness.”

  “What, no more golden gowns?” Thor said with a trace of his old sneer. Then he refilled his mug.

  “Goodbye, Thor,” I said.

  The move to Trondheim went smoothly. Only Willem stayed behind. Neighbour Torsk had agreed to buy half the farm, and so he and Willem would work the land together.

  In Trondheim, Mother and my sisters devoted their time to outfitting and decorating the new house, a handsome dwelling near the centre of town. It had all the latest conveniences and Mother was delighted. Father and Soren spent every waking moment on the new printing press, which they fussed over like a pair of doting parents. As for myself, I had become assistant to a Master Eckstrom, the esteemed author of many well-regarded books of scholarship. The king himself, in Danemark, had commissioned Master Eckstrom to write an exhaustive history of the combined kingdoms of Njord and Danemark, and I was one of several assistants hired to help in that massive endeavour. Master Eckstrom was a kindly if very busy man, and he was not often in Trondheim, his duties to the king requiring him to be in Danemark much of the time.

  I did my work in what used to be a monastery, which Master Eckstrom had converted to a private library for the use of scholars to pursue religious and historical research. Presiding over the library was a cheerful soul by the name of Havamal, who had previously been a monk. He was the caretaker of Master Eckstrom’s valuable collection of books. Havamal was extraordinarily helpful. He knew the location of every volume in his library, and sometimes even the page number of the bit of information I sought. He also became a friend. I felt very fortunate in my new life.

  Soren was too busy with his printing press to pay much heed to wedding plans, but Sara, with the enthusiastic help of Sonja and Mother, was beginning to make preparations for a spring ceremony. We all fervently hoped Rose would return to us by then. And Willem had made a solemn promise that if Rose should indeed come home to the farm, he would send word without delay.

  Not a day went by that I did not return to our fine new home in town hoping for such a message. And each day I was disappointed.

  Malmo appeared on the morning I was to depart. I had packed my gear and was eating a bowl of thick porridge. She entered the house and came directly to me.

  “If you will have me as guide, I will go with you north,” she said without preamble.

  I was speechless for a moment, not sure I had understood her. “You mean you would go with me, travel north with me, to find the ice bridge?”

  Malmo nodded. “As shaman I have always wished to see the ice bridge. But I did not care to leave my people.”

  “And now?”

  “Now there is an ice bear in peril, and my animal is seku nanoa, white bear.”

  “What do you mean ‘my animal’?” I asked.

  “Each shaman has her own animal. It is tornaq, the source of power.” She paused. “Before you came here, I dreamed of bear. When you told me of your journey, I believed it was ooblako, a portent. In my dream last night I travelled to the ice field.” She gestured in a northward direction. “And there I saw seku nanoa again. He spoke to my soul, and so I go with you.

  “I cannot be long gone from my people,” she went on. “Should Sedna grant us the way to the ice bridge, I will leave you there.”

  Dismissing Sofi’s map as inaccurate (at least when it came to Gronland), Malmo brought out a long, thin carved piece of wood that showed the coastline of the northern half of Gronland. She followed the curve of the intricate carving of inlets and headlands with her finger, showing how we would travel by water along the coastline up to the Tatke Fjord. We would then paddle inland, north along the fjord a short distance. When the fjord ended we would travel northward by foot and ski.

  Grateful, I thanked Malmo. I felt lucky that she would journey with me, not only for her knowledge and experience of the land but also for her companionship.

  The boat we would use for the sea portion of our journey was called a kyak, a small two-person craft propelled by paddle. Our gear would be stowed under a stiff waterproof cover with two openings for Malmo and me.

  Malmo and I finished loading the kyak at midday. I was just settling myself into it when she grabbed my arm and pointed to something behind me.

  I turned to see Thor heading towards us from the direction of the village. He was hobbling, still leaning on his crutch. I stepped out of the boat and went to meet him. He looked slightly better than the last time I had seen him, though the stench coming from him brought tears to my eyes. I saw at once that he was sober.

  “Came to say a proper goodbye,” he said roughly. “I won’t have it said old Thor has forgotten his manners.”

  I smiled.

&n
bsp; “I wanted to give you this, for your journey,” and he thrust at me the leather pouch containing his prized leidarstein.

  “Oh no, I—” I protested.

  “Take it,” he said almost threateningly. “It’s not much good in this godforsaken place where the water freezes before you can blink, but have it anyway. I’ve been thinking I might try one of these newfangled compasses. That is, if the old knorr is ever fit for sailing again.”

  “She will be. You’ll see to her,” I said.

  He nodded absently. Then leaning towards me, he took my hand. “I hope you find the white bear. And set things right with him.”

  “Thank you, Thor.”

  “Well, it’s back to the knorr for me. Have just a little bit left at the bottom of that cask,” he said with a grin.

  “And what will you do when it’s empty?”

  “Ah, I hear they have a concoction here, fermented reindeer milk or summat. Might give it a try. Or might not.” He winked at me.

  I stretched up on my tiptoes and gave Thor a kiss on his matted beard. “Goodbye.”

  Right before we were to depart, I slipped the small Queen Maraboo game piece into the pocket of my parka. I figured I was going to need all of Queen Maraboo’s courage for the journey ahead, and I wanted her close at hand.

  Malmo and I set off in the kyak. She set me in front and patiently taught me how to paddle. I realized, as we made our way against the waves out of the harbour and into the deep water, that this was the third vessel in which I had travelled the sea since leaving home – sealskin (carried in a white bear’s mouth), knorr, and now kyak. I found the kyak the most frightening. I was so close to the frigid water, with only the stiffened hide of a reindeer between me and it, and the paddling was awkward and tiring. But gradually I grew used to the sensation and the rhythm of the paddling, and I came to love travelling by kyak. I felt part of the sea, moving through the water, using its power and motion to propel our craft.

  We travelled north, along the coastline, and the farther north we went, the more ice there was in the water, sometimes big chunks of it. It took all our concentration to manoeuvre around the ice; one stretch was particularly deadly, and we had to paddle our way through it, twisting and swerving until I thought my arms would fall off from the exertion. Not long after, we encountered a large iceberg that looked like a ghostly white castle as we glided past, its top a battlement of jagged spires. Malmo told me that in the far north the sea was impassable for ships because of the ice.

  For nine days we paddled north. Malmo knew the places to land for rest and food. If there was no shelter to be found, such as an ice cave, we used a small tent of animal skin that Malmo had brought along.

  On the tenth day we came to Tatke Fjord. The massive ice-scabbed cliffs were a breath-stopping sight, immense and overwhelming. They made the Romsdal Fjord near my home, which I had found awe inspiring as a child, look like a creek with knee-high riverbanks.

  That was where we would leave the sea, turning the nose of the kyak into Tatke Fjord. As we followed the curve of the river, which was also choked with ice, I felt the weight of the snow-white spires towering above on either side of us. Without speaking we paddled the kyak through the water. I have never known a silence as complete as it was in that fjord.

  After almost a day and a half of travel, ice made it impossible to go any farther into Tatke Fjord. We pulled the kyak up onto land and took out all our gear. Anchoring the small boat in the snow, Malmo said, “I will come back for it on my return journey.”

  And so we set off on foot, carrying our gear in packs on our backs, the skis lashed to them. At first I felt unbalanced and top heavy, as if the smallest puff of wind would knock me over. But as I walked I grew used to the load and gradually felt steadier.

  Slowly we ascended to the top of an ice cliff, following a trail that hugged the side. It was a hard climb, the pack heavier than a dead sheep on my back, and my breath came out in great puffs of silver smoke as I trudged upwards. In all that whiteness I never would have seen a path, but Malmo followed it unerringly. When we reached the top, we donned our skis.

  The farther north we went, the colder it got. Before then I had thought I knew about cold. But the winters in Njord were springlike compared to the bitter, lancing cold of that frozen land. It was like a predatory, hovering beast, bent on sucking every bit of heat and life out of a body.

  I am certain that had I not had Malmo as guide and companion, I would have died.

  “It is a good thing you are shaped the way you are, you know,” Malmo said. “Good for the cold.”

  According to Malmo my short, sturdy body was Inuit-like, well designed for enduring very cold temperatures, its compactness conserving heat. Even my dark eyes, though not as dark as an Inuit’s, gave more protection from the glare on the snow than lighter eyes. It seemed ironic to me that if I had had the willowy form and sky blue eyes of my sisters, features I had always deeply envied, I may well have been doomed in the unforgiving land.

  The surface stayed relatively smooth and we made good progress on skis. We spoke little, concentrating all our energies on moving forwards. The ivory goggles I wore were continually iced up, but I grew used to that, as well as to looking out at the world through the row of miniature icicles that had formed on my eyelashes. I tried rubbing them away but found that in doing so I had broken off some lashes. Having once been told that my eyelashes were one of my best features, I stopped trying to get rid of the icicles, though I laughed at myself for such vanity. I would be lucky to survive at all, much less with my eyelashes intact.

  One morning when we emerged from our tent, we found the land covered in a dense white mist. As we set out, Malmo warned me that things were not always as they appeared in a snow fog.

  It was a completely white world, with no edges or contrast by which to measure things. At one point I saw a huge iceberg looming towards us and I cried out to Malmo, who looked as if she was about to ski right into it. It turned out to be a small hillock of snow that Malmo guessed to be several leagues ahead.

  That night, as we huddled in our tent, Malmo told me stories of hunters in a snow fog stalking what they took to be a huge animal and finding it to be merely a small white hare. “And once,” she said, “there was a hunter, one of my people, who came upon a small white bear cub. He reached out his hand to touch its fur and discovered that it was a full-grown white bear, ready to attack.”

  I gaped at her, unbelieving.

  “It is true,” she responded serenely.

  The snow fog stayed with us for several days. And then, on its heels, came the blizzard.

  The preparations for the wedding banquet have been going well, but I grow impatient. I had not realized how elaborate and complicated the many traditions of a Huldre royal wedding are. I am considering doing away with all of it and performing a simple ceremony of my own creation. That way Myk and I can be joined together when I wish. Tomorrow perhaps.

  It is vexing that there are other matters to be taken into account. For example, if I move up the ceremony, then the southern trolls will not arrive in time. The wedding is to symbolize a historic meeting of our two lands, and to change the plan now would mean a loss of prestige – and could possibly cause a diplomatic rupture between us.

  Furthermore, my people would wonder why I am not following Huldre tradition. Not that that matters.

  Fah. I shall do as I please.

  Malmo had read the blizzard’s approach in the clouds and wind, and with a calm sort of urgency that was typical of her, she began to direct me on the making of a snowhouse. Using the snow knife I had gotten back in Neyak, I followed Malmo’s lead in fashioning blocks of snow that we then piled on top of one another in a set pattern. Malmo’s snow blocks were perfectly shaped into solid rectangles, while mine looked like messy blobs, but by the time we heaved the last block into place, mine were at least recognizable as a squarish shape. Malmo made about four blocks to every one I came up with, though with experience I got a lit
tle faster.

  By the time the storm hit full force, we had fashioned a sturdy, fairly large snowhouse. We were just putting on the finishing touches when I saw the wall of blowing snow coming at us. Before I could move, it knocked me to my knees, and barely able to breathe, I tried crawling towards the snowhouse. But I could not see it. Panic rising, I flailed about, stretching out my mittened hands to feel my way to it. Then Malmo’s hand locked around my arm and she dragged me inside. I lay there on my back, breathing hard.

  I had no idea just how long I would have to remain in that hut made of snow.

  Malmo knew. She told me that this was Negea, the wind that began at the very top of the world, from even beyond Niflheim, and Negea could flay the skin off a human in just a few seconds. She said Negea had been known to blow for weeks at a time. I thought she was exaggerating.

  The days crawled along in that small white world, with the sound of howling wind forever in my ears. I could see how people lose their wits. Luckily, Malmo was wise in the ways of surviving such long spells of confinement.

  Our second night in the snowhouse Malmo brought out her story knife. At first I didn’t know what it was, thinking it another snow knife. It was also made of ivory but was smaller, with a different shape. And unlike the snow knife, the story knife had beautiful carvings on the blade, decorative pictures of fish and seals and sea and sun.