•ᛉ• 4. Kingdom of Norway •ᛉ•

    

          

 

           Toward the end of 1349, Audloed made the journey east across harsh northern seas to the Kingdom of Norway. He boarded a trade ship that was bound for Oslo, but there were no other trade ships heading anywhere else there anyways. There were no unions with the kingdoms of Denmark and Norway until 1397, so ships were often rerouted to Norway or Sweden, unless riches were in abundance and captains were bribed by the Danes. Scandinavia was entirely new to him, other than the dreaded stories of “northmen” raiding areas long ago close to the coast near where he grew up. With travel making him weary, his loss of Fiadh in dreams and his growing dissociation from people, he’d decided to spend a year here in Norway before traveling back home to Ireland and spending his days living with Father Byrne, if he was even still alive. 

        He arrived in a busy Oslo, made famous by the fact King Håkon V, the first king to reside in Oslo, lived here until his death in 1319. The town had six churches, the most important being St. Olav’s Monastery and St. Hallvard’s Cathedral. There were also three convents in the city and one on the island Hovedøya. He thought it’d be best to “check in” there, as he’d assumed he was the first ever plague doctor to ever visit Scandinavian shores. Audloed made his way to St. Hallvard’s Cathedral where he met clergymen who all directed him to Hallvard, though not the one the church is named after nor even related to him. He preferred the name Peter in religious respect, but he was well known as Hallvard anyway, given his real name and the name of the church. He preferred a Latin name, as his real one he felt was too Norse and disconnected him and his future letters, if any, to monasteries and religious figures outside the kingdom. With the arrival of winter a lot sooner than he was used to, he was encouraged to stay at the cathedral until days warmed and he was able to service people beyond the walls of Oslo. Treating these people was no different outside of some language barriers. Hearing them reminded him of little Baird, which reminded him of himself and Faidh. It was easy to mentally disconnect here. The greyness of winter did that already, but the one positive were the fjords, which he wasn’t used to looking upward to see the same ground he was walking on. 

          In the spring thaw and having only served a few families, one of which gifted him rosary beads, he was given a contract of only five families. He would normally protest traveling for a few months to only serve so few, but the greening of the landscape and the return of birdsong certainly inspired him to venture into this beautifully mountainous country. 

          What certainly distracted him on his journey to Elverum was the diverse plant life. He spent many weeks delayed in arriving just documenting the new plant life he was witnessing and even making camp just to test their abilities. The species of mushrooms that grew in this land were alone an area of study he could focus on for a few years. He hadn’t felt happy in a long time, and being segregated in the forests of Norway and the large mountains certainly removed him from the decaying world of pestilence. In his travels, almost nearing Elverum, he met a lone man named Eilif. Eilif was a man who’d lost his farm in Kongsvinger, a small town near Elverum, to his lack of any financial means to keep it. He was chastised and eventually excommunicated due to his lack of municipal importance. The years leading up to the pestilence in Norway were not friendly, as springs were wet and summers were cooler than average, an already short growing season this far north. He spent some time with Eilif who needed healing on his own anyways, which Audloed aided in exchange for housing. He taught him the many new plants he was curious about, their uses and even touching on the past pagan knowledge of the region. 

          After servicing the few contracted families in Elverum, Audloed made a small stop in Kongsvingar to see Eilif’s old home, even if it was occupied by another family. While there, he did stop to observe a gift he was given. Since families here were poorer than poor, they sometimes didn’t even have metal trinkets of family seals like English families gave him. While he was used to receiving “junk” for pay, he was already used to being compensated in ways other than money, but this gift was different. Maybe because it was new to him it caught more of his attention and meant more, but it was a larger black feather that was in a small strand of string and metal beads, all attached to a seal that was clearly removed. When he returned to Eilif, he showed him the gift as the feather attached to it seemed rather primitive. Eilif explained to him the importance of the raven in this world. He told him stories of the ravens Hugin and Munin who would travel the world and return to the shoulders of Odin to tell him all that they saw. Other than old stories he dove into with Fiadh, he hadn’t heard of stories like it since being indoctrinated into the church for the past decade. They reminded him of stories him and her would share in the green grasses back home in Connacht.

          Eilif reminded him of his dutiful return to the church to fulfill his plague contract, but he stayed with him a lot longer than was necessary. He spent another two months there, learning more about the culture of Norway and heathenism with him until he eventually returned back to Oslo. He returned to a rather upset someone at St. Hallvard’s Cathedral, who reminded him of death rates from the plague and lives he could’ve saved in that time. Audloed learned that medically healing was just as much as if not less so important than being a missionary. Audloed wasn’t a missionary, nor was that even remotely aligned with his mission to be here in Norway. He requested another contract for Elverum, but Hallvard reminded him there were none left, and surveyors would need to report back to him about plague that had escaped Oslo into nearby towns. 

          He spent that night there at the cathedral, which for the first time since he left on his pestilence mission that he felt a bit lost. He debated if he should just hop the next ship leaving for Denmark or England, but foreign trade ships were very rare in this part of the world. Those originating here and leaving would suffice, but not being reported back to the church was near impossible. He’d packed the gifts in a small satchel, and pulled out the raven feather, observing it, remembering Eilif’s stories, before falling asleep. That night, Audloed dreamed about Fiadh. Not just about her, but them back at home telling stories, her on a low tree branch and bouncing on it to make Scots Pine cones fall on him as well as old needles, as if it were raining with her making deep thunder noises with her throat and laughing. When the cones landed, they made a symbol on the ground that he could somehow see from above at the same time, as if he was sharing eyes with a raven. It was a symbol he’d never seen before, but Fiadh was his focus anyways. It was one of the few dreams where he felt he had more control over his thoughts, so it was almost vision-like. He asked her when the next time he’d see her again was, in which she smiled down from that branch and giggled. 

          “When you see the deer. When you see the elk. I will be there. I will be one.”