Daughter of the Witcher Ch. 02

***This chapter will need to be read a little slowly, since what happened in the past is presented from two POVs. One is by the man who it happened to, and the other is what Louhi learns.

If it all gets to be a little too much, her explanation to him near the end ought to clear it up. I uh, ... hope.

I always learn a hell of a lot when I write anything with toeholds in history. That being said, I was STILL very hesitant with this one since there's a lot of the period where Scotland was formed in this - and THAT my friend can be a rather prickly thing to get close to, never mind the thistles.

There's an actual place mentioned in this as a temple. I doubt that it was that at all, but it makes for a good yarn. It's an archeological site on the island known as 'Mainland' in the Shetland Islands group called 'Jarlshof'. Check it out if you like. If you find a photo of the 'wheelhouse', that's where Taran wakes up.

As far as I've been able to learn, the Shetlands were once under the control of the Caitts or Catts, a fierce tribe of the legendarily fierce Picts. Picts appear in a few films such as 'Centurion' and 'Ninth Legion', portrayed as what they were, badass and blue, fighting for their turf like anybody else there back then.

The Shetlands were known then as the 'Isles of the Cats'. The last Caitt king was Taran mac Entifidich and he died in 697AD, 300 years before this chapter begins. After him, the territory was absorbed by the other Pict tribes who were allies anyway. Everything else is fiction,

Anyway, let's see what the witcher's daughter is up to now.

My thanks to 'Hellkite' for the tip in pronunciation "Louhi is pronounced: Low-hee :)" I just couldn't get the link to take in the text box. 0_o

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Louhi pulled the man to the bed, and though it might have been seen as a sort of overture – which it was - though not as overt a gesture as one might think under the circumstances. It was more of a necessity, there being little else in the room in terms of furniture, other than a stand to lay clothing on. The man resisted a little initially, until Louhi held up her hand as a sign that he should wait. He paused and Annikki swept her hand in a motion to draw his attention for a moment before she indicated the rest of the chamber with a wave and he did catch on then.

They looked at each other, the two young women and the man as Louhi tried to figure out a way in which to frame her questions to him. Though she hadn't noticed it downstairs, this man was plainly not what was usual for around here, by what she'd seen so far.

There was also something about him in the way that she could draw a sense of him far more than any others here, because there was much more of him to draw from.

In his turn, he was doing largely the same thing, but he was also trying to look into their eyes as well.

They saw a man who wore markings on his face, though they looked old from fading. They weren't very noticeable, they both thought; since he wore a short beard, though it wasn't more than perhaps a fortnight's growth. Annikki hadn't even seen the markings when he'd walked into the inn and Louhi hadn't seen them either, though she'd stood even farther away.

What he saw taught him a lot about them. He learned that though the smaller of the two came from a background which held many elements of common, everyday life in a manner which he understood, he saw a rather noble - if pragmatic and slightly hopeful outlook.

It was pragmatic in the way that she accepted things, yet it was a little hopeful nonetheless. There was also a lot of purity in her spirit, and it was indicated to him in a rather humbling way.

He and the girl looked at each other for only a moment or two and the girl almost immediately trusted him to a large degree. That was evidenced by the way that she encircled his ribs with her arms and simply hugged him with her head against his chest, her eyes closed, and a pleased smile written there on her features as though she'd found an old friend.

It was the other one who caused him to stare.

As he looked into her light blue eyes, he expected to see little if any darkness, but what he saw in a second threatened to almost swallow him. He didn't realize it at the time, but the way that he sat transfixed caused him to put his arms around the smaller girl who was still hugging him.

He knew in a little time that it wasn't so much darkness in the equivocal sense of dark equaling evil. It was more of a hunger to know what could be learned.

And it suddenly became clear to him that it was a shared hunger in him as well.

He thought about it and chose his next words carefully.

"What does he say?" Annikki asked as she looked up, "It sounds so nice to me, but I get nothing from it."

"I do not know," Louhi said quietly, and then she tried some of the other ways and languages which she'd learned bits of.

At one point when she tried Norse, she saw his eyebrows rise in a bit of alarm and possibly distaste, so she leaned in a little and kept at it.

"What is wrong? I seek to find a way to talk between us, nothing more," she said.

"Danes?" he asked, "Are you Danes?"

Louhi shook her head, "No. We are Suomalaiset and I tried the language of the Swedes. It is also spoken by Norsemen and Danes and the Gotlanders also. There are many common words, but some sound a little different. I thought that it gave me the best chance. I have heard something like it even here."

He nodded, "What is it that was wanted of me? The innkeeper told me that there were women here who had need of me, but I cannot get his words from him clearly, I –"

He sighed, "Some around here regard me as a dumb ox, but I only have trouble with their speech."

He stopped then as Annikki let go of him and sat back with a little grin. "We have a need, and we see no dumb ox."

She lifted her long shirt and he watched astounded as she pulled it off over her head and shook out her long and slightly wavy strawberry-blonde hair, "I see no ox, though I see a man who might want to play at being a bull for two lonely girls in a bit of need. I hope you will not mind the work."

She moved forward a little and reached around Louhi to cup a breast through her singlet and pull up the bit of the hem that she could get free so that her hand had free passage as she leaned over her friend's shoulder.

"Well hurry up and kiss him, Louhi, or I will."

Finally, he saw that they did have the means to understand each other and though he strongly disliked the thought, he'd learned some Norse in his travels as a necessity over the time.

He looked down, "This curse on me is without end, it seems. Now I must speak the words of my enemies since almost none know mine."

He pulled away, looking sad and he held up his hands, "I can offer only my apology. You are both fine and lovely. And – and I can say that I have never seen such wondrous women. But there is a mistake here I think, and I have no wish to make it wors-"

Annikki pulled back, "Owhh, I thought that it was too good to be what I hoped." She began to reach for her shirt.

Louhi grabbed for his arm, "Wait. Please, ... only wait a little. If there is an error, I do not think that it cannot be mended. We have given coins for another night in this room and my friend bought a little ale and paid a bit more to the innkeeper to have a man sent here for us.

What were you told – or; what was it that you thought that you heard?"

The man looked at Louhi for a moment as his eyes took in the whitish hair which cascaded down over her shoulders. He thought it likely that they didn't put much stock in what he'd said of them, but it was the truth. He'd never in his life seen a single woman who was this lovely – to the standard which he saw before him now – and there were two of them. They were different from each other to be sure, so there were two new standards then, he supposed, but either of them outstripped the loveliness of any woman that he'd ever laid eyes on.

And once upon a long time ago, he'd had eyes for only one girl in all the world. Rana had been a great beauty when they'd met and he'd courted her and he'd thought the same thing of her over the four and a half years until her death. And he'd been so in love with her for far more than only that reason.

But that had been three and a half centuries ago, not that he'd ever thought to be alive now and he'd grieved her death for a little over fifty years. Now he was twenty-two again somehow and either of these two, ...

He was aware that they awaited his answer.

"Only that there were a pair of women here who needed me," he said. "I have heard this from him before, but all of the other times, when I go to the room, I find an older woman and we cannot talk between us and it often ends badly when they begin to pull me. They shout at me, words I do not know but I see that they are angry then. Once, I found a young man waiting for me."

"How did that end?" Annikki asked from behind Louhi as she shrugged her long shirt back on.

"Only a little better," the man said with a quiet grunt, "I left him late that night. I had to do some acts with him that I was a little loathe to do, but I left him with a smile as he slept and I got silver out of it.

I needed the coins, so, ..."

"Well what was wrong with that?" Annikki asked, "Is that not what you are to provide to the patrons?"

He shook his head, "I do not think so. The way that it is said to me is that 'Such and such in that room there needs service – or help – or they have work for you'.

I come in here for a quiet drink to forget my troubles and it is made to sound to me as though I am to give aid. I often cannot get what is said to me here. I am not near where I come from, and it has only been a little time. I do not have an ear for the speech here yet."

Louhi thought about it for a moment as she looked up, "Well I have a need and I have a want, my friend. I also have a very strong wish.

What I wish for most of all is that you have the time to spend with us. We are here alone. Most often, this leads a man or three to come to an idea that just because we look at him or them and do not cast our eyes down that we must ache to have them between our loins.

Almost always, the thoughts are wrong and the language here only makes a bad thing worse.

I think that the innkeeper takes money for the service of pointing someone out to a patron. But I have a want now to make what I can out of this confusion. If you would want to forget your troubles as you have said, then I think that I want to help with it, and the best way to push troubles away for the moment so that they are at least lessened a little is to tell them to another. We have ears to lend and if you could go and bring us all a little more ale – which I will give coins for – then I wish to begin."

He watched as she got off the bed and walked to get her purse – which was like anyone's purse at the time, little more than a crude leather pouch which could be tied to one's belt. As she moved, he caught just the briefest glimpse of her white pubic hair before her garment fell to cover it. The image remained, but he also saw her long legs and a bit of her bottom, though his glimpse of that treasure was even more brief.

She fished for a moment and then held out some coins. "It cost me little to 'buy' you and I wondered about it. Now, I hope to buy your time and your pleasant voice because I wish to know about you.

I will listen to your troubles if you would let me."

He looked from the coins in his hand to her face for a moment and then he smiled and nodded.

He was gone the next moment and Annikki groaned.

"Well that was the fine fuck which wasn't," she scowled.

"I love you dearly, Louhi, but I cannot swallow how you have just given away more coins for nothing. He will not come back and we have been foolish. I will love you again this night and it is all that I ever need, but we wanted a man tonight as we agreed, and it almost always goes wrong when we try."

"That is because of the speech wherever we go much of the time," Louhi replied a little distantly as she looked at the closed door, "There is nothing wrong with either of us, sweet one, but it is the same anywhere. We must be careful."

She looked at the other girl, "He looks wild, but I see more in him, Annikki.

If you want only a brute; that is easily done and it will cost you no coins at all – though you would never have any more to your name since your brute would drink it all. You will find yourself working yourself to death for a lout and wearing the marks of his love on your swollen face on and off for the rest of your life.

You will be followed by the brats that he stuffs into your cunt and you birth – if the birthing of them doesn't kill you. They will tag along, each clamoring for something different and poking each other in the eyes because they are as stupid and mean as their father. They will follow you like a cursed cloud wherever you go in the little hovel where you will live.

Why have you never told me that you wanted that? I could have saved my own heart if I knew it."

Annikki looked down, "I am sorry. It's just that, ... "

"I wanted the same thing," Louhi said softly, "I did not mean to sound so hard to you. I had the want of a good fucking myself. But that one ...

He knows the ways, but his teaching was different. He has the sight, but does not dare to trust in it, for things to him are not as he knew them once. It changes nothing, but there is a man there worth knowing for us. Feel this, Nikki, and we might have more than we sought to buy with our few coins.

That one holds cares which there is no hope to mend or make better. I have seen that far in, though I do not know the why of it all yet. And he will come back, Nikki, so do not give up your hope for the night just yet. He now stands talking to the innkeeper.

For such a fat man, the innkeeper is now pulled almost over the bar and he wants nothing more right now than to give back our coins."

It took no longer than ten minutes and there was another knock on the door. When they answered, a serving woman strode in with two large platters of steaming food. Behind her, the man walked in with four tankards of ale. The platters were handed to Louhi and Annikki and the woman left the room with a sniff which they imitated toward her retreating back.

"I bought the ale which you wanted and I paid for the meal myself," he smiled as he put them down on the small night table next to the bed. He held out his hand and dropped a few small coins into Louhi's hand.

"The difference over the misunderstanding," he smiled.

Louhi chuckled, "Then you have earned an even larger share of my trust, my friend. And now I long to eat a little and learn of you at the same time.

The very first thing which is needed is that we learn your name. I am Louhi and this is Annikki or only Nikki sometimes."

He pointed to himself, "Taran."

He looked downward a little then, "I live in the saddest of times, and I am forced to watch the last of my people scattered to the winds until I know them not anymore and even the wind which scattered them gives way to new winds which blow them and tatter them and I already see it beginning once again."

Louhi looked at him and reached out to hold onto his broad shoulders, "You can speak long to us, but be a little slow, for what you say is not just as we know the words to be, all of them."

He looked at them, from one to the other and Annikki nodded in encouragement, sensing uneasiness in him by his uncertain look as she tried not to speak around the bit of roast in her mouth – but did a little anyway. "Not Danes," she said, shaking her head, "not Swedes, or Norse. We are Finns."

She pointed to the bed and indicated a place with her finger, "Here."

He watched her fingertip move to the side, "Nóregr."

It moved to the side of that in direction, "Danemark, and here, Sverige." Her finger finally stopped and she looked up, "Suomi," She pointed to Louhi and herself, "Suomalaiset – Finns we are called."

His eyes widened and he looked at them again for a moment before he swept her imaginary map aside and pointed to a different spot.

They looked at the dark markings on the part of his forearm which protruded from the sleeve of his cloak before they nodded their understanding that he was trying to show them a view of his own world.

"Here."

His hand moved in a different direction in a broad motion, "Pictland," He looked up, "Pictland – Alba. See? Alba." He pointed to himself, "It was a kingdom of seven kings and is under slow and quiet attack, though they know it not, for it is done by people who live among them in peace. But it is like adding water to wine for it thins them. All of us are Cruthnes in our old tongue – the one which fades even now. The words of others say I am a Pict."

His finger went back to the drawing on the bedsheet, "Alba," and then drew on farther, "Caithness, kingdom of the Catt, the tribe where I was born."

His finger moved on, "Innse," His hands rose up to indicate something small held enveloped as a thing while he nodded hopefully, "Innse." He placed his hands in the same manner on the bed.

Louhi looked up, "Innse, ... island?"

He nodded, "Innse." Pointing to the spot once more with his fingers, he said, "Inse Orc, island of the pigs, though now they say Orkney when I ask."

He raised his finger again and it went even further, right to the edge of the bed and he looked up, "Na h-Innse Cait.

Hjaltland, they say to me, or Hetland. Caittland I heard once."

He finally pointed to himself, "Pict," he nodded, "Caitt." He nodded again, "I am the last, from what I know." He looked away for a moment, "At least, I am the last who even knows what he is anymore."

What had once been seven Pictish kingdoms or more – his own being only one and the largest at the time that he once knew – had since been rolled over by the Vikings as they'd turned from raiders into settlers. And that was from three sides. From the south and east, there came the Scots. Where one came with plowshares, the other came with swords. A lot of the people that he met might have been Picts a few hundred years ago, but now they were part of an amalgamation, the whole of it mixed with Gaelic and other overall Celtic influences and with the Gaels and Scots people thrown in there as well.

He drew a deep breath.

"My name is Taran mac Entifidich and I was a king once.

I am a king cursed, and I have been dead for, ... very near to three hundred summers.

In my time, I knew my people and my lands. That has passed and is now the Kingdom of Alba with a new king and I know him not or whether he is a true Pict.

I was the last king in my line and after me; the kingdom of Caitt slowly weakened and from what I know from my asking of others, it was swallowed by our allies and kinsmen from Fidach to the west after I was gone. Now, they fade themselves before the Northmen and the Scots though they all turn to fight the Angles if they come. It has been my curse to see my wife and children killed and to live on with nothing."

"But, ... " Louhi looked into his eyes intently, "You are not dead, ... Taran."

"No," he nodded, "but it is a cruel fate to live on alone. I no longer have any country and almost no countrymen.

I had a wife and lovely she was and she birthed me our children."

He sighed as he looked down and it came out of him as almost a groan, "But, ... before that, I went to a place where holy men were on Na h-Innse Cait to be taught, for it was said to me that a king such as I was to be one day would need to know of many things and not only what a man sees but what is not to be seen and yet is just as real.

When I came there, I was given a slave to help me in any way as I learned. In the first strange day, I told him that he was no slave to me, though slaves were always kept by many of the peoples everywhere and mine were no different. I wanted no slave, and sought to have him freed, or if I could, I'd have paid his worth to the ones who owned him.