A Gift from Raven

Hunting has been poor over the past week.
I had a bow string break, which snapped backward to put a nice sized welt across my right eye, and the animals seem to be in hiding. What they hide from, and why, I am uncertain. They may just cower from the storm that keeps threatening but never seems to strike the ground. I’ve spent several nights resting in caves and listening to thunder roar above, yet never witnessing the drops of cool waters on the earth or a crack of lighting strike. Instead the skies just remain grey with a shadowed sun and neither moon nor star to guide me in the evening. If I had not grown up near Borealis Forest I could have easily become lost in the seemingly endless sea of trees. I tried to commune with Raven for answers but had no luck on my own and the Raven Shamans were too preoccupied to lend me aid. I’ve known Moda the Black, the current Speaker of Hoelbrak for the Raven Spirit, since I was a child and yet even she would not grant me an audience. Clearly I am not the only one having troubles as of late.

With no luck hunting and no luck seeking guidance among the spirits, I decided to visit my mother, Gürd, Slayer of the Fanged Saber. She is a monstrously large woman, even for a norn, and we hadn’t spoken in several moons. She’s been staying in the Great Lodge more and more as of late. When I was a girl my mother would be gone for weeks at a time hunting, sometimes taking me with her although I was usually left behind in favor of my brothers, so her staying in a great hall for so long has begun to worry me. She is in her sixties, a respectable age, but still too young to be considered old for a norn, even the gimp and decrepit norn go on hunts well into their 100’s. I think she mourns the loss of Arvid, my older brother and her third son more than she likes to let on. He was killed by Dag (I often wish I had a more traditional and strong norn name…), another of my brothers and her fourth son, in a contest of strength over something so frivolous I forget what it was. And now Dag is a Son of Svanir, a fact which my mother is loath to admit. I don’t mind the Sons of Svanir so much, although I hold some resentment as they refuse women in their ranks… another tale for another time…

In my mother’s eyes she has only one son now, Hallsteinn, he is the eldest and first born, however, neither of us have heard from him in nearly ten years. He is strong and brave, he is out making his legend and I know my mother is proud but she is also lonely and it has made her weaker than I would dare to tell her. She may have softened somewhat but I still rightfully fear her. She is a follower of the Great Spirit Bear and in her bear form she rivals the size of the kodan.

I tried to explain to my mother about the odd behaviors of the forest creatures, but all she could do was tease me about the welt on my face and ask me if I wanted her to get some snow from the mountain peak to cool my face, degrading me with pet names like princess and her precious daughter. Sometimes I loathe that woman. When I finally got her to stop vexing me with such nonsense she had me accompany her to Bear’s Spirit Lodge. I have the greatest respect for Bear and the other Spirits of the Wild, but I’ve never really shown Bear much favor, nor has Bear to me in return.

After awhile I left my mother in the Spirit Lodge and made my way toward the Growling Unicorn to quench my frustration with ale. On my way to the mead hall I stumbled across a small orange tabby cat. I could have easily cupped the creature in my hands it was so small, nothing at all when compared to my various animal companions. And yet, the thing had somehow managed to catch a Raven and was viciously ripping the bird apart. At first I wasn’t sure how to react to this, the feline was after all tearing the animal of my favored totem to bits. I thought about smashing the cats head in with my boot, but then I recognized this as a sign of favor. What an animal this pit sized furball must be to catch and kill the clever Raven. No doubt the Raven Spirit sacrificed one of its kin to deliver this beast to me. I beckoned and the animal followed me to the mead wall where I fed her pieces of boar meat and cream. And then she followed me to my mother’s lodging where I think she will make her home from now on. Gürd was not particularly pleased that I’d brought the creature home with me, but after the cat caught a rather plump rat my mother changed her tune. I think that the cat will make a nice companion for my mother when I am away, thank you Great Raven for this blessing. I think I’ll call the tabby cat Ida.