5 V. The Dinner

Both Stein and his son were drinking mead and eating some slices of bread. In the chimney, the boar was hanging, skinned and deprived of his hooves and tail.

"Where's Asa?" asked Dag

"She's just outside the door… don't worry kid, we will not eat you" winked Stein.

Eirik continued to stare at Dag, suspiciously.

He grabbed a slice of bread from the center of the table, hungry.

In the meanwhile, female voices came from the outside, getting closer. When the door opened Asa entered the house and after her, a beautiful blonde girl.

She blew on her hands to warm them up, but after a step, she raised her head and looked at Dag. She had deep blue eyes, full lips, and a small nose. She looked like her mother.

"Dag, she's Gridd, your big sister. I already told her about you" said Asa.

Dag was charmed, but he was able to say a shy: "H..Hi".

"Hey".

Gridd answered with superficiality as if she already knew Dag.

She sat at the table, next to him. Asa walked to the chimney and whirled the boar while Dag continued staring at Gridd.

"Hey puppy, don't get any ideas about Gridd. She's your sister now, am I right?" said Eirik looking at Stein, shrugging his shoulders, seeking the support of his father, that didn't say anything.

In a second, Gridd gripped the table and pushed it with extreme strength, unfit to a girl of her age.

The table hit Eirik's chest, and he spat bread from his mouth, coughing up and slapping his hands on the table.

"*Cough*cough*… are you crazy or what?! I was just defending you!" said him with a thread of voice.

"Do I need your protection?" replied Gridd, calmly.

"Grr, you…"

"Enough!" interrupted Stein.

"Nobody needs protection here! This kid is my son now, as you two thugs. From now on, he needs to learn about us, about our planet, our culture… our Gods" he continued.

"When I was on Earth I learned a lot about yours and other cultures since I was a baby. Some old Ladies teach to children like me everything we need to know to start our new life, on our Ancestor planet…then we enter the Temporum. My Lady's name was Ysabel" said Dag, trying to break the ice.

"Oh right, right, I've heard about these things some time ago. The Temporum… it's a machine that determines where you must go, using numbers or something similar… am I right?" asked Stein.

"Yes, the Xis created it. They created everything, actually. They saved us after our Sun died. Your planet and other planets' atmospheres have been created by the Xis as well. My destiny is here, I'm for the 94% Norse, so… Viking blood flows into my veins, that's what they taught me" continued Dag.

Eirik and Gridd stopped eating and stood frozen, listening to Dag. Asa took out the meat from the fire.

"Your appearance is Viking, yes. Blonde hair, light blue eyes, fair skin…" though out loud Stein.

"What about your mother? Is she an incubator now?" answered Asa, while she chopped some piece of meat with a long knife, on the table.

"We're not allowed to know this. I'm not sure… probably she is. I've never met her, so…"

When he spoke, Dag looked at the table, with empty sad eyes.

Asa saw the scene out of the corner of her eye. She felt a sense of protection, of motherhood.

She shared Dag's loneliness.

"Your father? Was he imprisoned by those Xis? They seem so powerful…" answered Eirik, then wildly bit a piece of roasted boar.

Gridd was still not moving, hearing the speech with her arms folded.

"He's dead. The Xis killed every single man on the Earth. They don't need male humans for their plans" sighed Dag, trying to hold back the tears.

That answer was cold like winter.

Eirik and Stein stopped eating. Asa continued chopping the boar. Gridd was still stationary.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…" said Eirik.

"It's fine, you're home now kid. We will look after you, you're safe" interrupted Stein.

For about thirty seconds, the silence ruled the room.

The fire kept on burning the wood.

"What about killing the Xis?" said Gridd, who finally took part in the conversation.

"Are they that strong? I saw even the strongest warriors falling with a good axe's swing" she continued.

"K…killing the Xis?! T…they're not so evil, they helped us to survive! Why should anyone kill them?!"

Dag was surprised, the unusual question of Gridd had puzzled him.

During his life, nobody did ever told him such an absurdity.

"Killing them would mean take back what is ours. Humans could also claim Xis' machines, right? I spoke to Hallr weeks ago: he told me that he looks after a machine called the Vortex, that allows anyone to teleport between worlds and it's made by Xis. Is this true?" she continued, self-confident.

"Yes, it is. I reached this planet through that machine, but it doesn't mean that…"

"I think we've asked Dag enough questions for today. He needs to rest and then, tomorrow, he will decide what path he wants to follow" concluded Asa.

She finished chopping the meat, and sat at the table, next to her husband.

"Now we eat, I'm starving!" she concluded.

The atmosphere came back to be relaxing.

Dag ate the boar with his new family. In his head, Gridd's words continued to resound.

He kept staring at her.

It was so weird that no one had ever thought a simple thing like this. Was Gridd's speech heretic? Maybe. But soon he figured out that he has to be a true Viking now.

He knew their Gods, he studied about them. Gods are the only thing Vikings believe in, that's what books said.

The dinner finished with a cup of mead. Dag drank a little sip, then he spat some of it on the floor, coughing.

"Hahaha, it's strong, isn't it? My wife makes the best mead of all Jernhest!" Stein laughed at Dag, then kissed Asa's forehead.

"It is, but I like its taste" answered Dag, wiping his mouth with his shirt's sleeve.

After dinner, the whole family stood up from the table.

They moved one by one towards the bedroom.

"Give me a minute, I'll set a bed for you, next to your siblings" said Stein, touching Dag's shoulder.

He opened a sash from the wall, looking for something. Dag looked at the other room's door: it was still half-opened, but he couldn't see what was behind.

Stein prepared a small bed for Dag and placed it between the two other ones.