"Do you know how the names of the days of the week are called what they are?"

"What? Ours?!"

"All ours actually." Jane gives me a questioning look. "The Scandinavian Vikings in our world affected the current English culture a lot with words and such. Modern Swedish and English have plenty of words that are very close in speech and writing, if its basic things like; finger - finger, arm - arm, day - dag, house - hus, tree - träd, water - vatten, fish - fisk, red - röd, knife - kniv and so on. Its the same with weekdays. In Swedish, starting at monday, they are; måndag, tisdag, onsdag, torsdag, fredag, lördag, söndag. A lof of them are old, like saturday is lördag, and laur, which you hear is pronounced very close, is an old norse word for washing-bathing. I think the Islandic word is the same today."

"Thats when they all bathe, wash and clean the house here!"

"Yes. And it should be telling how much bathing was done in England way back, since saturday is the only day in English thats really renamed. Wednesday-Onsdag comes from Wodhans day, which is another way of saying Odens day, although the spelling is a bit messed up. Oden have ridiculously many names, something like 50, so Odin - Oden isn't a big thing. Thursday-Torsdag, is Thors day."

"Thats really the same!"

"Yes, and after that comes friday-fredag, which might mean Freyas day, or Friggs day. I think its the same Goddess they mean, as a lot about the Vikings is vague. Here, those three days are almost the same, named after the gods; Oden, Thor and Freya. Guess on which day the Aurora happened here?"

Astonished Jane blurts out: "Friday?! Freyas day!?" I just smile and nod. "Bollocks! No wonder everyone thinks Freyas behind it all! It was her day!"

"Yeah. I only understood that a while ago, since for me it just a friday without thinking about any connection to the Gods. Its one in seven, but hey; it happened on her day, so she gets the credit."

"Bollocks! And then you show up pretend to be a powerful magician. Its no wonder they all see you as sent by her."

"Its saturday today, and if you havn't noticed we're on the wrong weekday. In Midgard, the Aurora was on a tuesday, but the time of the year seems the same with Midsummers Eve, and the upcomming autumn equinox seems correct too. To be honest, some probably even think I'm Freya in disguise, and their Gods do change sex or turn into animals in the Sagas. They truly believe the Gods visit and walk among them."

Jane is enjoying it and seem lost in thought, before something pops into her mind. "Oh! I arrived here and gave you my offer on a Friday!"

"Yes. You did." As usual I havn't thought about the weekdays connection to the gods,

and my sambos might have seen that as a sign that she's send from Freya to give me children. Time for another change of subject. "I now believe that Lagman Filison in Hildifjoer was kind of desperate to be a good host, and help me reach my destination, and Danr was more than happy for me to travel with his ship."

"Yeah! No shit!"

"... and then you showed up and end up stuck there. I'm not surprised that Tom had success with the female servants there, or his wife. Btw, Toms sentence for nine months as a slave was very low as it might have been for life, so I guess Filison knew that his wife might have initiated the sex and Tom was a drunk guest. He probably didn't know that wasn't the first time, and it might be viewed as a semi official punishment for his wife too. But, he might have let Tom become an official lover or concubine for his wife if she's smart or manipulative enough, and Tom were respectful to them both. A lot of things here is about perception and keeping ones status, and an official concubine for his wife is okay when done right and with respect.

When it became a public disgraceful act and Tom hit her, Filison had to do something to protect his wifes status and honor, to protected his own status and manliness. Beside being manly enough for your women, you need to be able to protect yourself and your women and children. Tom 'raped' his high status wife, in his bed, hit her, and was a bad guest infront of witnesses, and Filison is the Lagman too. Filison could have forced a duel, and maimed or killed Tom, but its still risky because Filison doesn't seem to be in good shape, and Tom might be a good desperate fighter and the Gods did bring you to Alfheimr. If Freya had a plan for Tom, he would probably win.

Loosing to Tom would have had terrible consequences for Filison, even if he was pretty much unwounded, so making Tom a slave was safe, even though it will be seen as cowardly by others. Being seen as a coward is bad too, but its the lesser evil. So he lowered Tom's status. Raping Tom wasn't really legal since Tom was a time sentenced slave, but Tom was sentenced for raping his wife and Tom were disrespectful as a slave, so many will see it as okay. He raped Tom to prove his own manliness over Tom, and to rob Tom of some of his and make Tom more disgraced, and probably for revenge. I guess he learned that Gudfridr and Tom had had sex a few times before, and thats when he got really mad and force Tom and Gudfridr to have sex while he raped Tom. And yes, he probably did succeed in secretly shaming them both infront of each other and him.

Had Tom understood the law, culture, honor and perception, and talked the language well enough to used it, it would have been a completely different story. In the end Lagman Filison would be motivated to get rid of Tom, and afraid of revenge for raping him, especially as Tom would become a free man, and Tom played in his hands."

"I should clarify that Tom never abused me - as I would have left him. But he slapped me a couple of times when he was really drunk and I made him really mad. He knew to control his drinking, and I avoided being confrontational when he was, unless I was drunk too. We did have sex that got out of hand, and he did get into a few fights. But he wasn't a bad person. He didn't deserve that."

Okay, it's my turn to be flabberghasted, because I don't know how to reply to that. It was probably only a matter of time before Tom got into trouble here, especially if he didn't understand the law. I should probably be happy that he didn't survive and became my problem. It takes a while for me to get back on track, but Jane has been quiet.

"Just so you know, a man or woman striking their married partner is grounds for divorce here, especially if its done infront of witnesses. Bloody revenge and feuds are common here. Removing the neckring and escaping was a really stupid idea for so many reason, because Filison had to send men after him for disrespecting the law and his judgment, and as a human Tom couldn't blend in. He would have had to escape down in Europe fast, or he would probably be captured, taken back and tortured to prove that breaking the law and escaping has consequences. If he just had let the neckring stay on until they left the boat in Kambsnes it would have been another thing, and just an escape, and he might still have been left alive since he was a temporary slave, although he might loose a finger or two, or maybe an eye or something. Dagny must have understood this, but I don't think Tom listened to her enough, and he might not have said he planned to remove his neckring. Now he 'flaunted' his disrespect for Filisons judgment and the law by removing it there, so that Filison would be told after he left, and that was probably a big reason for the death sentence. But, had Tom been careful and smarter from the start, he probably would have been sent of with Dagny on the boat by Filison, maybe after weeks of being his wifes lover and with gifts from her."

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Jane have stayed quiet and just listened while I talk, and in the end she seems sad about how different it could have been for Tom. She seems to have lingering feelings for him, and would have preferred if things had gone well for him. But I need to continue the lesson.

"The norms about relationships and sex that we both most likely was brought up with, isn't the same here, and we have to adapt to what's necessary for status and image. It's really dangerous to be a social paria, especially if you're unknown and don't have kin. The big ones are that every man and woman should marry and have children if possible. Sure, not everyone can, but if you have the means, you need to or you will be considered a failure by society. Like there is something very wrong with you. It's expected that someone mighty or powerful have many sexual partners and spouses, especially powerful men, because it proves they're powerful, manly and can support a big family.

Female widowed Lords or Storman - which is their word for a really big landowner - can have several male concubines or lovers, and will be seen as powerful and respected, even by men, but she should have atleast one child from her marriage, or she should marry again and get pregnant. Someone born as a female with land should get married and have children. Period. And her family will see to that. Having illegitimate children and never marrying will make her a social misfit, and the man who made that woman pregnant should marry her or make her officially his in some way. Freya obviously blessed their union, unless their social statuses are too far apart, in which case it might be Loke, or a punishment from another god. The childs father should be man enough to pay for two thirds of the childs cost of upbringing, even if he doesn't take the child into his family.

A married man should prioritize his 'official women' - wifes and concubines - and the idea is that they should be enough for him, and he should have his wifes approval to enjoy other women. But the wifes can't justify divorce because their man have sex with other women, or the occasional paid prostitute - its just a bit disrespectful to them - and if half of a mans 'official women' are pregnant or have small children, he have fulfilled his 'duty', and he might take an official lover, or just sleep around. Wifes and concubines don't have that freedom, unless their man allows them to, and usually only when they have given him several children.

Married women might get away with several male partners, since it might not be as strict as we expect, especially if she already have children with her husband, and if the new male concubine is lower ranked so he don't challenge the manliness of the husband, or the important alliance marrige usually is. An official male concubine thats the father of a child, doesn't have to pay anything for the child, since he's the lower ranked. But he also have no say in what happens to the child, even if its an abortion. If the child is born, and neither the woman or her husband want to take care of it, then the real father might claim the child and gain full responsability, or the child will most like be taken an hour or two away somewhere in the woods, and left to die."

Jane raise an eyebrow and give me a look.

"Its apparently what often happens with unwanted children. I think its cruel, and a quicker and less painful death would be better, even if its suffocating with a hand or pillow, which is the second common option. They see drawing blood from your baby as a sin, and if a still breastfeeding child drown, they think the spirit return as a form of mermaid, to lure seafarers to their doom, so they avoid drowning babies in lakes or streams, and if its done to stop the child from coming to the afterlife, they will do so in a bucket and then dig a hole and bury the bucket with the water still in it. They have tales and Sagas about animals or Trolls raising children, or that a forest nymph or spirit will hear the childs crying and turn it into one of them. So by placing it in the woods or amongs rocky hills, they give the child a chance to 'live'."

We're quiet as we think about the culture here.

"Subject change!" Jane entusiastically nod and agree. "As an example; Kari flat out told me that with my high status in this region - with my own micro nation where I'm the ruler - I'm expected to have two wifes, and atleast one concubine."

"Which you will have if you marry both Iselin and Kari, as Ciara is your concubine."

"Correct. It's a show of wealth, power, manliness and attractiveness. The thinking basically seems to boil down to; every man should marry, and try to have another wife or concubine. You're a Jarl or ruler? Add a wife and a concubine. You're a huge landowner? Add a wife and a concubine."

"Doesn't that mean you should have three wifes and two concubines?"

"Well, yes - but I don't need to. There isn't actually an upper limit, and a man can have as many women as he can support, but usually it's limited by marrige agreements, inheritance and statuses, and a highly desirable wife will basically count as two. King Asbjörn Aeriksson 'only' had two highly desirable wifes, but one died several years ago, so there's only one Queen, Haera, and a couple of concubines. They have three adult children. I'm thankfully not a huge landowner - just a ruler - or I should have up to four wifes, and several concubines. I will buy more land when I can, but until I make Storman it doesn't matter, and thats a lot of land. They count the lands food production in Mantal, not area, and my islands are 15 Mantal together, although we would call it about 50 hectare of farmland, which is half a square kilometer. A lot isn't crop fields, but meadows and pastures. My Furstdome is about 7km2 of land. I would need more than 5 times my islands crop fields to make me a Storman. Mantal is a vague measurement based on a food production, and as I increase production, and make more fields, my islands mantal will probably double in a few years, and I might eventually tripple it. Modern fertilizer, crops and machinery could probably increase it tenfold. Its of course limited to manpower, rain and fresh water supply, but I should be able to create simpler farmmachinery, and dig out ponds and dam up to make lakes, and make irrigation systems to prepare for a drought."

"You could have a literal harem."

"Yes, a small harem would be legal and socially acceptable, but ill adviced in a mans and his wifes home, but several more or less permanent semi-officially kept women are acceptable in the higher social ranks, especially if they have lower status. A Storman will probably have several medium sized farms spread out over a region, and might have a kept woman on each - maybe in charge of the household - that he spend time with as he travel around and inspect his lands. I can give a woman a small house on a small plot of land out of view from my mansion, and visit her several times a month or just a couple of times per year. It will actually be seen as an honorable peace offer, if offered to a vanquished attacking foes wife or old enough daughter, and a lot of women would accept, especially if the man is honorable and not to old. It might also save the rest of her family from execution if its a feud or war. If the woman accept, she binds her and her family members honor to herself and her new man, and she have to be faithful and loyal to him, even if he doesn't treat her that well, although he should. If she tries to murder him or damage his relationships or children, her life is forfiet and she will be tortured to death, and the Gods will be harsh, and so will society be against her close family since they have no honor. Even close allies or relatives might kill them, since they can't be trusted. Its an old way of making peace between enemies, and treachery is not allowed.

The womans unwed daughters becomes her new mans property and will be married of if they're lucky, or just given away, maybe on the spot as basically spoils of war. Brothers or sons must stay out of any conflict with her new man and just live their life the best they can, preferably with relatives or in another country, and the woman might be furious at siblings or sons if they attack since she had made peace. As the ultimate holder of their honor, she can actually kill them in cold blood in public without any repercussions, while they can't in return to have honor - so they sure as hell won't be happy to see her or trust her. There is a Saga of a woman like that spending part of the winter hunting down and killing her son and brothers and presenting their heads as gifts to her new man, and it was honorable. Another Saga have the daughter poisoning her siblings and mother just moments after accepting, when giving a toast, and her new man was pleased with her proven loyalty and way to make peace, and eventually married her. She was an honest faithful law-abiding woman, they had many children and lived happy ever after. I wouldn't trust either of those women, but this is another culture, and they take honor dead serious."

"But, you actually could have a house or small farm somewhere on you islands, tended to by women you could visit."

Of course Jane has hung up on that, but I nod and answer: "Yeah, I could."