----------------------------------------
It is a collected and stately Haera who, together with her lady-in-waiting Skirlaug and shieldmaiden Raneigh, arrives at the courtyard. Princess Ulfarna is also here and looks ready to burst into tears. Asbjörn officially thanks me for letting Haera build a house and live on the islands for the rest of her life, and hands me rolled-up contract papers with the new addition to my Furstedom, which is Lysedal, then he says goodbye to her, thanking her for the years and their grown children, and they leave. Ulfarna is crying, and it is with heavy steps that she leave.
I show Haera up to her small attic room, and she is surprised that we are letting her stay in the main building, but she is a Storman Guest. I ask her to meet me in the dining room-meeting room in a while, because we need to talk about her future construction. Skirlaug will stay in the wing, and Alith guide shieldmaiden Raneigh to my bodyguards room - there have been spare beds since we moved in.
The normal large and small guest rooms and the dark room at the ground flood are still vacant, but holy shit; I thought there would be plenty of room and space in the mansion. But the mansion was designed before Caecilia, Jane, Haera and extra personal, and I hadn't considered a gym or music room either. Luckily, there is room in the wings attic for Gisela, Frida, Soma and Brina, and we do still have the larger south-west attic room in the main building. And there is unused attic space too. If we have more long-term lower status visitors, there will be room for a few more in the attic spaces and in the guest house. Not all guests need their own room, but I would prefer to be able to provide it because our guests are powerful and important people, as evidenced by the fact that they bring guards and servants with them.
It's probably best to build a larger and more impressive guest house or mansion or extension in the near future, and it is also an advantage that the guests with their guards are not inside the main building so our security is a bit higher. It should be close and I'll probably have to make the extension building to Thrymheim a few metres from the rock wall of the mountain, so that Thrymheim as a whole will be somewhat U-shaped with the courtyard open towards the strait. The east side of the courtyard is just a steep drop that Thrymheim lines up against, and I don't want the new mansion extension to block half the courtyard, or be on the ground below so the view is blocked by its roof. Roofs are not pretty. And it could improve security and 'a impressive mansion' feeling. At least for now we have the guest house and the small guest house by the barns. It is probably also a good idea to start planning for future construction on the other side of the road north of Thrymheim. The Academy needs to be prioritised so that it is ready for the first group of students, but then Thrymheim will be updated and get an extension building.
We gather everyone, including the staff, and let them know the official story, and that for the next few months Haera will live here until she can have her own mansion built and liveable, but it's the middle of winter so probably more than 4 months even with a large construction crew. Regardless of what they think of her action, Haera is a visiting Storman and deserves to be treated as such. Gunhild have reacted particularly strongly, that her friend and colleague shieldmaiden Raneigh, who she and Hillevi have known for years, has been so damn stupid. Her reputation will also hit rock bottom, because she is the shieldmaiden who helped the Queen betray the King. Who will trust her now? Especially to guard a wife or concubine? She will have a hard time getting a job or a husband, practically bound to Haera and in exile too.
----------------------------------------
Only Alith and Iselin are with me when Haera, Raneigh and Skirlaug arrive at the dining room and we close the door behind us. It is clear that Haera is a strong woman who has accepted her fate and her choice, which she herself frankly caused, because she doesn't look down or avoid our gaze. Haera first tells us that she is very sure she is pregnant. She recognises the signs, because she has given birth to four children before and it has always been clear. She realised what it meant and even knowing the consequences, since the baby is a gift from Freya. So she knew what she had to quickly do, what the consequences were likely to be, and what decision Asbjörn needed to make. She accepted the fate the Gods wanted and just wants to make the best of it. Haera apologises to me for being so terribly stupid, deceiving me, thinking she could get away with it, and then getting pregnant because of course there would be consequences to such an act, especially with me. She has really made a mess of everything, and is grateful that we agreed to cover up her mistake and the consequences it have and will have, and that we are letting her build a mansion and live the rest of her life here. She is happy to build a mansion and stay on the small islands in the north-east. She will avoid being a nuisance, but of course it will be a bit awkward and an uncomfortable situation for all of us, especially in the next few days when she has to seduce and the sex, and then when it becomes known that she is pregnant, until her mansion is finished enough and she moves. She has already prepared messages that will now be sent, that some of her slaves and labourers from her estate will be arriving here so that construction will go faster. She will of course pay for everything and for any help or materials we provide.
If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Haera apologises very sincerely to my wife Iselin, for all the trouble she is causing and for intruding here in our home. Haera knows that she will be the first to have my child, and that it will be a 'half-human'. One silver lining is that she will answer the question of whether I can have a child with elves and how healthy the child will be. Haera hopes this will ease Iselin's worries and uncertainty, and if there are complications from that leading to her dying in childbirth, at least she has protected Iselin from that. Haera gives Iselin a fine wooden box containing several pieces of fine gold jewellery such as a brooch, clasps, bracelets and a heavy necklace, which makes Iselin gasp. That's a lot of gold, and expensive fine craftsmanship. Haera says that the child needs a guardian and godparents as she may not live to see the child grow to adulthood. She is 36 years old so the chances are high, and apart from us she has no one who might want to truly take care of her child, and asks us to consider it, especially Iselin who is much younger.
Shit, Haera is the same age as me and worried about living another 15-20 years. I thought she was over 40, but of course she had her first children as a teenager. That is the norm here, and 14 years or younger happen.
We have a quick discussion about where she wants to build her mansion, because I'm not going to force her onto those fairly small wooded rocky islands in the north-east. Needing to make a boat journey for everything is a hassle, and might be impossible if the weather is bad. I might as well try to spend some time walking and looking around the islands more carefully over the next two days, since other projects need that too, which also means that Haera and I are officially spending time together - so she can start lusting after me. Haera tells us that she owns nine major farms and a few smaller ones that provide a high annual income and all the food she will need, because she is still the highest rank of Storman and can sit in the innermost area of the the Northmen Ting, which means more than nine times more land than those just classed as Storman. Her morning gift from Asbjörn was 'among other things' 500 ounces of gold - which makes Iselin and Alith gasp. But close to 15kg of gold is a lot even with modern Midgård standards, but her land would be worth way more. Haera also has five really good and beautiful horses in our stable, and many beautiful clothes and jewellery worth hundreds of ounces of gold. I am convinced that Haera is the richest person on the islands. Considering Kari's wealth and my own, I can't help get a certain vibe of Monaco. However, my furstdom is many times larger than Monaco.
Haera gives me the deeds with seals for the land and farms that are near Svenlum on the mainland, which is a village next to the large lake over there, and a couple of kilometers from Lysedal. It include a lot of the lake and forests. We've passed through Svenlum on our way to Laxlanda, and along with Lysedal, I now own most of the lake and forest covered mountains. Haera tells me that with the 27 mantal of land Asbjörn gave me round Lysedal, it adds up to 61 mantal, and Asbjörn will pass by on his way home and inform them about the new landowner. 61 mantal is not what I call small considering how big Karis 22 mantal on Orusingen is, and 61 is not far from the 81 required to be called a Storman. Which says a lot about how much land Haera still own. I'll have to take a trip there this spring to check it out. How much land do I own now? And forests and stuff? I still haven't visited my even larger estate Forsheim that I got from Radgeirrson, and there were more land and another estate too.
Skirlaug apologises: "Sejdmann Arnesson, I apologise for my part in the deception."
Time to reply the same thing I said to Jane, so I let my eyes wander between them as I reply: "I don't care about an apology. It is pretty meaningless to me, and it is mostly to make yourself feel better. The apology doesn't change reality. It does not change what you did. Learn and live with the consequences. We all need to do that."
I realise they don't know that Jane is now my official concubine and mistress, so I inform them about it. It still feels weird and awkward to do. Apparently it was expected, and Iselin is amused that Jane and I are still uncomfortable with showing affection in front of her or the others. I'm pleased that my wife have that reaction, but it's not that easy to let go of long held cultural stuff.
I'll have Haera, Skirlaug and Raneigh swear to keep our secrets, because they'll be living on the islands for a long time, and in Thrymheim. They will see and know more than we usually show guests, as there is no way we are going to live without electric light etc for all the months they will live here.
They swear, obviously curious about what I mean, so I just walk over and hit the light switch by the door.
----------------------------------------