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Iselin and Kari is incredibly pleased when they finds me and drags me away to show me something. The drapes, curtains and tapestries that they have ordered long ago have been woven, and they will now decorate some walls of the mansion both in public places, and in the rooms. The curtains for the space under the stairs matches the mountain scenery on the mezzanines stained glass, and is a cave opening covered in hanging greenery and flowers. Fitting in more ways than one, and they're quite proud of it. The mezzanine stairs and further up to the balcony also have a color matching carpet, with brass metal bars that attach and hold the carpet down. Another interior design suggestion from Jane, and I have to admit that it looks good, but it will be much more work to keep clean than just hard lacquered wood. I don't think 'easy to clean' or 'low maintenance' is ever a consideration for Jane. The curtains in front of the attic door also match the theme and is a beautiful mountain landscape, with a sort of cliff gap going up, so you sort of walk up through the cliff gap to the attic. Apparently, Jane have talked about doing a large mural to look like a view over Hardangervidda to match the look on the wall you face when going up the attic stairs.

Caecilia and Jane have heard our voices and joins us, looking pleased as punch. Iselin, Kari, Jane and Caecilia is planning where to hang the many paintings and drawn works of art that Jane secretly prepared together with mainly Iselin and Kari. They are so terribly smug about how good it is and that it has been kept secret, and I can only appreciate and be thankful for all the work Jane has done. Jane have absolutely lied about her problems with colours, and they are really good paintings. She has been working hard for the last two months. Even what she calls 'a nature painting done in half a day' are beautiful.

"Jane. Sincerely; Thank you. These are beautiful."

"Thank you. And sincerely thank you too. You've already paid for these, several times over. Just my life here, my wonderful room and all the costs and expenses I've meant, and my probable future as a famous painter, makes these feel like 'not enough'."

"We're absolutely even, and with your friendship and other creations, you're ahead. If the Gods here do exist, they did a good job bringing you here too."

Jane smiles and seems happy, but loose her smile and seems slightly sad, before she realise and puts on a smile again. Strange. However, if the Gods here do exist, I would still appreciate a chemist with geology and metallurgical knowledge. Preferably that can produce some type of synthetic rubber or bioplastic. Nudge nudge wink wink.

There is a great painting from the first voyage. The evening sunlight coming in from the side and from the stern and illuminates the women where they sit up in the raised bow of the ship with their backs against the railing. Iselin sits relaxed with one knee raised and her other leg underneath. Alith sits relaxed with one knee slightly raised and her hands resting on it. Ciara more prim with both legs raised and to the side underneath her. Bodil sits with both knees raised in front of her with her shield resting on the side facing me. I remember wanting to get a picture of it painted, and Jane has done it so very well.

Jane has painted other pictures too, some which I have to be careful about where to hang them. Saturn with the rings and the little blue dot that is Earth is one, although almost no one will guess what it is, or the meaning. I like the astronaut in orbit and the Curiosity selfie on Mars, and they too is unlikely to be really understood. The same with a nice painting of a Nebula. I did give her read access to many directories on the tablet, and she seems to have looked around when she was bored. But I am happy, and Jane is really pleased with my response. Iselin is curious as hell about the paintings, while Kari seems to be in a state of 'weird human thing, I might not really want to know about'. Jane shows me paintings she has painted for herself, and I get to see her parents, as well as a picture of New York she isn't finished with. She likes New York, but above all she paints it because it feels so 'modern Midgård' compared to London. I also see the painting she made for her room of a decorated and lit Christmas tree with presents underneath.

When we move around and hang up the paintings, Jane points out that one of the paintings has a slightly unexpected pattern of blue spots and that it is my fault due to the steam whistle. It's fun when we reach my bedroom, and she sees that I 'borrowed' one of her painting frames from the basement and framed the blue body print and hung it in the sleeping area of my bedroom. My comment of 'It's a faptastic masterpiece from your blue period.' gives Jane a crooked smile that for some reason is again a bit sad. I thought my setup was good, and I expected at least an eye roll and maybe a 'Piss off', 'Twat' or 'Tosser'. I don't quite understand Jane. Or really any of the others.

I move her 'blue creation' up to the bedroom attic as I mostly wanted to see her reaction, and what is hung in my bedroom, in addition to my family, are portraits of all my sambos. I like that they are not really boring portrait paintings but rather captured occasions in a good way, and the paintings capture them as a person. Jane has absolutely listened when we talk about photos and understand my preferences, and she has a knack for it. The painting of Iselin, for example, is only of her face framed by her wild fiery red hair which is also slightly in front of her face like blown by the wind, and her intense green eyes looks playfully at me. Suitable, and very Iselin. I'm going to marry this wonderful gorgeous woman. Kari's painting is when she stands majestically and poses like the frankly noble lady she is, but there is a small playful smile at the corner of her mouth. I'm going to ask this woman too to be my wife in a month or so. Ciara's painting is almost model quality and somewhere in between the two with just the neutral face she often has. She is just beautiful with her hair draped and hanging down her left side, seeming to say 'this is me.' I love how Jane managed to catch Ciara's eyes and freckles, and a slight glint from her concubine necklace, and I give Jane more praise she truly deserves.

I really like that Jane made good paintings of my family, mom, dad, little sister, big sister and her family. My eyes tear up when thoughts and emotions well up that they can't be here when I marry, and that they don't know what happened to me, and I don't know what happened to them. I who never intended to get married will do it, and probably twice, but they will never find out and assume I'm dead. My big sister who has been poking me because she has wanted a sister-in-law for a long time will soon get one, and then probably another one in three months. What a shock they would have received if it had been possible to take a photo and email it to Midgård in six months or a few years.

Caecilia seizes the opportunity and says that everyone who does not want to participate or who is going to become a wife tomorrow should leave the bedroom, and she tackles me on to the bed where, unexpectedly, Kari immediately joins us. Oh well, game on. I go down on Caecilia and use my hand on and under Kari's dress when after a minute I hear the door open, and behind me see that Ciara has come in and without pausing just pulls her dress over her head and happily crawls into bed with us. I also see Jane discreetly standing behind the curtain watching, but with an unexpectedly sad look and biting her lower lip, before she see me looking and rushes out and we hear the door close behind her.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Huh.

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The evening meal is planned for late afternoon just a little after the sun has set, and will be quite interesting as there are so many of us for the space, as according to tradition it is best if we don't use the feast hall until after tomorrows wedding ceremony, so I have introduced the concept of a buffet where take your food and sit where you want. With an extended table, my special chair removed, a few extra chairs and the sofa group with its table, there will be enough space for the guests in the meeting room. As the host and the man of the house, I take first to show how it's done, and then I sit down at the sofa to show there is no structure, and that start the beginning of a nice evening, without the usual rigid division or class, but funnily enough those with the most power sit on the sofa and the rest at the table or surrounding chairs. We've had pleasant conversations and a generally good atmosphere, and I like that the barometer shows good weather. For those who have not eaten moose meat before, that is appreciated.

Considering how exclusive moose meat is, it's funny that the kitchen has already made pemmican of about 30kg. Salted, dried and run through the grinder so the meat is small pieces, and combined with rendered fat in a 50-50 percent mixture. We've tried making a couple of smaller batches with additions of some blueberries or cranberries to see how that will be, and if it helps the taste. I don't expect pemmican to taste good. One problem with pemmican is that it is only protein and fat, and lacks important vitamins. The berries won't help, as if it is boiled or fried before eating, the vitamins will probably be destroyed, so the berries probably do nothing for that. If the pemmican is eaten over a longer period of time, it should probably be combined with jam from lingonberry or hjortron - also known as nordic berry or cloudberry - so at least vitamin C deficiency doesn't become a big problem, and the jam will probably help it taste better. I also plan to combine with crisp bread, or a really dense crisp bread more like hardtack. Pemmican is something that needs to be tested for future longer sailing expeditions, or for military use, because pemmican can last a long time without being frozen and is compact energy, and 15 kg of finished pemmican have been preserved in sealed clay jars. In three months we will open the first. After that once a quarter until a year has passed. Then one every six months. In four years, the last one will be opened. If it hasn't gotten bad before then. We've tried to sterilize half the jars after sealing by having them in high temperature. No matter how that experiment goes, it will be very valuable knowledge.

I'm surprised when Iselin taps her glass with a fork and stand up to speak, and I'm not alone given the confused looks. That is not the norm here. Iselin begins to speak;

"This marriage between me and Robert is very unusual. Not only because it takes place between two people who have lived together for half a year, and that it happens at Midwinter, but also that it is a Sejdmann who is getting married. Most of the coming week will happen according to traditions from here, but are adapted due to the constraints of family and different traditions. Robert has been sparse with information about how marriage works where he comes from, but thankfully Jane has told a lot more and given examples."

Iselin gestures to Jane, who has a very neutral face. I honestly expected her to smugly smile, but she avoids my look by studying the celling. Bad feeling. Iselin have moved, as she stands behind me with her hands on my shoulders.

"This tapping on a glass or mug for attention and then standing up to give a speech during festivities comes from Robert. Usually it's embarrassing anecdotes about how the speaker got to know one of the people getting married, ending on a pleasant note about how good the union is, and with a toast to the married couple. There are several other small traditions that will be presented bit by bit. One thing Roberts culture doesn't do as a tradition, and which doesn't work here anyway, is to retrieve a buried sword, because there graves are sacred and protected, and most bodies are burned and the ashes scattered. But there is a very important tradition for the man about to be married, which cannot really be carried out here as is, but we have made a modification. It is called 'Stag night' or 'Stag weekend', and is a feasting trip that can last several days where the man to be married is 'kidnapped' by their male relatives and friends to feast and celebrate their independence, always involving mead, women and sex, in which the man is obliged to participate and it can often be embarrassing for the man who arrives exhausted and hungover at his wedding the next day."

From the looks, the laughter and the exclamations that the men and many of the women make, they think it is a good tradition, and it does fits here, but I can feel my rising embarrassment. However, Iselin is not finished, and place a large glass that Liv brings her, in front of me, which makes me worried.

"Robert has very suspiciously not mentioned any of this - nothing at all - but we know he's a bit shy and uncomfortable with such things, which actually suits the tradition better. So we, Robert's women, have taken matters into our own hands and decided that from now, until tomorrow morning when the married men present fetch Robert to take him to the sauna, bath and preparations - Robert is nobody's master or Lord. Robert is now 'The Stag' and he is open prey to all free women, as long as they are willing to share his time and attention with other women, and Robert knows that by tradition he must prove his manliness and that it is frowned upon to say 'no.' Except for me, who will first share his bed tomorrow night as his wife, Robert's women has already started the tradition earlier today without Robert's knowledge - so it's up to other women for the rest of the evening, night and morning. Caecilia and Liv have offered to make sure Robert is fit enough for the wedding tomorrow, and so that he can last all night. So Robert, you'd better finish your glass with a small careful dose of 'spice' - because you might need it."

I've already closed my eyes a while back, and take deep breaths until Iselin finished, to our guests enjoyment. Well played Jane. Well played. I'm so embarrassed! I could easily say 'no' and just go 'screw the consequences' - no pun intended - or just make a joke about how Jane exaggerating for the sake of messing with me, which she have. But this is a different world and culture, and they see nothing wrong with this, and frankly there is nothing wrong with it either except for the way it was done. Just lots of sex between voluntary adults, and I should try to see it positively instead. I highly doubt I can satisfy 5 or 6 women during an evening and night, so I'll probably need the 'spice'. I can guess who those women will be, as I saw Myrun, Liv and Unn's faces. Accept reality, although I know I wouldn't accept reality if this meant that the men here could have sex with Iselin. I'm such a hypocrite. I turn to Iselin and pull her down so I can whisper in her ear:

"Iselin. Do you really really want this to happen?"

Iselin is serious, but smiles and seems to enjoy herself as she whispers back; "Robert, you're going to try to enjoy yourself as much as you can, and I want everyone to know just how good and manly you are."

I will be so damn tired tomorrow, so I empty the glass to cheers and shouts, and Caecilia and Liv quickly half drags me out of the room and up to my bedroom.