Northern Lights And Gods

Other reading:

Caesar's aunt, Julia, was Marius' widow!;

Gulag recalls 1984 (disappearances) and Bond (SMERSH).

After its opening paragraph, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003) introduces the people in the hall and the relationships between them:

the lord of the hall, Ozur;
his wife, Kraka;
their son, Eyvind;
their daughter, Gunnhild;
Ozur's Finnish concubine, Seija;
his loyal man, Yngvar.

I deduce these relationships from what is said about the characters in the opening dialogue. If I have misread any of it, the truth will emerge.

The second page gives us another evocative two-word sentence, "Wind yelled." (p. 4) - and a dramatic, colorful account of the northern lights:

"The sky was a storm of northlights. They shuddered and billowed, huge frost-cold banners and sails, whiteness streaked with ice blue, flame red, cat's-eye green." (ibid.)

Movement, size, coldness, white, blue, red and green. Three witnesses give different explanations -

Seija: ghosts dance;
Gunnhild: the watchfires of the gods;
Yngvar: troll-fires.

Seija raises her arm, writhes her fingers and wails. Yngvar makes the sign of the Hammer. He also says that a falling star is where "'...Odin cast his spear.'" (p. 5) This is the Pagan experience of nature.

On p. 5, the season changes again, reminding us of similar passages in The King Of Ys and Time Patrol:

"Spring had come, sunshine that melted snow till streams brawled down mountainsides, hasty rains, skies full of homebound wanderbirds, suddenly greenness everywhere, blossoms, sweet breezes, the promise of long days, light nights, and midsummer, when for a while there would be no night at all. In clear weather the fjord glittered as if Ran's daughters had strewn silver dust." (p. 5)

We remember the Star of the Sea.