Landsbyen -Into the North- An Epic Poem 39
"The one thing that eludes me is if the throne is the one in the Council Chamber there are no windows for which the sun to shine through.”
“I agree with you Joulupukki, what a clever elf was your father.
The throne room was not the Council Chamber where the throne is now.
After his father passed away, Erlenkönig turned the thrown room into
the main eating hall in the Keep. The last place he saw the throne was
where it had always been, on the dais where it had been for hundreds of years. Rian was the one who had it moved. During the battle in the Keep, the long plain windows behind the throne were destroyed, as were many others. The King had a large stained glass mural installed behind the throne.
Depicting a time when all creatures on Earth would stand together in the
light of the sun. I teased him incessantly about that window, but his only response when I asked him about it was, 'I hope you will never have to know'.” He glanced down at the tag again, only now, realizing what he had read. “Where did you get this,” he asked Joulupukki, an edge of excitement in his voice.
“It was attached to Sprinteren's collar. I thought it was an identification tagbut Rådyrvokter said no.”
“Did you read what was written here.”
“I only glanced at it.”
“It seems you may have stumbled on to even more than you've realized,” the old elf slid the coin shaped object back over to the half elf.
Joulupukki read the embossing out loud. 'Erlenkönig' was written in the upper left, 'Aisling' slightly below that to the right and on the bottom was written the name 'Klaus'.
“That my friend is a Family Wish Amulet.” He reached into his shirt and pulled out a chain with an amulet very similar to it. Joulupukki leaned over and read 'Dyndoeth' in the upper left, 'Ceridfen' just below and to the right, but nothing written below it.
“Why do you keep that silly thing, Dyndoeth?” Ceridfen asked her husband with a quiver in her voice.
“You never know,” replied Dyndoeth.
Her welling tears burst forth like a broken dam and he pulled her against him as she whispered,
“You old fool.”
Gwaldon entered the safe room.
“The only way a child's name can be added to the amulet is after the Council of Six has been consulted by the parents and an appropriate name has been issued to the child.” It passed through Joulupukki's mind how cold it all seemed. “Erlenkönig must have somehow returned to the
council in secret after you were born. It is the responsibility of the Council
to magically emboss the child's name on the amulet. What's more, is that
the residual magic can be traced back to the elves that performed the original magic.” He touched his hand to Ceridfen's neck. She looked up and smiled at him. “Did you know anything about him returning,” he asked Dyndoeth as he took the seat on the far side of the table.
“No,” was the only word he could say.
“So, your name is actually Klaus,” prodded Gwaldon?
“I, I guess?” Joulupukki returned. “I have had so many over the years. They have become near meaningless to me.” He whispered the name, “Klaus.”
“An appropriate name if ever there was one,” stated Ceridfen.
He looked at her as Lumi entered the room.
“Here you all are, I've been looking for...,” his voice trailed off as he assessed the mood in the room.
Ceridfen continued,
“It is a short version of Nikolaus, which means 'Victory
of the People'.”
They all sat quietly for a moment contemplating her words.
Lumi saw the amulet sitting on the table and he looked at Joulupukki.
“That is yours,” he questioned the man? Joulupukki nodded.
“Klaus, it is nice to meet you.” He awkwardly extended his hand.
The half elf took it,
“Please, Lumi and all of you, I am confused enough,
please, continue to call me Joulupukki until events necessitate changing it.”
“Ahhhh, but King Klaus has such a nice ring to it,” Dyndoeth teased.
Joulupukki blushed and rolled his eyes.
“This is mine,” said Lumi, freeing his amulet from his shirt. “Yours has no chain. I will make one for you,” he added.
Joulupukki carefully looked at the amulet and asked,
“Where are your parents Lumi?”
Lumi looked down at the table and smiled gently. Dyndoeth looked at him and said,
“They are no longer with us. I have such sorrow
in my heart to say that they left our world when Lumi was yet a child.
No kinder elves have I ever known.” Both Ceridfen and Gwaldon nodded
their heads in agreement making affirming sounds as Dyndoeth continued.
“They were together at the end and passed away in a natural disaster traversing the northern ice fields. His father was my brother and his mother was from the Northern Clan. They were on their way back to the Village when it happened.”
Ceridfen added,
“We insisted that Il,” she looked at him, “Lumi, come live with us.
Many of the elves you see in our house are ones that we have taken in for one reason or another. We have not been able to have children of our own, so, we make all of the children of the world ours.” Dyndoeth squeezed her tightly and Lumi leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.
Joulupukki had no words of comfort for Lumi so he gave him an understanding smile and the elf smiled back. Taking the lead again, Dyndoeth began,
“We will first test the magic on the amulet
and find out which elves on the council embossed your name there,
I will then go to Seileach and explain the situation to him and he alone.
He is a reasonable elf and will see the need to move the throne back to its original location, and as a Forest Elf he will make certain it is positioned precisely. Their attention to detail is uncanny. Then we will request a morning meeting.”
DynDoeth continued to lay out his plan to the others with their opinions being
considered which changed it as needed.
Copyright © James Inman | Year Posted 2021
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