Athena
“Now I see it,” Hans said and nodded to Tristan and Finn, who were laughing together. “They do look alike.”
He was right. Tristan was a mini version of Finn, although much more polite and polished. But unlike me, Tristan seemed fascinated whenever Finn dropped the F word.
Through my kitchen window, I watched Tristan and three of his siblings playing in the snow. It was much too cold for my taste and I had gone back inside with the excuse that I would prepare some hot cocoa and homemade cake for us all. Hans had been quick to offer his help.
“I hope he doesn’t drop them,” Hans said with a nervous smile when Finn squatted down and lifted Samuel and Charlotte up to pose for a picture that Tristan was taking. The five-year-old twins were grinning widely when Finn stood back up with each of them sitting on one of his shoulders.
“He’s very strong,” Hans muttered.
“Yes, he is,” I agreed as those unwanted butterflies took flight between my ribs again.
Tonight was our last night together. My big visions for bringing Finn enlightenment and peace had failed. He showed no interest in meditation or other types of spiritual work. And he was as closed off to sharing his secrets now as he had been when he first arrived.
Every time I thought about Finn leaving tomorrow, disappointment and sadness descended on me. I blamed it on my naïve ambition I would be able to grow his empathy in five days.
Tonight, I would lift the fake curse for the last time and he would seek out the first female who would let him sleep with her.
I would never know if he actually did find satisfaction with her, because I already knew there would be no further contact between us after tomorrow.
There it was again, that pinch in my heart.
“You can call them in now,” I told Hans. “The hot chocolate is ready.”
Two minutes later, the four children’s excited voices mixed with Finn’s laughter as they took over my small home, dropping shoes, jackets, hats, and gloves in every corner, and went to get their cake and cocoa from the kitchen table.
“But if your friend is that tall, he would have to duck his head just to go through this door,” Tristan said in the middle of a conversation with Finn.
“For sure,” Finn confirmed. “I’m telling you, I’m small compared to him.”
“But you’re so tall,” Tristan said with awe in his voice.
“I know, but Magni is much taller. I’m six foot two while he’s almost seven feet.”
“Wow, how tall is this ceiling?” Tristan asked and raised his hand up to see if he could reach it.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
Tristan and his younger sister Reva started looking for a measurement app on their wristbands and were soon measuring the height to my ceiling.
“It’s two meters and thirty-five centimeters,” Reva said and looked down again. “That’s seven point two feet.”
“And how tall was Magni again?” Tristan asked.
“Almost seven feet tall.”
“That’s two meters and fourteen centimeters,” Reva said and widened her eyes. “That’s crazy.”
“Not at all, we’ve many men taller than that in the Northlands.”
“But why are you Northmen so tall while we’re normal height?” Reva asked with curiosity.
“Meat!” Finn said. “It’s because we eat a lot of meat. And we have good genetics too. All our boys are fathered by Nmen and each generation seem to grow taller and stronger.”
“We’ve got a few tall boys at our school too,” Tristan said. “I’m one of them. We even have a girl who’s almost my height.”
Reva spoke up. “I know, and it’s strange because I heard a teacher say she’d never seen so many tall kids in the school as these past few years.”
Tristan looked at me. “You’ve been to the Northlands, Athena, did you meet Finn’s friend, Magni?”
“I did,” I confirmed. “He was the one who kidnapped me.”
Tristan and his siblings grew silent.
“How did he kidnap you?” Reva, who was eleven, asked.
I gave her a sad smile. “It’s a scary story, are you sure you want to hear it?”
All the children nodded and because there were no more seats left, Finn sat down on the floor leaning his back against the wall, sipping on his hot chocolate with a content smile on his face.
“Well, I should start by saying that it didn’t happen here. We’re too far from the border for any Nman to ever come here and kidnap you,” I said and looked straight at Charlotte. “So you shouldn’t worry, sweetie,” I said and continued. “Every year in May, there’s a gathering for the priestesses here in the green area. It’s a chance for us to learn from each other, and to celebrate the progress each priestess has made. It is also at these yearly gatherings that we are rewarded with the honor of another tattooed symbol on our forehead, to signal our level of wisdom within certain theological areas.”
Samuel spoke up with impatience. “But how did you get kidnapped?”
“This year, the gathering was up north, about two hours from here, and I was on my way to meet some of the others for dinner. That’s when out of nowhere I was attacked by a giant.”
“A real giant?” Charlotte said and moved closer to Tristan, who placed an arm around the five-year-old.
“When I say giant, Charlotte, I simply mean a really large man.”
The little girl nodded with a serious expression.
“I was terrified of him, and tried to get away, but he was so big and strong that he lifted me without any trouble and just carried me with him.”
“Where to?” Tristan asked with eagerness. “Did you get to see the Northlands?”
“Some of it, but it was night when we arrived and I couldn’t see much in the darkness. Also, I think I must’ve fainted, because parts of the journey I don’t remember at all.” I took a sip of my cocoa and nodded to Finn. “It turned out that Magni, the man who had kidnapped me, was the brother of Khan Aurelius.”
“Who is he?” Samuel asked.
“Khan is the ruler of the Northlands and it was he who asked Finn to look after me.”
Finn lifted his cup. “You’re welcome, honey,” he said with a smile. “And what a good time we had together.”
The children looked from me to him and back again. “Was it fun being a hostage?” Reva, who I knew to be a very quiet child, asked.
“Hey, Reva sweetie, let me ask you this,” Finn said. “Did you have fun playing in the snow?”
The girl nodded. “Lots of fun.”
“Did Athena look like she was having fun?”
“Not so much, but I think she was just cold.”
“But probably not colder than the rest of us. So, would Athena be the right person to ask if playing in the snow is fun?” Finn asked Reva.
“No, I guess not.”
“Which proves that Athena doesn’t know how to have fun. She’s much too serious for that, but you know what?”
“What?” Samuel asked.
“I bet if one of you had been my hostage in the Northlands, we would’ve had a ton of fun together.”
Tristan and Samuel nodded before they munched on their cake.
“Being a hostage is not fun!” No one dared challenge me on that except Finn, who mimed a large yawn to the children, and pointed to me, mouthing the word “boring.”
None of them had ever seen such rude behavior from an adult. It was obvious that they were fascinated that he broke all the rules of proper communication.
“But why did the giant kidnap you?” Charlotte asked.
“He was looking for his wife,” I explained.
“Did he think you were her? Do you look alike?”
I nodded to Finn. “You’ll have to answer that, since I have never met her.”
“Well, you both have red hair, although Laura’s has a more orange tone to it. But I don’t see how he could confuse you two, since she’s much taller than you.”
“Then why did he take Athena?” Reva asked.
“He didn’t mean to hurt Athena,” Finn said. “He just wanted back his wife, who had gone missing in the Motherlands.”
“How can someone go missing?” Tristan asked with a frown. “Doesn’t she have a wristband? All she has to do is use the GPS function to find her way.”
I cleared my throat. “When Finn said missing, what he really meant was that Laura ran off to the Motherlands.”
“Oh…” The children nodded in understanding.
Finn stretched his feet in front of him. “You have to understand that Laura got confused when she spoke to a woman called Christina. Somehow the woman convinced her that the Motherlands was a better place to live.”
“It’s not, is it?” Tristan asked.
“Not by a long mile,” Finn said and laughed. “I’m sure Laura has realized that by now. The problem between her and Magni is that she left him without saying goodbye. As you can imagine he’s kind of pissed about it.”
“Is that why he took you?” Charlotte asked. “Because he lost his wife and he needed a new one?”
“He didn’t want a new wife,” I assured her. “But he had this silly idea that if he took me, our Council would give him back his wife in exchange.”
“And did they?”
“No, she’s still here somewhere.”
“Do you know where she is?” Tristan asked me.
I had heard rumors, but I wasn’t willing to discuss them with the children or Finn, so I simply shook my head.
“Are you still scared of the big man?” Charlotte asked with sympathy in her voice.
“No, and neither should you be,” I said with a small smile. “Only the nice Nmen can come into the Motherlands, so you have nothing to worry about.”
“I wish we could call Magni up. I want to see what he looks like,” Tristan said and gave Finn a hopeful smile.
“He’s probably fighting some rebels on the East Coast, but I’m happy to try calling him,” Finn replied.
“Really?” Tristan exclaimed with excitement.
Finn angled his head and looked at me. “It’s up to Athena, it’s her house and her rules.”
With the children looking at me, I drew on my ambition to be forgiving to my adversary, and said, “It’s fine with me.”
Finn lifted his wrist. “All right, let’s see if Magni can spare a minute to chat with us.”
It only took two rings for Magni to answer. “Finn, my friend, did you get out of the claws of the witch?”
“Nah, not yet, I’m still in her kitchen and guess what she’s up to now?”
“What?”
“She lured the local children to her house, and she’s fattening them up with hot chocolate and cake. The poor schmucks have no idea that they’re in danger of ending up in one of her delicious pot pies.”
Charlotte’s head swung to me.
Shaking my head with resignation, I muttered to her, “You’re not in danger.”
“Hang on, Magni, I’m just going to pull you up on a hologram, and connect the group chat so you can see everyone,” Finn instructed.
The large man appeared in the air and turned his head to look around.
“Oh, hey, Athena,” he said and raised a hand to wave at me. It hit me how different he looked. He was still intimidating, and it didn’t help that he was wearing a tank top of sorts that did nothing to hide his bulging muscles or the tattoo on his neck. He didn’t frown, and that made his face look very different from the angry time bomb of a man whom I remembered.
“Magni, I want you to meet Hans and the children from one of the local family units.”
“Hey there,” Magni said and raised his hand again.
Reva, Samuel, and Tristan greeted him politely, but Charlotte was hiding her head behind Tristan’s shoulder.
“Remember, I told you about a boy who looked just like me as a teen?” Finn said and continued. “Tristan, stand up and let Magni see you, will you?”
Tristan signaled for me to take Charlotte and I picked her up in my arms, whispering that she was safe.
“Shit, the boy really does look like you, Finn. He even has your ugly ears,” Magni exclaimed.
Raised to be polite, Tristan let the insult slide and spoke up. “Hi, Magni. Finn has told me a lot of amazing things about you.” Tristan’s teenage voice broke a little.
“Oh yeah?” Magni lifted his chin. “You shouldn’t believe a word he says, unless he told you that I’m the biggest badass, because that part is true.”
Finn laughed. “I told him that you have sticks for arms, and that I taught you everything you know about fighting.”
“Sticks for arms, huh?” Magni flexed his large biceps and the children gaped. “Damn, you do look like Finn. Don’t tell me that your jaw does that creepy cracking sound when you yawn too?” Magni said to Tristan.
“It does,” Reva piped up and it made Tristan and Finn look at each other with renewed curiosity.
“Is it true that you are the best fighter in the world?” Samuel was brave enough to ask Magni from his chair.
“Could be.” Magni shrugged. “But with all you Momsies being damn pacifists there’s not a lot of competition, is there?”
“I’ve been training in martial arts since I was seven,” Tristan said, his eyes shining with excitement. “I wish I could learn from someone like you.”
“You’ve got Finn,” Magni said. “Didn’t you believe him when he said that he taught me everything I know?”
“He didn’t really say that,” Tristan pointed out. “He said you were tall as a grown man when you were twelve, and that even adults were afraid of you.”
“Finn has a bad memory. I was a sweet kid with cute dimples like yourself.”
Finn grinned and raised an eyebrow. “If you were, no one ever saw those dimples. ’Cause you were always scowling, my friend.”
“Hey, Tristan,” Magni said. “We have a school up here for Motlander kids and you should come. I train the children whenever I can and you would learn more types of fighting than just martial arts.”
“I would love that, but my mom wouldn’t let me.”
“Your mom? How old are you?” Magni asked.
“I just turned fifteen,” Tristan said and stood a bit straighter.
“Aren’t you a little old to be controlled by a woman then? A real man doesn’t ask for a female’s permission to do anything.”
“Maybe we should say goodbye to Magni now,” I interjected, with a reprimanding glance at Finn.
“See, Tristan.” Magni pointed in my direction. “There’s another example for you. Women are fucking controlling, but we Nmen are the last free men and we don’t allow females to boss us around.”
“Okay, well, maybe I could talk to my mom about it,” Tristan said.
“The trick is to not ask. Just inform her that you’ve been invited by the best fucking warrior in the world to come train with him, and that you’re going.”
This time, I stepped forward. “Magni, you will stop manipulating the boy at once. And you’ll mind your language when you’re in my house and in front of impressionable children.”
Magni pinned me with his eyes and crossed his arms. “Or what? Are you going to cast a curse on me too?”
“She’s going to send you outside,” Finn tone was dry as sand. “Every time I use the F word, Athena kicks me out of her house.”
Magni shook his head. “I swear, five days in the Motherlands and you’ve already grown soft. You’d better hurry back here, or you’ll start saying please, and shit like that.”
“Have a nice day, Magni. I’m afraid we have to say goodbye now,” I said and wished I hadn’t allowed the children to meet him. Their parents would be horrified when they learned about the improper communication that had been used between Finn and Magni. Insults and cuss words were unacceptable in an enlightened society like ours.
“I hope to see you soon, Tristan,” Magni said, “and just for kicks we’ll do a paternity test on you when you get here, because I seriously think they messed up on the fertility clinic and used Finn’s sperm to create you.”
The way Tristan’s face lit up made my skin tingle with a foreboding that this conversation would be life-altering for the boy. He had been fascinated with the Northlands even before Finn showed up at his school, and now he wanted to be an Nman himself.