Windhelm

Everything was confusing for Roy. He could feel sweat continue to drip down his brow. He'd considered himself pretty lucky to only have minor scratches and cuts on him from the fight. He'd been asked to surrender or fight, and Roy's instinct was to kick and yell, which must have interpreted as fight. From there he'd been quite literally thrown into a pit where dozens of massive human beings watched him get jostled by monsters. Roy had managed to pull of whatever it was they considered victory, but only because he had fire and ice, and he'd used all his fighting energy on that.

He'd been dragged up to an utterly massive man, where his hand was shaken, or rather, crushed, and he was led out by a girl who stood near him, to be "checked for death" and shown around. Upon leaving that area, following the girl, the outside was actually a beautiful sight. The cold air nipped at Roy, or it would have, if extreme cold mattered to him, but he could still sense it there. Which made him question how all these people managed to wander around with leather, iron, and animals pelts draping only most of their bodies.

"What was that?" Roy asked the girl, who's already been walking in front of him. She walked with authority and bluntness, but at least she was normal sized. Roy took care to talk to her with respect. "Where I am I?" He suspected that despite the small rips in his clothes, there wasn't going to be any replacement for him here that wasn't leather or fur.

It wasn't always typical that they had new comers come into their community. Well Runa would say that it wasn't the most common thing, but it also wasn't uncommon. They had a system for new comers that came near them, they weren't mean or thirsty to spill blood of people who wandered their way, but they still had a system. Today everyone was excited because they were going to see someone fight in the pits again. It had been a couple weeks since the last fight and everyone was craving for a show to see.

A lot of times you had people surprise you in the pits when they looked like they would be weak. The boy that was in the pits today didn't look like he would amount to much in the pits, but she wasn't going to let that change her opinion now.

By the end of the fight she had mixed emotions, but regardless he had came out on top and remained victorious. After shaking hands with her father she started to lead him somewhere else. When she heard her question she turned around to look back at him. "A fighting pit... Was that not clear?" She asked and had a genuine confused look on her face.

She turned around and continued walking away from the pits. "This is Toft Kift. Just a small village, but our numbers grow more and more each week surprisingly enough." Runa said keeping things rather short and sweet until they got to where she needed to be. "Sit." She pointed to the rock that was near the edge of the water. They didn't have a huge building dedicated to fixing people up, you either healed or you died for the most part.

The blonde grabbed the bucket and handmade cloth that was in it as she came over to sit on the rock facing him. "Your powers are interesting." She commented.

"I know it's a fighting pit, but why was I brought to a fighting pit?" Roy didn't sound annoyed. He was fairly sure this girl could kick his ass. Without any allies around, Roy was pretty worried about the future. At least, any allies he could trust. he'd recognized one face, but he didn't even want to ask what that was about.

"Thanks, my mom gave them to me. I mean, my mom and my dad." He answered. He was pretty sure most people here depended on their skills to fight. Which to be fair, was similar in New Rome. Roy just hadn't ever mastered combat. He was decent with small arms, but hand-to-hand, shields, and large arms Roy could hardly match the average rookie fighter. Roy felt outmatched; all the fighters here looked so strong. With no allies, Roy would need to depend on fire, which he was already feeling weak from.


"Where's all your modern comforts?" Roy questioned. "Toiletries? You know, cotton clothes?" Roy asked. He glanced up at the girl. "I mean. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be rude, I never even asked your name."

"We have a way in which things are run here." Runa said simply as to why he had been brought to the fighting pit. She felt like she could have left it there, but she knew these were the typical questions most people asked when they first came here and never heard of their village before. "If people happen to come upon us they have two choices. You can either surrender or you can choose to fight. If you choose to fight and you win then you're welcomed to our small community."

As she finished speaking she began to dip the handmade cloth into the bucket that had been filled with water just off of the fire. After ringing out the cloth she began to use it to clean around the areas of skin that had any scratches or marks. It wasn't a lot, but cleaning the wounds meant less chance for infections. "Your mom and dad, huh? When did you first learn you had them?" She asked him, it wasn't very often you saw people with powers, so she was interested in the process.

"You're not being rude." Runa stated simply as she moved to ring the cloth out and rinse it in the cool water before returning it to the hot water. "Runa Steinsson. That guy's hand you shook, that was my father and the leader of this place. His name is Cyrus." She explained to him. "We make everything ourselves here, whatever we find for resources is what we have to use. We do not take from other communities."

"What if you lose?" Roy was hesitant to ask the question. He'd been quite literally a hair away from taking a hit that would have put him out of commission. Feeling Runa touch his skin with the cloth put him on edge. He didn't take her as an in particular gentle soul, and he thought she could change demeanor at any moment.

"I don't really know." Roy told her. "I was too young to remember it. My mom had to bring in people to help, because I set the house on fire twice." Roy admitted, it wasn't his brighter moments, but he was just a toddler, he didn't know any better. It was something that Marina and Cassia still used to tease him to this day.


"Your dad is a giant." Roy mumbled. He was salty at the handshake still, which had nearly crushed Roy's bones. That handshake probably hurt more than any of the hits from the monsters. "You don't trade with other communities. Do other communities like this exist?" Roy asked.

"If you lose we would have tried to retrieve you before you died. It has happened a few times, but if we do get you out in time, we just basically kick you out." Runa concluded as she began working on some of the other wounds on him. She had seen much worse, but she had seen people come out unscathed.

When he mentioned how he had caught the house on fire a few times she raised an eyebrow looking at him quizzically before it lowered again and she started to ring out the cloth. As she dunk it in she made a comment, "Well, I hope they're under control now, wouldn't want you to set our homes on fire. They aren't fun to build." As her head came back up she gave him a small smile to indicate she was joking around a little.

"Yeah he's fairly large. That's what the rumour is among the women here." Runa said as her small smile slipped into a grin. It was fairly normal to be rather crass and have such a crude sense of humour, she never really thought too much of it until they had a few outsiders. "Hmm, not any that are confirmed to my knowledge, but I would bet my life on it that they exist out there."

Roy wasn't sure how to reply to Runa's comment. "That's... humor I'm not used to." Roy wondered what it would be like to make a joke like that about his mom, and he quickly dismissed the thought. It wasn't pleasant. "They're under control." Roy confirmed. "I couldn't spark another flame right now if my life depended on it." Roy said, and he seriously hoped saying that didn't trigger some sort of test.

"Don't you get cold?" Roy asked. He hadn't taken the time to properly give Runa a look up and down. He'd been busy sizing up the bulk of the view, but he finally had time to look at the girl herself. She had furs and leather draped on her, but she was far from conservative. He wondered if Cora would try to cover his eyes. Even at the age of sixteen. 

Roy sighed. Runa wasn't the worst person to be around, but he didn't exactly feel at home. "Do you have sisters? Or even brothers?" Roy asked. "I don't even remember how I got here. But I have a mom and two sisters who are probably worried. I don't even know where they are." Roy hated the situation.

When he mentioned the joke wasn't something he had been super familiar with she shrugged her shoulders. You won some and you lost some. Obviously Runa could never please everybody, so she simply lived life to please herself and make sure she was taken care of. As the youngest in her family she didn't particularly care about having to be the heir or the perfect daughter. "I'm sure some food, water and sleep could help with that." Runa mentioned in reference to being able to create a spark. She wasn't sure exactly how powers worked, but she assumed they were similar to here.

"You get used to it." Runa said as she began to finish up with cleaning his wounds before she put the cloth back in the bucket and set the bucket aside. "I was born here, so the climate feels normal to me. We do get colder than this, but then we just put on some furs to keep us warm."

"I have one of each. Both are older than me, so I got stuck being the youngest, but I guess it has its perks. I'm sure they'll come try to find you. I hope you get reunited with them again one day soon." Runa said and it wasn't common for her to share some sort of sentiment with people, but family was something that was priceless.

Roy had lived in California his entire life, and the bitter cold was a brutal reminder of that fact. The dim nature of the situation had Roy thinking about how little time he'd even spent outside of New Rome. His family was prestigious and hard-working. Roy kept all sorts of behaviors at bay and worked to keep a bond with certain people to keep his mom pleased. He was beginning to wonder why the family hadn't ever gone on vacation, and worse, if they would ever have that chance again. He'd heard what Runa said, but didn't acknowledge it immediately.

"I'm the youngest too." Roy finally answered. He felt guilty for all the petty negative feelings he might have harbored back in New Rome, now that tomorrow was no longer guaranteed. One thing was for certain though, that Runa was right, people were out here looking for him. His foggy memory had reminded him that Katrina was with him too at some point. "I just hope they don't get hurt trying to find me." Roy said.

"You said if I won that I was welcomed her. Does that mean I can just go wherever I want here? No restrictions? Just like your average town-" Roy cut himself off. Runa probably didn't know what an average town was. "What I mean is, can I see this place? Am I a resident?" Roy asked.

Runa was curious about Roy and where he had come from. It wasn't everyday that they did get new people and it wasn't everyday that they came from somewhere that seemed so well established. Based on his clothes alone and the way he talked about the weather gave her the indication that he had a lot more advanced things that she couldn't even possibly imagine.

"Lets hope they don't. The waters around here can be fairly dangerous if you cross at the wrong time over the wrong section. The ocean can be tricky, but there's a few of us who are good with ships here." Runa said with a slight shrug of her shoulders as she began to stand up again. She stretched out her limbs a little and figured that eventually he would also stand up.

"I would offer to show you around the village, but given your obvious fatigue I will show you to where you will be staying so you can get some rest and return to full strength, then tomorrow or tonight I could show you around." Runa offered to the boy in front of her. It was typical that Runa or her sister would be the person dealing with the new comers and helping them get acquainted. "As for your question, you're free to come and go when you please. You're apart of this now."

Roy wasn't a fan of hearing about the dangers of the sea by this place, but it didn't come as a shock to him based on the behavior of the water by his feet. He coupled that with the lack of sea know-how that Rome carried, and Roy was beginning to feel his odds lessen. "It's brave." He suddenly said. "Letting people in like that. Aren't your people afraid that the wrong person might walk in one of these days?" Roy asked.

He stood up when Runa said she'd show him where he was staying. Part of Roy wanted to see this place now, for several reasons. On one hand it made everything more practical. Knowing where everything was could get him out of a jam if they turned out to be bad people or something went wrong. But he also knew that Runa was right, and if he tried to overshoot this, he could end up in trouble. That, and the last thing he wanted was a pat on the back from Cyrus for walking the pain off. Roy suspected a pat on the back from him would send him flying off the side of the scaffolds.

"That sounds... probably the best. The last thing I want is to pass out and get mouth to mouth from your dad." Roy commented. He acknowledged that this place was a gem compared to most places he could have ended up. He awaited for Runa to lead the way, wherever that was.

Runa nodded when he made the statement about what they did being brave. She started to walk back towards the bridge that they had previously walked over. "It is. But we're a force to be reckoned with. Sure you could beat one person in the pit, but can you take all of us? We've all gone in the pit before ourselves so we are also skilled enough to be here. Besides, you felt my dad's handshake, you have to be even braver to want to fight against him."

The blonde was used to answering questions that the newcomers often had, they were usually the same ones as everyone else and even though she would prefer not to tell every person everything that they asked, it was protocol and she would be hurting herself in the end if she didn't follow it. The last thing Runa ever wanted to do was to go against her father and the way he wanted to run the place.

She laughed when he made the mouth to mouth comment and shook her head. "You can just pretend it's me." Runa said jokingly back, she assumed any guy would rather have her give to mouth to mouth than her dad doing it. "So, what's the place like where you came from?" Runa asked curious to know more about where Roy came from and what he was used to. The pit was in sight again, but they didn't go that direction, instead they began their climb on the wooden steps. "It can get tiresome at first with all these steps, but you get used to them."

"Something tells me that your lack of lip hair compared to your dad's abundance would most likely ruin any incriminatory vision I try to inflict." Roy returned her joke. The thought of it in general made Roy shudder; Cyrus was an absolutely massive man. And not in the teddy bear way, but in the way that he quick literally looked like he could lift up a tractor trailer and army carry it through a marathon.

"The place I came from was big. It was full of wonders, and people, and skills, and talents. Shops, and trades, and shows. We had walls. People didn't have to be afraid. Most of us grew up thinking the world was mostly safe." Roy felt some strong nostalgia and homesickness brewing within him as he described New Rome. It was ironic. He'd felt like he was in a cage for so long, and now he felt like he missed it more than anything.

Roy continued to follow Runa, which translated to floors of staircases throughout the walk. Roy wasn't in particular worried about if monsters would find them. It seemed like they knew how to tend to this place. With that being said, he knew he'd have to watch his powers. One bad hit of fire without urgent care could be devastating.

"That's a fair point, I'm sure someone else would have done mouth to mouth first." Runa said with a small shrug of shoulders. Unfortunately for Roy they at least had another set of stairs they would need to go up before they even got up to the level where he would be staying. She felt bad for people who were exhausted and had to climb up so many stairs, but it also helped to determine the strength that someone would have.

She continued to walk up the stairs as he began to tell her about the place where he was from, it sounded so extravagant and so much different from Toft Kift. "What do they call this place of where you're from?" She asked him curious to know more about it, his answer seemed a little vague, but she figured she wouldn't push too much on it and if he had gone into detail there wouldn't be enough time left in the world.

They had finally gotten up their first flight of stairs when they made it to the next area of different huts everywhere and various others walking around. She walked diagonally to the next flight of stairs, "Do you need a minute or two? I'm sure you're probably exhausted, this should be the last flight of stairs though."

Roy wasn't even sure if he was allowed to tell outsiders about New Rome. Before the Greeks, everyone had thought they were the only ones out there like them. There was no rules about it, but that you shouldn't try to drag mortals into the world. But, surely these weren't mortals, were they? Roy only worried that telling Runa the answers could come back to haunt him, and worse, haunt his mother and sisters in ways he couldn't take back.


"The Aztecan Colony." Roy hadn't put much thought into a fake story, but that was what he said. He was lucky he hadn't had any Imperial Gold, considering that could be linked back to New Rome. He convinced himself that it was okay; it was only a white lie that he was telling. But it didn't stop him from feeling guilty. He'd probably be dead right now, ironically enough, if it wasn't for these weird Viking people.

One thing was for sure, that these stairs were probably a bigger challenge than the fight pits themselves. Roy found himself feeling tired very early on, and his fire powers couldn't do anything for him now. "I'm okay." Roy insisted. He continued to follow Runa, who didn't even seem to break a sweat. "Which one?" He asked.

She nodded as they continued to go up the stairs. When he mentioned that he was from an Aztecan camp she was a littler weary about it but she decided not to push forward too much with it. Runa had been told in the past not to antagonize the new comers to Toft Kift, the point was to make them feel welcomed not to make them uneasy around her, but it didn't mean that she wouldn't do a more intensive questioning later.

When they finally made it up the flight of stairs and he asked which one she made the 'follow me' gesture with her hand and started to walk towards a group of huts. Finally there was one empty one near the end of the group and she walked in, "This will be where you can stay while you're here." Runa said before she turned around to look at him. "If there anything you need from me still or?"

Roy pushed through the last flight of stairs. He, of course, had to look back down to see how far they were. He'd been trying to catch his breath, but as he gazed back, his breath fell short of the view from this high up of the ocean. "You guys have a real view here..." He noted, before he came back to reality, and his breaths became deep again. He was relieved to have finished all of the trails for today. By the time he woke up he'd be able to take on more challenges again, not that he was hoping it would go down that path.

Roy slowly reached the hut she was talking about. It wasn't a bed and breakfast or a Holiday Inn, but in Roy's state, it felt like he was being shown a luxurious manor to sleep in. "No, Runa, I'm good." Roy replied to her. He held out his hand to her, because apparently handshakes were good here. "I mean, yes, I did want to thank you. For everything. I'd probably be dead without you and your people."

"It's a fairly good view. It's not as breathtaking when you live here, but it's a good view." Runa said back to Roy now that they were finally back in his hut. It wasn't anything super fancy, but it was something that would give him a place to sleep and hopefully be comfortable. Runa felt the beds were fairly comfortable but she didn't have anything better to sleep on and compare it too.

Seeing his hand held out she took it and grasped it in a strong grip. The blonde had a fairly strong handshake herself, but nothing compared to what her father's was. After she retracted her hand she was about to leave the hut, but she had a few things on her mind that she couldn't really let go of. She had been a couple steps closer towards the door, but she didn't make any further steps at the present moment.

"You know it's interesting." Runa started as she was trying to formulate the words in her head before she said them. "The way you described where you're from sounds a lot more like another place we heard of." She continued talking as she started to make a few steps closer towards him, "You don't sound like you're from an Aztecan place and you don't really look the part. I don't know if you're playing games or not, but if you are I will find out and you will be sorry I did." Runa spoke in almost a threat at this point, but she couldn't quite hold back. "I guess what I'm saying is, you have one chance to tell me the truth, if you're lying, otherwise I promise you I will find out."

Runa's handshake was another tight one. He would have taken it to his death bed that these people trained to shake hands for years. Roy gave what grip he could to her, but it turned out his version of a strong handshake was probably a child's handshake to Runa. Even still, he was too exhausted to be embarrassed. Roy found his feet weak, and took the initiative to sit on the cot that was in the hut. To him, it was a California king bed. Then, suddenly, Runa spoke again.

"The truth, and maybe I didn't know it until today, is that I'd rather be monster food than risk even one hair on my family's head." Roy didn't think it was exactly a smart idea to square up to Runa. She could clearly take him on in a fight, especially where he didn't have powers, even if he was at full strength and she was at half-strength. Runa had the air of a warrior around her. But he didn't have much of a choice in the situation at hand.

He felt a sense of fear cut into his skin, but he was committed to this already. "If you already know where I'm from, then you know. But I'd rather you just throw me out than make me admit."

It was rare she was faced with stubbornness whenever she started to hound people for answers they usually caved by the end of the night and they gave her some sort of information on what they actually wanted to share, but Roy was beginning to challenge and in a way she could feel herself on unsteady terrain and unsure of how to proceed.

Runa watched him carefully when he made the motion to sit on the bed, she still said nothing and did nothing as she had stood there. It took a few minutes, but finally she could formulate her words and speak. "Some honesty is better than none. I don't know exactly where you're from, but it sounds similar, is all I'm saying." She didn't say a whole lot after that, but she started to turn to walk out before she stood in the door frame and looked back at him.

"For the record, I get it. I get why you choose not to share it, but we aren't the enemies. There are worse people out there." She said with a bit of a somber look.