Jaxarna

Jaxarna woke up before the sun was up to go tend the ice elk. There were three that needed milking and one that would calve soon.

She had enhanced this one again. She was excited to see if it worked this time. She was trying to get the elk to have twins more often. That had been working rather well but she had gotten bold and tried for triplets once again.

The first time she had tried that experiment it had resulted in a three headed calf who only lived two days. The elk were the family’s livelihood and while the twins were nice it wore out the does faster and affected their milk supply-any extra milk was going to the second calf and the family was also known for their cheeses, which were becoming harder to supply.

Jaxarna was suspiciously small for her age. While her father was in deep denial over her culpability in the changes in the way the elk were calving, he knew. He had always known. Even from the day she was born he knew.

Jaxarna’s parents knew she was a half mage. They tried to ignore it. If they said nothing then maybe everything would be ok, nothing bad would happen... They could keep their only child to help them with the elk and everything would be fine and normal.

She should have gone to the temple for training years ago. But they refused to even discuss it. They tried to justify their decision when the horrible slash of fire from the sky melted the temple and its surroundings to glass and killed every seider wielder on the planet except the king’s brother and a young full mage. Surely they were meant to keep her! She would have died had they not!

But Jaxarna couldn’t help herself. She was bright and young and curious- and she had seidr. But worse than that she had no one to teach her so she taught herself. Accidents were happening and there was no one to correct her.

And not just for her family. She had affected the root farmer down the road. One year when she was very young she wanted the roots to be sweeter, like the mythical candy the Aesir made. The affected roots were sweet and tasty, but they were half the size and the farmer’s family suffered from his reduced crop, delicious as it may have been. Her parents acted innocent and sympathetic while helping the family with free milk and cheese until they got on their feet again.

The other families in the farming community were talking. They were figuring it out and they weren’t pleased. They knew what Jaxarna was, she was over a head shorter than the other children in her age group. Seidr affected growth, she had to be a halfmage and she belonged at the temple.

***

When Jaxarna got to the pen that the pregnant elk were kept in her stomach dropped. There, frozen solid on the ground was a dead calf with three heads. This one didn’t even make it through the night. Her parents would be furious.

She cleaned up the mess and checked on the mother elk, she seemed to be no worse than expected so Jaxarna went on to milk the other now agitated does. They were full of milk and too sore to wait for her to figure out her latest dilemma.

She brought the pails of milk into the house. Her father was up making tea and waiting to start the process of making the morning milk into cheese.

“Did that doe have her calf yet?” He asked.

Jaxarna swallowed quickly and took a deep breath. “Yes father, but the calf didn’t make it”

“Only one calf this time? Did you leave this one alone or did it have too many heads again?” Her father asked, tired and sighing.

Jaxarna looked at the ground. She wanted to run but she really didn’t mean any harm. “Yes father. It had three heads. Again. I’m sorry. '' At this point she started to cry.

Her father clenched his jaw and turned a few shades darker blue and went quietly back to his work. He knew what had to be done but wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

The new King’s Sorceress had let it be known that she and the King’s half mage brother would be training mage children at the palace since the temple had been destroyed. She had invited parents to bring their mage children there when they were ready. Jaxarna was long past ready.

***
Jaxarna did know whether to cry or jump for joy. She was going to live in the castle!! With the King’s Sorceress and the prince! Would the prince be handsome like in fairy tales? Would he be nice? Would like her? What was the Sorceress like? Oh this was way too exciting.

And best of all she would get to learn how to use her powers! She would be a real sorceress herself one day! No more three headed elk or other unfortunate experiments gone wrong.

But she was leaving her family. Her parents and aunts and uncles and cousins. All her friends in the small community. She was well liked by the other children despite her height and the strange “accidents” that seemed to follow her. She was leaving the only home she had known. It was sad and it was scary.

She packed her clothes, wondering if she would need them or if she would be wearing some sort of boring black robe. She didn’t have that much to pack. She didn’t have many toys and she had pretty much outgrown them anyway so she gave them away to her younger friends. Her horns had grown in and her family lines had started to darken- she was on her way to being an adult anyway.

She knew she was starting late, that all her fellow students would be little children. Smaller than the children she was used to because they would be half mages like her, she thought smiling. The Kings sorceress was a full mage and she might even be shorter than Jaxarna, the girl thought with wonder. An adult the size of a child, but with more magic than anyone on the planet!

She would learn to read and to work with runes, she thought with excitement, the whole world would be at her fingertips.

But first a long journey. Fortunately her family raised some of the fastest ice elk on the planet. She and her father harnessed four of them to a comfortable sled and she said her tearful goodbyes.

They traveled south for over a week. Jaxarna’s father let her drive sometimes. She enjoyed that. It was fun to see so much of Jotunheim too.

Finally they were getting close to Utgard. She was delighted by the strangeness of the big city. There were markets that went on for blocks and houses very close together.

She saw the result of the massive slash of fire that had melted so much of the city. Snow covered most of it with a very ominous and flat white surface. Just pure white snow perfectly level, except for a couple mounds where larger buildings had been. Underneath that everything and everyone had been vaporized or turned to glass by the second Aesir prince.

It was terrifying and very sad. Thousands had died in a flash. The mages temple was gone, the stone that it was built from turned to glass in places under the peaceful snow. Powerful seider wielders had been vaporized before they even knew what was happening. She would be dead too if her parents hadn’t tried to keep her on the farm.

Soon the palace was looming in the distance. It was not in the best shape, still having damage from the last war with the Aesir, but Jaxarna thought it was beautiful. A fantasy place where handsome princes and a powerful sorceress lived and magic was taught.

A tall guard walked up to them and asked them what their business was at the castle. He was wearing a uniform- all the guards she could see we’re dressed the same in knee length brown kilts with vests that had insignia on them that varied a bit so it must mean something about the individual guard. They wore tall fur lined boots, silver tips on their horns and most were bald.

Her father explained to the guard that they were here to see the sorceress. The guard told them to wait while he disappeared. When he came back he
Motioned for them to follow him.

Jaxarna had trouble keeping her jaw from dropping. She was so amazed at the beauty of the place. The walls were beautifully carved ice, knot patterns with animals shapes woven in. There were paintings of past monarchs, regal blue faces with stern red eyes and tall horns. Paintings of the consorts showed lovely women and men who stood by the sides of the Kings and Queens of Jotunheim.

Finally he stopped at a room guarded by two frightening warriors. He told the first to please announce to the Queen the arrival of Jaxarna HalfMage.

Jaxarna gasped and caught herself. The Queen!! Was she really going to meet the Queen of Jotunheim?

The guard returned and gestured for them to follow him in.

A beautiful and very pregnant woman was playing with two young boys. When the boys saw them they ran to hide in the Queen’s long kilt.

“Hello Jaxarna, it’s good to meet you” Said Nal Queen with a smile.

Jaxarna started to babble and quickly remembered to bow.

The Queen laughed. Her red eyes sparkling. “Don’t be nervous, little one. I’m just playing with Baugi and Suttungr here until their new suite is ready. I imagine you will be living there too.” She looked down at the boys and moved the folds of her kilt to uncover them “look Baugi and Suttungr, this is Jaxarna, she is a halfmage just like you two, she will be living with you. Go ahead and say hi to her”.

Suttungr buried his face back deeper in the Queen’s kilt but his brother peeked out at Jaxarna and gave her a slight smile. “Hi Jaxarna” he said softly.

“Hi Baugi” Jaxarna replied. “It’s good to meet you, I think we will be friends”. She said smiling wide and showing the gap where her baby teeth had fallen out. “And hello Suttungr, I think we will be friends too when you are ready”.

The door opened again and a servant told the Queen that the suite was ready.

“Oh! Let’s go see your new home!” Said Nal Queen as she stepped out the door, the boys still in her kilt orbiting like little moons.

After more beautifully carved ice corridors they get to a huge brown door that appears to be made out of carved wood.

Inside was a tall full sized Jotun woman with thick horns wearing traditional clothing and a tiny woman in a maroon hooded gown.

The tiny woman has polished horns that curve around to the sides of her face and end in gold tips. She is the same height as Jaxarna but clearly a young adult, a very young adult but full grown. This is the King’s Sorceress, one of only two adult Jotnar Seidr wielders left alive and the most powerful magic practitioner on the planet.

Jaxarna nearly trips over herself in excitement. With a huge grin she runs up to the Sorceress and starts to say something then remembers to bow, then says “I am Jaxarna, I am honored to meet you, my teacher”

The little woman smiles.

Nal Queen says that she will be going now. She eases the boys over to the tall Jotun woman, whose name is Glut. The boys don’t want to leave the Queen but Glut is persuasive and knows just how to communicate with the small boys. She gently takes their hands and starts to show them around their new home.

As the Queen leaves a short man squeezes through the door. He is taller than the Sorceress but shorter than the Queen and Glut. Jaxarna notices that he is very handsome, his tall horns are well polished and curve slightly back and his facial markings are very distinctive.

“Hi Sorceress!” The man said. “I see we have some new students”

“Yes” replies the Sorceress, “This is Jaxarna, and those two are Baugi and Suttungr along with their caretaker Lady Glut”. She paused, looking at each of them “and this is Byleister Prince, your other teacher”

Jaxarna is amazed at the people she is meeting today, and now an actual handsome prince right out of a fairy tale! She bowed low to him and managed to babble “Nice to meet you my Prince Byleister Teacher”. She giggled and smiled so big her face hurt.

“Nice to meet you too, Lady Jaxarna” said the prince.

Jaxarna was just thrilled, a real prince just called her “Lady Jaxarna”! she heard the Sorceress chuckle softly at her awestruck condition.

“Look around and settle in today” the Sorceress instructed. “We will start lessons tomorrow”.