The Wolf's Proposal

Night had almost turned to day from the fire in the midst of the camp. The drums had become a constant thrum in the background of the night, replacing the birds and as far as he could tell would have been the perfect cover for the clans to use to cover the sounds of their own movements if they wanted to strike early and catch them off guard. It’s what he would have done if he were them. The battle was to start in the morning and instead of eating and resting up, preparing their weapons, or reviewing plans, the whole of the camp had opted to feast and be merry as they may not have another chance for it. He did not ask to be a leader, did not want it. All he could think as he was staring into the fire with a hunk of roasted boar was he just wanted to be left alone.

She was making her way to the back of the camp, with a fierceness about her that screamed she was not to be trifled with. She was smaller than those around her in the camp, but she knew she could take out most of them and they knew it as well. She had spent the day working with a sword to brush up on her skills. As she reached the mid-point of the camp, passing by the fire that burned taller than herself, she saw him. He stopped her in her tracks, not from speaking or moving but simply from his presence. He sat on a giant log near the fire staring into the flames, the light reflecting in ice blue eyes and seemed a million miles away. He was different from the rest of the camp. But underlying all of that, he seemed sad. Lonely. She knew she should continue to her own bed but she found herself turning to him, immediately determined to know him and know why she could feel like she knew him when they had never spoken? She had seen him around the camp as long as she could remember and he was always impressive. An intuitive warrior, knowing when and where to strike but more than that, he knew when to think. When strategy and intelligence could win the day faster and more cleanly than any battle.

She made her way to him. From the moment she locked her eyes onto him, she saw nobody else. “What’s your name?” she asked as she sat down, near enough to almost touch just to hear over the drums.

“Wolf,” came the terse reply, barely glancing away from the fire.

“I know that’s what they call you. But I don’t believe it to be your name. And that just makes me wonder what is.”

“Why should it matter?” he asked, not intending to be rude, just not understanding why this woman he did not know would be interested.

“Because you look a little lost and there’s just something about you that makes me want to bring you back,” came the unexpected reply.

She threw him off. Nobody had ever looked at him and truly seen him it had seemed. Here this woman was Astrid and never spoken to him and yet already understood him on a level that shouldn’t have been possible. She was fair enough to look at. Her copper hair hung in braids that seemed to fold in on themselves halfway down her back, reflecting gold in the firelight. Her skin was warmly tanned by the sun, and definitely a woman’s figure rather than a girl’s under her clothes. More than any of that, when he looked into her eyes, he was drawn in. There was a shrewdness yes, and a determination, but also a merriment.

“And if your parents were asked?” she asked with another of those grins shining from her eyes.

“They’d tell you the same since once I leave you, I’ll go to them and make sure they know to keep it to themselves,” he said gruffly but when she looked into his face his eyes were also smiling. “If you want to know badly enough, you’ll figure it out.”

Now, Astrid was on a mission. Wolf had challenged her to find his real name and she meant to do it. She knew he had participated in trades so his name would be in the records. The only foreseeable problem was that Astrid couldn’t read but she had plan for that as well. Just today, Ao and made a trade with Bjorn for twenty goats. His name was short enough and easy enough she should be able to work backwards from that record until she knew the letters. Then it would just be a matter of finding a record she knew to be his but she had a plan for that as well. Astrid slipped from shadow to shadow, silently thru the now quiet camp, careful to avoid anyone who might stop her. Once she arrived at the far end of the camp from where she slept, she slipped into the building that held all of the records and carefully clicked the door shut behind her.

The building was small, little more than four stone walls with a thatch roof. On the far right of the bench was a smaller leather bound book, black and worn, and as Astrid picked them up, leafing down a few pages she found what she was looking for. A single page with 2 letters at the top for a name. Ao was the only one in camp with such a short name and this had to be his. Next to his name was a short word that Astrid thought had to be the goats. Halfway down was another set up. She knew the goats had been traded with Bjorn. Astrid couldn’t risk not being able to find the book again, so she tucked it into her shift and began making her way back towards her bed. If she was lucky, she might get a little sleep before the sun rose.

That morning, dawn broke again with the rain on the roof. She reached for the book and breathed a sigh of relief realizing it was still there. She gingerly opened it and realized she had her key and would be able to take a little time and puzzle out all of her letters. The goats for the arrows was an easy trade and she knew who brought each into the deal. That meant she had several letters already figured out. It would take a little time, but she knew with practice would be able to read as well as any of the elder men.

The following week, Astrid met up with her mysterious Wolf running late from finishing her daily chores and saw his obvious agitation at her being late.

“My apologies, my wolf,” she glibly replied. “I was working on your name. I’m getting closer.”

“Just how would you have managed that,” he asked incredulously.

“It doesn’t matter the how, only if it works. And I’ll know soon. By the by, you never told me what would happen when I find your name?”

“IF you find my name,” came the terse answer. “And what would happen is I would know that you are smart enough to figure it out. Besides,” he added teasingly, “you haven’t found my name yet. This may sound mad, but I want you and to be with only you. I know it has not been long and if you do not feel the same, I won’t be holding it against you. I want to care for you, now and always. Marry me? Make a home and a family with me, and let us grow a love that will be enough to face anything?”

It was everything Astrid had hoped for, yet so unexpected she was taken completely off guard. Wolf sat up suddenly and began moving away from her. Perplexed, she grabbed his arm. “Where are you headed? You cannot tell me everything and just walk away before I get the chance to answer. I will be everything I can for you, if you truly want me.”

“You realize we’ll have to go to camp and make the announcement? My parents and your father will have to begin the contracts to combine the families. This won’t be a short process. But there is a condition,” he paused.

Astrid beamed a smile at him. She knew what he was going to say. “What’s that?” she replied, sweetly.

“You’ll have to find my name to be able to finish the contract to marry me,” he grinned back at her.

For a marriage contract to blend their families together to take place, the contracts would go thru Malin’s office and if announced today, she would know exactly when to look to get the letters that made up his name. She had never really wanted to get married, but now that she had found Wolf, nothing could have made her happier. And with his stipulation, she was going to be a married woman very soon.

Two days later, Astrid sent a message to Wolf asking him to meet with her. “I guess it’s official now,” Astrid looked at him lovingly, “now you have to marry me.”

“Oh? Why is that?”

“Because I know your name, and being a man of honor, you said if I found your name that you would marry me.”

“Prove it,” Wolf replied, wondering if she had actually done it and how.

“The only thing is, I don’t know how to say it,” Astrid replied, blushing a bit. She hated to admit it, but knowing the spelling didn’t help for this. She could see it being pronounced a couple of different ways and she hadn’t heard it before from anyone else in the camp.

“Then how do I know you actually know it?” he asked.

“It’s Einar. But is it pronounced E-nar or I-nar?” she asked, pride stinging her voice. What she hadn’t expected was his delighted laughter.

“Neither, but you found it! How? He was shocked. The only people who still knew his name were his family and once he asked it not be revealed, they honored the strange request.

“You’ll think it a silly thing,” Astrid said, this time blushing a bit. Her response intrigued him.

“I taught myself to read and found it on the negotiated marriage contracts.”

“How did you manage that?” he asked, dumbfounded. Of all the answers he expected, that was not it. He didn’t know of any women in the camp that could read and not even all of the men could.

“I snuck out every night and worked it backwards to learn the letters. Then I waited for the contracts to be worked out and I know my own name. That left yours being the other, but it’s not one I know. I just didn’t know how to say it.” She was blushing furiously at this point.

Wolf was shocked to his core. He knew there was an intelligence and shrewdness to her. Never in his life, outside of his family, had anyone cared enough about him to put that much time and effort to know him. He was in awe of her and delighted with it. And while Astrid had learned enough of her letters to gather his name, what she hadn’t realized was she would be rich. The truth of the matter was that his family was incredibly wealthy and had promised at his birth to make a wedding gift of 20,000 gold pieces to his bride so that she would always be able to choose to stay with him instead of being forced to depend solely on him for her livelihood and that a love born out of choice instead of necessity would always last. By taking the trouble to simply know him and his name, Astrid became an independently wealthy woman who would never want for anything and now neither would he.