Primus entered the longhouse with care after the talk he had with his father, witnessing Emika and his brothers already gathering their portions of venison and peas as he closed the door behind him. His mother met him halfway as he set foot inside, ready to summon them back inside for supper.
"Ah, Primus," she said, "I was just about to get you two."
"He said he'll come inside in a few more minutes."
"Very well, it can't be helped." She said, knowing how long his deep thought sessions tend to take from time to time.
Soren and Lars were getting their food on their platters as Primus approached to get his own. The youngest took his tender slices of meat and two spoonfuls of peas, diligently portioning himself while the canyving middle one took a huge portion of meat and didn't even dignify the vegetable of the night.
"Mom said you have to take more peas, Soren." Nagged Lars as he took note of the many slices Soren took while Lars began taking his own portion of the succulent green beads.
"Shut it, ergi." Snapped Soren, before his mother turned to scold him.
"Soren!" She exclaimed with ferocity, "Watch your tongue and take the spoonful you agreed to!"
With a flustered grunt Soren shoved Lars out of the way, nearly making him spill his platter before he reluctantly took his spoonful, barely filling it up with a full scoop. He then sat down and began eating the tender venison without waiting for everyone else to be seated as though there was heavy competition.
He was the competition, if anything.
Emika was already seated, respectfully waiting for everyone else present to do the same before she would indulge in her food.
"Primus! Don't forget your oath; we spar tonight."
Primus took his serving and sat at the far end of the table as usual, before shaking his head reluctantly. "I've gotta be up before dawn to attend a meeting with Pep and the chieftains. Some other time, okay? You know I won't break my oath."
"Hmph." Was Emika's only response. She crossed her arms with exaggeration, looking down at her plate with a furrowed brow before everyone besides Manning were seated.
"Oh, interesting." Said Sigrid with notable reluctance to Primus's mention of his duty, "Well, at least you'll be well informed. That much is understandable."
Lars chimed in with his shrill voice. "You lucky guy! After you come back from real warfare, you'll be the strongest Úlfhéðinn ever! I wish I could go too."
"I mean, you could take my place if you wanted to." Said Primus with a spark of unironic sincerity, "I dread having to wake up so dang early."
"You're way too young and heimskr to even-"
Before Soren could finish his insult to Lars, Sigrid cut in and admonished him thoroughly.
"Soren, enough already. I'll be sure to make your father wake you up when they leave and make you tend to the fields all on your own if you keep pestering Lars like that. Just because your father isn't at the table doesn't mean you can get away with that nonsense around me."
Soren sulked and slid down in his chair, and with his meat all gone by now (holy crap that was fast), he began playing with his peas with his fingers, popping them between his pointer and thumb, pretending they were Lars's skull; he'd drop the mushed remnants on his plate before grabbing another.
The rest of them continued eating in silence for the following few minutes before the door opened and Manning walked inside with a hefty clunk, dispelling the awkwardness almost immediately with his stride full of purpose. He gathered his meal and sat down on the opposite far end of the table, before he took note of the silence and took the initiative to break it like Thor's hammer to a glass plate. His voice shook the entire room twice over.
"So, Emika dearest. Are you sleeping over tonight?"
Emika sighed, "Unfortunately, my father wants me home after supper. Tomorrow I must do my chores and then sit with him for one of our 'talks'."
"Oh geez," said Primus with empathy, "what did you do this time?"
"Nothing, as far as I'm concerned." She said with angst and confidence, "Our conversations tend to vary between scolding and about things that go right over my head."
"Things like what?" Asked Manning after he swallowed the red, juicy piece of meat with an audible cue of his enjoyment.
"Like I said, it tends to go over my head. But from the little things I could grasp, it usually has to do with either the Artifacts or the Crittermen."
"Ah, well he doesn't have too many people that understand either of their natures besides Pep." Stated Manning, "Even his colleagues aren't necessarily as uh, imaginative as he is. They know all there is to know about mass producing and improving the Vættirtols, but beyond that it seems only he and his father even have a glimpse of what the Artifacts and Crittermen truly bring to the table."
"Aren't your younger sisters studying that stuff down in the Inner Earth?" Soren asked Emika.
"Yeah, I haven't seen them in months." Responded Emika, "Apparently they're old and smart enough to understand the basics about those short, scaly creatures more than I ever could."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," chimed Sigrid with her usual motherly tone, "You preferred to learn how to fight and serve our clan's army by choice, no?"
"While yes, that's true, I just really hope we could swap places when they finish their studies. That's something my dad said might happen, but not until we are all really good at what we're currently specializing in and prove it to him three times."
"Oddly specific." said Manning as he took in a spoonful of peas, "Lars, you're a bright little guy. Do you want to study with Emika's sisters Kára and Astrid some day?"
Lars shook his head. "No, I want to be an Úlfhéðinn trainee like Primus! I wanna do that before I even try to begin understanding those Erlendr. They're scary looking and just plain weird."
"That's an understatement." Commented Primus with an amused chuckle, "The Grand Elder is nice, though. He is wiser than Pep and twice as smart as Mathias. Not to mention, he has taught me lots of cool things, like the reason why he calls us four 'Chompas'."
"It is a hard label to take seriously." Stated Emika bluntly, "Didn't we get named after the first Critterman to become perfectly fused with their uh, 'Drive' Artifacts like us four are?"
"Yeah," said Primus with a nod and mouth full of chewed meat, "He was the founder of his new kind. Well, I mean, others helped make it happen, but he was 'The Original One', as the Grand Elder calls him. Like us, except he was a Critterman, not human."
"Chompa." Said Soren with a thoughtful tone in his voice, "I wonder, where is he now? Shouldn't he be the Grand Elder?"
"You'd think so," responded Primus, "but from what I've been told, he's got his own stuff going on beyond what the title would restrict him to. Traveling mostly, exploring and spreading wisdom wherever he goes all by himself."
"Sounds lonely." Stated Lars after finishing his last bite of food.
"Isn't that the reason why their people came to our world?" Asked Soren with a hint of confusion.
"I don't think so." Primus said, reflecting on his last conversation with the Grand Elder, "He didn't say exactly why, but he did say they had no choice as a collective. Similar to the reason Chompa did, but he did so on his own beforehand."
"I mean," Emika added, "if you're going around and meeting all sorts of new people all the time, it's probably hard not to make friends."
"I guess," said Primus, "especially since, so I've been told, he left everything behind when he left. Like, everything he knew and held dear to him."
"I wonder why that is…" pondered Soren out loud, "Why would he leave his world instead of spreading his wisdom and powers to his own people?"
"That much, I don't know." Responded Primus with curiosity written on his face and weaved into his words, "He didn't really tell me. All I know is that he's immortal now and has been roaming around for eons."
"Roaming around where?" Asked Lars.
"The Grand Elder didn't specify, unfortunately." Said Primus in defeat, knowing now how little he actually knew. "I asked him, but he said it'd be uh, too complicated to get into."
Manning and Sigrid were both glad and fearful to hear the children exploring the mysteries of these reptilian aliens. They knew the majority of the sagas that the Crittermen brought with them when they arrived centuries ago, as their childhood involved much exposure to their home and their culture more than most of humanity at that point. Such was a fraction of one of the unique 'perks' of being raised by Balder Ugelsted.
These children, the four whose true nature were filled with ambiguity, indeed had much to learn as they grew up and matured. Even Sigrid and Manning couldn't, nor did they want to, enlighten them on the very little yet essential details that they were aware of regarding what it meant to be a 'Chompa'.
The children hinted at it during their conversation, but we're clearly not old enough to properly pick up on it, so the two parents would merely exchange silent glances before they stood to clear the table.
It solidified ten times over in Manning's mind, and Sigrids to an extent, the importance of making them grow up faster than most others in the Balderklan; hence the importance of the dangerous adventure Primus would soon undertake.
Uuf da. Ignorance is bliss.
After all was said and done, Soren and Lars would roughhouse for a bit while Emika went back home, after thanking her pseudo mother for the fantastic meal. Primus went out to tend to their black stallion, Sleipnir, and prepared him for tomorrow's journey to Bamburgh Castle.
The potential of the meeting was stirring in his mind, but thanks to him focusing more on brushing the horse's mane and coat, his anxiety diminished to near obscurity.
Sleipnir was a well fed and built creature, his majestic looks reflected his physical fitness tenfold. He was massive yet not too bulky, donning a black bay pattern that was simple yet refined by the upkeep his owners bestowed upon him.
Well conditioned to traveling over 12 miles in a day, he had an illustrious, custom built Vættirtol, which was in the form of a light, thin gold and platinum-lined leather saddle. He could cover half of England in the same amount of time if needed thanks to this saddle, and soon would be ready to embark on similar distances.
It took patience and persistence to properly keep him in prime condition, but it wasn't a problem for Primus to do so thanks to his diligent daily chore of doing so when his parents were away, or if his brothers did a half-assed job doing so.
Tonight was one of the latter nights.
He'd get the special, intricately designed saddle placed properly and strapped it firmly yet comfortably for the beast, aligning it until the hum of the device was able to be heard and felt. There was no obvious aura that could be seen since the horse was just about ready to go to sleep, but a transparent hue distorting the immediate space around the horse could be felt as he patted the horse's side gently.
It was like placing your hand right on the surface of water without submerging it. It was soft, light to the touch, and when he caressed the coat itself, he felt its finess as Sleipnir stood firmly planted, noticeably comfortable when the Vættirtol connected with him.
Next was to work on the hooves and clean them out. Since Sleipnir hadn't been used since yesterday, there wasn't much high maintenance that Primus had to perform, just a general scraping and such. To begin, Primus would carefully get next to Sleipnir's left side, with his own left shoulder next to the horse's left leg. He put his hand patiently on the upper back of it and traced down slowly so as not to spook the gentle giant as he carefully lifted the hoof up so he could reach it and clean it out.
Cupping the front of the hoof in his left hand from the knee, he pulled out his hoof pick and began working the frog, digging out loose dirt and rocks that were lodged in the crevices. It didn't take too much effort to do so, and so he'd do the same thing to the other legs, being extra cautious when he did the back legs, since they were well able to injure him if he messed up.
He's had close calls before, but at this point he wasn't concerned after learning from past mistakes in doing so. Now he knew to trace his hand from one side of the rear to the other so Sleipnir wouldn't get spooked and kick back at him.
When he was just about done, and was putting the pick back in the stable, he pulled out the brush again for one final go-over. Unbeknownst to him, someone was approaching from the darkness while he focused on his parents' prized steed. They were approaching slowly, with caution, and little noise to immediately trigger either Primus or Sleipnir.
When Emika got close enough, she caught Sleipnir's attention first when she came into view. He shook his head and let out a nicker to alert Primus of her approach, and when he looked over he saw her and her hair braid equipped with her Vættirtol. With her prominent aura flowing with anticipation, Primus knew what this was going to be about immediately.
Oh boy.
"What are you doing back here?" Primus asked, knowing full well the answer to that question before he even said it as customarily as usual. This wasn't the first time she'd sought him out despite it being their bedtime.
"I don't care if you have to wake up early. We're doing this."
Primus sighed as he finished brushing the horse and went to grab a carrot from the stable. He'd feed it to Sleipnir as he tried to think of ways to talk her out of it, but couldn't think of the right words in time.
"You- really? I mean, can't it wait until later? I'm already tired enough as it is from earlier."
"You could be out there for the next month or so! I can't possibly wait that long!"
"What about Mads? Why not just fight him until I return?"
"I could slap around Mads all month long or for eternity, and I'd still not get anything useful out of it on my end. C'mon, you're not weaseling out of this one, Chuckles. Let's go!"