(Matt Pov)
Calming down Ivar sat back on the couch, but we can all see he is still excited by hearing that I have two forms. Taking a deep drink from the mead, he refills his cup and then takes a breath turning to me. I can see his emotionless face is back as he turns to me.
"Sorry for that behavior. Since the founder of our clan, no one has had two wells of power. We always thought it was a myth, that someone could not have two wells of power. Mind showing me your forms?" Ivar asks me after sitting back down on the couch.
".....Sure, but what is the normal form of the clan?" I ask him thinking which one is the different one though feeling it is the giant ice bear.
"We have the spirit of bears inside of us, supposedly gifted to us by the All-Father himself. Our normal form is of a bipedal bear, each clan member awakens a different form of the bear. Some black bears, brown bears, and many other species of bears. Though usually, each family line in the clan turns into the same type of bear, our family line being the founding family, mostly turns into brown bears. Though each clan member has a chance to turn into a polar bear at awakening though they are the rarest, since they are the strongest type of bear," Ivar says then takes another sip of mead before continuing.
"Usually when someone turns into a polar bear they are picked as the next clan head. So far, only our line has shown this ability to turn into polar bears. My grandfather was the last person to have awakened a polar bear spirit. I'm a brown bear or grizzly bear as some call them, Eva is also a brown bear and your father was one too. I would assume you are a brown bear too?" Ivar says to me looking at me curiously.
"It'll be easier to just show you, though I'm gonna have to undress for this," I say standing up to go outside and undress.
"Wait! Our clan has been able to make clothes that don't tear apart at the change but be absorbed and then when you turn back to human form reappear. It is all thanks to runes, yes magic is real and if you decide to stay to learn from us we will teach you everything you will need," Ivar says seeing me about to head outside to change. Then turning to a butler he speaks in Swedish, the butler nods and returns shortly after holding some clothes for me. It looks like any normal clothes, though on the inside I can see lines of runes throughout.
Putting on the clothes in one of the many bathrooms, I come back outside to see them all turn to me. Walking outside by the steaming pool, which looks more like a natural hot spring. I show them my first form which is the bipedal werebear. Seeing my form, other than Alice they are all surprised at it and are staring at me with Ivar showing his excitement again.
"You have the polar bear spirit inside you! Though you are imbued with runes?! Do you know how to make them? Did your father leave you that knowledge?" Ivar says seeing me in this form.
"No, they were already on me after transforming," I say to them shrugging and now Alice has jumped on my shoulders and rubbed her face in my fur. Saying this they are all even more shocked.
"So soft," I hear Alice mutter as she cuddles my head and I smile.
"You had them naturally! Did the All-Father bless you himself?!" Ivar says more thinking to himself if that is possible.
"Do you all not have runes in your forms?" I ask them and then Eva shakes her head. Then she turns into her werebear form, she looks like me on two legs, though a brown bear, much shorter than me around 10' (305cm), and is not as stocky. She does have runes though on some places on her body.
"I thought you didn't have runes?" I say to her confused.
"We don't have them naturally like you, we place them on ourselves to imbue us with more power, like an increase in strength, speed, endurance, durability, and to increase our healing ability," Eva says now walking around me in her werebear form.
"You keep referring to the All-Father, I assume you mean Odin from the Asatru faith?" I say to them curious if they are 'pagans'.
"Yes, our clan are 'pagans' and still believe in the old gods, who else would give us this power? According to our clan history, it was a gift from the gods," Ivar says and I can see he believes in the Norse gods and uses the word 'pagan' with annoyance.
"What is your other form?" Eva asks me after she is done inspecting me.
"I have even less control in that form and it takes a lot for me to remain in control. So please don't do anything to anger me in that form," I say to them sighing and removing Alice from my shoulders making her pout at me.
"Of course, though if you feel you will lose control, then change back please," Ivar says to me while gesturing for me to change.
Once again taping into that ball of pure ice next to the ball of pure rage I can feel myself changing and like this form it becomes easier than the first time. After changing into this form, except Alice, they are all once again staring at me in shock and are frozen in place staring at me.
"You still in there Matt?" I see Alice say to me, making sure I'm in control.
'Yes, though it is still hard to keep all my extremely fluctuating emotions in control,' I say to her in our mind connection and nod at her so the others know I'm in control for now. Smiling at me Alice walks over to my face and grabs it kissing my nose.
"I have never seen a form like this before and it was never mentioned in any of the texts passed down to the clan heads," Ivar says while looking at me.
"I may have missed something and will have to reread them," Ivar says quickly after and seems to be in deep thought.
"Can you not speak in that form?" Eva asks me curiously looking at me still in her werebear form.
"No," I try to say, though a noise of a bear comes out instead and I shake my head at them. Seeing my breath, even though it is cold here, and small ice crystals coming out of my mouth at every breath, has them looking at me even more curiously.
"I can speak for him though! We are connected by our minds!" Alice says to them while running her hands through my fur as I sit on the ground.
"That's amazing what else can you do?" Eva says to us looking at me in awe and excitement. While Ivar is still in deep thought, though hearing this he snaps back to the conversation to see what I can do.
'Alice please tell them I'm not sure, we never tried before. Though should I? I might lose control I feel,' I say to Alice still fighting my emotions trying to take over.
These emotions are rage, indifference, and wanting to fight just to kill, for the thrill of battle. Ever since changing these emotions have been enhanced, in my human form, they are always there subconsciously ready to break loose at a moment's notice. In my werebear form, they are no longer subconscious but forcing themselves into my mind and trying to get me to let loose at the slightest provocation. In this ice bear form, they are already loose in my mind and it takes all my willpower to not succumb to them and just madly kill everything around me. The only one these emotions don't target is Alice, which may be to our mate bond as it makes me see her as something I own and something to not be lost to.
"Matt says he hasn't tried to see what he can do in this form, but fears that if he tries anything it may make him lose control," Alice says to them and looks at me in concern.
"Then do not, please turn back to your human form. It is getting late and we need to teach you to control your inner beast. Then maybe it will help you control your other form as well," Ivar says knowing how hard it is for an untrained bear. Sighing in relief I turn back to my human form as does Eva and luckily those clothes they gave me do work.
Going to bed with Alice in my arms like usual. I woke up the next morning to the smell of breakfast being made downstairs. Heading downstairs they had another feast-looking breakfast being made. After eating the huge breakfast that my grandmother made we are all sitting at the table drinking coffee.
"After you are done getting ready for the day come find me, I'll wait outside by the hot spring. I'll show you some methods on how to control the beast and we will see what works for you. After that later today Ingegärd is going to teach you Swedish and then once you learn we will teach you about runes," Ivar says to me and I nod in understanding.
"Well Matt, if you ever need me call me, and before you leave to go back home I'll come back. Even the CEO has to work, so I'm going to head back to the city today," Eva says getting up and hugging me before leaving to get ready.
"It was nice getting to know you too, and if you ever want to visit the states. You're more than welcome to stay with us," I say putting my arm around Alice. Alice nods at her smiling too.
"Sure, I'll let you know next time I can visit," Eva says smiling and finally walking out of the dining room.
"While Matt learns to control himself, want me to teach you more about our culture and language?" Ingegärd asks Alice smiling at her.
"....Sure!" Alice says first looking at Ivar to see his reaction, but seeing him have an indifferent face, smiles at Ingegärd and gets excited at the idea.
"Great! You can tell me all about yourself and your family, I want to get to know my granddaughter better," Ingegärd says making Alice smile even more at how welcoming Ingegärd is compared to Ivar.
After getting ready and walking outside I find Ivar sitting on a rock and meditating. Hearing me he opens his eyes and jumps off the large rock that was by the hot spring.
"Follow me, we are going to a more quiet place where you can try meditating. Once you master the art of meditation, you can meditate in even the most annoying environments," Ivar says as I follow him off the property and deeper into the woods.
As we walk in silence I can hear all the animals living in the forest and the beauty of nature that surrounds us. After walking for about an hour he brings me to a small lake deep in the forest and a large stone sticking out of the pond with runes carved into it. There also appear to be several flat smooth stones by the pond.
"This place is where many of our clan come to, to meditate in peace. You may find some others here from time to time, it is common to be quiet in the place for the respect of others," Ivar says sitting on one of the stones and motioning for me to sit on one next to him.
"It is best to still yourself as much as possible, then take steady breaths and push all thoughts out of your mind. Once you do these things you can find yourself at peace and time goes by quickly. This helps some achieve balance with the beast inside, though others find peace in different ways, for now, we will try this," Ivar says as I sit down next to him and begin to do as he instructs.
After some time of following his advice, I find myself in a field of grass, flowers, and trees, with a huge tree in the distance larger than anything possible on earth. I follow the instinct pushing me towards the huge tree in the distance.