After a lifetime of not fitting in and feeling like an outsider in my own family I was excited to finally learn more about where my moms side came from and maybe finally be excepted. Little did I know what was truly awaiting us. We arrived in a boat to the docks in Vik we saw this little town and were a little confused and not knowing what to expect. My brother Andy and I stayed in an inn our first night. We were in a small room with what felt like straw pillows and beds it was the most uncomfortable night I had experienced up to this point in my life. Me and Andy were both confused when they pitched us this idea this was not what we had expected. They told us we would go to a capital and meet some of my moms family and visit a well known academy and that my grandparents were high up and influential people, we were under the impression that everything would be luxurious. This small rickety fishing town with a pub and one in was not what we had expected. This place was so small that we didn't even have cell service, there was one landline in the entire inn. The morning after we arrived we went down to the first floor of the inn where they served food. We sat there complaining about our sleep and how uncomfortable the night had been, the food was also very bland at breakfast. We ate waiting for our grandfather to come meet us like we had prearranged, we had packed up our stuff that morning knowing we would be staying at his house the second night which we were so ready to be out of this inn, but it raised questions about our original expectations for the trip. Which our expectations only dropped more after he arrived. He treated us happily and asked if we were ready to go, we both eagerly agreed. We walked out of the inn and followed him down the road and to the edge of the small town. We found ourselves at a small barn. He started to explain since we looked confused.
"We will be taking horses from here, the roads are too narrow and treturous for vehicles. You can choose any of the horses here."
We both nodded our heads and went to look for what horse we liked. My brother spoke under his breath "so influential meant he's like a big fisher or farmer or something." I just gave him and a side glance as we both had similar thoughts, he just said it. After we were far enough away from our grandfather my brother said quietly "If this is how they live no wonder mom ran away as soon as she could."
"Yeah it's definitely not what I was expecting she could have at least given us a heads up before we said yes to this."
"I know right like how rude to just let us get thrown into this with no warning."
"I guess at least we get to travel even if it is a jankie town."
We went on to pick out our horses. My brother choose a completely white Icelandic horse which matched him well. My brother is just over 6 foot tall with dirty blond hair and hazel green eyes. He looked similar to what I would assume my grandfather did when he was younger. Our grandfather has the same green hazel eyes as my brother and has a long white beard and a full head of white hair. I on the other hand am the complete opposite, I have dark brown black hair that I always keep around shoulder length just enough to put it up if I need to but also short enough that it stays out of the way. My eyes are also light brown, I get those traits from my father. I choose a horse that brought less attention the the tall all white one my brother had choosen. I choose a dabble gray Icelandic horse which was basically a gray horse with white spots with white at the start of it main that turns gray as it gets longer. After choosing someone at the stables got the horses saddles up. When my grandfather saw what we had choose he said "Andy you choose well, an old Icelandic saying is that a good horse has no color. Your mother was right to praise you, you definitely have a good eye." He chuckled at the end of it and it felt almost disapproving of my choice. My grandfather also had an all white horse. After the comment we set off. The comment made me feel uneasy though, as if it would be no different then back home.
The scenery on the road was beautiful filled with trees and we crossed some small rivers. It felt like the trip was taking forever but I guess at least it was pretty. We didn't really talked during the ride which made it feel like an eternity. A few hours in we could hear a waterfall, that's when our grandfather spoke
"We'll be there soon, the waterfall is beautiful and a great land marker."
"So how close are we?" Andy asked.
"We'll be to the capital in about 20 minutes then we'll be 30 minutes or so from my house."
"So the capital is pretty big then?"
"Yes, the capital has over 4,000 residents."
"So a decent size place. What all is there to do?"
"Well you guys will be going to the main academy for the summer so you will be there for 4 days a week, they have dorms that you can stay at if you would prefer and I'm sure you will meet others your age who will tell you about there favorite things to do. It's been a long time since I was young so what I go do and what you'd will want to do probably isn't the same."
"What do you normally do at home?"
"Work out at the gym, go play basketball or go to a bar or bowling." Andy said.
"What about you, Nicole?" Grandpa asked.
"Well I normally hangout at my friends and go to quoreys or swimming or axe throwing and sometimes bowling just depends on the night."
"Oh are you any good at axe throwing?"
"I'm decent, nothing special though."
"Don't let her fool you, she's good. I think I've seen her miss the center of the target a handful of times ever when we throw axes or throwing stars out back." Andy said.
"Don't listen to him, I'm not that good."
"She lies, she doesn't try and purposely misses when other people are around it's the same with archery she was great at home but when it came to try outs I could tell she was missing shots intentionally. She doesn't like to be in the spot light it's why she doesn't try at school or at anything really." Andy said.
"If your good at something don't hide it child. Everyone has talents that should be pursued and refined. You'll have to show me your skills at the academies training grounds."
" when are you going to tell us the academies name?" I asked.
"I will tell you all about it after we have arrived and you have both settled in." Grandpa said, "We are going to have a family dinner tonight as well. You will meet you Uncle and cousins, your cousins will also be at the academy volunteering for extra credits over the summer so they might be able to introduce you to some of their friends."
Thats when we arrived at the waterfall there was a path that went through the waterfall and that's the way our grandfather went. Our horses followed straight through the cold water which took us into a small cave. They kept going through until we saw a bright light. Once we pass through that when we saw this big city. It was built on a mountain and it was much warmer the houses all looked like they were made out of marble and gold and silver seemed to line the gates that we approached. We heard the men guarding the gate say "it's the minster open the gates!"
With that the two giant gate doors opened, and we could see more of the white marble building along with people walking the streets. There outfits were way different then what we were used to. The womens were wearing what almost looked like the type of old fact dresses you would see in Greek movies. It was think shiney silk material adorned with silver or gold some dresses were way more revealing then others but almost all of the dropped with a low v. The men wore what looked like suits or nice shirts button up shirts with dress pants, most of them were black or white compared to the many bright colored dresses the women wore. They all looked very put together and there was me and my brother in a tshirts and jacket and jeans. We stood out like a sore thumb. Eyes quickly came to us as we looked so different from them. Our grandfather noticed and said "why don't we go get you some new clothes before we get to the house. There is a few nice boutiques on the way."