Landsbyen -Into the North- An Epic Poem 108
Shortly after the naming they made arrangements to visit Jessica's home in Nordgrend. Her father, Raðulfr, sadly, had also succumbed to the last ringing of life's chimes as time's pendulum could no longer be wound and ceased its swing as they stood by to comfort him. The entire Hamlet turned out for his interment with many tears shed. All of the magic Joulupukki still retained was shared with Jessica which allowed her to live an exceptionally long life. They grew into a rhythm where they spent half of the year in the Village building toys and gadgets alongside Bréagán. Then they would take these toys and give them to the elves in each of the clans, or at least what was left of the clans. As they arrived in Nordgren they would give what remained of them to the children of the hamlet. The child grew up strong and healthy with the stature of his father's human side, and the blue eyes and rosy cheeks of his elfin side, his mother always present inside of him as the gentleness in his soul. He accompanied his parents throughout their travels, occasionally stopping to visit some of the secluded elfin outposts. Joulupukki taught him well, how to guide the hreinin deer, reindeer, as he grew to know them, through the sky, calling each one by name. He always wore the red coat and breeches his mother had made for him to keep him warm, and Joulupukki, his green overcoat. What a sight they were flying through the sky led by a team of deer. The elves had long accepted their declining role in controlling their world, so quickly being overrun by the humans, their magic slowly fading. Both the Northern Clan and Village Clan agreeing to join as a single clan, they doubled the size of the Village Council and agreed to retain six councilmen in the Elfin Clans' Council. The Village and Northern Clans met at the north pole where they joined as one. Being more remote, the Southern Clan decided to remain independent as much as possible, moving their Clan into the mountains of the most southern continent, near the southern pole, the poles being a great source of power, where, eventually, they lost communication with the other clans. No one knew what happened to them. With the assistance of the council the Ibero Clan found a new home for their kingdom on a remote island near their original home. With their new group of Elders, they managed to befriend some of the local inhabitants but eventually fell back into their old habits and the kingdom was again destroyed, this time by internal strife. The Erin Elves and many of their leprechaun brothers were strengthened with the aid of the Village, but decided to seek out the Forest Elves and join with their clan, being mostly of nature and having more in common with them than with the Village Elves. They were welcomed by the Forest Kingdom who guided them with the care of all living things, both plants and animals, and were taught that if the magic truly died neither the humans nor elves would matter, because without the magic nothing could survive. The Erin Elves and leprechauns, in turn, taught the Forest Elves that even if they were alive, life was not worth living if you didn't learn to enjoy it, at least on occasion, and brought laughter into the trees. There was also a great but secretive mingling of elves and humans, which helped to preserve the elfin race within the human society, but also weakened the magic even more.
This time in the world's history was a time of great change. The human population was growing exponentially. Exploration was becoming the new norm and it wouldn't be long before humans occupied every corner of the world. The elves always hiding in the shadows had become nothing more than legends mixed in the dark tales of human society, pulling farther and farther from the good elves that surrounded them. This hurt Joulupukki, watching the magic slowly disappear, and watching the elves fade into history as humans searched for an identity of their own, some clinging to their old ways and beliefs while others turning to the numerous new religions that were popping up everywhere. He watched as these groups pushed and pulled at themselves, with both internal and external struggles still suffering from the same old problems that always faced humans, greed, corruption, immorality to name a few, but he also saw many who wanted to be better and strove to help others which was something he had never known of humans before. Many of these holy groups left horrible stains on those they were supposed to help, but within these religions there were individuals who would stand up and not let their leaders abuse their power and in this Joulupukki saw hope. He discovered a new human word in his observance of this phenomenon, helgen. Almost every human language had a translation for it, heilige, sant, naomh and each seemed to hold it in great esteem. These people of their society were seen as the greatest and best of who they were.
Copyright © James Inman | Year Posted 2021
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