Reflection in the Snow (Sigrid, Ifrit)

[Ifrit]

Time and Date:: 8 February, 6:42am
Weather:: Overcast, cold, windy. Still pre-dawn.
Previous Threads?:: Ice and Foam/Seeking the Caliph/Finally, Solid Ground/The Fire Demon Dances/A Taste Of Home


Ifrit had been exploring a lot of the island proper, staying relatively by himself and observing and writing more than anything. Maps, notes, sketches on any of the dragons he'd been fortunate enough to see had filled numerous journals. This morning he found himself in a wide stretch of plains. Covered with snow and cold, but he adored the beauty of it.

Not wishing to cross it as of yet, he lay a large blanket on the snow. Covering it, he then lay a specifically ornate rug atop it. It was the time for the Fajr prayer, the pre-dawn salat, or one of the five daily prayers as practiced by followers of Islam. Being in a relatively quiet area, he kept his voice quiet so as not to break the still. Reading from a bit of a book bound in sealed cloth, he then got on his knees. He began chanting softly and bowing his head forward down as he supplicated himself before his God, facing the direction of his people's holy city as best as he could figure it.

This went on until the sun had crested over the horizon. It would have touched everything including him and the snow with light, if there hadn't been so many dark clouds overhead. When that was done, he wrapped up the ornate rug and stowed it away. Sitting on the blanket, he pulled out his pumpkin hookah and fired up a mix, puffing on it as he looked up towards the sky. The sound of beating wings echoed distantly in the still and he raised his eyebrow, idly flipping a dagger between his fingertips as he smoked.

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Smudge rolled his eyes as Sigrid clambered into the saddle.
"Where are we going?" he asked, sounding bored.
"I think I saw Ifrit heading off that way," she gestured. Smudge snorted.
"I don't think stalking the guy is going to help your cause," he told her, scratching lazily at a toe. Sigrid narrowed her eyes.
"I am not stalking him, you overgrown salamander," she snapped. Smudge looked amused.
"Sure, sure." he said amicably. "That's why you've had me chase after his scent four times in the past week with no apparent reason."
"Shut up," she muttered, and Smudge let out a reptilian laugh.
"Yes, mistress, but I look forward to seeing your heart crushed." he responded, unfurling his wings and lifting off. Sigrid leaned back in the saddle, watching the countryside move below. When she spotted Ifrit, she noticed the hookah perched beside him and smiled. She would never admit it, but she had become somewhat adoring of the times she managed to get the trader on his own, especially with that hookah. Slightly embarrassing though a love of foreign tobacco may be, at least she wasn't getting high off her face on the other, less calming substitutes other Vikings used.
Smudge landed with a thud and dipped a wing, allowing Sigrid to slide off.
"Hey, Ifrit!" she called, and sat down beside him. "Whatcha doing?"

[Ifrit]

Ifrit looked up and saw the dragon approaching. For having never lived before in a land where the myth creatures were prevalent, save for the few sand wyrms his homeland had, he had adjusted fairly well to seeing them frequently. Never treated any of them with less than respect and politeness, as he did everyone. He smiled as he saw the woman hailing him. She'd been frequent in her visitation, but he didn't mind a friendly face one bit. Being on the ocean for months at a time and constantly going from country to country, it was nice when he found a person or two he could comfortably share time with.

Shaking his thoughts from his head, he stood and bowed to her. "Salaam and good morning, North lady Sigrid. And Dragon Smudge. It is a pleasure to see you both." He waited until she was sat down to sit himself. "I came out here to perhaps find a place I had not seen yet, to see what it could tell me. This field seemed empty enough and so I chose it for my morning prayers, which I have finished." He held out the hose to his pumpkin hookah, a decided coffee smell coming from the smoke inside. The scent could definitely grow on folk, he found, and it was better for him than drinking the beverage itself. He also reached inside his pack and broke off a sweetroll, offering it to her. "Are you hungry?"

[Sigrid and Smudge]

"Thanks," Sigrid said delightedly, taking the sweetroll. Ifrit always had some new recipe she had never tried before, and they were usually delicious. And the sweetroll was no exception. She finished it in two bites and looked at Ifrit.
"'Morning prayers'?" she asked. "Your deities demand specific praying times? We generally only pray when we need their help,"
Smudge rolled his eyes. He could have won a medal for eye-rolling. "Questioning his religion won't help you get your claws into him!" he reminded her.
Sigrid ignored him.
"I mean, why this early in the morning, anyway? It's bloody freezing out here this early, it's only because I'm used to it I'm not hiding inside-"
"That, and one other reason," Smudge muttered to himself. Sigrid, overhearing the Flabbermunch's mumbled Dragonese, glared.
"-why would your gods ask that you pray this early? It's an ungodly hour to be awake anyway!"
"Building your own pyre, Sigrid!" Smudge said, amused. "Why are YOU out here then? Stalker!"
"It just seems dumb. Our gods seem really laid-back compared to yours."
She looked at Ifrit, eyes settling on the markings tattooed on his cheeks and forehead. She waited patiently for an answer from the Egyptian trader.

[Ifrit]

Ifrit watched her dig into the cinnamon and cardamom concoction and smiled. "Well, to begin, we only have the one deity. Allah is the one God followers of my religion- Islam- pray to." He didn't really seem offended by her questions, her comments or her incredulity. Though he couldn't understand what the dragon was adding to the conversation, he seemed at ease letting them talk as they would. Or more accurately, for him to talk and her to listen.

"And based on our tenets, the Five Pillars of Islam, there are assigned times to pray, five in a given day. They are called salats." He explained patiently, waiting between any explanation for questions or comments she might make. "This is the Fajr prayer, or pre-dawn salat. It is designed to set the day up in a meditational and reflective state and to consider the teachings of Allah and his Prophet."

He smiled. "It is early to be certain, but it provides a certain rhythm for the day, and one I have done for years. I cannot comment on your deities as I do not know them but if they are like the people that follow them, I can see where they would be quite laid back, indeed."

The man puffed on his hookah thoughtfully. "Though I might ask, since it is rather early morning, what brings you to wakefulness yourself?"

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Sigrid listened with growing incredulity until Ifrit reached his last sentence. She blanched at exactly the same time Smudge exploded with laughter.
"Um," she said intelligently, scrambling to think of an answer that wouldn't make her look like a creepy psychopath. "I... er... I couldn't sleep. This idiot here wanted to go for a flight and woke me up."
Smudge stopped laughing and stared at Sigrid indignantly. The Viking ignored him.
She wasn't sure Ifrit would believe her, but it was lie through her teeth or admit she may or may not have been following him.
"Sigrid, stop giving me BS," Smudge remarked. "You are so sweet on the foreigner I think my teeth will fall out."
"Shut up, Smudge!" Sigrid yelped, throwing a boot at the dragon before belatedly realizing she kind of needed that boot. Oops. Smudge shot her a wicked, toothy smile and began to bury the leather footwear. Swearing, Sigrid leaped up and hopped over to the dragon, trying not to step on the frostbitten earth with her bare foot before snatching the boot from Smudge's mouth. Hopping back over to Ifrit, trying to look dignified, she slipped her slobbery boot back on and looked at the trader.
"So, yeah. What were you saying before? FIVE prayers a DAY? Odin, that's crazy! And only one god... what is he god of?"

[Ifrit]

Ifrit watched her with the same calm smile as she tried to come up with a reason that she would be out there. As she blamed her dragon he chuckled softly. The girl was an open book and no mistake but he didn't seem to mind either her falsehood or her company. "I see. Well, it is good for a dragon to stretch his wings, I would imagine. Even as early as it is."

As she winged her boot at him he laughed even more. It was a rich, deep bass sound that echoed in the empty plain as she hopped over and retrieved her boot from the mischievous dragon attempting to bury it. He stood up and walked over, taking her hand and helping her back to her seat while she contended with a piece of footwear that was still dripping with saliva. Ifrit wasn't sure what the dragon had said to spark such a reaction but he smiled gently just the same.

Helping her sit down, he folded his hands in his lap. "It is not as bad as you make it out to seem. Five a day, but they are small or as long as they should be. And Allah is the one God of everything, really. He is all that we need, as is that not the definition of a god? Omnipotent and omniscient?"

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Sigrid blushed as Ifrit helped her back to her seat.
"I see," he said. "Well, it is good for a dragon to stretch his wings, I would imagine. Even as early as it is."
Sigrid hoped he had believed her. He looked like he believed her. He probably didn't believe her. She was pretty sure he didn't believe her.
"He didn't believe you," Smudge added helpfully. Sigrid looked at him, shooting him a not-helping-you-idiot look.
She finally got the slimy boot back on her foot and wiped her hands on her tunic, scowling at her dragon for the special gift all over the shoe. The Flabbermunch simply smirked and lay his head atop his front paws, gently scratching at his missing front talon and watching the scene with interest and probably waiting for Sigrid's next disastrous faux pas to poke fun at. Sigrid left the dragon to his creepy time-passer and turned back to Ifrit.
"So... this Allah... he's a god of everything? Like, as in, he can do everything out gods do individually? It seems a bit greedy to me- and dangerous. I mean, what happens if this Allah of yours dies? Then what happens? Won't the world go completely haywire?"

[Ifrit]

The Egyptian smiled over at Smudge as they conversed. Not wanting to be rude to the drake, he pulled something out of his pack. It seemed to be smoked meat that had been specially prepared, a non-pork product. Perhaps beef? He held it out towards the dragon, seeming unafraid of it perhaps doing something like consuming his arm with it. He turned back to Sigrid as she spoke next.

Ifrit smiled at her. "Greedy? I suppose I have never head of it put in that way. Simple, I think. Perhaps it is either way, but we only have need of one deity. And it is not dangerous in a manner of speaking. Allah is not challenged by other deities and so, cannot really die. So I would imagine the threshold for the world going haywire in that way is considerably low." He looked at her curiously.

"Please, tell me about your polytheistic religion and the gods that inhabit it? I am quite curious as to where these concepts of yours originate." He seemed truly interested, and not just speaking to hear himself talk. The man came off like he genuinely wanted to know more about this woman and the world and belief systems she personally held dear.

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Sigrid leaned back, bemused. He wanted to hear about her religion?
"Alright then," she said. "I hope you know what you've gotten yourself into, though, Ifrit."
She made herself comfortable before beginning. "So, to start off with, you need to understand how the different realms are structured. We think of the universe as a tree. This tree is called the Yggdrasil. Spread over the tree and its branches are many different realms. The one we live in, situated in the trunk of the tree, is called Midgard. Above us are the divine realms; Asgard, the domain of the Gods, Valhalla and Folkvangr, realms of the heroic dead; Helheim, the realm of those who did not die in battle, Jotunheim, the home of the savage Frost Giants, and Muspellheim, the home of the Jotun's fiery counterparts. Below us is Niflheim, the roots of the Yggdrasil, which entangle the savage Niddhoggr, said to be father of the dragons we have today, forever chained by the divine roots of the World Tree. Surrounding us all is Jormungandr, the world serpent, who keeps us all in balance."
She stopped to make sure Ifrit had gotten all that, looking sideways at the listening Egyptian trader.

[Ifrit]

Ifrit listened intently. He reloaded his hookah as she began, knowing he was probably in for a rather lengthy dissertation on Northfolk mythology and wasn't bothered by it in the slightest. He asked and he did genuinely want to know, if only so he didn't go around conducting himself as an ignorant fool while in their company. How long he would be in said company was hard to say but he was an explorer and a scholar as much as a trader and fisherman and was not about to squander this opportunity when he didn't know when the next would present itself.

Listening intently, he nodded. "I do like the tree imagery. The Yggdrasil?" He rolled the word around to make sure he got it right. "And the trunk is where this reality is, called Midgard. Asgard is the domain of the many North gods. Valhalla and Folkvangr are the realms of the dead fallen in combat. Helheim, where they dwell who died of other causes. Jotunheim and Muspelheim, the frost and fire giants." He nodded slowly, pulling out a journal. The man seemed to be writing as much as she talked and as rapidly, in a language she might not have been as familiar with.

"Niflheim is the roots of the tree which branches holds these realms, Niddhoggr is the father of the dragons who is held by the Niflheim roots and around the Yggdrasil and all of its realms is the serpent, Jormungandr." He looked up at her and made sure his information was accurate. "I follow you so far, North lady Sigrid. Please, continue."

[Sigrid and Smudge]

"Next we have the gods. Each one controls a different aspect of the world and each is equally important. The king of the gods is the one-eyed Odin. He rules the realm of Asgard and welcomes fallen warriors into Valhalla. His wife, Freyja, is the goddess of love and beauty- yes, we do appreciate those too! Odin's son, Thor, is the god of thunder, and he is the cause of all storms. Lightning is the sparks caused when he strikes the sky with Mjolnir, his sacred hammer, and thunder is the sound of the blow. For some reason Thor has a grudge against large structures of metal; we found that out the hard way. He doesn't even like metal coming up in his stormclouds.

"After Thor, we have Loki, Jotun god of tricksters and liars, and Hel, the goddess of death. Those are the main ones, the ones we think of the most. Loki's known for causing problems for people; he even likes to mess with us mortals.  The thing with the gods is that they're not overly high-and-mighty. Well, they are, but they still pay attention to Midgard while they bicker with each other."
She took a breath. "I won't go into the rest now; it's way too complicated. Those are the basics."

[Ifrit]

Ifrit turned a page and continued writing, making a page for the gods she was mentioning. He smiled at her as she mentioned, breaking her off for a moment. "It is surprising but pleasing that you share a trait with this Odin of yours. All are made in the image of Allah but this is quite specific. You honor your father deity in a very close manner. You should be proud." Ifrit did not say these things as though he spoke with condescension, derision or scorn- he genuinely meant it and did not see her lack of an eye as a disability. He chuckled softly as she spoke next. "I do not doubt that the North people honor love and beauty. Not for a moment." He continued writing as she spoke. "Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor. He gets angered when metal structures are too tall." He frowned a bit at this but nodded and let her continue.

"Loki is a Jotun, so he would be..." He flipped a page back. "One of the Frost giants? That is interesting that a living being ascended to godhood. Hel, being the goddess of death... Loki is a Trickster." He chuckled. "Never let it be said God has no sense of humor." Ifrit continued to write as he looked up at her. "And you do not think having one God to oversee all of these realms, to not bicker with Himself, is not simpler in many ways with regards to a system of belief?"

[Sigrid and Smudge]

Sigrid was pleased with the parallel between herself and Odin (he saw her impediment as a mirror of a god? Sure, the god in question was male, but it was still a god!), but quickly lost the smile when Ifrit asked about the logic of having one god. She'd been snagged. Was there a right answer to that? She didn't particularly want to offend him... okay, scratch that. It was an argument. And Sigrid always won her arguments. She wasn't about to break her streak now.
"Admittedly, there would be less arguments, but a single god also couldn't oversee all the realms at the same time. What would happen if, while this god was dealing with one problem in Jotunheim, another was caused in Muspellheim? He would be overworked, unable to watch over all living beings at once. There would be chaos. Can you imagine a village with one Viking who had to do everything? He would be running back and forth trying to milk yaks and churn butter and bake bread and maintain the dragons. Instead, we have many Vikings each with their own jobs. Halldor is like Odin; he oversees the whole village. Ira makes our drinks. Esme and Freyy make our clothes. Spike, Solvi and Vidar find us our food. I stop people beating the living daylights out of each other. We all work together to keep the village running; I know I sure as Hel couldn't do all that on my own."
She leaned back, pleased with her argument. Even if her job was to stop arguments, she sure did enjoy a domestic one.

[Ifrit]

He nodded at her as she spoke. "This is very true. However, you are comparing mortalhood to godhood, a comparison that in all fairness, no one can truly make. But if we are making it, then a god exists everywhere, at every time. So a single person could milk the yaks, churn the butter, brew the drinks, oversee the village, build the army and the ships. He would do all of these things by his lonesome, without issue."

Ifrit looked at her. He wasn't speaking confrontationally or with scorn. He was genuinely trying to wrap his mind around these concepts which were decidedly foreign to him. "And in my religion, there are not numerous branches to look over. We only have three, Jannah which is the concept of paradise. Jahannam which is the concept of punishment, or Hell. And then the Earth itself. So if a singular God who was omniscient and omnipotent and immortal was overlooking three realms rather than these..." He looked at his notes. "Eleven, or so in your religion. Then surely, that might be easier for such a deity to overlook by themselves. In the example you mentioned, a chieftain only needing to overlook the harbor, a brewery and a dragon hatchery, for instance?"