A Little Background...

Thule, the Southerners called it.

They said that its cold winters would deter the hardiest of men, that its inhabitants were giants and brutes, and that the natural wealth it could offer was far from worth the lives it would take in return.  They said that its women were beautiful, but fierce and uncontrollable.  Thule was, to them, a faraway place indeed...

To me, it was home.

Where they saw a frigid wasteland, I saw regal mountains and fertile valleys.   The same howling cries that drove them to panic were the ones that lulled me to sleep, night after night.  My own mother was one of the fierce Shield Maidens whom they respected and feared.  My father was toolmaker, with arms as large as mountain oaks and as hard as iron.

Despite what was said of Thule, my childhood was a simple one, filled with a no great challenges or adversities.  My days were filled with a few manageable chores and the occasional trek to another village or a festival, and I had a much time to myself.  While many of the other children were off playing games, or relaxing, I watched the warriors train for their great journeys.

Day after day, they would exhaust themselves almost to death.  The next morning, they get up with the sun, only so that they could do the same again.  I was captivated by their passion, but I didn’t understand...until the day that I hefted my mother’s shield for the first time.

She had asked me to move it to the other side of the room -- the reason why, I don’t recall.  What I do remember is the feeling that crept up my spine and tingled over my face, as I stood with it in my hands.  I was too small then to wield it properly, but it gave me a sense of power that I had never felt until that day.  Before I had even held a sword, I knew that my destiny was to be a Shieldmaiden like my mother.

Indeed, it was no wonder to my family years later when I announced that I wanted to follow in her footsteps.  Despite never saying it aloud, my whole being had become absorbed by my dream, and everyone in the village knew of me for my obsession.  I was referred to fondly as ‘the Shieldgirl’, or scornfully as ‘that girl who plays with weapons’.

In either interpretation, I was someone who was entirely devoted to my path.  The only question that remained was where that path would lead...