章 35: Chapter 35

After escorting his grandparents home, as they had lost any motivation for the feast, Alvar began to march to the great hall on his own, having long since grown tired of all the melancholy the day had drowned him in. All that remained was anger and the desire to find out what happened to his uncle's soul that bloody night and possibly do something about it, if he could of course.

Thus, while calming his mind, like he was trained to do, Alvar entered the warm light that was shining through the entrance that lead into the great hall, already able to hear the boisterous Norn, young and old alike, celebrating life after a long day of remembering the dead.

As he let his gaze roam over the scene before him it became apparent to Alvar that the organizers of the feast had done everything they could to create a feast that would still be talked about once the next one was rolling around the corner.

Rows of long tables stretched far into the last corners of the great hall at which every single Norn, except a select few that weren't in the mood for the feast, had taken place and drank rivers of mead, ate of prey that was roasting over the great bonfire built in the middle of the great hall, and told stories of the adventures they had lived through or moments of love and joy they had experienced.

Letting his gaze drift from the left to the right of the great hall Alvar was witness to a group of Norn crying out in celebration while in the middle of the group stood a man and woman, embracing each other, that had obviously commenced their union just about now as was popular at the end of the day of the dead. After all, for many people marriage and the resulting blooming of life soon afterwards was the ultimate representation of the joys of life.

With a small smile at the display of happiness Alvar continued to let his eyes wander over the crowd, all the while slowly walking into the great hall, as he was looking for his friend Veli who had told him that they would meet at the great hall at the end of the day to celebrate together.

After a few seconds of a slow decent Alvar spotted his friend animatedly waving at him from the far back of the great hall, obviously trying to get Alvar's attention. After realising that the one waving was his friend Veli he waved back and began to march over to his friend's position, diving right into the sweet fragrance that wafted through the great hall while he entered a warm cloud of emotion at the last step of the stairs that lead into the great hall.

As soon as Alvar arrived at the table his friend Veli was sitting at a pair of warm arms engulfed him, to which he reciprocated with his own embrace, patting his friend on the back a few times in the process.

After a few seconds they both let the other go free followed by Veli motioning for Alvar to take a seat animatedly. "Come, come Alvar! Have a seat! Dude, the organizers of the feast surpassed themselves this time! I swear, I've never tasted food this good or drank mead this smooth!" Veli spoke while pressing a horn filled with warm mead, as Alvar could feel through the horn's interior, into his chest.

Taking the horn with a small thankful nod Alvar went over to the long table and sat himself down in a free spot next to Veli, his attention immediately wandering over to a wildly gesticulating Norn that was telling all the people around him of one of his adventures, no doubt.

"I had followed the tracks of the beast for over a month now and was sure that it had taken shelter in order to sleep through the long winter. But ohh was I wrong! Once I entered the cave in order to claim my prey I came upon a whole herd of Minotaur! Of course I knew that I had to do something about such a large herd so close to Hoelbrak and so I threw a mighty fireball at the ceiling of the cave to cause a cave in! While the stony ceiling rained down upon the herd the leader, whom I had followed all those days, managed to leave the cave and promptly came rushing at me! I swear, I nearly wet my pants at the sight of its bloodshot eyes while charging at me head on! But in the end I manage to throw down my foe against the hull of a strong tree behind me. The spirits clearly were on my side that day…" The Norn finished his tail and everyone that had listened to his retelling of his adventure broke out into boisterous cheers, causing the teller to grin in happiness and glory.

Taking away his eyes from the group where another Norn, a female this time, began to retell one of her own stories, under the expecting eyes of those around her, Alvar let his gaze roam over the rest of the hall, his mind still thinking about what he had heard from the Havroune tonight. While he was going through a few ideas on how he could try to find out what may have happened his eyes came to rest on a lone figure that was standing aside from all the partying folks, a person he had not seen since the day they received the introduction into their professions and at that very moment it struck Alvar like a thunderbolt. Who would know better how the soul of a person could be claimed than someone that regularly dealt with the dead, a necromancer? Thus, Alvar stood up and walked over to the old and scary man under the curious eyes of his friend Veli who wandered what his friend was up to this time.