“We should never have turned our back on the Gods of Asgard.” Said Frode. Despite the cold, he stood proudly behind me, lifting his head slightly as to emphasize his long brown moustache. He thinks it makes him look important, I always thought it made him look arrogant.

          “It seems Odin and Njord did not favor this journey, I told you so, Astrid.” Frode continued solemnly. I grew tired of listening to his religious ramblings a long time ago. Blaming unseen beings is so easy it seems. Easier than to recognize the fault lies within yourself.

          Damn his senseless visions! If he just listened to me, we would have already arrived in Iceland. I did not even realize I was clenching my fist. I loosened it and took a deep breath. Lifting my knee from the rocky ice, I turned myself slowly so as not to slip.

          “That weak-willed King of Norway tasking us to build that Christian Church of his in Iceland was treason, and the Gods are punishing us for it!” Continued Frode, trying to stop me in my tracks. I scoffed at his ignorant remarks.

          How can a person of 'wisdom' be this idiotic!

          “It’s not the Gods, O great Seer. Because they don’t exist!” He sneered at my words. “It’s because of the weather, that storm completely threw us off our path. We should have left a day earlier. But you tried to delay this journey as much as possible.” Having vented my anger towards him, I made my way to the icy shores to join what was left of the crew.

          I could see our crew and our longship crashed ashore, its tip and the rest of the hull broken in pieces, too far gone to repair. I noticed what is left of the crew arguing as to what we should do now. Some were arguing we should make a fire to stave off the cold, using the wood from our broken boat. Others opposed this idea still clinging to the hope that we could repair our longship.

          In this heated argument, I noticed my unlikely friend and self-proclaimed scholar, Abu’l-Fadl, who joined us in our travels in hope of discovering the world and recording its history. He stood out from the other crewmates: he wore a large deep green woolen cap; his light blueish green tunic was textured with crescent moons and stars motifs, a symbol of his religion. He was holding tightly a large fur coat gifted to him while listening closely to the argument of the crewmates. His eyes spotted mine, he nodded with a smile and came towards me, all the while tightening his grip on his fur coat.

          “So, Astrid, what do you make of this?” He asked calmly, in some sort of broken French, the language we eventually found ourselves both understanding. “What does your God Dor or Thor tell you? I apologize, I was never good with names.”

          “My friend, you know I do not believe in that stuff. Besides, I do not think any Gods can reach us here, at the edge of the world.” My eyes moved away from his and to the frozen wastes before us. “You must regret leaving Spain.” I said to him, half-jokingly.

          “I don’t know, I miss my family but…” he paused for a moment, his eyes looking far into the distance, thinking, “I don’t regret my travels, wandering the world and recording its history. It has opened my eyes to things I never thought existed.” He paused to laugh quietly. “What is ironic about this, is that all the things I’ve learned won’t help us here. Our provisions are lost at sea and our ship is beyond repair. We are stuck on this icy wasteland.” He lowered his eyes.

          “Damn it!” I yelled. “If it wasn’t for Frode’s stupid—” Fadl gently put his freezing hand on my shoulder.

          “It’s no use getting angry Astrid.” Said Fadl calmly. “Whoever you think is to blame, whatever Frode believes in, it doesn’t matter. This place marks the end of our story. All we can do is accept our fate with peace.” Fadle looked up at the sky and smiled.

          I looked as he did. I never noticed how beautiful it was this far north. Rivers of bright blue and green floated and danced gently; behind them, the stars formed spectacular shapes. Together, they shone brightly in the night sky.

          “Your nose is red.” I heard Fadl say. I sluggishly lowered my head. I put my right hand on my nose, its movement felt slow. My left could not let go of my axe. I felt my hair frozen to my helmet. The cold was settling in for good.

          I noticed Frode, and the other crewmates gathering around us. We all looked in each other’s eyes in peaceful acknowledgement. We will not see the light of day come tomorrow.