Athelstan Wilder (whereareyoulord) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-26 17:08:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, brother athelstan, lara croft |
Who: Lara Croft and Athelstan
What: Appraising a new acquisition
Where: Athelstan's apartment
When: 9/24
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Lara parked her Land Rover in front of Athelstan’s home, and shut down the engine. She opened the door, and then hopped to the ground. She was dressed in grey cargo pants, and a green t-shirt with the Jurassic Park Logo on it. Sam had gotten it for her as a joke once.
She pulled out her backpack and headed for his door.
Athelstan heard the knock and smiled when he saw the lady at his door. “Hello, Miss Croft! Please, come in; I’m glad you could make it.” He’d looked for an expert on his field, but he hadn’t seen anyone online. She was the next best thing.
“Good afternoon,” she said, holding out her hand and smiling at him. She had a nervous energy about her - getting to touch anything historic did that to her, enough that she wasn’t entirely too nervous.
“Can I get you anything?” He had a few things he could offer her, for being good enough to come all the way down here.
“Just some water is fine,” She replied, not sure if he had some alcohol and not in the mood to drink anyway. Besides, it could damage the book! She pulled out her kit.
“Certainly.” Athelstan went to the kitchen to get it. “If you want to get it out, the prayer book is in the drawer of my desk, top left. It’s wrapped in a shawl.” Silly, maybe, but he hadn’t wanted just to set it there and forget.
She walked over to the desk, and pulled the drawer open. She looked down at the shawl and pulled it out, then carefully unfolded the cloth to look at the book. “Oh, this is beautiful!”
“Isn’t it?” Athelstan smiled, looking down. He almost felt humble that he’d wound up with it, of all people. “I just awoke one day with it in my arms.”
“That’s not a bad place for it,” Lara replied, chuckling. “I woke up with this.” She fingered the pendant around her neck. “Also a picture. Now..” She pulled out her kit. “I’m going to show you how to properly handle something like this, as well as proper storage techniques. You should still be able to display it. Books like this are hardier than you think.”
“That’s rather pretty.” Athelstan blinked, though, when she said that he should be able to display it. “Me? Display? Oh - that is. Shouldn’t it be in a museum? I’d be terrified of it being damaged.”
“It’s up to you really. It’s yours. But you can display it in a nice case, and if you use gloves.” She held up some thin white gloves. “You won’t get any oil on it. You can still read it. If you’re really paranoid, you can keep it under glass, I’ll bet I can rig something that would use soft rubber to turn the pages for you…My father had something like that.”
“I don’t know.” Athelstan grimaced. He thought he’d spoken to this woman about the dreams, though, so he risked it. “It comes from the Lindisfarne of my dreams. Lindisfarne, the Holy Isle off the coast near Newcastle? I was in the monastery there.” He spoke softly, almost humbly. “I was one of the scriptors responsible for producing the Gospels in larger quantity.” Before the Viking raid.
“So you snuck away with it?” Lara joked. She was familiar with that island.Gently opening the book she looked down at the pages, eyebrows raised. “Do you..know what year that was?”
“Not snuck ... I preserved it. Vikings struck the monastery and burned it to the ground.” Athelstan tried to keep the bitterness from his voice. “That would have been in I believe 676? 675? Somewhere in that time frame.”
Lara nodded her head, lips twitching as she fought back an excited smile. Vikings! It really wasn’t something to be excited about, he’d dreamed about it and her head was still a little sore from dreaming about a shipwreck. But VIKINGS!
“And this is your script work?” She traced the words with her fingers reverently.
“Mine? No. Not this volume.” Athelstan shook his head. “Brother Aelric did most of this - the dreams recall him for me as a thin young man like myself, but burning with faithful fervor. He sat up nights finishing more work. It was the nearest completed volume I could grab when the warning bell sounded.”
Lara nodded. “It’s still beautiful. Look here.” She gestured him over. “It’s nearly perfect, really.” She pointed at some words. “You can see where the author was getting fatigued here, and here. And where the ink was starting to run out so he had to go over the words several times. Things like that tell you this wasn’t printed, but hand-copied.”
“I can see the trace-overs.” Athelstan was beaming. “That is beautiful. Humbling, even. What kind of ink would it have been, I wonder - iron gall, or carbon, or something like that?”
“Shit,” Lara said. She finally placed what this was, and smacked herself in the forehead with the back of her hand - to keep oil off of her gloves. “Carbon.” She turned the page and looked at the illustrations. “Do you know what people would do to get their hands on a copy of this gospel in this condition? What they’d pay? We’d want a display with a really good alarm.”
Athelstan blinked. “I don’t know anything about the different inks, only that they are different. Is it so rare? Would I run the risk of being burgled?”
“It’s a fairly famous piece,” Lara said. “Or at least that monastery is. I’m not entirely sure it’s the most famous manuscript, but it’s around the right age. Regardless it’s beautiful. I’ll have to do more research.” She relished the thought.
“Lindisfarne is known world wide. And I know the Gospels are prized in religious circles, but in terms of collecting or that kind of thing, I’ve no idea.” Athelstan shook his head. “I probably should have tried to look up the events of my dreams, but in truth, it was ... traumatic.” Being ripped from that idyllic life, thrust among heathens, it was terrifying. And sad.
“The Vikings were a lot more savage than people like to think. It’s like any other culture - they get romanticized and shifted to fit our current, often racist perceptions. A peaceful people become savages. The killers become blunted.”
“Agreed.” Athelstan sighed. “I mean, my dreams are not yet complete. I can only imagine the horrors that might await.”
“I’m sorry.” Lara winced. She didn’t know what awaited her. She hadn’t drowned, at least.
“I was taken from the monastery, as a slave, back to the Viking settlements. I saw my brothers killed and displayed in town.” Athelstan said softly. “I am sure it gets worse.”
She put the book back down, and put an arm around him, squeezing gently. Then she stepped back, a little awkwardly. “Sorry.”
“It’s all right.” He actually appreciated it. “My girlfriend and I actually have similar dreams, but no one else seems to have them so bad.”
“A friend of mine seems to be pretty horrible, but she also got to become a valkryie, too.” She scratched the back of her neck. “You wouldn’t think it. She’s Cheyenne.”
“Cheyenne, as in, Native American?” Athelstan asked. “How could she be a valkyrie? Isn’t that Scandinavian?”
“Exactly! But in her world, the gods are real. Thor and Odin, and others apparently. And people like her are..born with powers.” She had seen too much to ignore. “I saw..I saw a man who moved something with his mind. These dreams…”
“Are mindboggling.” Athelstan shook his head. “My girlfriend dreams she was a Viking slave, too, but was maimed by them. So far I’ve escaped that fate.”
“I hope you do too.” Lara grimaced. She decided to change the subject. “What do you really want to do with this book?”
Athelstan was relieved to have the subject change. “The part of me that is in tune with the dreams wishes to keep it,” he said. “But the more responsible part of me knows that eventually I should donate it. To preserve it.” He looked down. “I don’t suppose you know anyone who would build a glass case for me to keep it here?” He joked.
“No, but I can find someone for you!” She thought about it. “Actually, this woman I know named Shepard seems to know a lot about securing things.”
“Oh? I’d be happy to speak to her.” Athelstan looked up.
“I’ll hook you up, as they say.”
“I would be grateful.” He smiled. “And I’m grateful for your expertise as well, Miss Croft. Truly.”
“You’re welcome. Just call me any time, okay?” She smiled at him. This had been such a great day!