Female complications, day 5

Signals

As predicted, the weather has turned bad. The temperature last night was down to -11C, and seems to stay several degrees below freezing today. Those who live on the guest mansion and in the village really had to walk through almost 10 cm of snow in the morning. Hrappr and the workers have been good at shovelling it away where needed. At least it's not heavy sticky mush, although it's like to become so in a few days. Cold weather usually don't last, and even less so here at the coast, and then it becomes mush that usually freeze to ice over night, before thawing. But for now, it's pretty outside, and Siri has enjoyed playing in the snow and although the snow is not ideal for making things in, she has built two snowmen in the courtyard after I carelessly asked if she was making one. Of course she wanted to know what a snowman was, and a quick description later and with Ida and her shieldmaiden guards to help, it became two snowmen with branches for arms and stone eyes. The snowmen also got a carrot for a nose and stones for buttons after Jane saw what they were doing and decided to help. I was a bit tempted to call one of the snowmen Olaf, but it's a bad idea when master blacksmith Olafr is visiting. Unfortunately, I jokingly said that to Jane, who immediately realised where in the world she almost is, and that it's snow that came overnight. She like the animated movie 'Frozen'. The ice lanterns have been very popular, and snow lanterns can be both decorative and beautiful, so right now there is plenty of those being built all the way to the village. We have boxes of candles we have not used, and it was not difficult to engage volunteers from the staff and visiting maids. Heck, me along with Iselin, Jane, Ciara and some of the guests help too, and we've just come back in from a snowball fight, and now it's time for a warm bath. Iselin was a bit cold, so I asked if she would like to accompany me to a warm bath, and Iselin declared defeat.

That was ... nice. I just relax in my sofa, warm and happy. I'm a lucky man to have such a fantastic and sexy wife. Jane knocks on the door as she peak inside, see me and makes a "ta-da!" with gesture as Caecilia walks inside. Caecilia in a turquoise dress, light make-up, including red lips and with her long beautiful blonde hair in a long thick braid. Caecilia makes a twirl and pose.

"Robert, guess who she is!"

What? I have no clue since 'Caecilia' obviously isn't the answer. Jane rolls her eyes and hints, "Olaf ..." and gives meaningful looks. Ah. I feel a smile spread and greet Caecilia:

"Hello, Elsa."

Jane makes a victory gesture, and Caecilia smile.

"Doesn't she look awesome?! Iselin really fit as your 'Anna'. Red hair and practically the same personality. You're obviously Kristoff. Just so you know, I'll take Elsa to the attic and teach her how to sing 'Let it Go' from 'Frozen'. It's good you have that as a MP3."

I let Caecilia smooch me before they leave. Deep breath. Yeah, that song is among my MP3's, and I do have the movie on a USB stick. And I just realised that there is a certain type of roleplaying I'll probably be doing in the near future. Frankly, it doesn't really appeal to me, but Caecilia certainly looked very sexy and seductive. Sometimes it takes a deep breath to stay on track, because I know I could just call for Caecilia, and my sex bunny would immediately ignore the singing lessons to instead spend intimate time with me, wherever and however I want, probably even right in front of Jane, but that's something I won't test. A sports car accelerates quickly, but Caecilia is unbeatable from zero to sex.

Okay, that was so bad I'm a bit ashamed to even think it.

Jane and I needs to have a talk about the Stag night and stuff after the feast week is over, but Jane's mood has improved. I just wish I didn't have that anxiety in the back of my head. That will not be a nice conversation, and the outcome will suck. And now my happy pleased mood is gone.

Shit.

After talking with Iselin, Kari, Alith and Asta, we decide to show possibilities with radio and telegraphy. I ask Asbjörn, Myrun, Jolfr and Maurr to agree on an exchange of a couple of words each. A word, which should get another word in response, another word in response to it, and finally a final word. Then Myrun will accompany Asta to the ship for a demonstration, and Maurr will accompany Elin to the guest mansion. They are curious as they walk aside and whisper between them while I go to the day room and pull the curtains closed behind me, with only Gunhild in here. A small crowd has formed as Asbjörn will give the first word to me. Asta leaves with Myrun, who will stay outside Asta's cabin, and Maurr leaves too. I put on headphones, turn off the bell and wait. The connection to Elin works fine, and after ten minutes, so does the contact to Asta. Radio voice mode works great at this short distance, but we use Norse code so it's completely silent except for the norse key's faint tapping. Everything is ready, so I ask Asbjörn for the first word. When we are done, everything has worked perfectly, to our guests astonishment. I send to Asta to shut down, and return with Myrun, and to Elin to return with Maurr. When I come out, all the guests are gathered and are completely impressed but confused. Kari just comment that my sejd is powerful, and I thank them for their cheers.

Asta, Myrun, Elin and Maurr return and all agree that was really impressive. It didn't take long between each answer and question and we have been sitting in our small rooms several hundred meters from each other in complete silence except when we have spoken to say the words from the other party, and it is not possible to see between the places. I shouldn't be surprised that Myrun has the most questions, and started asking Asta as they walked. Asta didn't want to answer questions and just apologised, but Myrun knows that Asta fetched and left something from her house in her bag, but that's all. Myrun looks very curiously and contemplating at everything inside the day room, and she looks at the antenna cable that runs along the wall to the bench. It continues on the outside up the strangely placed 'flagpole'. Myrun just gives me pointed looks and sly smiles, and she probably see some similarities. Ships simply don't have either the inverted V antenna or the aft mast loop antenna, and the ladder line wire to the antennas are distinct and the same. I should have sent her with Elin instead. Asbjörn hasn't thought about the strange things, and seems to have categorised it under 'strange sejd stuff' classification, like so many other things. But Myrun has thought more, and she generally seems to be quicker to draw conclusions and notice things than Asbjörn, although it's best to assume Haera does that too, but is better at not showing or asking. Myrun says;

"The fact that you were sitting here and Asta on the ship, was no accident. You can do that from a longer distance." To which I just nod. "Borgarsandr?"

"Already done, and several times."

That makes Asbjörn react. "The sleeping and housing question Kari asked! You knew the answer before we arrived! We were on the ship at sea!"

I just nod and can't help my smug smile.

"To Skiringsalr?" Of course Myrun asks that.

"Not done yet - but yes."

"Do you need to know where the ship is? Is that why you done so much for navigation? How far does it work?" Myrun hammers away with questions. Definitely quick thinking and curious.

"Where the ship is on the sea doesn't matter much, and I don't know how far. We need to try. But maybe a week's sailing if the gods will and depending on the time of year. It's finicky."

From their expressions and sound, that is obviously hard for them to believe. Places incredibly far away that a lot of people only heard about, and with this strange sejd, message can be there so quickly. If they knew I was hoping for sporadic contact far outside their known world it would be even more entertaining. But frankly, radio is a bit of magic, and how well it works is different between day and night, and frequency dependant. But it proves that nature influences the 'magic' and that radio is part of the worlds mysteries. Kari hugs my arm and say:

"I've used it with Robert in Borgarsandr. Robert have taught us about how to use it and a bit of how it 'works', but it is sejd to me. The more I learn, the deeper and more powerful the sejd becomes, and it's easiest to just accept the sejd for what it can do." Kari points to Jane. "It's powerful sejd for Jane too, and she had no clue how it works," which Jane nods to confirm.

I've had a chat with Iselin and Kari about it already, which is the reason for the demonstration, so I take Asbjörn and Myrun aside, and behind closed doors, I tell them that this long-distance messaging sejd is limited as it won't be possible to send messages between many places. But it is possible to do it between a few places, and I have plans to set up such a place in my mansion in Borgarsandr, of course one here, one on my ship and maybe one on my farm outside Skiringsalr. It will be possible for them to pay to have a message sent to another station, with some hired help, servant or similar delivering it on the other side, as long as that delivery is not too far away. Shorter messages are easier, but longer ones work too. Actually, I just got an idea. Maybe I should ask the maids who lives at that mansion in Borgarsandr if they want to learn radios, telegraphy and so on. After all, they don't have very good future prospects, and that should be attractive employment for a physically easy job. I could also offer one of them to look after the farm outside Skiringsalr.

Asbjörn immediately offers to give me a farm with a lot of land on a peninsula, or my own island, which will be added to the Furstdom agreement if I wish to set up a place near Torsol, a town far to the east on the other side of the nation. Probably in the Mälar valley and close to modern Stockholm if I understand him correctly, and preferably another station in the south, a day or two inland from the coast. If he doesn't have suitable land for the sejd to work, he will arrange it, and take full responsibility and cost for the building of a house or castle depending on what I want or need. He prefers to build castles to better protect the person performing the radio sejd. Just the ability to have a few such places that can send messages to each other if enemies attack or there is a problem, can save weeks. He really wish it might work across the mountains to the northern coast and places like Skorraey, which I assume is northern Norway.

"Asbjörn, I'll have to get back at you with an answer for all of that. Radio is still a work in progress. But this test was of two slightly different messaging sejds, and in the future I will introduce the second form of messaging called telegraphy in more places. It does not go through the sky, but is sent via copper wires hung between tall poles, but that should work for something like a days journey, although it is possible to make a relay system, where the message is sent from station to station, and since it is fast between those stations, it can reach very far in a day."

Myrun shouts: "The tall poles along the road with a string! That is why there was a bell ringing in the guest mansion!"

"Correct. I'm trying it on this island, but eventually there will hopefully be a test system between here and to Lysesund and maybe to Borgarsandr, which will pass via Tingshamn. I'll be very pleased if I can get it to work all the way to Borgarsandr. I'll test in phases as there are many problems to solve. This is after all an island, so first long distance test will probably be between somewhere in Lysesund to Rivendal Inn in Laxlanda. However, telegraphy is vulnerable to ice build-up, damage, theft and sabotage, and longer distances over water such as a wide river or from my islands to the mainland are hard. It's not possible to hang the wire freely that far due to ice formation, wind, weight and so on. It might be possible by laying the cable on the bottom, but water affects the sejd, and fresh water and sea water is different, so it will be difficult as well as expensive. I will just have to test and try to solve each issue. Radio and Telegraphy it's just two of many projects I have. Two of many expensive and hard projects."

They have become very impressed and consider all of this as a great state secret, and they will ask their people and guests to not spread it. Asbjörn remembers that I have had kilometers of copper wire manufactured, and I confirm that mass production of copper wire is important for many project, and not just for telegraphy. Making a lot of copper wire is one of my difficult future projects. Copper wire itself has no real current use and its value is for the metal, but if that wire can be made on a sufficiently large scale and especially thin like a hair, it can be used for a lot of sejd like things. So my plan is to use the summer to try improve manufacture of copper wire. The sawmill was simple compared to that problem. Their minds are already spinning, and we have a lively discussion. The amount of copper wire and poles to reach long distances is simply unfathomable to them, so they see telegraphy as a weather-independent short-range system from radio stations. Myrun has figured out that I am somehow storing the wind, and that saved wind is used to send messages. Which frankly is pretty close to the truth, but also completely wrong.

I also explain that it is possible to establish optical telegraphy lines over long distances, but it is quite a lot of work and time to do it and requires someone to watch for messages, but it may be the only practical way for longer distances across water, like here from the island to the mainland. Labour here is very cheap so having a slave sit staring through a telescope at another optical telegraph station might be worth it, and the telescope is the valuable thing. Asbjörn instantly gives me permission to use the islands in the northeast however I wish when I mention them as a way to divide the distances across the sea, and he really wants to support the projects. Copper wire costs significantly more than an optical telegraphs wooden boards and rope, and is vulnerable to attack as it can happen anywhere as the copper wire goes through long stretches of forest. Copper is also valuable, and storm fallen trees can be a problem. I need to try out a buried line and an underwater line, and might as well try to get the copper guild to do test cables. A buried telegraphy line is much more work and more difficult, not least making all the earthenware pipes as I prefer that to put a buried line in, but it might be enough with many insulating layers of tar-soaked fabric or something. Which will cost even more to make. But a telegraph doesn't need someone sitting and looking through a telescope all the time. I realise that a lesson in cryptography and ciphers might be something for the Academy, so the people manning the stations don't know what is sent, and the receiver can be sure that the message comes from the sender.

More thoughts and ideas to record in my diary or journal. I don't write in it every day, but I try to keep track of what I've done every day, and have done it since almost the beginning simply because it might be good to have. At least I remember what I've done or what has happened in the few days since the last update.