Free Falling to the Viking by M. Garnet

Chapter One
     
     
    Her adopted sister Margaret was actually yelling at her, saying, “What the hell are you talking about? No one goes to Denmark. People go to Sweden or Germany or London. But I don’t know of a single idiot that goes to Denmark.”
    Kathryn kept her voice calm as she went over her check off list again. “Margaret, I have explained this to you several times. It turns out that I actually have a relative on my father’s side. Our parents have always been so good to me. Even you have, except when we fought over my plaid coat. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, though. This woman has offered to pay for everything. She probably has papers and photos, maybe even background information, on my family.”
    When Kathryn couldn’t reach her adopted sister on the phone, she had left a message on the recorder, expecting a call in return. Instead, the hotheaded blond had driven over to confront her.
    Kathryn smiled, as her own red hair along with a sprinkling of freckles showed that she was the one with the temper. Yes, they had fought over that plaid coat and many other items growing up together in a house loved by two parents who had adopted both girls when they couldn’t have their own children.
    Their parents’ death had actually separated the women instead of drawing them together. They lived in different cities, working in entirely different lines of employment. Now, they went months with only an email or short note on Facebook.
    The brief visit from her adopted sister had finally calmed down with a nice dinner at a local Italian pub and a quick goodbye as Margaret drove back to her home.
    Kathryn promised plenty of emails and photos on Facebook of the trip to placate Margaret. Finally, she returned to her checklist.
     
    Kathryn was so tired, she could hardly hold her eyes open. A solid week of traveling, yet still her crazy great aunt insisted they go to some type of memorial museum tomorrow. This wasn’t the kind of tour of Denmark she had in mind when she agreed to visit her relative in northern Europe.
    She had spent most of her life in damp, cold Ohio, except for two short visits to Florida. A visit to damp, cold Denmark wasn’t high on her list. Still, her relative had paid for the whole thing. Kathryn had thought that the aunt was probably lonely in her old age for the last relative that was still around.
    Kathryn had been pleasantly surprised when the lawyer had contacted her about the distant great aunt in Denmark. She had enjoyed the letters they had passed back and forth for the last two years. They conversed about things that weren’t too intimate at first. Her aunt compared the weather that seemed to be the same but different.
    Kathryn had written as Christmas approached about the piled up, dirty snowdrifts pushed by the snowplows. She felt compelled to at least write a two-page letter to this unknown woman, but she didn’t know what to say, so she complained about the long cold damp winters along with the hot summers due to the great lakes dumping a lot of moisture on the upper Ohio area.
    Kathryn’s last name was Marksvens. The aunt was Halla Marksonvens. The attorney had assured Kathryn that they were related. He explained that the shortening of the name was something often done by the families when they came to America.
    Aunt Halla told of the winters being mild in Denmark except high in the rare mountains. She told of spring with rivers overflowing their banks from the snow melting in the mountains. She wrote of the natural first growth produced by the rich land. Halla described the long summers, cooled by breezes from the oceans on all sides. She also told of fall with abundant harvests and many festivals that celebrated the old time warriors as they made one last trip to plunder.
    Yeah, sure, Kathryn didn’t buy into all of that. She checked on a Google Map for the location of Denmark. There it was, in the northern seas. How could it not be damp and cold? Still, in the old