"Fishing with Mikkel"
Scene: Beautiful day, low wind, sun, not terribly warm, but everyone is dressed for it.
Small Pier of a former pleasure craft mooring, at Louisiana north of Copenhagen. Open beech forest growing over some small ruins and what-not inland, Cattank parked.
Mikkel and Emil facing one another and facing outwards with fishing rods, metal lined box between them, comfortably seated & braced, looking relaxed.
Lalli on the rise in the concrete ( former harbour light) behind them , apparently sleeping, with his rifle near him.
Reynir a little further down the pier, also apparently asleep, using his braid as pillow.
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Emil, restless: "Man, we've been here for-ever, what's taking them, we should drop a grenade in the water, scoop the fish and move on..."
Mikkel, impassive, pulls out his pocket watch, looks: "Emil, we've been here all of 35min. Grenades would make noise, noise attracts Trolls. By the way, you've caught a fish."
Emil, surprised: "Really?"
Mikkel: "Really."
Some time passes while Emil awkwardly pulls in a nice big herring, almost drops it back into the Oresund, manages to get the hook stuck in this coat, and eventually manages to re-bait his hook and get it back in the water.
Mikkel: "New to the fishing thing, I take it?" He says, pulling in another, much bigger fish and efficiently dealing with it in under a minute, to Emil's obvious amazement. Lalli opens his eyes briefly, watches and mutters.
Emil: "Yeah, my parents aren't much for the 'great outdoors'."
Silence reigns for a few minutes. Emil getting antsy.
Emil: "Mikkel?"
Mikkel, eyes closed: "Yes, Emil?"
Emil: "What are they doing?"
Mikkel: "Tuuri and Sigrun?"
Emil: "Yes! We've been out here such a long time."
Mikkel: "45min. Sigrun said she wanted some alone time with Tuuri, Tuuri was making noises about a field-expedient sauna, and getting clean-clean. Frankly they could be there all day. A Word to the Wise, Emil: Disturb not women at their ablutions."
Emil, stricken: "ALL DAY!? We'll starve."
Mikkel: "I brought food. Also enough wood to make a fire and grill some fish and water to make tea. Besides, we could use some down time. I think poor Reynir is about to have a nervous breakdown after yesterday. First time he a saw a troll close up."
Emil: "Huh?, it was DEAD! That's not scary."
Mikkel: "So? He didn't see you underneath it, moving it. He's not immune. Poor boy almost needed a change of underwear."
Emil giggles: "That was kinda funny."
Mikkel smiling: "Not for him. Let's be nice, he's far from home."
silence reigns
Emil: "I have a question."
Mikkel, eyes still closed: "Only one?"
Emil, looks suspiciously at Mikkel, decides to Mikkel is not setting him up for joke: "What's with the "Royal" thing everywhere in Bornholm, Royal Coast Guard, Kingdom of Denmark In Exile, Royal Army, Royal Post Service... I mean, no one has seen a member of Danish Royal family in 90 years, all the executive power is with the elected "Regent -Protector of the Realm", and the danish parliament at Ronne, isn't it? For all intends, it's a Republic."
Mikkel, looking over at Emil & says nothing for a space:
"Good Question, Emil."
Pause.
"Partially it's a way of honoring our ancestors, the Royal Danish Navy, for example, basically died, to a man, protecting Bornholm in Year0 and the subsequent months, bringing back weapons and tools and foods that allowed us to survive.
Partially it's tradition, we Danes are big on that.
And partially it's a legal fiction that helped preserve the appearance of legitimacy early on, when the rash was raging."
More Quietly. "Emil, how much do you know about what happened around Y0?"
Emil, now rapt: " I learned quite a bit in school..."
Mikkel: "Did you know, that the Y0 Swedish Navy out of Karlskrona Base cooperated closely with Danish Navy in Y0+ to protect Bornholm, one of their last known acts was helping sink a refugee flotilla that was heading towards Bornholm."
Emil: "Really? That sounds awful, why would they do that? What happened afterwards?"
Mikkel: "Well, according to the Secret Danish State Archives..."
Emil: "Wait, how did _you_ get in those..."
Mikkel: "Widow Jensen hired me..."
Emil, suggestively: "Widow Jensen, eh?"
Mikkel sighs: "No, Emil, not like that. Her official title was Chief Archivist, she was 85 when I knew her, and she needed a young man for the summer to haul boxes, and help re-file around the archive, I just helped. She napped a lot, so it gave me plenty of time to nose around the archive. Such a nice old lady."
Emil, looks abashed.
Mikkel: "Anyway, Lieutenant Wittenberg, the acting commander of Karlskrona..."
Emil : "What?! How could a Lieutenant be in charge of a big base..."
Mikkel: "Emil. Rash. Between death & desertions, there were not many Officers left. Sweden was in complete chaos."
Silence. Emil contemplating his fishing line.
Mikkel: "He took a Corvette and patrol boat out with skeleton crews, and with the remainders of Danish Navy, they sunk the refugees.."
Emil: "That's horrible."
Mikkel: "It was early winter, Bornholm was already on starvation rations; 5-7000 refugees in two big ferries, some probably already infected. It was a very terrible thing Emil, but probably not the worst thing that happened back then."
Emil, visibly appalled:" Why did they not teach us this?"
Mikkel: " In grade school? Children do _not_ need to know this. Besides, Mora might not know. They had their own problems, the Swedish squadron sailed back home to investigate the base's sudden radio silence and we never heard from them again."
Silence reigns for a few minutes.
Emil: "So what was that about the "Royal" legal fiction..."
Mikkel: "Nya, Ja, well I found out why in the archives too. As with Mora, Bornholm had to make a lot of tough decisions very quickly in Year0 and some very hard decisions subsequently, so some concerned citizens formed a "committee of public safety" and, not to put too fine a point on it, staged a friendly coup d'etat that took over tyrannical emergency powers "for the duration." They doled out rations, medicines, forced the sharing of resources, resettling of people, directed raiding, quarantine and defense needs. People went along when they realized the alternative was death, so it's not like they often had shoot people or anything, but the Committee's word was law."
Emil: "That doesn't sound very Danish..."
Mikkel: "It wasn't, the people on the committee's were highly uncomfortable with their assumed powers. But, by claiming it was "By order of the Queen" as a sort of civil regency and that is was "for the emergency only", it allowed them a fig leaf of legitimacy that allowed everyone important to go along without asking too many awkard questions. Also, saying and ordering horrible things "By order of the Queen" , who was absent, sounded better than some "because we are the Committee of the Damned" to the people of the time, it provided a sense of continuity.
Emil: " So basically, they took over and made it all up? And everyone kind of went along."
Mikkel: "Yes. Fish!"
Emil:"Huh?"
Mikkel: "You have a fish, pull it out. Wait, what's that..."
Emil: "Wuh?"
Mikkel a little louder at Lalli: "Lalli! Mit Kl. Fem, i vandet, 20m" (My 5 o'clock, in the water, 20 meters)
Lalli, who was apparently sleeping, rotates up, rifle shouldered and looks at the water swirling near where Emil's' lines is bobbing, closely. A seal bobs up with Emil's fish, looks and swims off with it.
Lalli, dismissively: "Ei hätää" He lies back down.
Emil, amazed: "He understands you?"
Mikkel, a little smugly: "He's not stupid at all, you know. He learns quick when cookies are involved. The seal broke your line, you'll need a new hook."
Emil busies himself with the line.
Time passes, as a few more fish are caught and nice lunch is had. Reynir cleans up and walks out to the end of the Pier talking animatedly at Lalli who politely follows him, looking serious.
Emil to Mikkel: " Does Lalli have a the slightest clue what crate boy is talking about?"
Mikkel: "Given the speed he's talking and that it's in Icelandic, it's safe to assume that Reynir's dark secrets are safe from Lalli."
Emil: "Snork! He does talk an awful lot."
Mikkel has caught a nice big fish, and appears quietly pleased with himself, as he drops it, flopping, the crate. "Dinner!"
some time passes
Emil: "I have a question."
Mikkel, looks at Emil sideways: "They'll be ready when they are ready. Have a nap, or read this book. If we're lucky, maybe we can use that sauna of Tuuri's after dinner."
Emil: "No, not that, but thanks for the book. Oooh, pictures! Wow, so many people... No, I have another question."
Mikkel dryly: "Entirely possible, go ahead."
Emil: "What's with you and widows, Sigrun and Tuuri both giggle about about it, they joke and make it sound like you've fathered 1/2 the illegitimate children of your generation."
Mikkel, chokes and wheezes and laughs, and eventually regains a little composure. "Do they? You should not believe everything you hear, Emil."
Emil, a little haughtily: : "Oh I know, but you make comments and..."
Mikkel sighs: "Emil, you are a man of the world, yes? You've been to a tavern, once or twice, what do drunk young men talk about when there are no women about?"
Emil looks at him sidewise, sure that he's being made fun of, but no: "Uhm, sure, I guess. Er. They talk about about women?"
Mikkel: "Correct. Specifically, every tavern drunk from Saimma to Reykjavik talks about lusty and affection starved "Kastrup widows" they met on their travels..., right?"
Emil, blushing: "Erhm, well... I HAD heard a story where..."
Mikkel: "Say no more. Please. There were and are a fair number of widows and spinsters in my generation as a result of that disaster. As you might imagine, some remarried to older or younger men, some emigrated, some imported a husband ... but not all, for various reasons, it's not like there was an abundance of men of the right age or class."
Emil: "..but..."
Mikkel: "Emil, I've seen you bet at cards, you are pretty sharp. You are a betting man. What are the odds that a nice lady in Bornholm would throw caution to the winds, somehow meet some disreputable, drunk, itinerant & indiscreet Swede, Finn, Norwegian or Icelandic boat man and engage in a brief torrid affair, when pecuniary considerations are not foremost."
Emil: "Pecuniary?...ooooohh. Uhm. Not very high, I guess." Looks hopeful that he has guessed right.
Mikkel: "Correct. Let's extend that line of thought." (somewhat pompously) "Would a respectable widow suddenly take up with dashing, yet ruggedly handsome & educated, itinerant Danish man who has a bit of a reputation?" Stares at Emil...
Emil looking a little embarrassed: " Well... I suppose the odds are a little better."
Mikkel, looking at Emil, a little pleased: "Good answer. Now, for the gold star, Master Västerström. What are the odds that were she to have a moment of loneliness, or lust, or otherwise fall madly in love, she might do so with someone in her circle of friends, or extended circle of acquaintances whom she meets regularly, for instance a neighboring married farmer, a brother in law, or some handsome farmhand helping her out, or the next door farmer's older son sent to help her with harvest..."
Emil, frowning: "I guess those would be the best odds..."
Mikkel: "Smart man. The word of the day is: propinquity."
Emil: "But I didn't think that birth outside of marriage were considered a really terrible thing? I mean, I do not think anyone thinks it is a great thing, but it's not like the lady would be shunned. Especially after Kastrup..."
Mikkel: "Ah ha! Excellent, my Emil. The children are wanted, and at worst can be put out for adoption, but whose child IS it? Bornholm is small, and the pool of likely candidates for father rapidly gets to be so very, very, small. And that might have significant social consequences for the father, and/or mother, if for example he is a married man, or he's much younger, or older, or wholly in-appropriate, people talk... do you follow?"
Emil, comprehension dawning: "Oooooh, so it's not the child, it's the neighbor's gossip that's hurtful... and it destroys marriages and so on..."
Mikkel: "Correct Emil. And that's where I come in."
Emil: "Huh? I thought you said it..."
Mikkel: " ...wasn't likely. But, I am fairly well known in certain circles as being both discreet & kind."
Emil: "So you..."
Mikkel: "Plausible deniability. Muddied waters."
Emil: "Uhhh, what?"
Mikkel: " Emil, how long is a typical pregnancy? If I am obviously seen with a widow 9-ish months previously, then when the gossips start to talk, they may suspect a local man, but the fact that I was obviously there around that time, "wooing" said widow makes things a lot harder to pin down. Especially, as I am a disreputable rover. Especially if the midwife or Doctor also muddies the water a little. They can be very helpful. Premature babies and all. "
Emil: "Oh. Don't you have any problems with the real fathers?"
Mikkel: "Not really, they are usually relieved, but the ladies Father's and Mother's... Yikes. Why do you think I took this contract into Copenhagen? The timing was impeccable. I needed to leave Bornholm for a few months."
Emil: "So you've never..."
Mikkel, watching the waves: "I never said "never" Emil."
