The Kiss of Earth
- The people and the king all came to this decision together.
- For the last three years, all the crops have failed; people have been starving and dying of diseases.
- They tried to sacrifice animals, hoping this would make the gods happy and turn their luck around, but finally, they moved onto humans. Two unlucky souls "had been blessed on the stone table"—which is one way of putting it.
- But nothing changed. The only thing that would grow was the dragon orchid, which lots of people were freaked out by.
- People were dying and the king didn't see any other way to fix it. Would a king's blood really be any different? Who knows? But Eirikr had lived a long time thanks to the dragon orchids.
- Sure, everyone on the island believed in the gods, but people like Eirikr who drank the magic from the flower petals were in their own class.
- He had been married three times, but had never had any kids. Weird, right?
- The only person he would be leaving behind was his wife, Melle. Unfortunately, though, the queen didn't really understand this whole sacrifice thing.
- Even though Eirikr had two other wives, Melle was clearly his favorite, the one he loved the most.
- But since they'd never had any children, there would be a huge fight to see who would succeed King Eirikr to the throne. Of course, Eirikr already knew who would win that little skirmish—Gunnar.
- The guy had already been strutting around like he owned the place. So annoying. He didn't know anything about being king, and yet, that's exactly what he would be once this whole ceremony was over.
- Eirikr stands next to the stone table and tries to think of what to say to his people. Words are kind of failing him, though—his time is done and these people are going to have to carry on without him. Break out the sad songs, guys.
- Then he looks at Melle and thinks of one special memory with her: all the times they spent swimming in the sea on the south side of the island.
- Finally, Eirikr says the only thing he can think of: "well, so it is."